Assignment: Busniess Ethics
Please respond to 2 posts in 250 words each. Please try to use the following as a reference for the below posts:
Gilbert, J. (2012). Ethics for managers: Philosophical foundations and business realities. New York, NY: Routledge
POST 1:
While in the Marine Corps, I had my share of ethical dilemmas but there was one that stood out above the rest. The supply department was doing their annual audit with the aviation logistics wing inspector. The consumable division where I worked was the first to be inspected and my first lieutenant though it would a good idea to "fudge" the numbers so we didn't fail the inspection. My staff sergeant and I advised the first lieutenant that it would be unwise to try and "fudge" the numbers because we were doing all the daily tasks to ensure our numbers were correct. The first lieutenant pulled the numbers from a database that she built herself (we found later that the database was reporting inaccurate numbers). The first lieutenant decided that the shop was going to stay and recount the inventory so the numbers matched and I objected because the Marines were already overworked. Other workers may not have such input into such decisions that have major ethical implications (Gilbert, 2012, p. 22). I spoke for the whole group when I told the first lieutenant that I disagreed with her logic and messing with the numbers when the inspection already began was a bad idea but she would not change her mind. Long story short, my shop stayed until almost 2am the next morning, almost failed because the inspectors figured out the numbers were changed and put our inspection in jeopardy. The inspection was overshadowed by the lieutenant's decision and the Marines who were honorably mentioned during the inspection never received their recognition.
Utilitarianism is the philosophical approach which says that the moral act is the one that creates the greatest happiness or good for the greatest number of people (Gilbert, 2012, p. 41). I made the lieutenant happy by complying with her irrational decision and further jeopardizing the outcome of the annual inspection. In regards to duty, it was unethical to comply with decision because the decision itself was unethical and irrational. I should have reported this to the inspection team but I did not want to be a blue falcon in my shop.
Reference
Gilbert, J. (2012). Ethics for managers: Philosophical foundations and business realities. New York, NY: Routledge.
POST 2:
During a transformation of the product offerings for a corporation, I was one of the leaders responsible for managing a large team to deliver over a three-year program. The program ran into problems, and it was my duty to report the health and the team's ability to complete on time. A governance meeting with the CFO and COO was required, and I created a presentation that represented the actual state of the project and financial impacts. During a preview of the deck, the CIO changed many of the data points to paint a prettier picture and recommended a restart of the development activities.
With that decision in hand, I completed financial packages recommending that the previous effort and dollars spent to date would need to be written off and categorized as a loss due to the accounting rules that would not allow capitalization of dollars for the same effort, rework does not meet the capitalization guidelines. I also factored the input from the team that was doing the work and ensured that their ethical views were not comprised. During the final review, I held firm on my moral virtues and ethical responsibilities to the company and recommended the write off to the leaders of the organization and keep the interest of our stakeholders intact.
This did not go over well with the CIO, and the results of me doing the right thing were being released from the program and ultimately from the organization. Although doing the right thing did not work in my best interest, the utilitarianism approach states that the moral act is the one that creates the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, which is the team that stayed behind to complete the project. Using Mill's utilitarianism, which says the best consequences are those where happiness is maximized, I could keep the behavior to myself (Gilbert, 2012, p. 41).
Gilbert, J. (2012). Ethics for managers: Philosophical foundations and business realities. New York, NY: Routledge.