Ethical Dilemmas and Ethical Decision Making Framework

Ethics are essential for organizational success. They influence the decisions made by the employees and managers on issues affecting the performance of the firm (Project Management Institute, n.d.). An organization that upholds ethical behaviors has a culture that fosters not only productivity but also excellence in service and product provision to its target markets. Managers are tasked with the role of ensuring that ethics are upheld in a firm.

However, they often face a wide range of ethical dilemmas that demand their use of ethical decision-making to come up with effective solutions that are beneficial to all the stakeholders involved. One ethical dilemma that a manager can face relates to cover an employee who has done something contrary to the policies and regulations of the firm.

An example is a bank manager having to either choose to report or keep quiet concerning one of his close employee who had informed him earlier about his seriously ill child and he took $5,000 from the dormant bank account to pay for his child's surgery. Upon further inquiry, the employee informs the manager that he will repay back the loan in installments and has indeed paid the first installment.

The second example is a project manager faced with the challenge of either reporting or keeping quiet on specific shortcomings of a product to be released to the consumer market. Question 2 The two examples are ethical dilemmas due to various reasons. In the first example, it is evident that the employee violated the stated regulations within the firm. It is always expected that employees explore the use of the right channels of communication before using the resources of the firm.

In this case, formal means of communication such as writing a letter or email to the senior manager could have been used. Besides, the employee could have considered other options such as seeking for a loan from the bank. However, this is not the case. The manager knows that the employee was wrong in what he did because he violated the rules and regulations of the firm.

The manager's morals might prevent him from making instant decisions because he already understands the reasons that led to the employee's actions. Therefore, if he reports the issue, the employee risks being dismissed for violating the policies of the company. If he chooses to keep quiet, any failure to pay back the amount or discovery by the management will have dire consequences to both of them. Therefore, this acts as an ethical dilemma.

In the second example, the project manager already knows about the existence of the shortcomings in the product to be unveiled to the market. From an ethical perspective, project managers should ensure the safety of the products they provide to their consumers. They should inform them about the safety as well as risks associated with utilizing the products offered by the company. Project managers should always consider the interests of their shareholders before making any decisions affecting the firm (Marquis & Huston, 2009).

Moreover, they should take into consideration the effect of their decisions on the performance of the firm (profit, market share, and dividends) (Vardi & Weitz, 2016). Therefore, if the project manager chooses to disclose the shortcomings of the product, the performance of the company alongside its shares will decline. The health, safety, and the interests of the consumers will also be protected. On the other hand, if he chooses to keep quiet, the consumers will be at a risk while the performance of the company and its shares will remain unaffected.

The two examples also act as sources of considerable pressure to the values held by the managers. In most cases, managers should discipline employees who violate the stated regulations of the company. However, the fact that the manager was aware of the employee's state makes it difficult to make sound decisions that will not affect him or the company. In the second example, the manager knows that he has an obligation to protect the safety of the consumers as well as that of his company.

Therefore, they act as great ethical dilemmas facing managers in real life. Question 3 If faced with the ethical dilemma on shortcomings of the new product, there are alternatives that should be embraced to benefit all the stakeholders involved. Firstly, it will be important to collect all the information related to the problem as a way of coming up with possible solutions to it. The first alternative that the project manager should consider is informing the shareholders and the management of the company about the shortcomings of the product.

This should be followed by the company deciding to re-evaluate the.