Urgent response to specific questions

Business Ethics Case Study -- Harassment on the Job

Applicable Ethical Systems

The principal ethical system at issue in this case is the concept of equal rights and opportunities and, even more fundamentally, the obligation of employers to protect all rights of their employees from malicious conduct and abuse from coworkers (Halbert & Ingulli, 2008). Employment law expressly prohibits harassment at work in connection with gender and also absolutely requires management to respond immediately and effectively to complaints of any such abuse (Halbert & Ingulli, 2008).

From a more general ethical perspective, the conduct perpetrated against the two female firefighters was unconscionable because it was predicated on prejudices about their gender and their rights to hold positions for which they were qualified by virtue of having passed the requisite employment tests. More importantly, the actions perpetrated against them were emotionally damaging in one case and physically harmful in the other case. In principle, no person has the right to purposely inflict emotional or physical harm on others (Mihaly, 2007; Rosenstand, 2008).

Organizational Leadership Issues

The case study appears to involve significant problems in organizational leadership problems. It appears from the facts that fire department supervisors, in fact, were previously aware of problems of the nature described and that they had previously received complaints from the two female firefighters during the preceding two years. While that is not expressly reported in the case study, it can be reasonably inferred from the fact that the victims describe a two-year-long series of incidents and also by the fact that the mayor was unable to obtain definitive answers from the department about those prior instances. Had the department supervisors been genuinely unaware, they would have issued a statement to that effect without delay. The fact that they did not strongly suggests that they were aware of previous incidents and that they are being extremely careful in responding to the allegations because of the obvious consequences of lying outright if it is later determined that they lied to the mayor in their responses.

For the harassment of the type described to have continued over such a long period, it is difficult to imagine that management was entirely unaware or that management was not guilty, on at least some level, of tacit approval or at least of providing sufficient indication to the perpetrators that such harassment would not be punished in any serious manner. This provides an example of the way that the failure of management and of organizational leaders to lead by ethical example undermines any serious prospect of establishing meaningful ethical compliance within organizations (Stevens, 2008).

Ethical Behavior and Responsibilities of Employees and Management