Virtue, care, and justice in the Watson Water Technologies dilemma

¶ … Ethical Perspectives and a Real-World Ethical Business Dilemma

As the marketplace continues to become globalized, managers in all sectors are increasingly confronted with ethical business dilemmas that defy easy solutions. Although every business dilemma is unique, they can be examined using the three ethical perspectives of virtue, care, and justice described by Russ Shafer-Landau in his text, Ethical Theory: An Anthology (2nd ed.). To this end, this paper provides a discussion concerning the most important principles of each of these three theories, followed by an examination of a real-world ethical business dilemma reported in the peer-reviewed literature. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning these three ethical perspectives and real-world ethical business dilemmas are provided in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

The ethical perspective of virtue refers to the capacity of human beings to resist taking the easy way out in favor of doing the right thing irrespective of the personal sacrifices that may be involved. In other words, virtue means doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Conversely, the ethical perspective of care refers to the concern that people demonstrate for their own welfare and the welfare of others. The ethical perspective of justice is more nebulous, but generally refers to achieving an equitable and mutually satisfactory resolution to a conflict between two or more parties. Clearly, each of these three ethical perspectives exists along a continuum wherein people exhibit these qualities in varying degrees from time to time and over time, but all three form the foundation of ethical decision-making, a quality that is desperately needed in the 21st century workplace as discussed further below.

In their case study, "Watson Water Technologies: An Ethical Dilemma in the Workplace," Bargerstock and Shi (2014) describe the ethical dilemma faced by a certified management accountant (CMA), Melissa Parks, who was employed as an eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) Specialist in the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) Reporting Group of Watson Water Technologies (WWT), a Chicago-based firm competing in the water technologies sector with multinational interests. On the train ride to work one morning, Ms. Parks heard a radio announcement that the SEC had just assessed a quarter billion dollar fine to a similarly situated large multinational for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) which outlaws financial payments to foreign authorities in order to secure business contracts.

The radio announcement reminded Ms. Parks of a conversation she had overheard the previous week wherein it was intimated that such payments were being made from a "slush fund" to obtain contracts in certain African countries targeted for expansion by WWT. Because her father was a high-ranking executive at WWT, Ms. Parks was especially conflicted about how to proceed. After reviewing the provisions of the Institute of Management Accountants' statement of ethical principles and a discussion with her father that confirmed her worst fears, Ms. Parks felt compelled to conduct a more in-depth investigation prior to reporting the incident to the SEC pursuant to the FCPA (Bargerstock & Shi, 2014).