Reflecting on an Ethical Dilemma Using Giving Voice to Values

Overview and Framework

The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical personal reflection on an ethical dilemma I faced in my business. The goal is to conclude with actionable strategies for improvement, based upon Gentile's (2012) approach to managing ethical situations successfully. Using Giving Voice to Values (GVV) and guided by Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle, this paper draws upon the pillars of GVV to illustrate the thought processes I went through when navigating my own ethical situation in leadership. The following provides my value conflict scenario, a reflection with personal and contextual analysis, and reasons and rationalization. Peer feedback is also incorporated prior to the conclusion.

Analysis is used in business ethics when one applies the rules, laws, and policies of an organization to an ethical situation to determine if it is "over the line or not," in the words of Gentile (2013). As Gentile notes in describing her GVV program, awareness is essential in this process of analysis, but one also has to be able to assess whether the behavior in question is "trustworthy behavior"—and that requires reflection and cognition (Gentile, 2013). It also requires understanding how one's own presumptions and biases can play a part in shaping our perception—or as Gentile puts it, "just because I think it's right you're gonna think it's right" is not a good parameter for analysis (Gentile, 2013).

Value Conflict Scenario

It is difficult for me to divide personal and professional context, because my personal life is so wrapped up in my professional life. I am a business owner, and as such I have very little personal life outside of my business. Any business owner can appreciate this circumstance, as I believe it is common. Therefore, when I provide personal and professional context, I am simply framing the scenario from my point of view as a human being and as a leader in my organization.

Framing the scenario, however, is important, and I must point out that Gentile's remarks are relevant to my value conflict scenario because I held the assumption that if "I think it's right, others will too." The situation was this: I am President and CEO of a small creative firm. With COVID-19 devastating business to levels we had never seen, and with the company barely able to survive, we were looking at dropping our policy of covering 100% of team members' health insurance. For me, the idea of dropping health coverage for employees was an enormous conflict: I had had cancer and knew how hard it would have been to cope with medical bills without insurance. I did not want anyone to be in a situation where they had to worry about whether or not they would be able to pay for medical care. I assumed everyone would feel the same way.

I voiced my concerns with my business partners and they appreciated what I had to say, but in the end they insisted that good governance had to win out or the company could sink into bankruptcy—and that would mean reducing benefits for employees. My partners reasoned thus: it is better to be employed with no health benefits than to not be employed at all. I, however, maintained that as a leader of the company I had a responsibility to look out for my workers' best interests, and I could not in good conscience accept this decision.

I did not know what to do. On the one hand, I could appreciate my partners' assessment—it made sense financially. On the other hand, I felt my partners were dehumanizing the situation. I wondered whether I myself had a conflict of interest, since as President I would benefit from denying my employees their benefits. It was a very confusing situation, and I was not sure if my employees would turn against me if I gave in to my partners and reduced benefits for all. At the same time, I wondered if I was more concerned about my own image than about the health of the company during the pandemic crisis. What needed to come first—my own values, the company's finances, or employees' well-being? How could I even determine what was best for employees? Maybe my partners were right that it is better to have a job without health coverage than no job at all—which surely would be the case if the company did not cut costs immediately.

Reflective Observation

Gentile (2010) states that the "everyone else was doing it" mentality is one that should be avoided when it comes to workplace ethics, because it is an attempt to excuse unethical behavior (p. iv). Reflecting on my experience, I can see that I was torn between a kind of conformity bias—conforming to my partners' way of behaving without fully thinking it through, because thinking about it made me disconcerted—and holding out to see if we could find a better way. Gentile (2010) also addresses cognitive dissonance in her book, cautioning against ruling out information that makes us uncomfortable, while also noting that these occasions of cognitive dissonance can be helpful because they help us "more effectively voice our values" (p. 200). She states that when we voice our values it may trigger cognitive dissonance in others, and one way to help others is to affirm their position and viewpoints even as we challenge them. Looking back, I can see that my mistake was that I did not affirm my partners' viewpoint as much as I should have. Instead, I became frustrated and uncertain about how to act toward my partners and my workers.

What I could have done differently is this: I could have told my partners that I appreciated their attention to the company's financials—that is good governance. I could then have suggested an alternate solution to cutting benefits, such as applying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that the federal government made available to small businesses. I might have demonstrated that a PPP loan could support the company's payroll while we waited to see if business picked back up. The important thing about this approach is that I would have been affirming the Board's values while voicing my own—helping us engage in a continuing dialogue to discover the best solution.

I also think I might have broached the matter with employees more substantially and asked for their feedback. After all, this was a matter that affected them personally. I could have suggested to my partners that we survey employees to see if they would accept a reduction in their health benefits. I did not do this, however, because I presumed my partners might panic and think such an approach could lead employees to abandon the company altogether, which was not what anyone wanted. Yet here I can see that perhaps I was experiencing "ethical fading"—that phenomenon in which the ethics of a situation disappear from view because some other concern is pushing them out, as Tenbrunsel and Messick (2004) describe it (p. 223). Were we more concerned about maintaining order, even if it meant keeping workers in the dark about their own health care coverage?

In the end, I talked the matter over with my partners, and we agreed to apply for PPP aid, though we also knew this might not be enough. I asked my partners if it would be all right if we took the matter directly to our employees to hear their feedback. They were reluctant, but they saw that I genuinely needed to know what our workers would think. They understood that for me personally, having been a cancer patient, I knew how essential health coverage is. They accepted my request. Our workers, it turned out, were understanding: they were grateful to still have work and hoped that when business picked back up their benefits would return as well. My partners and I promised that if business returned to pre-COVID levels, the first thing we would do is restore all health benefits to 100% coverage. This outcome satisfied everyone, and I felt that we had finally done the right thing ethically.

References

Drumwright, M. E., & Murphy, P. E. (2004). How advertising practitioners view ethics: Moral muteness, moral myopia, and moral imagination. Journal of Advertising, 33(2), 7–24.

Gentile, M. C. (2010). Giving voice to values. Yale University Press.

Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2005). Managing authenticity: The paradox of great leadership. Harvard Business Review, 83(12), 86–94.

Harvard University. (2013). Building trust: Giving voice to values—Mary Gentile | IECO-RCC. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ3WZ9nv7vQ

Tenbrunsel, A. E., & Messick, D. M. (2004). Ethical fading: The role of self-deception in unethical behavior. Social Justice Research, 17(2), 223–236.

Wong, C. A., & Cummings, G. G. (2009). The influence of authentic leadership behaviors on trust and work outcomes of health care staff. Journal of Leadership Studies, 3(2), 6–23.