Journal 5 –Ethical Principles in Business

When in face of a decision, what would you choose? The one that would benefit many, the one that would respect the rights of an individual or would you rather base your decision according to culture or religion? This was what was discussed during our fourth session. It was really interesting as there’s really no right or wrong answer especially when you look at different points of views.

During this session, we discussed the Five Ethical Frameworks. They are Utilitarianism, Rights and Duties, Justice and Fairness, The Ethics of Care and Virtue Ethics. Without delving into the specifics imagine a doctor making a life and death decision. Currently, his got a patient who was just into a vehicular accident and has a very slim chance of survival whilst on the other hand his got other patients waiting for immediate organ donors. Should the doctor try to save that patient and risk saving no one in the end? Or should the doctor play safe and harvest his organs to save more people as his got only a slim chance of survival? It’s a bit tricky choosing to save an individual versus choosing to save more people at the expense of one. In this instance, it’s helpful to evaluate the choices according to the Five Ethical Frameworks as “no single framework is perfect.”

I also asked our professor during this session a conversation I had with my colleague from Australia. She shared to me that before they had a female colleague who was a Muslim. Her argument was its unfair that they have the same salary while she works more hours than her as the Muslim was given by the company her 3 prayer breaks (aside from the coffee breaks and lunch break) and a prayer room. She further argues that with the rise in cost of office space, the company was incurring more expenditure keeping the Muslim than her and their other non-Muslim colleagues altogether due to the cost of the prayer room. Our professor responded by telling it’s the same as companies providing a breast feeding room for female employees. It took me a while to process this and honestly I was not satisfied with the answer as a breastfeeding room will benefit all females regardless of religion unlike the prayer room which will only benefit only one or a only a few.  However, after thinking about it all night I finally seem to realize that it’s the same. Imagine if the Muslim was doing her prayers in the production room, in her cubicle, near everyone. It would probably distract or even annoy the other employees. On the other hand, if the company fires the Muslim it would be unethical as they will not be respecting her right to practice her own religion. This may in turn lead to reputational risk for the company that may have financial loss attached to it in the future. Thus, it really pays to consider other point of views, the Five Ethical Frameworks, and find a middle ground or compromise. Initially it’s hard especially our normal tendency is to look at our interest before others. However, with a little bit of effort in understanding the other side, we may be able to make the best ethical decision and make the pressure of making that decision more easier knowing the fact that we had considered all stakeholder’s interest.