Any workplace represents an environment where many people have to interact with one another; as a result, due to the overlapping interests, diverse values, and clashing needs, there is a high possibility of conflicts between employees (Carter, 2015). Some of such conflicts can be resolved with the help of internal policies and established rules. Also, some clashes have a complex nature and require individual approaches because they represent ethical dilemmas – the types of problems where the fulfillment of demands of either party would result in the discrimination against the interest of the opponent.
Ethical Dilemma Found in a Professional Publication
A good example of an ethical dilemma was found in one of the CIPD’s People Management articles; it described a situation where Miss Mbuyi, an evangelical Christian childcare employee, was dismissed from her workplace for gross misconduct due to telling a homosexual co-worker that she believed homosexuality to be a sin (Jeffrey, 2016). The employer decided that Mbuyi’s behavior was discriminatory of her co-worker. However, Mbuyi regarded her dismissal as based on her religious beliefs and the case was taken to the tribunal. During the hearing, it turned out that the employer failed to conduct an appropriate investigation of the situation. Throughout the latter, it was revealed that the homosexual co-worker approached Mbuyi asking about her beliefs on homosexuality. The tribunal ruled that the discussion of sexuality and personal life was inappropriate in the workplace. Also, it was found that Mbuyi had never attempted to promote or push her religious beliefs on her colleagues. As a result, her dismissal was pronounced unlawful.
Jeffrey (2016) emphasized that solving an ethical dilemma of this kind one is to focus on the conduct but not on the protected characteristic. In particular, Mbuyi’s faith (the protected characteristic) did not translate into any kind of discriminatory conduct in the workplace up to the moment when she was directly and inappropriately asked about her stand on homosexuality.
Ethical Dilemma from Personal Experience
In my former workplace, one of my co-workers had a terminally ill mother. Due to the need to spend a lot of time with her in the hospital, he started to ask for multiple days off work. His duties and tasks had to be moved to the over workers, thus creating unfair and extreme workloads and forcing people to spend additional hours at work. As a result, his absence caused dissatisfaction among the employees and the managers. The latter, who initially became understanding of the man’s situation and agreed to grant him the time off, changed their minds when the situation aggravated. The man was faced with an ultimatum – either he returns to work or he refuses and gets fired for absenteeism. The employee chose the latter and was dismissed.
The principles used in the first case of dilemma do not seem to apply to this situation because the protected characteristic – the employees’ family situation interferes with his ability to do to work. Resolving this dilemma, the managers decided to protect the organization and disregard the individual problems of the worker. This seems unethical regarding the employee because initially the man was permitted to take time off work to be able to spend the necessary time with his terminally ill mother. It was difficult for the managers to choose one of the two solutions; however, I believe it was possible to hire a temporary worker for his position and help him keep it regardless of the complicated personal situation.
References
Carter, A. (2015). Ethical dilemmas in HR practice. Web.
Jeffrey, R. (2016). Don’t shy away from religion in the workplace. Web.