Moral choices facing employees
Moral Choices Facing Employees
When employees sign a contract with a compamy, they are agreeing to perform certain tasks in exchange for a finacial reward. It is possible that employees are obligated to do their jobs only to get paychecks, but do they have an obligation to help the company past what they are legally responsible to do? What if their company’s interests conflict with their own? Should an employee speak out on immoral decision made by the company? Theses are just a few of the questions that an employee may have to consider while working for a company. Employees face tough moral choices including company loyalty, conflicts of interest, bribes, and whistle blowing.
An employee has a legal obligation to the firm through his contract, but how loyal he is outside of legality is his choice. He can choose whether he wants to be completely loyal, not loyal at all, or if he will have a balance with his employer. Obedience loyalty, an extreme, is where an employee believes that he is worthless and his company is the only thing that matters. While this is a rarity, it is still present throughout some professional fields, such as the military. Obedience-loyal employees would put their lives in danger for their company and give up any personal life to do their job. A good example of this was April Leatherwood, a Memphis policewoman who went undercover for an entire year, putting family, friends, and her own hygiene behind her (Brusseau). Most employees do not display this type of loyalty but would rather have a balance between themselves and the company. Balanced loyalty occurs when an employee might sacrifice some things for his job but not as extreme as his own wellbeing. This is a more common form of loyalty and is displayed in more areas of work. An employee who has balanced loyalty may be asked to move for his job, might talk to his friends about how awesome his company is, or might choose political beliefs that are in the best interest of the company
When employees sign a contract with a compamy, they are agreeing to perform certain tasks in exchange for a finacial reward. It is possible that employees are obligated to do their jobs only to get paychecks, but do they have an obligation to help the company past what they are legally responsible to do? What if their company’s interests conflict with their own? Should an employee speak out on immoral decision made by the company? Theses are just a few of the questions that an employee may have to consider while working for a company. Employees face tough moral choices including company loyalty, conflicts of interest, bribes, and whistle blowing.
An employee has a legal obligation to the firm through his contract, but how loyal he is outside of legality is his choice. He can choose whether he wants to be completely loyal, not loyal at all, or if he will have a balance with his employer. Obedience loyalty, an extreme, is where an employee believes that he is worthless and his company is the only thing that matters. While this is a rarity, it is still present throughout some professional fields, such as the military. Obedience-loyal employees would put their lives in danger for their company and give up any personal life to do their job. A good example of this was April Leatherwood, a Memphis policewoman who went undercover for an entire year, putting family, friends, and her own hygiene behind her (Brusseau). Most employees do not display this type of loyalty but would rather have a balance between themselves and the company. Balanced loyalty occurs when an employee might sacrifice some things for his job but not as extreme as his own wellbeing. This is a more common form of loyalty and is displayed in more areas of work. An employee who has balanced loyalty may be asked to move for his job, might talk to his friends about how awesome his company is, or might choose political beliefs that are in the best interest of the company
Cited: Brusseau, James. "The Business Ethics Workshop, v. 1.0." Flat Knowledge. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. . "Federal Laws On Bribery." Bribery Federal Laws On Bribery Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. . Gray, JW. "Ethical Realism." Mora Issues Facing Employees. Wordpress.com, 11 May 2011. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. . Shaw, William H. Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010. Print.