Ethics Unwrapped

Questions: Describe about the following three topics: 1. Conflict of interest 2. Ethical fading 3. Fundamental moral unit. Answers: Conflict of Interest Solution 1 A conflict of interest is any situation where an individual or the organisation deviate from their focus and get involved in multiple interests. It can be observed in several areas and departments. It can be observed that these situations often arise in our day to day lives also. In my personal as well as professional roles I have to take certain decisions where a single odd decision may lead to the conflict of interests (Salcido, 2003). There have been instances in my profession where I had to take decisions related to finance. At times, these decisions used to be very difficult as I had to select the best option in the interests of the organisation. The unbiased decision led to dissatisfaction among individuals who wanted to use the opportunity in their personal interests. Solution 2 Even I have faced many situations where there is a conflict of interests and I have to make the selections. It is very crucial to keep ones focus clear and take decisions based on them irrespective of the lucrative interests available. If an individual goals and objectives are clear and are strictly followed there would not be any conflict of interests leading to unethical behavior. It is very important that the individual is not persuaded by any interest and sticks to the ethics. Only then the conflict of interest can be avoided (Steffen, 2008). Solution 3 I had faced such a situation during my high school. My English teacher had a relative in our class. She was partial towards him and always granted him top grades despite other deserving students present in the class. This led to discontentment among the class. The deserving students felt cheated and lost motivation and interest in the subject. The conflict of interest of the teacher led to serious implications for the other students. Solution 4 It is very crucial for organisations that they implement policies that clearly accomplish the need. Some of the requirements that these policies must fulfill so that there are no conflicts are as follows: The conflict of interest must be clearly stated. The individuals must be identified who stand covered by the policy in the organization The information must be disclosed by the employees so that the conflict of interests is identified. The procedures for managing the conflict of interests must be devised. The organisation would definitely benefit by devising the policies to avoid conflict of interests. The lesser conflicts would surely lower the costs of the company (Weinstein, 2012). Ethical Fading Solution 1 Ethical Fading is a self-deceptive process where an individual compromises on the ethics without even realizing the fact. It has become very common these days and can be easily observed in individuals. The people who talk about ethics and values also many times fall prey to ethical fading either knowingly or unknowingly. This also happens while trying to impress someone where individuals ignore the ethical issues and focus on their objective (Tenbrunsel and Messick, 2004). This has also happened with me at times. I had hacked my friends phone to check the status of his project report without his permission. I did not even realize that it was offensive, but later on, I felt that it was also a form of Ethical Fading. Solution 2 There was a group project in our class which we had to complete with a group of four. There was a neck to neck competition and all the groups were striving hard to achieve the top slot. Even my group was working very hard to achieve the top position. We wanted to attain the best rank at any cost and impress our very strict teacher. We were hoping to attain a good rank but were not very sure about it. So I along with my partner tampered the project of one of the groups. They did not get to know about our wrong doings and we were able to get better rank. Though it was highly unethical and I regretted later. The guilt was so high that I even went to the teacher and intimated her about the incident. Though our group got punished for our act, but at least I had a relief and contentment (Cristofari and Guitton, 2014). Solution 3 One of my very good friends was working with a food and supplement company. The company had a check and they were caught with some major faults. My friend had recently joined the company. The manager on being caught laid the entire blame on my friend. He trapped him recklessly and he was left with no option (Moore, 2015). There was a legal action against him and he is still struggling to prove his innocence in the case. He fell prey to ethical fading without any fault. There are many such incidents where people are facing the consequences of ethical fading. Hence, it becomes mandatory to implement such ethical policies to safeguard the interests of employees (Rhodes and Wray-Bliss, 2012). Fundamental Moral Unit Solution 1 There is a single consideration that all the theories support despite their different perspectives. This consideration is known as Fundamental Moral Unit. Every theory has their own considerations and they strictly adhere to it. The classical Greek theories believe in not intruding into others way. The Feminist theories believes in fulfilling the needs of people who are deprived of it. The fundamental moral unit here is to provide the care and concern for people who are unable to take care of themselves. Likewise, different theories have different considerations, but the FMU of these theories remains the same which is the betterment of mankind (Stevens, 2000). Here both the theories FMU is to provide a hassle free life for individuals. Though the classical Greek theories believe in allowing the individuals to live peacefully without any disturbance. They do not allow any hindrances in the other way. However, the feminist theories consider that the needy people must be taken care of a nd cannot be left out. The theory advocates the fact that the individuals who are capable of helping and supporting the needy must do so so that their basic requirements are met. Though the FMU of both the theories is the betterment of society, but their considerations stay entirely dissimilar (Park, 2000). This can be better explained by an example. There is an NGO that works for the poor, needy and helpless people in a particular area. The government provides aid to NGOs based on their work and performance. The aid would be provided to only a single NGO in that particular area. There are many fake NGOs that eye on the government aid. At this point of time, it becomes imperative for that particular NGO to get that aid by any means. They even bribe the officials to get the aid. Though their fundamental goal is not wrong, but the means applied to reach the goal is not ethically correct. They would be using the entire aid for the betterment of the society, but the ethical and moral values are compromised at some point in time. It becomes difficult to judge the correct moral values in such situations (Hjorth, 2015). References Cristofari, C., and Guitton, M. (2014). Surviving at Any Cost: Guilt Expression Following Extreme Ethical Conflicts in a Virtual Setting.PLoS ONE, 9(7), p.e101711. Hjorth, R. (2015). Humanitarian Intervention and Moral Responsibility.De Ethica, 2(1), pp.19-34. Moore, G. (2015). Corporate character, corporate virtues.Bus Ethics Eur Rev, 24, pp.S99-S114. Park, J. (2000). A Critical Study of Kant's Ethical Theory : On the Fundamental Principle Of Moral Metaphysic, 12(2), p.79. Rhodes, C. and Wray-Bliss, E. (2012). The ethical difference of Organization.Organization, 20(1), pp.39-50. Salcido, R. (2003). Conflict of Interest, or Interest in Conflict?.Advances in Skin Wound Care, 16(3), p.108. Steffen, T. (2008). Conflict of Interest? What conflict of interest?.European Spine Journal, 17(6), pp.791-793. Stevens, P. (2000). The Ethics of Being Ethical.The Family Journal, 8(2), pp.177-178. Tenbrunsel, A. and Messick, D. (2004). Ethical Fading: The Role of Self-Deception in Unethical Behavior.Social Justice Research, 17(2), pp.223-236.