Implications of Ethical Dilemma in Practice
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Implications of Ethical Dilemma in Practice
Managers experience challenges when making decisions that largely conflicts with their morals and values. Such conflict results in ethical dilemmas that test the manager’s knowledge and skills in decision-making. There are times that managers would feel that some services are essential to a client, but they are hindered from offering them to their customers by the internal or external regulations. Managers have to come up with a way to handle the dilemma on whether to provide services vital to the client.
Article overview
Hyde (2012) investigated on the ethical dilemmas that human service managers face and how they develop their solutions. The researcher utilized exploratory research to identify the ethical dilemmas and the solutions made. The researcher also used unstructured interviews to gather information from a sample of managers selected from the United States of America. In the research, managers faced different situations of ethical dilemma, but the most rampant was due to the hindrances to give quality services to the customers. In most of the situations, there were rules and regulations of the external organizations that affected managers’ competencies and compromised missions of the companies. Lastly, Hyde (2012) discussed some of the probable solutions to ethical dilemmas that included consultations, adhering to individual moral standards and adhering to regulations of the organization.
Ethical dilemma
The critical ethical problem was on how manager’s efforts to meet the needs of the customers were hampered due to external regulations. Managers faced the difficulty of whether to take the action of fulfilling the needs of the customers or adhere to the present laws. The business was ethically responsible for meeting the needs of the customers. However, managers were required to adhere to the rules and standards that monitor their activities. For instance, managers pointed out instances that required clients to participate in projects but the regulations of their principal hindered them from implementing that. There were also other health projects that managers predicted required long-term intervention but the funding that could be found was short term. Thus, they made a short-term intervention with the knowledge that it would act as a temporary solution. Other managers allocated to psychiatric departments noted that at times, they had to allow the release of people with mental illness with the knowledge that they would go back to the streets since insurance companies and hospitals failed to support the long-term interventions. The primary ethical problem experienced by managers was associated with difficulties to offer quality services due constraints related to the rules and regulations.
Research Approach
A qualitative research approach would be adopted in the research to understand the implications of ethical dilemmas. A case study would be necessary to understand the concept of implication in details. The qualitative research would facilitate to gain a deeper understanding of the ethical dilemmas faced by managers (Klenke, 2008). Moreover, it will aid in developing permanent solutions that would help managers to meet the needs of the customers. Armstrong (2007) recommends the use of interviews and observations in the case studies. Nevertheless, the interview would the most preferred method of the data collection. The interaction with the interviewee would provide new insights on the research questions. An interview also gives the chance to the interviewer and interviewees to seek clarification. There are important questions need to be answered in the case study. Such include what are the best actions that manager should take when faced with moral dilemmas? Should they compromise on their morals and values or the standards and regulations that have been established in the industries? The case study is vital in the effort to gain a detailed understanding of a phenomenon.
The research would be very significant in the management practice. The managers would understand the implications of the ethical dilemmas to their career and the entire organization. They would take the necessary measures to address the problems that cause ethical dilemmas to the organization. Notably, it would give a reason on whether the managers should deal with the rising ethical dilemmas or address the causes of the dilemmas. Moreover, they would understand the impact of the failure to address the needs of the customers to the competitive advantage and the profitability of the business.
Managers and organization are required to be ethically responsible to their clients and other stakeholders (Daft, 2011). The main aim of the research would be developing a right approach to the various ethical problems. Is it justified to compromise the satisfactions of the clients at the expense of adhering to rules and objective? Moreover, it is not justified to lose a job because of the failure to adhere to the regulations of an organization. However, managers should not compromise on their role to promote ethics and morals in organizations. They are leaders and mentors in the organizations. Therefore, there is the need to come up with a substantive solution to the ethical problems within organizations. The ethical needs of the managers, junior employees, companies, and customers should be addressed.
References
Armstrong, M. (2007). A handbook of human resource management practice. London [u.a.: Kogan Page.
Daft, R. L. (2011). Understanding management. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Hyde, C. A. (2012). Ethical Dilemmas in Human Service Management: Identifying and Resolving the Challenges. Ethics & Social Welfare, 6(4), 351-367. doi:10.1080/17496535.2011.615753
Klenke, K. (2008). Qualitative research in the study of leadership. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Pub.
