what are situations in which the ethical course of action is not clear?

An ethical dilemma is a situation in which the right course of action is not clear, or it is tempting to try to justify doing the wrong thing. Sometimes, ethical dilemmas present themselves as opportunities in which one person has the chance for financial or personal gain at others’ expense.

Full Answer

What are the conditions for a situation to be considered ethical?

There are three conditions that must be present for a situation to be considered an ethical dilemma. The first condition occurs in situations when an individual, called the “agent,” must make a decision about which course of action is best.

What is the first step in resolving an ethical dilemma?

Correctly identifying an ethical dilemma is the first step in resolving it. What Is an Ethical Dilemma? There are three conditions that must be present for a situation to be considered an ethical dilemma. The first condition occurs in situations when an individual, called the “agent,” must make a decision about which course of action is best.

What are the two conditions for an ethical dilemma?

The second condition for ethical dilemma is that there must be different courses of action to choose from. Third, in an ethical dilemma, no matter what course of action is taken, some ethical principle is compromised.

What is an example of an absolute ethical dilemma?

An “absolute” or “pure” ethical dilemma only occurs when two (or more) ethical standards apply to a situation but are in conflict with each other. For example, a social worker in a rural community with limited mental health care services is consulted on a client with agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder involving a fear of open and public spaces.

What are ethically challenging situations?

Ethical dilemmas are situations in which there is a difficult choice to be made between two or more options, neither of which resolves the situation in a manner that is consistent with accepted ethical guidelines.

What is an example of an ethical situation?

Some examples of ethical dilemma include: Taking credit for others' work. Offering a client a worse product for your own profit. Utilizing inside knowledge for your own profit.

What are the 4 basic types of ethical problems?

In LDRS 111 you were introduced to four different ethical dilemma paradigms: truth vs loyalty, short-term vs long-term, individual vs community, and justice vs mercy.

What are some real life examples of ethical dilemmas?

16 Real-Life Examples of Ethical DilemmasShould parents monitor teens' social media activities? ... Reporting an accident.Ghosting in the workplace.Medical care versus religious beliefs.Misinterpret data deliberately?Share my political leanings and risk losing clients?Internet dilemmas.More items...•

What are the 5 biggest ethical issues facing businesses?

The 5 Biggest Ethical Issues Facing BusinessesUnethical Accounting. “Cooking the books” and otherwise conducting unethical accounting practices is a serious problem, especially in publicly traded companies. ... Social Media Ethics. ... Harassment and Discrimination. ... Health and Safety. ... Technology/Privacy.

What are some examples of ethics?

Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty.

What are three examples of unethical behavior in the workplace?

5 Most Common Unethical Behaviors Ethics Resource Center (ERC) SurveyMisuse of company time. Whether it is covering for someone who shows up late or altering a timesheet, misusing company time tops the list. ... Abusive Behavior. ... Employee Theft. ... Lying to employees. ... Violating Company Internet Policies.

How do you deal with unethical situations?

How To Handle Unethical Situations at WorkDefine Exactly What Is Wrong. When you notice unethical activity around you, it is important to document as much as possible. ... Pursue a Solution at Work. Depending on the situation, you may be able to pursue a simple and easy solution to the problem at work. ... Protect Yourself.

What causes ethical issues?

Ethical Problems Ethical behavior is acting in ways that are consistent with how the business world views moral principles and values. The four major factors that can cause ethical problems in the workplace are lack of integrity, organizational relationship problems, conflicts of interest, and misleading advertising.

What are some examples of ethical dilemmas in social work?

Common Ethical Dilemmas in Social WorkReceiving Gifts. ... Right to Self-Determination. ... Differences in Personal Values. ... Dual Relationships. ... Confidentiality Involving Minors. ... Review Professional Guidelines. ... Consult with Others. ... Always Make Sure Professional Decisions Comply with the Law.More items...•

What is an example of an ethical dilemma in school?

A big ethical dilemma is bullying. Teachers need to be aware that students are not being bullied by other students or teachers such as the case in the Sun Sentinel paper. Two girls were bullying and harassing another girl to the point that the girl committed suicide.

What are some ethical dilemmas for students?

Five Ethical Dilemmas Freshmen FaceDo I have to conform? It's human nature—everyone wants to fit in. ... Do I pick a major based on passion or post-graduate salary? ... Do I have to adhere to “hookup culture”? ... How do I live with someone else? ... Do I party?

What are some examples of ethics in school?

Hinman points to the importance of teachers respecting students. Don't treat a child with disrespect or disdain. Don't crush a child's spirit....Ethics in the Classroom: What You Need to KnowDo no harm.Make things better.Respect others.Be fair.Be loving.

What is an example of an ethical dilemma in social work?

For example, an approximate dilemma occurs when a social worker is legally obligated to make a report of child or domestic abuse and has concerns about the releasing of information. The social worker may experience tension between the legal requirement to report and the desire to respect confidentiality.

What is an example of an ethical dilemma in school?

A big ethical dilemma is bullying. Teachers need to be aware that students are not being bullied by other students or teachers such as the case in the Sun Sentinel paper. Two girls were bullying and harassing another girl to the point that the girl committed suicide.

What is the biggest ethical issue in business today?

1. Harassment and Discrimination in the Workplace. Harassment and discrimination are arguably the largest ethical issues that impact business owners today. Should harassment or discrimination take place in the workplace, the result could be catastrophic for your organization both financially and reputationally.

When writing an ethical dilemma paper or when attempting to resolve an ethical dilemma in practice, should social workers determine?

When writing an ethical dilemma paper or when attempting to resolve an ethical dilemma in practice, social workers should determine if it is an absolute or approximate dilemma; distinguish between personal and professional dimensions; and identify the ethical, moral, legal, and values considerations in the situation. After conducting this preliminary analysis, an ethical decision-making model can then be appropriately applied.

What is an ethical dilemma?

An “absolute” or “pure” et hical dilemma only occurs when two (or more) ethical standards apply to a situation but are in conflict with each other. For example, a social worker in a rural community with limited mental health care services is consulted on a client with agoraphobia, an anxiety disorder involving a fear of open and public spaces. Although this problem is outside of the clinician’s general competence, the limited options for treatment, coupled with the client`s discomfort in being too far from home, would likely mean the client might not receive any services if the clinician declined on the basis of a lack of competence (Ethical Standard 1.04). Denying to see the patient then would be potentially in conflict with our commitment to promote the well-being of clients (Ethical Standard 1.01). This is a pure ethical dilemma because two ethical standards conflict. It can be resolved by looking at Ethical Standard 4.01, which states that social workers should only accept employment (or in this case, a client) on the basis of existing competence or with “the intention to acquire the necessary competence.” The social worker can accept the case, discussing the present limits of her expertise with the client and following through on her obligation to seek training or supervision in this area.

What is social work ethics?

Social workers are routinely confronted with ethical dilemmas in practice, and social work programs infuse their courses with professional ethics and values to help students prepare for this eventuality. The Council on Social Work Education (2008) requires that students learn how to “apply social work ethical principles to guide practice, engage in ethical decision making, recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice, and tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts” (EPAS 2.1.2).

What is an approximate dilemma?

For example, an approximate dilemma occurs when a social worker is legally obligated to make a report of child or domestic abuse and has concerns about the releasing of information. The social worker may experience tension between the legal requirement to report and the desire to respect confidentiality. However, because the NASW Code of Ethics acknowledges our obligation to follow legal requirements and to intervene to protect the vulnerable, technically, there is no absolute ethical dilemma present. However, the social worker experiences this as a dilemma of some kind and needs to reach some kind of resolution. Breaking the situation down and identifying the ethics, morals, values, legal issues, and policies involved as well as distinguishing between personal and professional dimensions can help with the decision-making process in approximate dilemmas. Table 1 (at beginning of this article) is an illustration of how these factors might be considered.

What is the purpose of the chapter on ethical decision making?

The purpose of this chapter is to: 1) Outline the decision making process. 2) Explain the nature of ethical decision making. 3) Provide ethical frameworks used in making decision making.

How does utilitarianism impact ethical decisions?

Utilitarianism makes ethical decision making easy once the outcomes have been projected. Will this project potentially harm the local water source? What will that cost in terms of clean up or quality of life? Will building a factory create jobs? After asking a series of questions like this, the outcomes are estimated to total impact or good, however that is defined in your ethical dilemma. However, this ethical framework has two primary limitations. First, the concept of utility (or good) is not always easily defined. Financial analysts can project income and net present values of decisions, and these decisions are easy to make once the numbers are in. But how do you estimate how much satisfaction something will bring? If a decision is going to result in the loss of life, how much is a human life worth? How do you estimate the impact a decision has on the community’s culture? Determining utility and then calculating is easy in some cases, but in most it becomes a major challenge to using this framework. The second challenge for utilitarianism is that maximizing the greatest good for most, might result in the sacrifice of a few. A classic example of utilitarianism is the layoff decision. We need to lay off thirty people so that the company stays solvent, and continues to provide jobs for the remaining seventy people. In this case the company stays solvent, but the thirty workers now struggle to provide for their families. Another example is a mass casualty incident. If a trauma ward is overrun with cases, the lead doctor must make decisions about which patients receive immediate care and which ones must be put aside. In this situation, the doctor is trying to save the most human life, which might result in patients with less serious injuries have to wait hours in pain to be treated.

Why is the law insufficient?

The short answer is that the law is an insufficient means to regulate our ethical decision making. There are two primary reasons for this. First, the law gives us bare minimums in terms of safety, human dignity, and respect of rights. However, most ethical dilemmas are navigated well above these elements.

What is the first challenge in decision making?

Identify the Problem. The first challenge in decision making is working to understand what the problem is . Ineffective managers focus on the symptoms without identifying the underlying issues. A child with a runny nose does not have a runny nose problem, she has an infectious disease causing a running nose.

Why is the law not a good standard?

We put in place laws that allowed for the forced sterilization of 60,000 Americans that the government determined were unworthy of reproduction.

How does an intuitive decision maker make decisions?

The intuitive decision maker simply “knows” what the problem and alternatives are before acting. A manager using analytical tools might uncover new insights from trying to really figure out what the problem is. A democratic manager will rely on the use of the team to work through understanding the problem and figuring out alternative courses of action.

What is decision making?

Decision making is the action or process of thinking through possible options and selecting one (Bright et. al, 2019). A rudimentary framework for how managers engage in the decision making process contains four steps.

What is the alternative ethical system?

An alternative ethical system is a type of Consequentialism known as Utilitarianism . This contrasts well with Kantian ethics, as instead of using very stern and fixed maxims for every situation you instead judge each situation individually. The principle on which Utilitarianism is founded is that we know fundamentally that happiness is good and suffering is not good. Therefore if we attempt to maximise happiness while minimising suffering we will be doing something that overall is good. This can all be summed up by attempting to achieve “The greatest happiness for the greatest number”. While Utilitarianism is useful at a community wide scale, it can be less useful at a smaller scale and can appear to suggest decisions which most would call immoral, which is investigated in a thought experiment. Imagine that you had a great aunt who was very wealthy, but unfortunately unwell and in constant pain. You are her only surviving relative and if she dies you stand to inherit all of her money. You are also the only person who sees her and you don’t enjoy seeing her because her illness has made her bad tempered. It seems as if there is a strong Utilitarian argument for killing your aunt, especially if you decided to donate some of the wealth you inherit to the poor and needy as you would create a very large overall increase in happiness not only for yourself but also for others, as well as relieving your aunt’s suffering. This example really highlights the most significant drawback of Utilitarianism, that what creates the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people isn’t necessarily right. Morality is not necessarily the same thing as trying to make a net gain in happiness.

Why is ethics important in medical practice?

This is important in medical practice as there will be situations where the ethical course of action may not be immediately obvious or clear. In these situations if you have a reasonable understanding of ethical systems you can apply their principles to the dilemma at hand and use them to try to decide what the right thing to do is.#N#Understanding ethics is useful to a prospective medical student as it is likely that in medical school interviews you will be asked about an ethical dilemma. In these situations many candidates are tempted to answer with a “gut feeling” answer about what is right, without any consideration. Of course, the interviewer’s next question will always be “why do you think that?” An interviewer is never really interested in your opinion on assisted dying or abortion; they want to investigate your ability to think and come to rational conclusions. Having said this, if you do answer with a very bizarre or controversial opinion it is much more likely to hinder than help your chances. Remember that your interviewer will be considering whether they want you to be a doctor who could be treating them in 10 years’ time and they will not think of you as particularly compassionate if you start suggesting compulsory euthanasia. So how is it possible to be rational about your moral judgements and be able to look at an ethical problem systematically? This is essentially what ethics has been trying to do and while it is rare that ethics will produce a conclusive answer to a dilemma, it at least provides a means for examining a situation.

What are the four principles of medicine?

The four principles are: Beneficence , Non-maleficence, Justice and Autonomy . Beneficence and non-maleficence are essentially two sides of the same coin, with beneficence being actions that promote the well-being of patients and non-maleficence being avoiding actions which bring about the harm of patients.

What to do when someone poses you an ethical dilemma?

Remember, if someone poses you an ethical dilemma, resist the temptation simply to blurt out your instinctive response. As a minimum talk your way through the four principles and then identify where they may come into conflict or where their interpretation may cause a dilemma.

What was Kant's ethics intended to be?

Kant’s ethics were intended to be entirely objective.

What is the moral system of Kant?

His moral system is entirely based around logic and rationality and is meant to transcend any kind of subjective ideas of what is good or right. The basis for this is called the “Categorical Imperative”, ...

Which philosopher based his ethics on the concept of good character?

Aristotle (right) based his ethics on the concept of good character.

Which ethical system can justify the behavior of one performing an illegal or harmful act?from quizlet.com

Egoism is usually the only ethical system that can justify the behavior of one performing an illegal or harmful act.

What is the ancient approach to justice?from quizlet.com

An ancient approach to justice that includes the concepts of compassion and care, connectedness, and mindfulness

What is the ethical system of Kant?from quizlet.com

The ethical system espoused by Kant that focuses on duty; holds that the only thing truly good is a good will, and that what is good is that which conforms to the categorical imperative

Why are the first two deontic theories of morality considered deontic?from learnreligions.com

The first two are considered deontic or action-based theories of morality because they focus entirely on the actions which a person performs. When actions are judged morally right based upon their consequences, we have teleological or consequentialist ethical theory.

What is deontological morality?from learnreligions.com

Deontological moral systems are characterized primarily by a focus on adherence to independent moral rules or duties. In order to make the correct moral choices, you simply have to understand what your moral duties are and what correct rules exist which regulate those duties. When you follow your duty, you are behaving morally.

What does it mean when you fail to follow your duty?from learnreligions.com

When you follow your duty, you are behaving morally. When you fail to follow your duty, you are behaving immorally. A deontological moral system may be seen in many religions, where you follow the rules and duties that are said to have been established by God or the church.

What is teleology and ethics?from learnreligions.com

Teleology and Ethics - Consequences of Your Choices. Teleological moral systems are characterized primarily by a focus on the consequences which any action might have (for that reason, they are often referred to as consequentialist moral systems, and both terms are used here).

Why should ethics be prioritized over non-ethical values?from status.net

Ethics always takes priority over non-ethical values – A decision should not be rationalized if it in any way violates ethical principles. In business, this can show up through deciding between increasing productivity or profit and keeping an employee’s best interest at heart.

What are the components of ethical decision making?from status.net

There are multiple components to consider when making an ethical decision. Regulations, policies and procedures, perception, public opinion, and even a leader’s morality play a part in how decisions that question business ethics should be handled. While no approach is perfect, a well-thought-out process and useful framework can make dealing with ethical situations easier.

What are the issues of power and authority in social work?from researchgate.net

Issues of power and authority are core to social work. Social workers often grapple with difficult professional and systemic power dynamics with both service users and the other professionals they encounter in multi-agency working. In this essay, I reflect on my experiences of the ethical issues arising from an imbalance in power dynamics – both between myself and a service user and between myself and another professional. I explore the use of power and professional authority, value dilemmas resulting from my role as both a social work student and a youth justice worker, and deontological and teleological issues arising from tensions between professionals with differing objectives.

What is ethical dilemma?from researchgate.net

Ethical dilemmas are conflicts that arise when two or more ethical principles clash. As social work practitioners often grapple with ethical dilemmas in their practice, it is important and informative to explore how they address them, especially in different cultural contexts. Drawing on data from a qualitative exploratory study of social work practitioners in different settings in Botswana, this chapter identifies and discusses several ethical dilemmas that social work practitioners in Botswana come across in their practice in both government and non-governmental organizations and how they address them. The chapter also examines the struggles practitioners deal with such as ethical stress, as they try to address and deal the ethical dilemmas. The chapter brings forth recommendations that social work ethics should be part of the educational curriculum and the importance of practitioners' self-awareness.

What is the purpose of ethics filters?from ethics.org

Their purpose is to surface the ethics considerations and implications of the decision at hand. When decisions are classified as being "business" decisions (rather than "ethics" issues), values can quickly be left out ...

Why is it important for an organization to develop a set of guidelines?from ethics.org

Organizations struggle to develop a simple set of guidelines that makes it easier for individual employees, regardless of position or level, to be confident that his/her decisions meet all of the competing standards for effective and ethical decision-making used by the organization.

How can organizations support ethical decision making?from ethics.org

How Organizations Can Support Ethical Decision-Making. Organizations empower employees with the knowledge and tools they need to make ethical decisions by. Intentionally and regularly communicating to all employees: Organizational policies and procedures as they apply to the common workplace ethics issues.

What are the different types of ethical dilemmas?

There are several different types of ethical dilemmas that agents may encounter in the course of performing their roles and responsibilities: Epistemic dilemmas take place in a decision-making context where moral standards conflict and the agent cannot readily determine which ethical principle should take precedence ...

What is an Example of an Ethical Dilemma?

Ethical dilemmas occur regularly in the business environment where employees make decisions that impact the success and profitability of organizations.

How Do You Identify an Ethical Dilemma?

Experts agree that identifying an ethical dilemma starts with recognizing your gut reaction to a problematic situation. If a decision seems to challenge your moral compass, it’s time to take a step back and investigate further.

Why do ethical dilemmas happen?

Avoiding layoffs. Ethical dilemmas happen because ethics are inherently contradictory. Employees may face situations where compromising on telling the truth or following the law seems to serve other valued goals, such as maximizing profits or avoiding layoffs.

What are ethical standards?

Ethical standards are the moral frameworks that individuals and organizations use to guide their decision-making and differentiate between right and wrong. Companies and professional organizations may adopt their own ethical standards and require that employees/members adopt those standards as part of their personal business ethics.

What is self imposed dilemma?

A self-imposed dilemma is one created by the agent’s own errors in judgment, such as making competing promises to multiple organizations that cannot be fulfilled simultaneously. In contrast, a world-imposed dilemma is caused by circumstances outside the agent’s control.

How to determine if a dilemma exists?

Talk it Out – The best way to determine whether a dilemma exists is to discuss it with other people. A collective analysis of the situation can shed light on whether a dilemma really exists and the moral implications of each available option. This might involve reporting the incident to your company’s hotline so that you may discuss the situation with the compliance team and get proper guidance.