Business Administration Essay on Ethical Dilemma

Business Ethics has been defined as a set of principles which provide for the foundations of modern concepts of work within organizations, corporates, and businesses (Selart & Johansen, 2011). In other words, business ethics are a set of standards that provide guidance on how businesses should be conducted in organizations, corporates and businesses. These principles are important as they increase the scope of the business that goes beyond profitability. However, in the current business world, organizations are faced with many ethical dilemmas. Lichtenstein (2011) defines an ethical dilemma as a challenging situation comprising of mental conflict between two or more moral duties whereby conforming to one will lead to violation of the other.

Overview of Ethical Dilemma

Recently, the cost of company resources has increased. Regarding this development, the human resource manager ventured out to research on the cause of the increased costs on the company resources. In the research findings, 75% of our employees agreed that they use company resources and time to conduct private businesses. When questioned, the employees stated that they are frequently faced with sudden personal issues that could not be avoided or postponed. Also, they stated that it was impossible for them to check in with their supervisors every time they had such issues. Some of the personal businesses done were serious such as booking of doctors appointments and receiving emergency calls from their family members. However, others were just luxury personal issues such as online shopping, doing freelance jobs online as side businesses as well as making reservations for holidays. The ethical issue, in this case, is important as it directly impacts on the employees as well as the organization's shareholders. It is a company policy to safeguard the wellbeing of its employees as well as their families. This ensures that employees feel safe in their work environment and can be productive in their duties. However, it increases the risk of the company losing profits as allowing employees to do personal business during work hours will reduce the productivity of the organization.

Facts of the Ethical Dilemma

During an impromptu visit to the offices, the general manager discovered a good number of employees on online websites that were not involved with the company procedures. On further observation, he noticed that some employees were absent minded while others were in groups conversing. Regarding this, the human resource manager was tasked to find out how often this occurred. In his findings, he discovered that most employees would be in the office only virtually but would be doing personal business during the working hours and also using office resources for conducting personal business. The ethical issue is noticeable, it is wrong to use office hours and resources to conduct personal businesses such as when an employee uses hours of operation to make a personal call. However, what happens when one's nanny calls with an emergency at home or when one is required to carry out a transaction that can only take place during business hours? This brings the question: What can be defined as misuse of company resources ant time for personal business? Research has shown that changing times have changed the perspectives of people about work. According to Lichtenstein (2011) people now believe that work is something that you do and not a place or a set of hours.

Affected Stakeholders

Solutions to the increasing cases of misuse of work time can impact both negatively and positively to several people in the organization. Stakeholders affected include the customers, employees, shareholders and the company owners and investors (Crossan, Mazutis, & Seijts, 2013). Solutions can result in reduced productivity of the enterprise. This will affect the company owners, shareholders, and investors as it will reduce the profitability of the organization. However, it can lead to low employee turn-out which in the long term promotes employee loyalty and hence increased productivity. Employees might be affected negatively in the organization decides to make strict rules on the use of company time for personal business. The company may opt to use technologies to monitor employee's computers as well as install devices that monitor when employees are out of the office during working hours. This will make employees stick to organization related activities during work hours only. However, there is a risk of making employees feel stressed and unsafe in the work environment and therefore may increase employee turnover. It will, however, ensure that the investor's finances are put to good use and are used only for the benefit of the company. Monitoring employee movements will mean more work for the organization managers who in turn might need to be compensated for the increased work. In addition, it will require increased expenses used on the monitoring tools and technologies. This means increased costs for the company's shareholders.

Alternative Solutions

According to Lichtenstein (2011) mixing work and personal time is the best way for employees to achieve the work/life balance. Our personnel work from 9 am to 5 pm daily from Monday to Friday with a one-hour lunch break. This leaves them with little time for personal activities. It is important to come up with solutions that will ensure we safeguard the wellbeing of our employees as well as protect the company's equipment and finances.

Provision of Time Offs

One solution would be to allow employees to have some time off to attend to personal businesses. Selart & Johansen (2011) suggest that this is a good strategy that helps employees focus better on their jobs. This can be done by increasing the hours during lunch break or providing shifts where employees can take off during their shift hours. However, shifts and time offs would require more employees so as to ensure work does not stop at any time of the business hours. This might mean employment of more personnel. More personnel would mean that more operational costs.

Integration of Short Breaks

Similarly, the organization can integrate short breaks within the business hours. According to a survey done by Forbes, 71% (Selart & Johansen, 2011) of employees questioned prefer having short breaks during office hours would allow them to achieve more productivity. These short breaks can be used by the employees to attend to their personal business such as making appointments, calling to check on their children and so on. This solution can be beneficial to both the employees and the stakeholders. To ensure that work continues throughout the day, the employees can take the short breaks in shifts. This will make sure that they feel safe in the work environment as well as ensure that work does not stop at any time. Increased productivity will then benefit the investors positively.

Creation of a Policy

Another solution would be to create a policy for personal business activities during work hours. The policy should come with rules on the use of office hours for personal business. It should outline the disciplinary measures that should be taken when one if found using business tools and hours for individual businesses. This would include the use of technology to monitor the activities of employees on their computers as well as regular checks during working hours by supervisors to ensure they are busy working. This solution will make sure that the company resources, as well as company time, are not misused by employees for their personal business. It will serve to save money for the investors and business owners. However, this solution can lead to intrusion of privacy for the employees. It might also result in employees leaving the company as it is not catering for their personal life. This solution may also lead to low productivity because employees would be stressed out with private businesses during work hours.

Different Perspectives of the Stakeholders

While conducting my research, it appeared that both the investors and the organization's personnel agreed that there was an increased abuse of office hours for personal use. In addition, both parties agree that this will negatively affect the business. However, the employees believe that there is little motivation for them to concentrate entirely on work. In addition, they feel that the work they do is not too much to require them to be on duty for seven hours in a day. The employees felt that they needed more flexibility for them to achieve their work/life balance. On the other hand, the company shareholders believe that the employees are paid to work for the seven hours daily. They do understand that emergencies can come about but think that what counts as an emergency should be strictly outlined before one is allowed time off. In addition, the managers and the shareholders believe that they provide for adequate leave days per year for each employee. According to the shareholders, it is the duty of the employee to make time for some personal business that is not considered an emergency during their leave days. The shareholders are strict on the use of company resources for personal use and would like it to be minimized.

Evaluation of the Different Alternatives

Using the rational model of decision-making, i evaluated the various options that were provided in coming up with the solution to the ethical dilemma. According to Woiceshyn (2011) the rational model of decision making allows for an optimal choice that will maximize value for the organization. The rational model agrees that all alternatives have consequences. The consequences should be quantifiable and then used to make the decisions. In addition, I used the prescriptive theoretical model of decision making. This model sates that decisions should be made on the basis of what people should do and what they are able to do (Selart & Johasen, 2011). For the organization to be productive, it requires employees who are happy and safe in their workplace (Crossan et al., 2013). This includes employees being able to balance between their personal life and their work life. However, the organization needs to be careful so as not to spend too much dealing with employee fulfillment that it oversees the costs that arise with this. Increasing the free hours for employees will lead to happy employees yes. This will also improve productivity as employees will be able to concentrate on their work. However, this will result in increased expenses for the organization. The company has already provided leave days for the employees. This can be used for personal business. It is therefore not in the company's best interest to further added more hours for the employees. Including short breaks is beneficial to the employees. They will be able to concentrate better in work as well as remain sharp throughout the working hours. However, this solution comes with the risk of work not being finished within the scheduled time because of the many short breaks included in the business hours. The other alternative that calls for strict measures to be put in place will safeguard the organization's working hours and resources. It, however, comes with a breach of privacy as it will need monitoring of employee activities during work hours and in the use of company resources.

My Leadership Style

I use the participatory-democratic leadership style. This allows for people to share their concepts and perspective regarding different situations that arise in the organization. Lichtenstein (2011), writes that the democratic leadership style encourages the various stakeholders to share their ideas and take a more participatory approach to the making of the decisions. This allows me to make a decision that will serve the interest of most of the stakeh...