I would take a few measures to prevent from being haunted by the decision I make. First, I would make a list of different outcomes that might arise from my choices. Who gets hurt? Who wins? How many people would be affected and how do they get affected? For instance, the children my company gives aid to would no longer receive that aid. The financial security of my family would be another concern, as would the financial security of the families of my coworkers. What would happen if the company goes down? After many considerations, I would choose the one that I will not lose sleep over.
When considering an ethical decision of this nature, a major part of the equation is making a decision that would be proper in any situation. Rather than taking a results-based approach, I would want to use an approach that would give me a proper ethical decision that I could apply to all situations. This means that I have to take into full account all of the various considerations, while recognizing the one principle that I want to go with the decision that will cause the least amount of harm for the least amount of people.
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"A Complex Ethical Dilemma".
I understand that I am working in a company with many different working parts. This means that what might be the right thing for one person would cause much pain and heartache for another person within the company. In a corporate setting of this nature, one small decision can cause a major ripple effect that ends up changing things for many people within the company. This is ultimately what I want to avoid, since it would then have a major impact on the happiness of many different people in order to bring a small amount of satisfaction to one person. While this might seem unfair to my coworker, it is a utilitarian approach that, when utilized over a large sample size of decisions, is likely to produce the result that ultimately causes the smallest amount of collective harm, which is my ultimate goal.
I am loyal to the people I consider friends, especially ones who come to me in confidence and trust. I would not compromise a friend’s trust, nor would I compromise the trust of a coworker, if there is any other means to find a solution to protect confidentiality. In this case, I feel there is a different alternative. Make Human Resources aware of the situation anonymously. From there, I would wait until the company decides to take action. I would give them about two to three months to conduct an investigation of their own. In the meantime, I would keep in contact with my coworker to maybe make her see the situation differently.
I believe it is important to keep one’s word in this sort of situation, and it would be critical for my ability to work with people in the future. At the same time, I cannot put so much importance on protecting trust that I fail in my ethical duty. This means that I must walk a tight rope, and I must try to bring my coworker to see the situation in a different light. I would attempt to use some means of persuasion, hoping to get my coworker to understand the unique challenges of this difficult situation.
Maybe my action to respect and protect her request would make her see a different way of getting justice for the wrong doing of her boss. This would be the preferred solution, rather than having an entire corporation put in danger.
