Facing an ethical dilemma at the workplace is something that cannot be entirely avoided because of the different attitudes of co-workers who come to work from different backgrounds. I faced a grappling dilemma in my last job as a production manager at a clothing store. The production team was negotiating with several suppliers of clothes to get the best offer for both unstitched and stitched varieties. One factory from Mexico gave us the best offer by far and they passed all environmental checks on paper but when our team reached the site to inspect the production, we found out that we the factory management actually faked a lot of things. Our team had a concern over their compromises on the environment as their factory was polluting local rivers while producing clothing. Apparently, it was the best offer for our company as the water bodies were far away from our place and their lies would not affect us, at all. However, it was a prime example of an ethical dilemma so we decided to take action against them as we were always more concerned about the environment than making a few dollars. Our team reported to the local authorities and took strict action against them. Although everyone in the team did not agree with the decision, I believe that as a production manager, I made the right decision not compromising on our company’s ethical policies.
Regarding the Harvard Business Review Article “Building an Ethical Company”, my production team and I used strategies listed in the article to overcome the dilemma that we encountered. The article discusses how organizations can help their employees develop moral character and behave more honorably at their workplace. The strategies mentioned in the article include providing experiential training in ethical dilemmas and creating a culture of service through monitoring of ethics (Building an Ethical Company, n.d.). I, as a production manager, followed these strategies for conducting pre and post-implications for initiatives with ethical components. Moreover, the one takeaway from Northouse’s chapter on “Leadership Ethics” is how leaders often face complicated situations and critical ethical dimensions before making decisions. Northouse’s chapter emphasizes the importance of ethical decision-making in leadership and that ethics is crucial for leaders to act on a principle in a certain situation as it is all about character and actions (Northouse, 2021).
References
Building an Ethical Company. (n.d.). https://hbr.org/2021/11/building-an-ethical-company
Northouse, P. G. (2021). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
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