Yvonne's Ethics

An ethical dilemma is an incident that will cause us to question how we should react based on our moral beliefs. A decision needs to be made between what is right or wrong, just or unjust. I have experienced many ethical dilemmas in my lifetime, and I know that there is no such thing as an ethical dilemma that only affects one person. Some ethical dilemmas are easier to resolve than others. The easy ones are the ones in which we can make decisions on the spot. For example, if a cashier gives me too much change, I can immediately make a decision to either return the money or keep it. Because I was grew up in a Christian home where we lived by the “Golden Rule” there is no way I could have kept the money. Based on Kant’s, categorical imperative there are two criteria for determining moral right and wrong. First, there is universalizability, which states, “the person’s reasons for acting must be reasons that everyone could act on at least in principle” (Velasquez, 2006, p. 79). Next there is reversibility that states “the person’s reasons for acting must be reasons that he or she would be willing to have all others use, even as a basis of how they treat him or her” (Velasquez, 2006, p. 79). One of the three principles Kidder (1995) recommends for resolving dilemmas is “Do what you want others to do to you” (p.25). The decision to return the money is consistent with these principles and similar to the “Golden Rule”. I will discuss the dilemma, how it affected me, and how I made a decision I could live with.

The ethical dilemma I will discuss is one that affected me, my relationship with my colleagues, my customers, and my employer. This dilemma was not easy to resolve because of the number of lives that were affected. ...

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...“justice is based on individual moral rights” (p. 88). Since the salesperson violated the customer’s moral rights, and showed no respect for them, the decision protected and respected the customer’s moral rights. Therefore, the decision was also just.

I do not know what happened with the salesperson, or if this was an isolated incident. However, I do know that changes were made to address the problem. New policies were implemented to make it difficult for anyone to oversell in the future. The decision

I made was one that I could live with and I know it was best for all concerned.

References

Kidder, R. M. (1995). How good people make tough choices. New York, NY:

Simon & Schuster.

Velasquez, M. G. (2006). Business ethics concepts and cases (Sixth Edition).

Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.