HVPE Unit-2: Professionals and Moral & Ethical Theories PDF

**Unit 2: Professionals and Moral & Ethical Theories** **VIRTUES** Virtues are **positive and preferred** values. Virtues are **desirable attitudes** or character traits, motives and **emotions t**hat enable us to be successful and to act in ways that develop our highest potential. They energize a...

**Unit 2: Professionals and Moral & Ethical Theories** **VIRTUES** Virtues are **positive and preferred** values. Virtues are **desirable attitudes** or character traits, motives and **emotions t**hat enable us to be successful and to act in ways that develop our highest potential. They energize and enable us to pursue the ideals that we have adopted**. Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, integrity, fairness, transparency, self-control, and prudence** are all examples of virtues. **Virtues are tendencies which include, solving problems through peaceful and constructive means and follow the path of the golden mean between the extremes of 'excess and deficiency'.** They are like habits, once acquired; they become characteristics of a person. Moreover, a person who has developed virtues will naturally act in ways consistent with moral principles. The virtuous person is the ethical person. **Civic Virtues** Civic virtues are the **moral duties and rights**, as a citizen of the village or the country or an integral part of the society and environment. An individual may exhibit civic virtues by voting, volunteering, and organizing welfare groups and meetings. **The duties are:** 1\. To pay taxes to the local government and state, in time. 2\. To keep the surroundings clean and green. 3\. Not to pollute the water, land, and air by following hygiene and proper garbage disposal. For example, not to burn wood, tyres, plastic materials, spit in the open, even not to smoke in the open, and not to cause nuisance to the public, are some of the civic (duties) virtues. 4\. To follow the road safety rules. **On the other hand, the rights are:** 1\. To vote the local or state government. 2\. To contest in the elections to the local or state government. 3\. To seek a public welfare facility such as a school, hospital or a community hall or transport or communication facility, for the residents. 4\. To establish a green and safe environment, pollution free, corruption free, and to follow ethical principles. People are said to have the right to breathe in fresh air, by not allowing smoking in public. 5\. People have inalienable right to accept or reject a project in their area. One has the right to seek legal remedy, in this respect, through public interest petition. George Washington embodied the civic virtues as indispensable for a self governing administration. **These virtues are divided into four categories:** **1. Civic Knowledge:** Citizens must understand what the Constitution says about how the government is working, and what the government is supposed to do and what not to do. We must understand the basis of our responsibilities as citizens, besides duties and rights. We must be able to recognize when the government or another citizen infringes upon our rights. It implies that the government requires the participation of the enlightened citizens, to serve and survive. **2. Self-Restraint:** For citizens to live in a free society with limited government each citizen must be able to control or restrain himself; otherwise, we would need a police state---that is, a dictatorial government to maintain safety and order. He advocated for morality and declared that happiness is achieved and sustained through virtues and morals. He advocated and demonstrated self-restraint several times in his private and public life, and naturally he was a great leader. **3. Self-Assertion:** Self-assertion means that citizens must be proud of their rights, and have the courage to stand up in public and defend their rights. Sometimes, a government may usurp the very rights that it was created to protect. In such cases, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish that government (e.g., voting rights, rights call back). **4. Self-Reliance:** Citizens who cannot provide for themselves will need a large government to take care of them. Once citizens become dependent on government for their basic needs, the people are no longer in a position to demand that government act within the confines of the Constitution. Self-reliant citizens are free citizens in the sense that they are not dependent on others for their basic needs. They do not need a large provider-government, which has the potential to become an oppressive government, to meet those needs. Only a strong self-reliant citizenry will be able to enjoy fully the blessings of liberty. These civic virtues, applicable to local, state, and central governments, nourish freedom and civil liberty at the root of democracy. **PROFESSION AND PROFESSIONALISM:** PROFESSION is defined as any occupation/job/vocation that requires advanced expertise (skills and knowledge), self-regulation and concentrated service to the public good. It brings a high status, socially and economically. **The characteristics of profession are:** **1. Advanced expertise:** Many professions require sophisticated skills (do-how) and theoretical knowledge (know-how and why). Formal education, training, continuing education, updating are needed. **2. Self-regulation:** Professional societies play important role in setting standards for admission to profession, drafting codes of ethics, enforcing standards of conduct and representing the profession before the public and the Government. **3. Public good:** The occupation provides some important public good, by concerted efforts to maintain ethical standards. For example, a physician promotes health, a lawyer protects the legal rights, an engineer provides a product or a project for use by the public towards their health, welfare and safety. Teaching is also claimed as a profession as it helps shaping and training the minds of the students, young as well as old. **PROFESSIONAL:** It relates to a person or any work that a person does on a profession and which requires expertise (skills and knowledge), self-regulation and results in public good. The term professional means a 'person' as well as a 'status'. **PROFESSIONALISM**: It is the status of a professional which implies certain attitudes or typical qualities that are expected of a professional. It is defined as the services related to achieving the public good, in addition to the practices of the knowledge of moral ideals. **The criteria for achieving and sustaining professional status or professionalism are:** **1. Advanced expertise:** The expertise includes sophisticated skills and theoretical knowledge in exercising judgment. This means a professional should analyze the problem in specific known area, in an objective manner. **2. Self-regulation:** One should analyze the problem independent of self-interest and direct to a decision towards the best interest of the clients/customers. An autonomous judgment (unbiased and on merits only) is expected. In such situations, the codes of conduct of professional societies are followed as guidance. **3. Public good:** One should not be a mere paid employee of an individual or a teaching college or manufacturing organization, to execute whatever the employer wants one to do. The job should be recognized by the public. The concerted efforts in the job should be towards promotion of the welfare, safety, and health of the public. **Characteristics** The characteristics of the 'profession' as distinct from 'non-professional occupation' are listed as Follows: **1. Extensive Training:** Entry into the profession requires an extensive period of training of intellectual (competence) and moral (integrity) character. The theoretical base is obtained through formal education, usually in an academic institution. It may be a Bachelor degree from a college or university or an advanced degree conferred by professional schools. **2. Knowledge and Skills**: Knowledge and skills (competence) are necessary for the well-being of the society. Knowledge of physicians protects us from disease and restores health. The lawyer's knowledge is useful when we are sued of a crime, or if our business is to be merged or closed or when we buy a property. The Chartered Accountant's knowledge is important for the success of recording financial transactions or when we file the income return. The knowledge, study, and research of the engineers are required for the safety of the air plane, for the technological advances and for national defense. **3. Monopoly**: The monopoly control is achieved in two ways: \(a) The profession convinces the community that only those who have graduated from the professional school should be allowed to hold the professional title. The profession also gains control over professional schools by establishing accreditation standards \(b) By persuading the community to have a licensing system for those who want to enter the profession. If practicing without license, they are liable to pay penalties. **4. Autonomy in Workplace:** Professionals engaged in private practice have considerable freedom in choosing their clients or patients. Even the professionals working in large organizations exercise a large degree of impartiality, creativity and discretion (care with decision and communication) in carrying their responsibilities. Besides this, professionals are empowered with certain rights to establish their autonomy. Accordingly physicians must determine the most appropriate medical treatments for their patients and lawyers must decide on the most successful defense for their clients. The possession of specialized knowledge is thus a powerful defense of professional autonomy. **5. Ethical Standards:** Professional societies promulgate the codes of conduct to regulate the professionals against their abuse or any unethical decisions and actions (impartiality, responsibility) affecting the individuals or groups or the society. **ETHICS AND ORGANIZATIONS** Ethics are the principles and values an individual uses to govern his activities and decisions. In an organization, a code of ethics is a set of principles that guide the organization in its programs, policies and decisions for the business. The ethical philosophy an organization uses to conduct business can affect the reputation, productivity and bottom line of the business. **The way an organization should respond to external environment refers to organization ethics.** Organization ethics includes various guidelines and principles which decide the way individuals should behave at the workplace. It also refers to the code of conduct of the individuals working in a particular organization. Every organization runs to earn profits but how it makes money is more important. **No organization should depend on unfair means to earn money.** One must understand that money is not the only important thing; pride and honour are more important. An individual's first priority can be to make money but he should not stoop too low just to be able to do that. Children below fourteen years of age must not be employed to work in any organization. **Childhood is the best phase of one's life and no child should be deprived of his childhood.** **Employees should not indulge in destruction or manipulation of information to get results**. Data Tampering is considered strictly unethical and unprofessional in the corporate world. Remember if one is honest, things will always be in his favour. **Organization must not exploit any of the employees.** The employees must be paid according to their hard work and efforts. If individuals are working late at night, make sure overtimes are paid. The management must ensure employees get their arrears, bonus, incentives and other reimbursements on time. Stealing office property is strictly unethical. **Organization must take care of the safety of the employees.** Individuals should not be exposed to hazardous conditions. **Never lie to your customers.** It is unprofessional to make false promises to the consumers. The advertisements must give a clear picture of the product. Do not commit anything which your organization can't offer. It is important to be honest with your customers to expect loyalty from them. It is absolutely unethical to fool the customers. The products should not pose a threat to environment and mankind. Employees on probation period can be terminated anytime but organizations need to give one month notice before firing the permanent ones. In the same way permanent employees need to serve one month notice before resigning from the current services. Employees can't stop coming to office all of a sudden. **The Importance of Ethics in Organizations** Ethics are the principles and values an individual uses to govern his activities and decisions. In an organization, a code of ethics is a set of principles that guide the organization in its programs, policies and decisions for the business. The ethical philosophy an organization uses to conduct business can affect the reputation, productivity and bottom line of the business. **Leadership Ethics** The ethics that leaders in an organization use to manage employees may have an effect on the morale and loyalty of workers. The code of ethics leaders use determines discipline procedures and the acceptable behavior for all workers in an organization. When leaders have high ethical standards, it encourages workers in the organization to meet that same level. Ethical leadership also enhances the company's reputation in the financial market and community. A solid reputation for ethics and integrity in the community may improve the company's business. **Employee Ethics** Ethical behavior among workers in an organization ensures that employees complete work with honesty and integrity. Employees who use ethics to guide their behavior adhere to employee policies and rules while striving to meet the goals of the organization. Ethical employees also meet standards for quality in their work, which can enhance the company's reputation for quality products and service. **Ethical Organizational Culture** Leaders and employees adhering to a code of ethics create an ethical organizational culture. The leaders of a business may create an ethical culture by exhibiting the type of behavior they\'d like to see in employees. The organization can reinforce ethical behavior by rewarding employees who exhibit the values and integrity that coincides with the company code of ethics and disciplining those who make the wrong choices. **Benefits to the Organization** A positive and healthy corporate culture improves the morale among workers in the organization, which may increase productivity and employee retention; this, in turn, has financial benefits for the organization. Higher levels of productivity improve the efficiency in the company, while increasing employee retention reduces the cost of replacing employees. **[EMPLOYEE DUTIES AND RIGHTS ]** **Employee duties**: An employee\'s duties are to: take reasonable care of the health and safety of themselves and of others who may be affected by what they do or do not do. Cooperate with the employer on health and safety matters. Not misuse any equipment that is provided for safety purposes (eg fire extinguishers or safety goggles). to \(1) Obey a lawful, reasonable order within the terms of the contract of employment, \(2) Serve faithfully, \(3) cooperate with the employer, \(4) perform duties with proper care and diligence, \(5) account for all money or property received, \(6) Indemnify (compensate for harm or loss) the employer in appropriate cases, and \(7) Not to misuse the confidential information acquired while in service. **Employee rights:** Employee rights are the moral and legal rights that are obtained by the status of being an employee. The provisions made to the employees under this category are: i. Professional rights ii. Basic human rights iii. Contractual rights: This includes the rights to the institution due to the organizational policies or contracts, right to receive specified salary and annual increments and profit sharing. The equantum of such benefits, scale of pay etc. are fixed and reviewed periodcally by the employers and employees. iv. Non-contractual employee rights: These are the rights provided in common besides the contractual norms. They include: **1) Right to Privacy** It is the right to control the access to and use of information about oneself. This right is limited in certain situations by employers' rights. But who among the employers can access the personal information is again restricted. Only duly authorized persons can get the personal information. Example, (a) persons who have applied for the cashier are required to report if there are any criminal or civil cases pending against them. Those persons may mishandle the money. Hence, that information may be sought from them. **2) Right to choose outside activities:** This is also interpreted as a right to personal privacy a means a right to have a private life outside the job. There are some situations when these Rights can be curbed. For example. 1\. When those activities lead to violation or found detrimental to the duties of their job. 2\. When the activities of the employees form a conflict or interest (e.g., when moonlighting). 3\. When the interest of the employer is getting damaged (if the employee transfers some vital information on plans or strategies to the competitor). **3) Right to Due Process from Employer** It is the right to fair process or procedures in firing, demotion and in taking any disciplinary actions against the employees. Written explanation should be initially obtained from the charged employee and the orders are given in writing, with clearly-stated reasons. Simple appeal procedures should be framed and made available to all those affected. Fairness here is specified in terms of the process rather than the outcomes. **4) Right to Equal Opportunity---Non-discrimination** Discrimination because of caste, sex, religion, creed, and language are regressive actions. Discrimination which means a morally unjust treatment of people in the workplace is damaging to the human dignity. For example, \(a) A senior manager post is vacant. There is competent and proven candidate from outside the state. A local engineer with lesser competence is promoted. \(b) Prize amounts for the winners in the world sport events are not the same for men and women. **5) Right to Equal Opportunity---Sexual Harassment in the Workplace** The sexual harassment is a display of arrogance and misuse of power through sexual means. It is against the moral autonomy i.e., freedom to decide on one's own body. It is also an assault on one's human dignity and trust. Sexual harassment may be defined as the unwanted compulsion or attack on sexual requirements (gratification) in the context of unequal power. It includes physical as well as psychological attack or coercion and indecent gestures by men shown on women or by women on men. Two such forms of harassment are found to exist. In one type called 'exchange of favors', senior officers demand sexual favor as a condition for giving a job, or granting a promotion or increment. It may be either in the form of a physical or verbal threat or sexual offer. In another type called 'hostile work environment', it is the sexually-oriented work environment that threatens the employee's right to equal opportunity. Undesirable sexual proposals, advances, lewd remarks, mailing obscene photographs are some of the typical examples of this type of harassment. A rights ethicist interprets this as a serious violation of human right to pursue one's job free from extraneous force, compulsion, punishment or threat or insult. A duty ethicist would call it as a blatant violation of duty to treat human being with dignity and individual freedom, and not to treat as inanimate object for immoral gratifications. The utilitarian would expose the effect on the happiness and the welfare of the victims, especially of women. **6) Right to Equal Opportunity---Affirmative Action or Preferential Treatment** It means giving a preference or advantage to a person of a group that was denied equal treatment in the past. Such treatments are given especially to women and minorities all over the world. It is also called 'reverse preferential treatment', because it reverses the historical preferences. **DISCRIMINATORY AND PRE-JUDICIAL EMPLOYEE PRACTICES** **Understanding Discrimination** Discrimination is a sociological term referring to **treatment taken toward or against an individual of a certain group.** In other words, discrimination is an actual behavior. Systemic discrimination involves a pattern of policies or practices within an organization which create disadvantages for the affected person or group. Discrimination can negatively impact society by leading to oppressive systems in which certain groups are treated unfairly and disempowered, practices that can result in **aggression** and other problems that affect the community as a whole. **Examples of discrimination** include excluding women from male-dominated careers and using age discrimination in hiring practices. Some discrimination, such as extending rights and benefits only to certain groups, is blatant, while other forms are more subtle. The experience of subtle discrimination may include being ignored, ridiculed, or treated differently. For example, a clerk in a clothing store who allows white customers to roam the store freely without suspicion but follows black customers around the store to make sure that they do not steal anything would be committing subtle discrimination. Certain types of discrimination, such as discrimination in the workplace, are illegal. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits an employer from discriminating based on race, religion, sex, and nationality. Following this act, an employer is not allowed to pay a woman less than a man on the basis of her sex alone. **[Types of Discrimination in the Workplace ]** Discrimination is prejudicial treatment toward a person because of a group they are a part of. While laws are in place to prevent discrimination in the workplace, many people still find themselves being discriminated against at work every day. Recognizing the types of workplace discrimination will enable you to identify discrimination when it occurs \-- whether you, a coworker or another employee is the victim. 1. **Discrimination Based on Race or Ethnicity** Discrimination based on race or country of origin is prohibited by law, but that does not mean the practice does not exist. People may experience racial discrimination in the form of harassment around the work place \-- for example, being called racial slurs or having derogatory remarks made toward them regarding their skin color or ethnic background. Other forms of racial or ethnic discrimination are not as obvious, and may include preferential or negative treatment, being passed up for a promotion or being paid at a different rate because of race or ethnicity. Employers are not allowed to enact policies or rules that favor or discriminate against employees that belong to a specific race or ethnic group. Companies also may not discriminate against job applicants because of their race or ethnicity. 2. **Discrimination Based on Sex** As with racial and ethnic discrimination, sex-based discrimination takes on many forms at work. Sexual harassment is one of the most obvious forms, and may include unwanted sexual advances, propositions or crude remarks toward an employee. Sex-based discrimination may also involve preferential or negative treatment, being passed over for a promotion, or being paid at a different rate because of gender. Companies cannot discriminate against applicants based on their sex; nor can a company enact policies that apply to everyone if the policy has a negative impact on employees of a certain sex. Both men and women can be victims of sex-based workplace discrimination. 3. **Discrimination Based on Religion** Discrimination based on religion involves treating a person unfairly because of his religious affiliation, and is prohibited by law. As with other forms of discrimination, religious discrimination includes harassment and preferential or negative treatment. By law, employers must make reasonable accommodations for religious employees, regardless of their religion. This may include flexible scheduling to allow an employee his day of worship off; allowing an employee to wear garments associated with her religion; or allowing people to follow a religion\'s grooming policies, so long as it does not cause an undue hardship on the business. For example, a Jewish man must be allowed to wear a yarmulke to work if he so chooses. A company cannot force its employees to attend a religious service or participate in religious activities. 4. **Discrimination Based on Disability** The Americans with Disabilities Act prevents employers from discriminating against people with disabilities, so long as they are qualified to perform their job. This does not mean an employer is required to hire everyone with a disability, but so long as there is no undue hardship, employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. For example, an employee confined to a wheelchair may be given a desk that fits with it. Harassment toward employees with disabilities is prohibited by law, as is preferential or negative treatment because of their condition. When interviewing, the law prohibits employers from asking applicants about their disabilities. Once a job has been offered, a company can require applicants to answer medical questions or pass a medical exam, but these must be required of all employees, and not just those who are disabled. 5. **Discrimination Based on Age** The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act prevents companies from discriminating against applicants and employees over the age of 40, meaning these employees may not be treated unfavorably. Favorable treatment of employees over 40, however, is allowed. There are no federal laws in place to protect workers under 40 from age-based discrimination, though some states have their own laws that do. Companies may favor older workers over younger workers. **RISK BENEFIT ANALYSIS:** **SAFETY AND RISK** Safety was defined as the risk that is known and judged as acceptable. But, risk is a potential that something unwanted and harmful may occur. It is the result of an unsafe situation, sometimes unanticipated, during its use. Probability of safety = 1 -- Probability of risk Risk = Probability of occurrence × Consequence in magnitude **Different methods are available to determine the risk (testing for safety)** 1\. Testing on the functions of the safety-system components. 2\. **Destructive testing:** In this approach, testing is done till the component fails. It is too expensive, but very realistic and useful. 3\. **Prototype testing:** In this approach, the testing is done on a proportional scale model with all vital components fixed in the system. Dimensional analysis could be used to project the results at the actual conditions. 4\. **Simulation testing:** With the help of computer, the simulations are done. The safe boundary may be obtained. The effects of some controlled input variables on the outcomes can be predicted in a better way. **RISK BENEFIT ANALYSIS:** Risk benefit analysis is a method that helps the professionals to analyze the risk in a project and to determine whether a project should be implemented or not. In risk benefit analysis, the risks and benefits of a product are allotted to money amounts, and the most benefitable ratio between risks and benefits is calculated. **Ethical Implications** - When is someone entitled to impose a risk on another in view of a supposed benefit to others? - Consider the worst case scenarios of persons exposed to maximum risks while they are reaping only minimum benefits. Are their rights violated? Are they provided safer alternatives? - professionals should keep in mind that risks to known persons are perceived differently from statistical risks - Professionals may have no control over grievance redressal. **Conceptual difficulties in Risk-Benefit Analysis** Both risks and benefits lie in future  Heavy discounting of future because the very low present values of cost/benefits do not give a true picture of future sufferings.  Both have related uncertainties but difficult to arrive at expected values  What if benefits accrue to one party and risks to another?  Can we express risks & benefits in a common set of units?  Risks can be expressed in one set of units (deaths on the highway) and benefits in another (speed of travel)? Many projects, which are highly beneficial to the public, have to be safe also. Hence these projects can be justified using RISK-BENEFIT analysis. In these studies, one should find out. i. What are the risks involved? ii. What are the benefits that would accrue? iii. When would benefits be derived and when risks have to be faced? iv. Who are the ones to be benefited and who are the ones subjected to risk-are they the same set of people or different. The issue here is not, say, cost-effective design but it is only cost of risk taking Vs benefit analysis. Engineers should first recommend the project feasibility based on risk-benefit analysis and once it is justified, then they may get into cost-effectiveness without increasing the risk visualized. In all this, engineers should ask themselves this ethical question: i. Assess the voluntary activities (e.g., life insurance policy taken) ii. Assess the degree of occupational hazard and its effect on health. iii. Loss of senses such as sight, hearing and loss of limbs. iv. Loss of hearing capability, especially due to physical disability and v. Get assistance by trained arbiters. i. Loss of or reduction in future income or earning capacity due to loss of limbs or their capability. ii. Costs associates with accident, which includes the transplation or reinforcement of body parts/limbs and medical treatment and iii. Cost of welfare which includes rehabilitation, provision of less-demanding alternate jobs, and other disability benefits. 1. Application of inherent safety concepts in design e.g., LPG cylinder is provided with frame to protect the valve while handling and facilitate cryogenic storage. A magnetic door catch provides an easy escape for children caught inside the Fridge accidentally. 2. Use of redundancy principle in the instrument protection/design. For example, use of stand bye device and back up for computer storage. 3. Periodical monitoring (inspection) and testing of safety system to ensure reliability, e.g., fire extinguishers, 'earth' system in electric circuits are checked periodically. 4. Issue of operation manuals, training of the operating personnel and regular audits are adopted to ensure that the procedures are understood, followed and the systems are kept in working condition. 5. Development of well-designed emergency evacuation plan and regular rehearsal/drills to ensure preparedness, in case of emergency. ** Voluntary Risk** Voluntary risk is the involvement of people in risky actions, although they know that these actions are unsafe. The people take these actions for thrill, amusement or fun. They also believe that they have full control over their actions (including the outcomes!) and equipments or animals handled, e.g., people participate in car racing and risky stunts. Testing becomes inappropriate when the products are 1 Tested destructively 2 When the test duration is long, and 3 When the components failing by tests are very costly. Alternate methods such as design of experiments, accelerated testing and computer-simulated tests are adopted in these circumstances. **HANDLING ETHICAL DILEMMAS AT WORK PLACE:** **ETHICAL DECISION** Ethical problems involve considering a range of actions and their corresponding consequences. The thing that makes ethical problems difficult to deal with is that they involve making value judgments, which by their nature are rarely clear cut. In coming to a decision about an ethical dilemma you are required to make a decision which will uphold the values that you feel are most important. However, in making that decision what often occurs is that some values may be violated. The best solution to an ethical problem therefore will involve upholding the most important values to the greatest extent possible whilst violating the least number possible. **For example**, after joining a new company you discovers that other, more senior employees are overstating their mileage claims to increase their pay packages. They encourage you to do the same so that you don't show them up. What do you do? In coming to a decision you must consider: loyalty to your coworkers, fidelity to your company, and honesty. Not all of these values can be upheld, one or more must be violated in order to reach a decision. Most importantly therefore, an ethical decision must be one that you are willing to stake your reputation on. It must be a decision that you can both justify and recommend. It must be a decision that you think is right on the basis of ethical principles you try to follow and that you believe others should also follow. **Ethical dilemmas in the workplace** Organizational ethics deals with the 'ethos' of an organization. It examines the shared set of beliefs, of the group of individuals that make up the organization, which determines 'the climate of opinion that sets the standard by which right and wrong is to be judged'. In many organizations these 'beliefs' are not openly stated, the 'culture' of the organization is hidden and new employees are left to determine for themselves what is 'acceptable' behavior. Often this means employees learn by their mistakes and consequently may defer tricky decisions to management. This not only inhibits productivity but also leaves employees feeling unsure about what the organization stands for. However, if an organization has gone through the process of clearly stating the values that give meaning to its Vision and Mission (i.e. what it stands for), then it is in a position to train staff to deal with ethical dilemmas in a uniform way. This is important because it empowers staff to make down the line decisions which are in line with overall organizational thinking. It also presents a uniform front to the customer which is particularly important if there are many people in the organization who deal with the external environment. **The BELIEVE IT Strategy** Training in resolving ethical dilemmas should therefore apply to all individuals throughout an organization. It should also be done in a uniform, clear and relevant way. One way of doing this is simple step by step processes represented by an easily remembered acronym BELIEVE IT. As noted earlier, when resolving ethical dilemmas it is important that you BELIEVE in your decision and that others will BELIEVE your decision. The BELIEVE IT strategy for resolving ethical problems is a step by step process so that others will be able to BELIEVE and understand your decision. It is based on assessing the principles and values relevant to a particular problem and results in a decision which is believable and defendable. The BELIEVE IT strategy is not dependent on whether you have a utilitarian, Universalist or religious approach; it concentrates on the situation at hand and is aimed at reaching an outcome. Faced with an ethical dilemma, the following steps can be taken: **Background**  State the background of the case including context, its origin and any other important details. What is the history of the problem? Who is involved? Is there any missing information which you need to solve the problem? **Estimate**  Make an initial estimation of the ethical dilemma present, that is, what the core issues are. What is the main ethical conflict? **List**  List the possible solutions to the problem. **Impact**  Consider the likely impacts of each of the initial solutions. What are the outcomes of each solution? Who will they affect? How will each solution harm or help people? **Eliminate**  Eliminate the totally unacceptable solutions eg significant harm to people. **Values**  With the remaining possible solutions, assess which values are upheld and violated by each solution. What are the significant values and principles which are upheld or violated by each solution? What are the stated organizational values? **Evaluate**  Evaluate the solutions considering the likely impacts and the values which will be upheld or violated. Must determine which values are most important. Why is one solution better or worse than another? Is there another solution you haven't considered? **Decision**  Make a decision, state it clearly including why it is best, justify it and defend it against criticism. How will you carry it out? Who will object to the decision? What are the weaknesses of the decision? How will you defend the decision? Using the BELIEVE IT model, an organization can train staff to incorporate a set of key values into their decision making. That is, when assessing the values involved in the dilemma, staff can make reference to what the organization has stated that it wishes to be the most important values. In this way, the approach to resolving ethical dilemmas in an organization becomes less reliant on individual value judgments and more reliant on stated organizational values. Additionally, it gives staff a step by step approach which enables them to resolve ethical dilemmas quickly and in a way that is entirely justifiable. **Conclusion** Training staff in ethical decision making is one way that organization can foster an overall ethical climate. The simple process of going through such training makes staff better able to recognize and discuss ethics and ethical dilemmas. This in turn leads to a more in depth analysis of the behavior of people within the organization and of the organization itself. The result of this is often a constant reminder to all involved to 'walk the talk'. ** Common Ethical Workplace Dilemmas** Most people spend a great deal of their weekdays at their offices or job sites. It\'s not surprising, then, that employees face ethical dilemmas there. Several of these dilemmas pop up on a regular basis. With some common sense and a bit of analysis, employees can resolve common workplace dilemmas without losing their jobs or bringing harm to their employer. **Conducting Personal Business on Company Time** Because employees tend to spend so much of their weekday hours on the job, they often are tempted to conduct personal business on company time. This can include setting up doctor\'s appointments on company phone lines, making vacation reservations using their employer\'s computers and Internet connections or even making phone calls for a freelance side business while on company time. At first glance, this ethical dilemma is fairly clear: It is an abuse of your employer to conduct personal business on company time. But there are shades of gray here. What if your spouse calls to tell you that your children are ill? Is it OK for you to schedule a doctor\'s appointment? A good rule of thumb is for an employee to check with his manager or human resources supervisors to clarify what counts as an actionable offense in the company. **Taking Credit for Others\' Work** Employees often work in teams to create marketing campaigns, develop new products or finetune services, yet rarely does everyone in a group contribute equally to the final product. If three members of a five-person team did all the work, do those three members demand to receive proper credit while pointing out that two members of the team did not pull their weight? This is a thorny question. If employees single out their co-workers in a negative light, it could foment resentment. The same thing could happen, however, if all employees accept equal praise even though only a select few did the real work. The best way to resolve this ethical dilemma is to not let it happen. Team members should insist that all employees perform specific tasks to help complete a project. **Harassing Behavior** Employees often don\'t know what to do if they see one of their co-workers harassing another employee, either mentally, sexually or physically. Employees may worry for their jobs if they attempt to report a superior for harassment. They may fret that they\'ll be labeled a troublemaker if they report co-workers who display inappropriate behavior toward other employees. The best way to resolve this ethical dilemma rests with the staff members who develop the company\'s employee handbook. It is their job to include specific language that spells out that employees won\'t be punished for reporting the harassing behavior or inappropriate actions of their coworkers.