Business ethics article

While this article had several numerical statistics, I found it to be a little vague and very repetitive. Some of the statistics I found to be kind of surprising. I think that the statistic about only one third of people who encounter ethical dilemmas at work report it to management was the most surprising. I believe that the stat is pretty accurate but a little sad. If the other two thirds of people who face ethical encounters don't report it to management, then who do they report it to? The article states that on average, those who do not report the incident to management usually tell eight other people at work. If each of these eight people tell eight other people then the incident has spread throughout the workplace, and has now become a much larger issue than when it originated.

I believe that in order for this to be less of an issue, companies need to take the necessary steps to make employees feel comfortable reporting ethical dilemmas that they may encounter. If this means talking to each employee individually, then it must be done. Perhaps a more effective approach would be to create a program or workshop that all employees must attend once a month or once a quarter to learn techniques to deal with ethical dilemmas or discuss any issues that have surfaced during that time period.

There will always be ethical dilemmas in the work place, and the only way to decrease the frequency is to make employees feel comfortable to report the problems when they arise. If all employees in the company are aware that ethical issues will be addressed, then they will probably be less likely to commit ethical wrongs.