Ged 107:
Ethics
Chapter 2:
What are Moral
Dilemmas? 1
MODULE 2
WHAT ARE MORAL DILEMMAS?
Introduction
This module is focused on moral dilemmas specifically on its definition, situations cases where
moral dilemmas are present, and it's three (3) levels namely: individual, organizational, and
structural. In the three levels of moral dilemma, common ethical issues in the organization will be
highlighted, several factors that an individual is facing such as peer pressure, personal financial
position, and economic and social status which cause dilemma to an individual and the concepts
to consider in the individual moral dilemma.
Learning Objectives
After studying this module, you should be able to:
1. Define moral dilemmas and set out situations.
2. Explain the three levels of moral dilemmas.
3. Discuss several factors affecting the organization, structure and individual.
2.0 DEFINITION OF MORAL DILEMMAS
Various authors presented their respective definition of moral dilemma or ethical dilemmaand these
are the following:
In the definition of Kvalnes (2019), a moral dilemma is a situation in which a decision- maker
must give preference to one moral principle over another. Dilemmas occur when, confronted with
a challenging situation (e.g. equal treatment for some versus job protection for others), two or more
of that kind of values disagree with the understanding of the decision-maker,or when one assesses
the moral option of another. A person experienced with a dilemma must decide whether the moral
duty will be given priority; "whatever action is taken will offend an important moral value."
In addition, Kvalnes explained that (2019) a moral dilemma may arise as a result of a priorpersonal
mistake. It's called a self-inflicted dilemma. In a strict sense, a moral dilemma is a situation in
which moral values are of equal importance. In a broader sense, there may be moral dilemmas in
which a person has strong moral reasons for acting which are described to be as remarkable,
nonetheless, not equally strong moral reasons for acting in another way.
([Link]
According to Kurie & Albin (2007), a moral dilemma is a situation in which people assumethat
they should morally do one thing and that they should morally do another thing, and
occasionally a third thing or even a fourth thing, but they're not doing any of these mutually
contradictory choices together.
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The ethical dilemma or a moral dilemma as expounded by Figar & Dordevic, (2016) is a situation
whereby a person has to make a decision. Among competing alternatives, which is the right
(ethical) alternative and which is the best? ([Link]
_Managing_an_Ethical_Dilemma)
The above definitions characterized moral dilemma or ethical dilemma as:
(1) Making an option to one moral value over the other;
(2) A situation where moral values are equally significant;
(3) A scenario where a person has a strong moral reason in action, but not equally strong
moralreason in acting in another way;
(4) A state where a person should morally do one, two, or more and have difficulty in
decidingany of those conflicting choices.
Every human being, experience struggling to make a decision especially if there is an urgency to
make a choice. Weighing what is good and moral. Thinking which is the best betweenand among
choices, and perhaps at stake or in a hot sit when choosing. The choice may be favorable to some,
however, not favorable to others. It gets individual stress of judging as to whether the decision is
good or not in travailing circumstances. A moral dilemma or ethical dilemma applies to our
personal life, in a job, in a profession, education, and some others. In any decision, an individual
must analyze every aspect, scrutinize the pros and cons, and after several evaluations then finally
decide. That is the most challenging part, nonetheless, makes an individualmore mature in handling
obstinate situations.
The sample photos below exemplify a moral dilemma. The first picture on the left side shows
which arrow an individual will go, right or wrong. The second pic on the right side reveals four
different arrows: respect, ethics, integrity, and honesty, these are all positive terms and regarded
as values. In deciding, consider the aforementioned virtues. The third photo below the left side
seems to be ambiguous and the last photo on the right side below with three choices for a decision,
right, wrong and it depends which also mean uncertainty.
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2.1 THREE LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMAS
1. ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICAL OR MORAL DILEMMA
As discussed by Lamberto et. al(2013), an organizational ethical dilemma refers to a situation that
causes an organization to respond negatively or positively to an ethical issue that affects staff,
shareholders, and society, as well as corporate ethics and customers. It includes also the leaders'
ethical actions in preserving financial reporting integrity.
Based on the article of Michigan State University [Link] (2020) and Small Business
[Link](2019), there are common ethical issues in the organization such as:
(1) Unethical leadership/bad leadership behavior. A leader of the organization must act
with candor, be an example to his subordinates, with upright moral values. He or she
doesn’t engage in abuse ofleadership authority, accepting inappropriate gifts and other
related unethical leadership.
(2) Toxic workplace culture. A leader of the organization must focus on the development
of work culture. He makes sure that his subordinates have work-life balance, motivated
and happy workingin the organization, If not then the performance and productivity of
the employees will be affected.
(3) Discrimination and harassment/ Peril of employee favoritism. A leader must treat
fairly his or her subordinates and avoid any form of discrimination and harassment.
(4) Unrealistic and conflicting goals. A leader must have realistic and very clear goals so
that his or her subordinates understand what the organization is going through, hence,
they can work together thoroughly until they reach the goals of the organization.
(5) Use of the organization’s technology, social media use, technology, and privacy
concerns. It is ethical that the technology of the organization must only use for the
organization’s transactions Social media use while in the office must be avoided as
much as possible so that important dealings with the clients must be prioritized.
(6) Business travel ethics. There are times that a leader and an employee are in official
business and indoing that, they have per diem every meal and must use the fund of the
organization appropriately.
2. INDIVIDUAL MORAL DILEMMA
As mentioned by Smith (2018), individual ethical or moral dilemma pertains to a situationwhere
individuals confront with a number of factors such as peer pressure, personal financialposition,
an economic and social status which may influence all individual ethical standards.
([Link] [Link])
Socialization is part of every individual's life. It is just a query as to whether an individual remains
aware of doing what is good and what is right. There are times that due to peer pressure, an
individual engages in a certain scenario in which may change their behavior and attitude. For
instance, before that young people, A is a responsible and obedient child to his parents. When he
met young people B and young people C, young people A tremendously transform as a human
being, his character shifted to an irresponsible, hard-headed, and a trouble-maker. The reason is
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that his friend young people B and young people C taught him to take illegal drugs. Others,
however, are affected by the financial standing position, the social and economic status of others
that even he is not capable, forcing him or her that he or she is at the same level as them, portrays
that he or she belongs to the group, and called to be as social climbers. A human being should bear
in mind that living in this world is not easy. He must be strong enough to stand still independently
and not be influenced by undesirable pressures. It is alright to enjoy life as long as a person knows
his boundaries and limitations and others will not be affected by what he or she does specifically
the unwanted acts. Human beings must not be confused nor ambiguous and put himself or herself
in a dilemma where he doesn't know what to do and decide to what is good and what is right.
3. STRUCTURAL MORAL DILEMMA
The structural moral dilemma is that selecting a proper system of responsibilities andrelationships,
which is a continuing universal challenge.
There are five concepts in the structural moral dilemma to consider namely:
(1) Differentiation vs. Integration
The conflict between the distribution of jobs and the organization of numerous
activities generates a classic dilemma. The more complicated a task structure, the more
difficult it is to sustain a centered, tightly coupled organization. When complexity
grows, the company needs more complicated and expensive management techniques.
Laws, regulations, and directives need to be balanced by lateral approaches.
(2) Gap vs Overlap
When the main tasks are not explicitly defined, the critical job will slip through [Link]
a similar manner, functions and activities can overlap, causing conflict, wasting time,
and unintended duplication of responsibilities.
(3) Lack of Clarity vs. Lack of Creativity
When employees are not clear about what they are expected to do, they often adapt
their tasks to personal interests instead of system-wide goals that often lead to
problems. Yet when people 's duties are over defined, they comply with their positions
and proceduresin a bureaucratic manner. They specifically follow job requirements as
to how much the service or product fails.
(4) Excessive Autonomy vs. Excessive Interdependence
When individuals or groups are too independent, they are always isolated. On the other
hand, if the units and responsibilities are too closely connected, people are absent
minded from work and waste time or excessive coordination.
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To avoid structural moral dilemma, the following characteristics must be maintained:
1. Must have well-distributed jobs and the laws, policies, rules, and regulations
must bebalanced through lateral approaches.
2. Must have an implicitly defined job description, roles, and duties to evade from
gapsand overlaps.
3. Must have a clear-cut expectation of the tasks in a wide range of goals
4. Must have a well-balanced interdependence and co0rdination.
ACTIVITY 1
As a student, did you encounter some dilemmas in your school? What did you do? Citeexamples
of the dilemmas encountered.
ACTIVITY 2
Research a case study in any of the three levels of moral dilemmas: organizational, individual and
structural. Find out on how the moral dilemma was solved and if you are on that situation, will
you do the same? Explain.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER:
1. What is your definition of moral dilemma? In your opinion,
2. Differentiate the three levels of moral dilemma and cite an example to each level.
3. Which is difficult to face among three levels of moral dilemma. Why?
REFERENCES
Kvalnes, Oyvind (2019). Moral Reasoning at Work: Rethinking Ethics in Organizations.
Palagrave, Pivot,Cham. 7th edition. Online ISBN: 978-3-030-15191-1. Print ISBN: 978-3-030-
15190-4
Lurie, Yotam & Albin, Robert (2007). Moral Dilemmas in Business Ethics: From Decision
Procedures to Edifying Perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics
Lamberton, B., Mihelak, P.H., & Smith, C. S. (2005). The tone at the top and ethical conduct
connection. Strategic Finance, 86(9) 37-39
McFearin, Stephanie (2013). An Organizational Ethical Dilemma
Smith, Alasdair (2018). Three Levels of Ethical Standards in a Business Organization, updated
April 5, 2018
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Internet sites:
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inspire-all-at-the-same-time-56ef4615b6ce
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the-workplace/
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_Decision_Procedures_to_Edifying_Perspectives
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dilemmas-childrens-stories/
