Ethical Dilemma assignment on the role of Ethics towards decision making

Question

Task: How to assess Ethical guidelines using Ethical Dilemma assignment research methodologies?

Answer

Part 1
As per Ethical Dilemma assignmentpublications, an ethical dilemma, often also referred to as a moral dilemma or an ethical paradox, is an issue concerning the process of decision-making between two plausible alternatives, or choices, out of which, neither is fully acceptable when viewed from an ethical point of view (Lin-Schilstra and Fischer, 2020). I experienced a major ethical dilemma at my last job. I used to work at a fashion brand enterprise, where I was the production manager. At the time, the team I was heading to, and I was negotiating with multiple suppliers of clothes to get the best deal. A particular clothing manufacturing factory based in Bangladesh had offered us the best possible deal among others. The Ethical Dilemma assignmentpapers they produced demonstrated that they had passed every single environment check as required. However, when my team visited Bangladesh for inspection of the production, they discovered that the organization had been falsifying a lot of its claims, and much of its official environmental documents were forged in reality. Many of their environmental violations also included pollution of their local rivers on a massive scale, involved in their clothing-producing processes. They were also reportedly involved in child labor violations.

I found myself trapped in a major dilemma, where my values of honesty, altruism, and integrity conflicted. Rivers were being polluted by this factory, and they were exploiting children. Basic norms of staying true to myself and not harming others came under conflict since accepting this deal would be highly profitable for the organization for which I was working, but it would also be at an immense expense of many innocent children and the expense of the environment. In addition, their documents and claims were entirely forged, and being involved with them in a deal would be a completely dishonest, and practically unethical business.
I will not lie, the thoughts of "it don't matter" since the production site was far, far away did come. They were also giving us the best offer and did have all the certificates, documents, and all other necessary papers. However, eventually, I decided I had to do what was right. So, after assessing the situations using Ethical Dilemma assignment methiodologies I decided to reject their offer. I also reported them to the local authorities regarding their environmental and child labor violations. We chose to deal with another supplier. We ended up paying much more than we would have paid the Bangladeshi factory, and the profit margin was lesser, but we did what was right and my conscience is clear.

On a scale on 1-10 (1 = very unhappy; 10 = very happy), I would rate my decision as a 10, because I am very happy with the decision I made, even though I am guilty of having had second thoughts about choosing this option in the first place. We did not lie to our customers and did not participate in their violation of children's rights and the pollution of nature. I firmly believe that I made the right decision, even though many at my former workplace would disagree, but that hardly matters.

Ethical Dilemma assignmentPart 2
Normative ethical theories serve the principal purpose of articulating and advocating an ethical code, that is, providing reliable and justifiable principles for the determination of what constitutes moral or immoral behavior. SuchEthical Dilemma assignment theories involve arriving at certain moral standards which work to regulate right or wrong conduct. In essence, it can be said that it is like searching for an ideal litmus test of appropriate behavior. Normative theories guide action, and procedures to essentially answer the practical question of "What am I ought to do?" in the face of every ethical dilemma in day-to-day life (Laczniak and Murphy, 2019). The fundamental assumption in normative ethical theory is that ultimately, only one criterion or standard of moral conduct exists, which can be a set of principles or a single rule by itself.

Types of Normative Ethical Theories
Normative ethical theories used on this Ethical Dilemma assignment can be broadly categorized into two distinct divisions, which are:

Teleological Theory
‘Teleology’ comes from the Greek words "telos" and "logos", which mean 'end' and 'science', respectively. This Ethical Dilemma assignmentapproach is also known as the consequentialist approach. The determination of any action’s moral worth in this theory is based on the outcomes or consequences of the given action. In essence, an action is considered to be right if the consequences of the action are good, on the other hand, an action is considered to be wrong if the consequences of the action are bad. This moral theory locates moral goodness within the various consequences of an individual's behavior, and not the behavioral trait itself. This theory posits that all rational actions taken by individuals are 'teleological', that is, individuals reason the means of achievement of moral ends (Benlahcene et al, 2018). Therefore, moral behavior is essentially goal-directed. The concepts of Utilitarianism and Ethical Egoism come under teleological ethical theory.

Deontological Theory
‘Deontology’ comes from the Greek words “deon” and “logos”, which mean ‘obligation/duty’ and ‘science respectively. This Ethical Dilemma assignmentapproach is also known as a non-consequential approach since it rejects that an action's moral worth is dependent on the action's consequences. This approach posits that agents of morality have to stringently fulfill their moral obligations and duties while being unmindful of their consequences. Agents of morality ought to meet moral obligations and honor human rights, even at the expense of optimal consequences or outcomes (Heinzelmann, 2018). This theory states that an action’s moral worth is not dependent on its consequences, and thus a different criterion or standard should be utilized. The concepts of Categorial Imperative and Contractarianism come under deontological ethical theory. Emmanuel Kant (1724 – 1804), a German philosopher, developed the categorial imperative concept, the most influential deontological moral theory in history, which pertains to a moral law that is absolute or unconditional for every agent, the claim or validity of which is not dependent on any ulterior end or motive (Bagnoli, 2021)

Analysis of Ethical Dilemma
Consequentialist Perspective
One of the best examples of consequentialist ethical theories identified on this Ethical Dilemma assignmentis Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism helps to determine what ought to be done through directing focus on the outcome of an action. This Ethical Dilemma assignmenttheory posts that the most ethical option is the one that shall lead to the greatest benefit for the greatest number or the one which will have the best for all the parties in consideration (Savulescu, Persson and Wilkinson, 2020).

In the case of the ethical dilemma which I had talked about at the beginning of this paper, the action taken at the end by me can be justified through the utilitarianist principle, since it did produce the best outcome for all the parties concerned, that is, the company that I worked at, the environment and the children who were being exploited, and myself. It saved the company from ending up tangled in a bunch of legal trouble and associated costs, even though the profit margin was tighter, it did not necessarily incur any losses for the company, and instead, all the business operations were carried out ethically. Secondly, the pollution of the environment was lessened to some extent, at least the local rivers were saved from the pollutants the factory would add if I had accepted the deal and they would have manufactured our supplies. Thirdly, and most importantlypoint discussed on this Ethical Dilemma assignment is that children were saved from more exploitation to some extent, if not rescued from their total plight of working at the factory. Since the factory was reported to the authorities, it can only be hoped that some against the Bangladeshi factory would be taken regarding their host of violations, and at least, the children would be saved, therefore bringing benefits to the greater society. And lastly, personally, taking the right decision, in this case, benefitted me since my conscience is clear because the fact remains that I did no one any harm.

Non-Consequentialist Perspective
The best example of non-consequentialism in Ethical Dilemma assignmentethical theory is, as mentioned previously, the Categorical Imperative, enlightened by Immanuel Kant, the founder of critical philosophy. This theory formulates a rule of conduct that Is absolute or unconditional for all agents, the claim or validity of which is not dependent on a specific end, consequence, or desire. For instance, the intrinsic value we grow up with that we are not supposed to steal, is categorical, as opposed to hypothetical imperatives which are associated with a desire, like we must not steal if we want to be popular. Kant suggested that there exists only one categorical imperative in the realm of morality, which he composed in two ways. The first way is the universalizability principle, which posits that if one executes an action, that becomes a 'universal law' in the sense that others should also be able to execute the same action. This Ethical Dilemma assignmentstatement is purely logical or formal and expresses the rational condition of conduct instead of its moral condition. The morality of conduct is expressed in the second way which suggests that actions must be taken in the way of treating humanity, be it the self or any other individual, in such a manner by which an end is in themselves, instead of as a means to anything else, that is to say, every human being has intrinsic value within themselves by the virtue of existence as a human (Lindner and Bentzen, 2018).

Coming back to the ethical dilemma, let us discuss it from the perspective of the categorical imperative concept. Firstly, the decision I took must have been taken because it was the right thing to do, irrespective of the consequences which would follow. I could have been thrown out of the company, perhaps, for not bringing the organization as many profits as working with the Bangladeshi supplier would have brought, but irrespective of that, the right thing for me to do would be to not sign a deal with them, and that is what I would have done. Following Kant's philosophy, the decision I took was the right one because it is along the lines of morality, which has been established because individuals before me were moral in their decisions, thereby establishing morality as the universal law, and if people before me have taken action against environmental pollution and child labor, I should be able to do the same too, which I did. The children's lives are valuable and exploiting them is a heinous crime so the action of reporting to the authorities against their exploitation also follows Kantian philosophy, in the fact they must be valued for their intrinsic value as beings and the exploitation against them must be stopped. Concerning environmental pollution, and the resulting climate change, it is only ethical to try and stop it as much as possible, and actions must be taken keeping the value of the environment in mind and how it supports all life, including human beings on earth.

Ethical Dilemma assignmentPart 3
The Ethical Dilemma assignmentethical theories discussed above helped me in my understanding of my actions and feelings toward the dilemma. The consequentialist utilitarian perspective helped me understand that moral dilemmas must be solved sometimes while keeping in mind the consequences of the choice of action taken to solve the dilemma. Perhaps, while refuting the deal with the Bangladeshi supplier, the consequences of lesser environmental pollution, lesser child exploitation, and the overall benefit of the company were in my mind in the first place. On the other hand, the non-consequentialist approach, says morality must not be subjected to desire and rather must arise from the innate good virtues of an individual, and follow what is right instead of what is wrong. Dealing with the Bangladeshi supplier would be wrong on all levels, and my conscience, which I have come to consider as my instrument of non-consequential morals, would never allow me to do it. Therefore, in the end, I realized that both consequential and non-consequential ideas of ethics went into my decision of not accepting the deal and solving my ethical dilemma.

I would have not acted differently at any expense, and I have gained more about this behavioral trait of mine especially by analyzing my dilemma through the non-consequential approach that suggests morality must be exempt from individual desire and must follow what is right and the established universal law. I would take the same decision again if I were in the same situation. I would have not caused such immense harm, which could have happened if I had accepted the deal. It would simply go against all my values and the norms I adhere to, of honesty, integrity, altruism, and so much more. Therefore, from the Ethical Dilemma assignmentinvestigations, I can safely say that nothing had the potential to make me change my decision at that point in my life, even if it meant losing a job.

Resources
Bagnoli, C., 2021. The Practical Significance of the Categorical Imperative. Ethical Dilemma assignment Timmons_9780192856913_9 178..199 (unimore.it)
Benlahcene, A., Zainuddin, R.B., Syakiran, N. and Ismail, A.B., 2018. A narrative review of ethics theories:
Teleological & deontological Ethics. Journal of Humanities and Social Science, Ethical Dilemma assignment23(7), pp.31-38. A-Narrative-Review-Of-Ethics-Theories-Teleological-Deontological-Ethics.pdf (researchgate.net)
Heinzelmann, N., 2018. Deontology defended. Synthese, 195(12), pp.5197-5216. Deontology defended | SpringerLink Laczniak, Gene R., and Patrick E. Murphy. "The role of normative marketing ethics." Journal of Business ResearchEthical Dilemma assignment 95 (2019): 401-407. The role of normative marketing ethics - ScienceDirect
Lindner, F. and Bentzen, M.M., 2018. A formalization of Kant's second formulation of the categorical imperative. arXiv preprint arXiv:1801.03160. [1801.03160] A Formalization of Kant's Second Formulation of the Categorical Imperative (arxiv.org)
Lin-Schilstra, L. and Fischer, A.R., 2020. Consumer moral dilemma in the choice of animal-friendly meat products. Sustainability, 12(12), p.4844. sustainability-12-04844 (1).pdf
Savulescu, J., Persson, I. and Wilkinson, D., 2020. Utilitarianism and the pandemic. Bioethics, 34(6), pp.620-632. Utilitarianism and the pandemic - Savulescu - 2020 - Bioethics - Wiley Online LibraryEthical Dilemma assignment