Ethical Dilemma (Coursework Sample)

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Ethical Dilemma
I encountered ethical dilemma at a workplace about a year and a half ago while I was working part time in the data analysis department of a casino in my hometown. My section had three members of staff namely one full-time data analyst who supervised two part-time workers. The company was doing great in terms of business. The part-time colleague and I were to carry out almost similar duties within the data analysis department. My dilemma rotated around information access and privacy.
In essence, it was a normal occurrence for us in the data analysis department to work after the normal business hours, to finish vital projects. One evening, I found out that I was missing crucial data that my coworker had received. There was no way I could accomplish the task at hand without the data my colleague had and so I had to find my way around getting it. Our section head was away in another State on a work-related visit. Furthermore, my colleague was unwell and was on sick leave. More so, my colleague was unreachable by phone and email. A few days earlier, I had inadvertently observed him typing his password, and I decided to log into his computer to resend the information I needed to my computer. Upon doing so, I saw an email regarding gambling bets he had placed a few days ago with a local sports book. As a rule, all employees of the casino were prohibited from engaging in gambling activities to avoid conflict of interest. At first, I knew that the ethical thing to do was report the finding, but I would have to admit to violating the company’s information technology policy by logging into a coworker’s computer. Furthermore, if I were to warm my coworker to stop betting, I would have to reveal the source of information.
The situation left me torn between two choices, and both choices had the possibility of causing severe negative consequences. On the one hand, if I reported the issue to the company’s management, it would lead to any of the following. Firstly, I would appear to be betraying a colleague by giving away information that he would rather retain as private especially because gambling was expressly prohibited to workers, something he knew but violated. The trend would, in turn, expose him to the danger of being subjected to disciplinary action. I would have to appear as a witness in the disciplinary committee hearings, something I was not eager to do. Worse still, the colleague would lose his job. In the possibility that he was laid off, it would lead to loss of income, and this would deprive him and his young family the much-needed income he was making from his job. His wife of three years was at that time nursing their month-old second child. As a housewife, she could not do without a source of income in the family. Secondly, if I reported him to the authorities, the other employees would lose their faith in me. The trend would cause me to become a pariah at the workplace, and eventually bring in mental and emotional pain. Thirdly, by admitting that I logged on into a colleague’s computer, I would be exposing myself to many questions on my character and professional competence and sincerity. Indeed, my admission would show that I take undue interest in the matters concerning my work mates’ activities. Another downside of this admission would be that I would own up to deliberately violating the company’s information technology and privacy regulations. As a result, I would stand high chances of losing my job or facing disciplinary action, none of which was desirable. The possibility of losing my job would mean I dug my own grave and ruined my chances of progressing in my career.
Another issue I had to consider in this matter was that reporting the issue to the management would ruin my chances of having a fruitful working relationship with my colleague both in the current workplace and any other office he might go to in future. As an employee, one cannot tell for a fact where their work will land them in future and possibilities exist that those who previously worked together in one company could as well find themselves working in the same office in future. As a person, I look forward to building a career through diligent work and making use of networking both at the personal and corporate levels. As such, the situation would have a negative impact on my career ambitions, yet I had to make sure that I maintained the highest standards of professionalism and did not violate my conscience by working against the interests of my employer. The knowledge I had about my workmate’s actions, therefore, made it very tough for me to consider making this choice and yet making the choice was inevitable.
The second side of this dilemma was that I could, in my personal capacity and without involving anyone else, warn my coworker to stop betting. Doing so would mean that I would have to reveal the source of my information about his fascination with betting. This would be risky to do because it would arouse suspicions of my coworkers that I snoop or spy into their private matters. These are habits that most people would not put up with - be it at home, in school or at the workplace. As a result, I would be putting all my relationships with colleagues in the current workplace at risk because many of them would most likely respond to such attitudes and habits by becoming deliberately opaque about their work activities and personal lives or by avoiding me altogether. Precipitating a hostile environment between my colleagues and me would predictably hurt the interests of the company because it would strain work relationships and ruin the environment at the workplace. An environment that is characterized by paranoia and suspicions would not yield optimal results.
The second problem that would arise if I reported my colleague to the authorities was t...