Ethical Principles at the Workplace Professional Writing

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Using Utilitarianism and Deontology to Resolve an Ethical Dilemma

Ethics are the principles that govern the way people act or decide in a way that can be considered as right or wrong. They are the moral standards in the society that guide the management and employee’s way of thinking when executing the responsibility. They are formulated from decent principles such as honesty, dignity, equality, and fairness. Therefore, any employee or any person in a society is expected to behave in a manner that is consistent with the moral principles and good values as perceived by the organizations and the society. On their day-to-day activities, people encounter situations that test their limits in deciding whether they will engage in an action that will promote a greater good instead of the one that perpetuates selfishness. The decision can go either way depending on the standards set out in the society or a company. In this study, I will detail my encounter when I had to apply various principles at my workplace in resolving a dilemma.

My Case

I once served as an intern accountant for a gas station outlet owned by Shell in New York City. Shell explores and sells petroleum products in the United States and globally. As an intern accountant at its New York headquarters, I was responsible for the collection, recording, analysis, and presentation of financial records from nearby outlets owned by the company. The veracity of the financial records of the company was highly dependent on my integrity because the resident accountant gave the bulk of the workload. The records covered from the books of the original entry (journals) to the final report of accounting, which is balance sheet.

One day, my colleague from the transport and logistic department approached me. He informed me that his manager wanted to have a discussion with me in a private hotel away from the workplace.

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I requested to meet him in the office, but he turned down because he considered it as a busy place and we could not hold our meeting. With the transport and the logistics manager being a senior officer, I had to accept the request. However, the meeting was to be arranged outside the working hours. After three days, we managed to meet at a restaurant in a nearby town. The officer brought to my attention that two tankers were transporting petroleum products to our depot. However, he redirected those tankers to his depot that was 100km from the main firm. He, therefore, requested that I should expunge the records of those tankers from the financial records of the company. Being a senior employee of the firm, he promised to protect me and negotiate for my promotion upon accepting his request. Failure to accept the request would also come with consequences. He threatened me that he would request my senior officer (chief financial officer) to demote and transfer me to another branch or mess with my internship program.

Based on my responsibility, I knew that I could make changes to the financial report to avoid the questions that might have risen. After a long engagement with transport and logistics manager, I had to decide on what would be good for the firm and myself. It was tough on my side as it directly threatened my job. I requested the transport and logistics manager to offer me 24 hours to decide on the matter.

Although I was capable of making the requested changes without causing a commotion at the finance department, I knew very well that malpractices would eventually be unearthed when the financial reports will be audited. Moreover, concerning the moral standards of the company,….....

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