Ethical dilemma in business and value of moral decision-making

Ethical dilemma in business and value of moral decision-making

Ethical dilemma faced by Peter

Peter was working in the advertising industry where the money is the only factor that matters at the end of the day. On the one hand, Peter, as a customer service representative, is supposed to focus on advertising sales. However, he was shocked after knowing that the customers waste money on advertising packages that are not even worthy of consideration. Peter’s boss has already set a sales quota for him; however, he claimed that achieving that quota within the saturated San Francisco market can be a challenge. As a person, he faced obligated towards his customers and wanted them to direct in the right direction. His customers mainly include small business owners, and they cannot afford to spend much on advertising. Despite that, the customers were willing to spend money as they assumed that it would bear results. He constantly pressurized from his senior to meet the sales target. However, he and his team did not have the capacity to choose the type of small businesses as their target due to rising competition in the market. Peter’s dilemma was whether to focus on customer well-being or meet the sales target. For ethical people, gaining customer loyalty was way more important than meeting targets (Tota & Shehu, 2012).

Required virtues and motivation behind the action

Peter has a set of selling obligations. However, it was clear in his mind that ethical sales should be a part of the business. Rather than solely focusing on making money, he was concerned about offering the best services to the small business owners. He wanted to guide them as he personally believed in the outcomes of good business practices. He wanted to earn the loyalty and trust of customers as he was aware of the fact that gaining loyalty means strengthening the reputation of the business. It may involve risks such as losing the chance of making a huge profit. However, it also means that gaining customers for a long time. He could have easily focused on making profits rather than considering the customer’s needs. However, he decided to go the ethical way as he values honesty and straightforwardness.

He went on to meet his customers directly and rather than exaggerating their advertising needs; he was quite honest about their real needs. He gave them an honest evaluation and even recommended them to select low packages based on needs. It can be stated that values such as honesty, justice, responsibility and empathy motivated him to act in this manner.

Risks faced by Peter while making decision

One of the common risks that Peter faced was the risk of losing his job as a customer sales representative. In the advertising industry, profit-making is the sole aim, and Peter’s actions suggest that he was more concerned about ethical behavior and ethical conduct (Knouse & Giacalone, 1992). His boss would have thought that Peter has set an unrealistic goal; however, he was totally clear about his decision. Moreover, initiating such actions could have been counter-productive for Peter. His decision to focus on customer well-being rather than profit-making was an unrealistic and conflicting decision. Without support from team members and top executives, he would have failed in his approach.

Factors assisting people in making moral decisions

When an individual encounters pressure and still chooses to act ethically, it tells a lot about the ingrained values of that individual. Moral judgments and decision making in real-life require a lot of tenacity and a well-formed moral reasoning skill. The individual is completely aware of the consequences of his or her actions. The person would come across a range of dilemmas and conflicting situations. Despite that, he or she acts morally because they have been morally oriented in their entire life. They are less motivated by greed and more influenced by ethics. In a real-life scenario, applying the moral values requires a bias-free attitude and commitment. Again, the individual’s upbringing is another factor behind making a moral decision in every situation. It can be rightly claimed that the deeply-held values are another factor assisting such morally-oriented people (Jimenez & Pulos, 2018). For these individuals, being a “good person” is more important than being right or successful in terms of money. They possess a sense of duty and responsibility towards fellow human beings.

 

 

References

Jimenez, G. C., & Pulos, E. (2018). Good Corporation, Bad Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Economy.

Knouse, S. B., & Giacalone, R. A. (1992). Ethical decision-making in business: Behavioral issues and concerns. Journal of Business Ethics, 11(5-6), 369-377.

Tota, I., & Shehu, H. (2012). The dilemma of business ethics. Procedia Economics and Finance, 3, 555-559.