Everyday we meet different people, many of which might be quite unfamiliar to us and we cannot know what to expect from them. There are people who try to be always polite with people and to follow certain ethical principles while communicating with others. However, there are also very unscrupulous people, who do not care about ethics in relations. In this paper, I would like to discuss two examples of people’s behavior – ethical and unethical. Both of them are from the sphere of work in a supermarket.
It is necessary to note that it usually takes time and effort to establish ethical and amicable relations with colleagues. At work rivalry plays an important role. Speaking about ethical behavior I might give an example of a manager who has noticed that one of his subordinates, Pamela, used to leave the work earlier. Certainly he could have complained about it to the authorities. Instead he has warned Pamela that it might adversely affect her salary. However, as Pamela continued to go earlier from the work, he decided to talk to her and to learn the reason of her early leaving. Pamela told the manager that she had to take her daughter from the kindergarten. Her work always finished so late that her daughter had to wait for her long. Having heard it, the manager behaved ethically, he did not reprimand her but offered her to change the shift. Pamela was very encouraged by this offer, because the previous manager had not allowed her to do this. The manager tried to sympathize with Pamela and to help her. In this situation he followed ethical guidelines and did not peach on her. Thus, we see that understanding and willingness often become the guarantee of good relations and good work as well (Scott, 1998).

However, at work one can always face unethical situations. Whistleblowing cases might be a bright example. They have always caused heated disputes. There are people who support the whistleblower, arguing that all the mistakes and willful neglect of one’s duties should be punished. On the other hand, many people stick to the opinion that whistleblowing is a mean and unethical action.

Recently I have heard about one of the whistleblowing cases in a supermarket, when a salesman drew the attention of the administration of the supermarket to the fact that his fellow-worker was constantly late for his work. As a result, this person was fired. The whistle-blower did it anonymously, but later on the truth was revealed. This salesman motivated his whistleblowing by the obvious damage to the supermarket. Since his fellow worker was late, one of the cash desks was closed and there were long queues in the supermarket, which irritated the customers.

However, his action was absolutely unethical. It seems obvious that the whistle-blower simply did not want to perform the work of his partner and thought it unfair that his coming late was not ever noticed by the administration. In my opinion, these feelings urged the whistle-blower to complain about the lack of discipline of his co-worker.

Another weighty argument to judge the action of this salesman is the result of his whistleblowing. It is apparent that he knew the consequences of his complaint since he could knew the reaction of the manager to such behavior. Certainly we should acknowledge that there are people who always and everywhere struggle for the truth. They fight for justice just because they consider it their duty. Even when their own interests are not infringed, such kind of people would do everything to right a wrong. Such people are very useful for companies and many of managers encourage internal whistleblowing in an enterprise. This is done “to encourage employees to bring ethical and legal violations they are aware of to an internal authority so that action can be taken immediately to resolve the problem” (Ravishankar, 2003).

However, these actions result in unhealthy atmosphere in the company. The employees do not trust each other; they see a whistle-blower in each and every person. Thus, morbid relations harm the performance in the company and might lead to the worsening of the productivity.

Returning to the considered case, if I were this salesman, I would not resort to whistleblowing because I think it is highly unethical. I would try to warn the person about possible consequences of his late comings in case the manager noticed it. If the situation was uncomfortable for me and created problems for me, I would speak to my workmate seriously, in order to explain him all the inconveniences.

To make a conclusion, in my opinion ethical behavior is the guarantee of good relations among people. When people follow certain ethical principles, they can be true friends and good colleagues. Such cases as whistleblowing might be considered profitable for companies and for customers. Nevertheless, I am inclined to believe that only mean and unscrupulous people are able to complain anonymously about some mistakes of other people. Whistleblowing should not be encouraged as it contributes to the destruction of ethical principles in people.

References

Scott G. G. (1998). Making Ethical Choices, Resolving Ethical Dilemmas. St. Paul: Paragon House.

Ravishankar L. (2003). Encouraging Internal Whistleblowing in Organizations. Retrieved January 30, 2009, from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/whistleblowing.html

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