You are having coffee with your long-time friend and fellow employee (but not so

Question

You are having coffee with your long-time friend and fellow employee (but not someone directly in your chain of command), when she discloses to you in-confidence that she has stolen money from the "petty cash" drawer to cover the cost of prescription drugs for her child that is sick. She says her intention is to pay the money back as soon as she has extra cash and just hope the money doesn't turn-up missing in the meantime. She asks you to keep her secret and not report her. Using the four approaches to ethical decision making, how would you respond? What is your obligation to tell your company, knowing that if you do you will probably lose her friendship and she her job? What additional information might you wish to consider in arriving at your final decision? How would you implement your decision?

Explanation / Answer

Answer: In this case I will report this matter to the relevant authority inside the company and ask him to investigate further. As an employee of the company it is my duty as per the deontological approach of ethics to report such situation to the relevant authorities despite the fact that I will lose a friend or she will lose her job. This is also right as per the utilitarian approach as such incidences can result in encouraging my friend and the other employees to increasingly engaging in such behaviors which is not good for the organization and the people working in it. Such incidences may promote others in the organization to adopt wrong means for meeting their ends and creating an organization wide menace. Morally also it is wrong to steal and it is possible that when the company does not actually knows about the actual thief they may end up punishing someone else if this incidence gets exposed. My colleague should have asked for help from others rather than stealing. Hence I will go personally and report this matter to the relevant authorities by narrating this incidence so that a proper action is taken irrespective of the consequences. For making a final decision I do not need any additional information as the information provided is sufficient for making a right decision.

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse Y
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.