Introduction
In our professional lives, we get confronted with morally unclear issues from time to time. We, therefore, get torn between the call to uphold professional standards and the desire to respond to the voice of human inclinations (Brooks & Dunn, p. 12). This case of the bank teller is an example.
Main body
The ethical dilemma, in this case, is that of being confronted with two situations that are hard to declare as plainly unacceptable. Specifically, the teller who has taken the money from the inactive account has not taken it because of a fleeting or vain issue. The money has been taken because of a matter that is about the life and death of her son who is in urgent need of an operation. It is therefore hard to blame her for taking the money and therefore reporting given the reason for taking it. To make it even more complex, she has begun paying back the money. On the other hand, the bank calls for honesty in service and client protection, and given that the teller took the money without permission from an inactive account belonging to a customer it is professionally unacceptable (McDowell, p. 4). I am therefore under obligation to report so that appropriate action can be taken against her for not following the right channels in getting money to solve her issues.
Viewed from the point of the teller who took the money from an inactive account, how the money was used makes sense. It was not used to purchase luxurious commodities but was used to save a life. With due consideration, the money was taken not from an active account but an inactive account meaning that there are chances that the account owner may come back after the money has been paid back. It is important to note that payment of the money has already commenced. Therefore, there seems to be no room for blame or accusation for taking the money. Instead, there should be appreciation for the action taken to save a life and the inherent discipline of knowing that the money needs to be taken back.
On the other hand, the teller may have been given a legitimate loan by the bank has she asked for it given that she is an employee of the bank. This will have helped avoid the act of violating an inactive customer account. The act is absolutely against bank policy and action should be taken. Think about the customer of the inactive account surfacing after the withdrawal and finding the account violated! What will be the reaction? Most likely, the bank will spend a lot of money in trying to settle court cases with the customer for breach of both privacy, the contract for privacy, and theft. To ensure that all the bank’s employees know that such acts are dangerous, it is so that the teller is reported to the bank authorities so that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against her.
I choose to take the side of the teller. In the absence of insurance, it is possible that processing a loan from the bank would have taken a long time. This will have led to the death of her son. The best alternative that she had was to use the money in the inactive account. It is also possible that if she would have suggested to the management that she uses the money in the inactive account, the bank manager would have declined this leading to the death of her son. The choice she made was risky given the possibility that the owner of the inactive account would easily appear and find his or her account violated and cause problems for the bank. But she was careful in the first place and this is why she went for an account that was inactive and therefore had remote chances of being discovered; at least before she had the chance of paying back the money.
In conclusion, the call to listen to the ailing son and the professional requirements are both begging for attention. This is the dilemma. The teller who took the money took it for a good reason and did so considerately by going for an inactive account. She has also begun paying back the money. The bank is also in danger of lawsuits on client account violations if the withdrawal is unearthed. My side would be that of the teller because of the reason that she gives for taking the money and how she has taken it.
Works cited
Brooks, Leonard & Dunn, Paul. Business and Professional Ethics: For Directors, Executives and Accountants. (5th ed.).New York: Cengage South-Western. 2009.Print.
McDowell, Banks. Ethics and Excuses: The Crisis In Professional Responsibility.Westport: Quorum Books, 2000.Print.