Introduction
ALFAC insurance company is an organization that has offered policyholders a chance to get ready money when it is required most, such as a medical emergency fund, resulting in financial problems. With forty-seven employees, it is devoted to providing the customers with products that protect them. It gives the management a precious benefit in achieving their necessary requirement of accountability for self-confidence and wellbeing of their organization. Its money is made available to the customers, who are in serious need of urgent monetary support and also for personal assurance policy. Their money that is availed to the clients is not restricted, except only by the unfortunate absence of a genuine case.
The ethical dilemmas experienced
Dilemma 1; Conflict due to personally held aspects
The workplace is made up of people of different religion, education, age and socio-economic standing. The workers also take the employment with varying expectations, backgrounds, goals, values, and different views of acceptable conduct. This varied, different group of the workforce is being required to work harmoniously jointly in the strength of teamwork and respect for the advantage of the company and the public they deal with. This is not always the case though, because these aspects at times are huge barriers in achieving the overall productivity of the firm.
Unfortunately, workers tend to discriminate each other on the basis of their ethical, religious, educational, economic and social background. They thus are unable to solve important organizational problems among themselves because they view each other differently as opposed to the rule of utilitarianism which ensures that everyone in an organization is happy (John Stuart Mill, 1861).This theory supported by Richard Hare who said that if we were archangels we would act as utilitarians every time because we could predict the outcome. This is why organizations need moral guidelines so as to achieve the best results of their deeds. Thus they must try to imitate the symbolic archangels so as to determine the proper direction of their deeds. ALFAC does not always ensure its management is standard and all its participants are happy and have motivation which aids them on making important choices not only between right & wrong but also between right & right. They should therefore make efforts to achieve the best.
Rawls’ difference should be attached to the position or office held and open to all under conditions of fairness in equal opportunity. In his principle of justice, individuals should look for means to direct their conduct by making choices on the proper principle regarding justice over those of libertarian and utilitarian. One of the obligations of the Sarbanes Oxley that the members of such outfits as insurance companies start to put into practice is the carrying out of an anonymous employee feedback tool for reporting in-house deception, maltreatment, policy contravention, theft and other ethical issues in the work surroundings. According to the ALFAC chairman and chief executive officer Dan Amos, they are working to ensuring that they run a very honest and moral kind of association which is not always the case, and that their managers bring the high level of care that the clients and their families ought to have. While they aren’t needed to abide by the rules, they want a response arrangement to assist in ensuring that each client is accorded impartiality, just and equal handling (Blanchard, 1981).
Dilemma 2; Conflict between the solution and the basic principles
Workers at times, encounter decisions that have repercussions to the security of their jobs, their wages, and the achievement of the organization’s decisions that pressurise them to guard their own welfare. Sometimes with the danger of losing their individual or company honour (Lankard, 1987), yet the egoist approach stresses the need for one to view oneself as more significant than everybody else in their dealings. It seems to ask for profound & deep prejudice towards one as an individual. This is, however, against the utilitarianism approach, which treat the happiness of everyone on an equal basis. What is important is giving out happiness through each action an individual undertakes. All the workers need to be treated purely the same who in turn should respond to clients grieves equally. That is why the principle should enable the management of ALFAC to respond to the plight and cases of the customers who are facing serious hardships such as accidents and unexpected incidences such as natural phenomenon.
Every individual therefore, according to Rawls principle of liberty, is entitled to an equal right to the broadest total scheme of equal fundamental liberties in league with a parallel liberty. For ALFAC to ensure very excellent company influence, the organisation willingly should comply with the requirements of the community, business office improvement and the act on protection of investors. The company should encourage everyone who is linked to it to give information on breaches of the regulations and any happenings of misbehaviour, deception, and abuse by the employees or the managers, and the policyholders depending on the company. This is also linked to the principle of the difference, which has to do with the socioeconomic differences of the workers. Kantian theory is supported by those who oppose utilitarianism by the fact that people have certain liberties which can never be overridden by general utility appeal because they are worth respect as autonomous beings. These two theories differ in two distinct axes of right based versus goal based and consequential versus non-consequential aspects. An individual should not be taken as sacrifice for the benefit of another which is not always the case with the firm operations.
Dilemma 3; conflict as a result of entities to which one is entitled
As an organisation that respects their customers, and being in control of many people and millions of money, the company experiences several problems. Among these issues, is ensuring moral and very honest atmosphere for workers: making sure that those employed are dependable and understand the service to customers (Fisher, 2006); the issue of resources usage; and of course compliance with the policies and set of laws in the business. Linking this with Rawls’ indispensable idea, the ideal conception of a just societal arrangement for common good, and the justice principles of equal, free and rational people to select should be applied under fair bargaining conditions, to govern the basic structure of the social order. However, attaining fairness in opportunity doesn’t only need that positions and offices acquire distribution basing on merit but also in attaining skills which are just on assessing merit (Rawls, 1971).
This is linked to the Kantian ideas, one of which encourages humanity in which all that one undertakes as an individual should be in line with other person’s interest. One should always see the treatment of others as an end and not just as a means. The other idea is the significance of universality of people’s actions. Kantian stresses the need to act in such a way as to reflect what individuals would wish to be universal law. Therefore the clients, being dependent on the company financially, need the organisation to ensure an elevated standard of provision and understanding for them.
Recommendations: Possible Solutions to the Dilemmas
Recommendations for Dilemma 1
Solving ethical issues needs intervention and interpersonal skills, combined with the new application of employment skills such as reliability, collaboration, and respect for colleagues, work pride and loyalty. One of the most effective ways to tackle the issues is for the management to open up all the communication lines. The team should decide to put in place a mechanism that would enable the feedback to reach the people concerned and the solutions for the problems should be realistic.
After consulting Allegiance association the company was introduced to “Silent whistle,” a system that provided it with a reasonably priced and anonymous reporting way that assisted the company to alleviate danger and misbehaviour connected with the use of company wealth and assets. Silent whistle makes open communication lines among the employees, clients, colleagues and the management, enabling the company managers to improve the understanding of what they might not been informed about. It allows the clients to log on to the net or give the company a call from any place. The level of achievement of improving contact and effectiveness within the company depends on how effective the silent whistle is used. If any issue with fraud arises it is easy to solve as fast as possible, because of the silent whistle mechanism.
This helps in solving matters before they escalate and get out of hand because taking care of customers and their needs is an all-time job for the company and its workers. This mechanism therefore enables the organisation to be aware of existing problems and solve them quickly before they worsen and harm the integrity of the company or the clients. The silent whistle also helps to discourage fraud and enables the company to enhance client confidence and trust because of the better services. Another benefit of silent whistle is that it helps the organisation to educate its workers and contacts them.
In addition, helping everybody to appreciate the usefulness of silent whistle and what to be expecting from the response clarification, then the company can get its whole system behind its desire to reduce the worker’s going against the company’s, rules and regulation and enhancing good service to clients. The silent whistle’s arrangement gives the workers and clients a suitable and anonymous style of reporting concerns and sharing good experience, thus enabling the managers to improve their understanding of the companies’ culture and tackling areas of trouble. Being the custodian of the clients’ money, the company now has the moral policies and feedback scheme in place to make sure that the organisation is an honest and fiduciary accountable establishment. Provision of systems that measure the effectiveness of workers and reward systems who attain the goals of the organization is crucial (miller et al, 1986)
Recommendation for Dilemma 2
To deal with the issue of maintaining perfect corporate governance, the organization decided to comply with the requirements of the civic corporation accounting development. It also complies with the act protecting investors of 2002, recognized as the Sarbanes Oxley. This enables them to operate within the law and avoid needless conflicts with the state. A guideline in making decisions is essential such as designing a code regarding conduct.
Recommendation for Dilemma 3
Limited resources dilemma is tackled through a number of ways. First the establishment organises its campaigns to advertise itself every so often. This is conducted to increase the public’s knowledge and awareness of the company and its products. It also gives the managers the chance to offer assistance to their juniors by making them more knowledgeable of the organisation’s policies and values of confidence, approval and respect. Apart from the advertisements as their own initiative, the establishment also allows and encourages their esteemed clients to give a good word to their friends and relatives whenever possible. Solving this kind of problem needs one to determine the effects it has to the company policies and civil law. One should analyze the problems, the possible solutions and finally come up with a decision. Training the employees on the organization’s structure and creating their awareness concerning ethical responsibilities may be a successful solution to this dilemma.
Bibliography
Blanchard, K and Peale, NV 1988, The Power of Ethical Management, William Morrow and Company, New York.
Fisher, C and Lovell, A 2006, Business Ethics and Values: Individual Corporate and International Perspectives, 3rd Edition, Prentice Hall.
Lankard, BA 1987, Practice Ethical Behavior: Connections, School and Work Transitions, The National Center for Research in Vocational Education, The Ohio State University.
Rawls, John 1971, A Theory of Justice. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Miller, P. F., and Coady, W. T 1986 Vocational Ethics: Toward the Development of an Enabling Work Ethic. Springfield: Illinois Department of Adult, Vocational, and Technical Education.