The story revolves around the extent to which a group can bear responsibility over individualâs welfare and well-being. It also raises ethical questions relating to an individual and the ethics of an organization. The case study is a narration of Bowen McCoy story on an expedition to hike the highest mountain in the world, The Himalayas. McCoy spends substantial amount of time hiking the mountain that cross cuts the plains of Nepal.
As the journey continued to be challenging, he meets an Indian cleric considered holy by the citizenry. His name is Sadhu. The holy many had insufficient clothing to cover him from the whims of extreme cold and he was struggling to survive. Noticing the needs of Sadhu, McCoy and his fellow hikers provides him with clothing to keep him from the adverse effect of the cold. They also give him food and some warm drinks to gain the lost warmth (Ciulla, 2003).
Filled with empathy, members of the group volunteered to take the holy man down the mountain to a nearby village. Nonetheless, they leave him and continue with their expedition up the mountain. They rationalized their action by saying that the man would distract their focus and objective of ascending to the peak of the mountain. McCoy admits that he did not know what had happened to Sadhu raising the moral question of how individuals should act in dilemma typical of genuine ethical issue (Ciulla, 2003).
As such, the case study responds to the questions about addressing ethical dilemmas and crises. He recognizes that if the group had gone down the slopes, they could have shifted their focus from the organizational objectives.
Can an individual therefore act in a way that contravenes the objectives of an organization when responding to ethical dilemma? Should individual ethics reflect the ethics held by an organization? Ciulla (2003) asserts that the parable of Sadhu provides insights on how to deal with ethical dilemmas when caught between organizational and personal morals.
Power is the ability to influence others to increase the chances of achievement of specific goals. Besides, power reflects control and access to resources and gives those who wield power an upper hand over the rest of the population. It is therefore imperative to notice that nature of power is in itself an indication of self-interests.
Humans use power as a means to attain their self-goals and objectives. As indicated by Machiavelli, human beings are in endless competition to fulfill their urge for power, as a means to their ends. Since human beings struggle for power, many ethical issues emerge regarding the use of power and means through which people acquire power. While we consider that power allows the control of resources and access to other aspects of life, power clashes with ethics as it belittle the struggles of subjects of power.
Platoâs story about the âring of Gygesâ illuminates on the human need to acquire power and act, as they would wish. Despite calls to act in a just way, human natural instincts dictate that they act in the way that best fulfills their desires. Upon finding the invincible ring, Annas (1981) says that Gyges who was priory a humble servant acts contrary to the expectations of the people by conspiring with the queen to kill the king for him to ascend to the throne.
Hence, human beings act in just ways only when they have no power. This is the only way that justice is possible. In the same way, human nature according Machiavelli is short, brutal and nasty and as such, people will act to make the best out of it. Competition fills human nature and thus, it is only within the context of law that people can control their egoistic needs and act nobly.
Centralization of power is therefore the best way to avoid acts of impunity and misdeeds since if every individual was powerful, the world would be lawless as people attempt to outdo each other and control them (Ciulla, 2003).
In lieu of the fact that all actions by human beings reflect self-interests, it is imperative for leaders to act within the framework of their respective organizations (Ciulla, 2003). Ciulla (2003) says that leaders are bound by organizational ethics that control their character and conduct. As such, leaders act in line with the objectives of an organization as opposed to self-interests. Nonetheless, when outside the context of the organizations, self-interests prevail making the âRepublicâ to control human beings through law.
References
Annas, J. (1981). An introduction to Platoâs Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ciulla, B. (2003). The Ethics of Leadership. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Thompson-Wadsworth Publishers.