Ethics and Authority

Workers are told to respect their supervisors and bosses, to follow their orders and to obey their commands. There are situations, however, where respecting authority creates ethical dilemmas.

Your Supervisor Does Something Unethical: You may discover that your supervisor is cheating on bids, blackmailing or bribing regulators. He or she may be lax on safety and quality, causing things to get by which might later endanger human life. He or she may be sexually harassing other workers. Most often, he or she will be hiding problems, exaggerating sales and production or underreporting costs and defects to look good. You may have to face the tough choice of blowing the whistle or keeping quiet.

Your Supervisor Asks You to Do Something Unethical: He or she may ask you to make up an excuse for not talking to a caller. He or she may tell you to falsify documents or falsely advertise products. He or she may order you to change or misrepresent data. You will have to decide whether to follow orders or stand up for your principles.

You and Your Supervisor Have Different Value Systems: Your ethical standards may not be the same as your supervisor's. For instance, you may consider it important to give customers a square deal while your supervisor might want to give them as little as possible. You may have high ethical standards in environmental matters while your supervisor does not value environmental matters at all.

Your Supervisor Does Not Work in The Interests of The Company: If you discover that there is a conflict of interest between your supervisor and the company, you may have to report this conflict to higher authorities. For instance, if your supervisor encourages the company to use a supplier which he partially owns, he or she is guilty of conflict of interest. You might also find that he or she employs and advances relatives or friends.

Your Supervisor Harasses You Sexually: Your supervisor may make sexual advances towards you. He or she may promise you promotions for sexual favours, and if you refuse, threaten to demote or fire you. It is highly unethical and illegal for a person to use his or her position to coerce underlings into granting sexual favours. However, when refusing, then reporting the supervisor, you face the problem that sexual harassment is difficult to prove. It often comes down to your word against your supervisor's. Once you have made the charge and cannot prove it, you may end up losing your job. You can even get a reputation as a "problem employee", which makes it difficult to get another job. To avoid such problems, many people decide to leave the company gracefully, neither reporting their supervisors nor giving in to harassment. Other just accept the injustice. But the best approach is to make sure of your facts, have concrete evidence, and try to find other victims, then pursue your claim.