The particular case study discusses about a situation where there is a grave ethical dilemma in the work practice within the construction site. It is naturally unethical to utilize employees who are being paid by the company for personal work [10]. Jim Rains who has been allocated the responsibility of managing the project site, it is his responsibility to ensure that all ethical business practice is applied within the workplace. The employees under him are all responsibilities of Jim and they are liable and answerable to Jim. Therefore it is lack of authoritative leadership from the end of Jim, which he could not take proper control of the situation and could not ensure that ethical work practice is restored. Therefore in spite of telling Bob several times he did not care to listen, this shows the lack of leadership skills.
The execution of the project is not going very efficiently as the work is delayed because of excessive rains. The project will run behind schedule if such delays continue to happen. There must have been proper planning and preventive measures before the commencement of the project. The construction workers are hired for a particular period and even if it rains they have to be paid without doing any work. This is loss of resources of the organization. The alternatives could have been several, like starting the project skipping the rainy season, or using large sheets of plastics as shades, or temporary coverings in places where the work is going on partially. There could be interior works happening in the areas where there is already ceilings being made.
Every big project begins with proper assessment of risk. Therefore there could be various risks identified before commencement of the project [4]. The first risk was related to the weather, and it was obvious that during the rainy season the work will be hampered. The project could be started at a time when the rains could have been avoided as it is a known fact that in these regions it rains in the summers. The assessment of risks are done in various grounds like weather, finance, workforce attrition and so on.
The risk mitigation plans could include continuing work with proper arrangements so that even during the rains work could continue. It also must have been ensured that the employees must be responsible to the supervisors and managers.
The various ethical dilemmas that may take place in the workplace include Conducting personal work and activities in the time of work hours, taking credit for work that has been done by others, behaviors that are harassing to other employees, using other employees who are working under the individual for personal purposes [5]. In this case the ethical dilemmas that has been encountered are conducting personal work and activities in the time of work hours, and using other employees who are working under the individual for personal purposes.
The Project Management Institutes (PMI) has developed a Code of Ethics and Conduct for business that can be adopted in worldwide businesses. Ethics according to this code is decisions that are hard to take. The four key elements in this code are responsibility, respect, fairness and honesty. The ethical dilemma in this case violates fairness in business activity [1].
The possible alternative choices could be to use the construction workers for jobs that will be productive for the project. In this particular case the construction employees are utilized for personal purpose of Bob, who is using the employees for interior decoration of his own house. The pros and cons are the work would progress even if it is raining, and because of rains many employees may be absent, respectively. The construction workers could be used for interiors of the project site where the ceilings are already built. Otherwise the employees could be given a leave till the time when the rain stops. The pros and cons respectively are, the cost will be saved, but the work would not progress.
The candidate decision from Bob’s end was to use the construction workers for personal purpose so they are not sitting in spite of payment. Jim’s decision in reaction to this was to talk to Bob about it and try to stop him from taking any similar steps in the future. The factors suggested by the PMI ethical code of conduct include the point of fairness where it is stated “Fairness is our duty to make decisions and act impartially and objectively. Our conduct must be free from competing self-interest, prejudice, and favoritism” [1]. Here from Bob’s end self-interest was taking over his professional conduct.
The decision that was taken by Jim was to stop Bob from using the employees for his personal work. On the other hand it was Bob’s idea that without work the employees will lose their morale and enthusiasm so they must be engaged in some type of work. It is well understood that Bob was using the employees paid by the company for his own personal benefit. The decision of Jim to stop Bob from continuing with such activities was for the greatest good of the company. Jim should raise the issue to the higher authority so that the management must take immediate action against Bob who is using company resources for his own purpose.
Jim should commence for a meeting with the higher management as soon as possible. The issue should be raised to the highest authority about Bob’s activity. It may be true that Bob is one of the oldest employees in the organization and is very efficient, but that however cannot justify that Bob will utilize the construction employees who are paid by the company for his own work purpose and to decorate his own house. Jim as a senior manager, though new in his job, he must show example of fair decision making based on high ethical standards and moral values [2]. Bob must be penalized for his misconduct where he is using the employees for his personal purpose and stating that he is doing it actually for the company. The justification is, Jim is appointed in the position with the responsibility to protect the interest of the company and he must do that.
Reference
[1]Pmi.org, “Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct”, Pmi.org, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics/code. [Accessed: 31- Aug- 2018].
[2] Yukl G, Mahsud R, Hassan S, Prussia GE. An improved measure of ethical leadership. Journal of leadership & organizational studies. 2013 Feb;20(1):38-48.
[3] Yidong T, Xinxin L. How ethical leadership influence employees’ innovative work behavior: A perspective of intrinsic motivation. Journal of business ethics. 2013 Aug 1;116(2):441-55.
[4] Hassan S, Mahsud R, Yukl G, Prussia GE. Ethical and empowering leadership and leader effectiveness. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 2013 Feb 8;28(2):133-46.
[5] Chughtai A, Byrne M, Flood B. Linking ethical leadership to employee well-being: The role of trust in supervisor. Journal of Business Ethics. 2015 May 1;128(3):653-63.
[6] Ferrell OC, Fraedrich J. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson Education; 2015 Dec 14.
[7] Singhapakdi A, Vitell SJ, Lee DJ, Nisius AM, Grace BY. The influence of love of money and religiosity on ethical decision-making in marketing. Journal of Business Ethics. 2013 Apr 1;114(1):183-91.
[8] Iphofen R. Ethical decision making in social research: A practical guide. Springer; 2016 Jan 26.
[9] Morales-Sánchez R, Cabello-Medina C. The role of four universal moral competencies in ethical decision-making. Journal of Business Ethics. 2013 Sep 1;116(4):717-34.
[10] Rossouw D, Van Vuuren L. Business ethics. Oxford University Press; 2017.
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