ETHIC 445N: Principle of Ethics
DeVry Universit

GOUP B, DILEMMA 1
The case study is about a certain office worker who is fond of missing work as he pleases. His excuse is that he is entitled to all the time off that he takes, regardless of it being a working day or a weekend. Consequences of the behavior of this officer have had dire effects on his co-workers who have not more than once complained to the management about his absenteeism. In my opinion, I consider what this officer does as reckless and inconsiderate. It is even odd that he is the only person doing such a thing in the office and he does not seem to care about it.
Different companies usually have differing policies that outline days when a worker should take his offs or shifts. For most companies, this strategy is employed in order to reduce fatigue among its workers and to reduce feelings of monotonous activity that could result to laziness and low work productivity. Adhering to these company policies creates an atmosphere of equality among the workers, which is not the same case as those in this case study. The workers feel wronged since they have to shoulder the burden of having to do extra work which could have been allocated to this worker. To make matters worse they are not paid thus making them feel misused.
It is not right that this worker should exploit the opportunity of taking off from work. It is even surprising that the management has not done anything so far to make him stop this behavior. From the case study, it is evident that he has turned this into a habit which is equally reflected in his poor job performance. It is important to respect once workmates and to always have the best interest at heart. Respecting and creating good work relations with co-workers and the management goes a long way in producing a good workforce with positive results.
GROUP A, DILEMMA 2
My second case study is about a pilot who has been discovered to have a heart murmur by his doctor. The pilot has one more month before he can go for retirement. The doctor wonders whether it is right to withhold such vital information from the management. Professionally speaking, it would be wrong if the doctor did not disclose such information to the management. Failure to submit the test results would lead to serious consequences, such as the doctor losing his medical license and the pilot having to answer questions.
It is uncertain what the doctor’s diagnosis is, since little description is given regarding the pilot’s heart murmur. Most heart murmurs are harmless and cause no serious damage to a victim. On most occasions, most doctors consider heart murmurs to be innocent. However, there are other cases whereby some murmurs can be a sign of a serious medical condition. On serious situations, murmurs can result to heart related complications such as stroke or a heart attack; hence it is important to determine whether they are vital in order to know the right kind of treatment to administer.
Regardless of the type of murmur discovered, whether harmless or harmful, the doctor would be wrong not to share the information. Assuming the pilot encountered a complication while flying a plane; he would be endangering the life of his passengers and would equally be endangering his life as well. It is the responsibility of the management to decide whether the pilot should continue working for the last one month, or if it would be best to remove some responsibilities from his hands. It would obviously, be after consultations with the doctor to know whether the pilot is physically fit to continue carrying on with his duties as normal.