Ethics Blog for COMM 150 Fall '09

I only browsed through a handful of the comments but the general consensus on this, is that most would let the family know about the issues at hand. I often wonder if family members were not in the equation would your answers be the same? So lets cut right past all the shenanigans, and get to the core of this dilemma. We either follow what our company is asking us to do like an obedient space monkey, or we go against the grain and leak some information.

This all depends on the type of person you are and you can look at it the same way Edmund Burke told it, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
If we don’t think about the repercussions and go along with holding information that could be key to effecting our employees lives, then we let evil win because we did nothing. This can show what type of character we truly are. If family was out of the equation what would you do? What kind of employee would you have been? People strive to create trust between employees to better themselves for the company and for the team. It creates better productivity and comradery within the company. What if this incident happened, what choices would you make? You would have to look in the eyes of all those people that put their trust in you, and turn your back on them in an instant. It is as if you are coming to their house and taking the food right off their table, that they worked so hard to provide for their children. Status and money are nothing against the power of word of mouth. Respect and honor are ideals that should be held high and the trust you earn with other co workers should be held in that same respect.

Would I leak they information… Well before I did, I would do my best to work with the the “higher ups” to make them aware of the damage this can cause and try to find a work around to better the situation. If they were unwilling then yes I would let family members within the company know as well as the rest. What is a man without his honor and respect? It seems that he would be just a miserable pile of secrets.

I would hire a PR employee of the same standards.

Now ask yourself if you can walk around with that guilt for the rest of your life, knowing how many careers you destroyed in one swift move. Sun Tzu once said, “It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

I would definitely let my family in on the situation at hand, but I would make sure to say as little as possible. This moral dilemma is a deontological one and is especially tricky because of family involvement. On the one hand, I would feel entirely obligated to inform them of the company’s recent decision; on the other hand, hiring and firing happen every day and it’s not my place within the company to influence that cycle. Despite having to maintain honesty and loyalty to the company I work for, I would feel a stronger moral obligation to protect my family in this situation. I would make it known, however, that letting this leak travel further than them would be a very poor decision on their part. I can understand that they may have friends whom they work with that they would want to protect, however, they need to realize that I didn’t risk my job for friends; I did it for family.

That said, I know that my family would trust my judgment and maintain secrecy. I would have no problem hiring someone who had made the decision I would have made as long as I know the full story behind the decision. I would not feel comfortable hiring someone who informed a bunch of company friends as opposed to family, or leaked information to the general public for no apparent reason. I would hope to find honesty in their story, but this may be a difficult one to fully understand.

If confronted about the leak by the company CEO, I would not lie. I would make it known that I felt my family deserved the truth and that their early absence from the company did not seem detrimental to their plans of branch closures.

If I was in this situation and had to choose whether to tell my family members disclosed information or keep it from them it would definitely be a hard decision to make. In all situations with morals intact family always comes first, but if jobs are in jeopardy it is more than hard to say what is right. I believe if it came down to it I would tell each of my family members to start looking for a job. I would not necessarily tell them every detail as to why but just for their best interest they should know. I do not think I would hire a PR director who made a leak like mine, but in all reality in our economy survival is key and those with no job face a new and different kind of life, one that was given to them, not chosen. With the end results of me telling my family and I was being questioned I believe I would tell my company because I know if it was their family members they would reach out and have the urge to do the same thing. This ethical issue has a lot of hypocritical factors to it, but it all comes down to what your moral background is like and what you think is right or wrong.

Even though I took an oath to my company to be loyal to them and to not disclose any information that would harm the company it would be just as hard to not tell my family members that their job is in danger. I would know that making a commitment to your job is serious but I would have to say that I care about my family just as much. I would most likely let my brother and sister in-law that there is going to be a lay off and I would highly recommend looking for another job. Not necessarily telling them that they are going to lose their job for a fact but it would be good to look for another one because no one is safe.

I would base my decision on the ethical dilemma known as deontology. I believe that this issue is deontology because I have the right and duty to protect my family no matter what. I will always have my families best interest in mind. This would bring up my personal morals because I want to do the right thing so I can be a good person.

If I was in the position to hire a director of PR that had made a leak like this I would not be opposed to hiring them because they can share the same views and morals as I do and no one is perfect. Caring about your family and putting them before your job is important to remember for your whole life.

If I looked suspicious for looking like I have leaked some information to my brother and sister in law I would tell the truth. I would admit that I said that no one’s job in safe and it would be wise to look for another job. I did not necessarily tell them that they were going to lose their job but I highly advised it.

The true question here is what ethics means in the first place.  If anyone has spent any time in a corporate climate, you know, or should know, that unless your in an executive position with any company, these things have a tendency to go downhill fast and have a lot of heads roll with hard working “loyal” employees.  There is a strong chance that you’ll be the one left holding the bag and looking like the bad guy anyways.  Its a no-win situation.

The truth is, the company 99% of the time is going to do what is best for the bottom line, staff and image be damned.

In a climate such as today’s, its only fair to give some people the heads up that they need to start looking for new work.  If all works out well, they were in a dead-end position, and these stores closing provided the necessary boost for them to make some changes in their life and work towards a better job.

And to truly be successful, if you own stock in the company, sell immediately.

I believe that family comes first through anything in life. No matter whats the situation. weather its life and death or having a job or no job. Your job is important too because thats how you support and allow your family to live comfortably but I think anyone would inform their family members if their means of living was in jeapordy.

If i was in that position i would tell my family and risk getting fired. Because, it seems to me that it would be the morally right thing to do. Not telling my family would put them in some horrible situations that could be avoided if i can gave them a heads up. Even though i signed the confidentiality vow i would hope that my job understands the loyalty to my family first. Also, understand that as human beings we automatically favor our family members over others and will not simply treat them as we do strangers.

 Response:

 PR is not just about representing your company. It is also about valuing the best interest and reputations of the company and its constituents, as a whole. For that reason I would do the following:

             Upon hearing the news, I would try to convince the top-level management that this was not the best way of handling the situation. I would sell the idea that notifying the employees only one week before closing was morally and ethically wrong and we needed to make the announcement sooner. I would advise the company that we must construct our official notice right away and offer my time to begin working on this task.

 I would remind management that during a recession or any hard times, people need to stick together. In order for the company to remain positively viewed by the public, they need to take into consideration their constituents. After all, the employees do the work and the public buy the products, so the business’s success or failure depends on these constituents!

 The argument is that you don’t just let people down during tough times. In order for the company to increase profit margin and grow as the economy rises back up, they need to make sure the loyalty from their constituent remains positive. The company will have to gain the respect and trust back in the future, but at least all of it is not destroyed at once due to a poor decision.

 If they follow through with such an inconsiderate gesture and delay notifying their employees of the shut down, then hundreds of people will be left out of work and will no longer respect or trust the company. These people will feel let down and unimportant.

And as they say… bad news spreads ten times faster than good news!

 We need to make sure that we hold ourselves accountable, responsible and at a higher level of professionalism by informing these employees in advance so they too can begin hunting for new jobs and means of income to protect and raise their families, right away. If you think about it, what does the company really have to lose for announcing early? Even though many employees will resign and find new jobs this would be a good outcome. The company does not lose money for loosing employees but rather saves! Worst case scenario – half of the employees leave may mean that the company saves and will only downsize by closing down one outlet instead of two, right away.

 Due to the fact that I promised to be loyal to my company and at no cost spill the beans, I would abide by this and not tell my brother or sister-in-law earlier than the announcement. I would, however value their best interests and use them as an example when defending my case to the top level management.

 When you are a PR Professional, your opinion does and should matter. My decision would be in the best interest of my family by finding a way to notify them sooner without going against my company oath. Additionally, my decision is justified because I took into consideration the best interest, reputation and potentially saved the company’s future growth and success.

 If my brother and sister-in-law find new jobs and resign on their own, then my company would have no solid way to prove that I broke my oath. But assuming that I did tell them, I would stand up for myself and my family first and foremost and admit to my crimes.

 What’s the worst that could happen, I lose my job too?? People are replaceable. I believe that I will find another company that respects me for what I stand for and enough to hire me on their team.

 As a professional, I would hire a PR director like this because that to me shows consideration for others and loyalty to their company.  These are good traits to have and, in my opinion,  are traits of a great employee.

if i worked for a company like this i would do like many and tell my family members. i would not want to betray them as they will always be there for me and i would expect them to do the same for me if they were in the opposite shoes. i would think that it would be fair and correct for the company to give the employees a lot more time to get a new job lined up. i would hate a company that would only be interested in themselves and not care about other people and their situations.

since i am a huge family person if someone told me this same story and i had to make the decision on hiring them or not; i would definitely hire them. sure it is a big then you give someone an oath but family in my eyes is the most important thing. so i would hire them for standing up and be courageous.

if they suspected that i had leaked some information i would tell them that i do not know what they are speaking about. i would trust and know that my family would not tell others about what i said. the company would most likely never find out and if they did it was most likely someone i would want to work for in the first place. all jobs are not meant to be and especially those who do not consider the well being of others.

If is was in this position, I would make a case to management that it would be in the best interest of the company to let the employees know, more than a week before closing, that these stores are being shut-down.  I think it would prove that those in higher positions do think about all their employees, even the lower level ones, and it reflects positively on the company as a whole.  However, should upper management not appreciate my bleeding heart interjection, I would honor the confidentiality vow I took.  I don’t believe people should sign confidentiality vows lightly, and I would hope that my family members understood my silence (in reality, my family members would not understand, but I would still keep my mouth shut).  Either way, I have a policy about mean what you say, and say what you mean – simply put, keep your word or don’t give it.

I would not hire a director of PR that made this kind of leak.  I believe that ideally, a PR professional should have an upright ethical identity/integrity.  If they cant hack being placed in a difficult decision such as this, what would make them qualified to handle an even more difficult ethical dilemma?  They gave their word and broke it, how can you trust them?

Assuming I did leak info, and assuming management it suspicious and questioning me, I would confess to my transgressions.  If they are already suspicious and I lie, I am sure that soon or later I will get busted for leaking info and then lying about it.  My feelings are you always get caught and if you can’t face the heat, don’t put yourself in that position.