You've Got to Be Kidding!: How to Keep Your Job Without Losing Your Integrity

Myth 10: “People Instinctively Do the Right Thing When Confronted with an Ethical Dilemma”

Reality: Oh boy, if only that were the case. But ethical dilemmas are by definition dilemmas because they involve people, and people are complicated. I do believe that most people instinctively respond with “Well, it depends” somewhere in the first few minutes of a discussion about an ethical dilemma. It is reminiscent of the oft-repeated words of Tevye, the anguished papa in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, as he continually struggled with moral dilemmas, defined them, and repeatedly ended up saying, “On the other hand . . .”

I speculate that if we were placed in a room all by ourselves, and no one would ever know the consequences of our actions, here’s what we would do when confronted with an ethical dilemma: 10 percent of us would instinctively do the right thing, and another 10 percent of us would automatically do the wrong thing. The other 80 percent of us will struggle with the dilemma, conclude “it depends on the circumstances,” and act unpredictably.

Here is a sampling of a few “it depends” questions you may encounter at work:

• Are there any circumstances that would cause you to “look the other way” if a friend at the company were taking advantage of disability benefits?
• Your coworker comes in late, leaves early, and takes long lunch hours. Would it make a difference knowing that she is a single parent with a difficult child care situation?
• You witness a married supervisor out to ...