CRITICAL THINKING ASSIGNMENT

Ethical Dilemma - What would you do?

Pick any of the Ethical Dilemmas below and thoroughly answer all of the discussion questions.

Deliverable:
Provide your answer in a 2 to 3-page response with references.

No Plagiarism

Link to textbook: https://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/front-matter/publisher-

information/

The ethical dilemmas are from chapters 1 to 6. They can be found in exercises section in each chapter

Ethical Dilemma
You are working for the police department of your city. When hiring employees, the department
uses a physical ability test in which candidates are asked to do 30 push-ups and 25 sit-ups, as
well as climb over a 4-foot wall. When candidates take this test, it seems that about 80% of the
men who take the test actually pass it, while only 10% of the female candidates pass the test. Do
you believe that this is a fair test? Why or why not? If you are asked to review the employee
selection procedures, would you make any changes to this system? Why or why not?

Ethical Dilemma
You are applying for the job of sales associate. You have just found out that you will be given a
personality assessment as part of the application process. You feel that this job requires someone
who is very high in extraversion, and someone who can handle stress well. You are relatively
sociable and can cope with some stress but honestly you are not very high in either trait. The job
pays well and it is a great stepping-stone to better jobs. How are you going to respond when
completing the personality questions? Are you going to make an effort to represent yourself as
how you truly are? If so, there is a chance that you may not get the job. How about answering the
questions to fit the salesperson profile? Isn’t everyone doing this to some extent anyway?

Discussion Questions

1.What are the advantages and disadvantages of completing the questions honestly?
2.What are the advantages and disadvantages of completing the questions in a way you think the
company is looking for?
 3.What would you really do in a situation like this?

Ethical Dilemma
You are a department manager in an advertising agency. The employees of the department have
recently completed an attitude survey. Three employees in your department reported that they
were harassed by senior people in the department and they are experiencing a hostile work
environment. You do not know who these people are, but you feel that you need to do
something. The surveys were filled out confidentially, and employees were assured that their
identities would not be revealed to management. You feel that you can identify who they are
because the person in HR who administered the survey is a friend of yours and that person can
tell you the demographics of the employees, which would help you identify them.

1. Should you ask for the identity-revealing information? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of finding out the identity of these people?
2. How would you handle a situation like this now and in the future?

Ethical Dilemma
Companies are interested in motivating employees: Work hard, be productive, behave ethically
—and stay healthy. Health care costs are rising, and employers are finding that unhealthy habits
such as smoking or being overweight are costing companies big bucks.

Your company is concerned about the rising health care costs and decides to motivate employees
to adopt healthy habits. Therefore, employees are given a year to quit smoking. If they do not
quit by then, they are going to lose their jobs. New employees will be given nicotine tests, and
the company will avoid hiring new smokers in the future. The company also wants to encourage
employees to stay healthy. For this purpose, employees will get cash incentives for weight loss.
If they do not meet the weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure standards to be issued by the
company, they will be charged extra fees for health insurance.

Is this plan ethical? Why or why not? Can you think of alternative ways to motivate employees
to adopt healthy habits?

Ethical Dilemma
James is about to conduct a performance appraisal for Maria. Maria has exhibited some
performance problems in the past 6 months. She has been coming in late and leaving early, and
she missed two important deadlines. At the same time, she is a very likeable and nice person who
gets along well with others in the office. James also knows that Maria has a significant amount of
debt and getting a bonus after this appraisal would really help her. James does not want to
jeopardize his relationship with her and he does not want to prevent her from getting the bonus.
Therefore, he is considering giving her a “good” rating in the appraisal. What would be your
advice to James regarding this situation?