Ethical Dilemma #1:

1&2. The idea of outsourcing seems to raise controversy both domestically and globally

(Kokemuller, 2017). There are many people who have strong feelings towards one side or

another, but when I think of outsourcing, I don’t automatically think “right” or “wrong”. Most

often my personal opinion on outsourcing, along with others I’d imagine, changes on a case-by-

case basis. In this particular situation there are some immediate ethical issues on both sides that

come to mind when referring to outsourcing. First of all, there is the employee factor. Having to

lay off employees out of absolute necessity can be understandable in some cases. For a company

that is losing money and is in need of an immediate out, sometimes it is necessary to lay off a

certain person or group of employees in order to keep the company afloat. Where the ethical

issue arises is when the release of employees is an optional decision in order for an

organization’s material gain. In this particular scenario, is taking away an individual’s job and

livelihood more valuable than a small increase in a cash flow statement? Some would say that

this option is unethical because of the lack of value put on the human life that’s in the middle of

the equation. The other way to look at this outsourcing issue is to take it from the manager’s

personal perspective. A manager’s role typically includes the betterment of the company in a

variety of ways, including financially. Cutting costs and making wise financial choices is a very

important part of a managerial position. Once again, we must ask ourselves this question in

relationship to our given scenario. Ethically, is it the manager’s responsibility to bring their cost-

cutting idea to the table if it would better the financial status of the company as a whole? These

two issues of employee value and managerial obligation come from different sides of the

argument of ethics in outsourcing. Like many other ethical dilemmas, this situation seems to fall

into a grey area that can be hard to understand and determine in the current business industry.
 3. As always, thanks to our human nature, there are ways to go about things selfishly or

unselfishly. In this scenario I think most managers would not pick the outsourcing route due to

the jeopardy it could put on their own job. The article stated that not only would outsourcing

possibly take away 15 jobs from the company, but that it could also take some of the importance

of the Human Resource Executive position that they sit in (DeNisi, Griffin, 2020, p. ?). While Formatted: Highlight

there may be ethical factors involved that point to a managerial obligation to save the company

money, I believe that from the manager’s perspective outsourcing would look too risky in

relation to their own job security and reputation with other employees. While these selfish

reasons can be seen as saddening, in today’s day and age it is becoming more and more common

to only look out for yourself. If I was in the manager’s position at this company, I think I would

end up making a similar decision, but hopefully for different reasons. I would choose to pass on

the idea of outsourcing due to the ethical factors involved that mean the most to me. Early on in

the article, it states that the owners are extremely satisfied with the financial standing of the

company (DeNisi, Griffin, 2020, p. ?). Knowing this, I as a manager would not feel the need to

make an outsourcing proposal because of the current successful financial state of the company.

Along with this the article says that the owners are very adamant about protecting their

employees and maintaining a high value of job security. As a manager it is crucial to know and

fully understand the owner’s values and priorities when it comes to assisting in running their

company. Knowing that the owners value the amount of confidence that an employee has in their

job, I would deem it extremely important to protect the positions of the company and their

holders at all costs. I believe that remembering to consider ethics in every business scenario can

be the difference between becoming a good or great manager. Although there are stressful and
confusing scenarios connected to ethics, remembering the importance of people and the value of

their lives in your decision is always the safest bet.

 References:

DeNisi, A. S., & Griffin, R. W. (2020). HR5: human resources [5]. Boston, MA:

Cengage Learning.

Kokemuller, N. (2017, November 21). Is Outsourcing an Ethical Practice? Retrieved from

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/outsourcing-ethical-practice-80639.html