Ethical Dilemma - Final Draft

Fabrice Tshiyoyi Banyingela

Professor Shelby Scoffield - BYU Idaho

ENG 301 Advanced Writing & Research

16 October 2021

Ethical Dilemma

Our societies need rules to guide our actions toward desired results. When applied correctly, rules ensure everyone’s rights and protect us from abuses; disobedience on the other side may lead to punishment or chaos. As the most significant entity in the world, man is subjected to temptation. The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau said that “society corrupts the pure individual.” His thought clearly argues that men are limited and corrupted by social arrangements.

Often, I find myself in situations whereby I have to make an objective decision. Because decisions are driven by desired consequences, every decision I make is a consequence-based thinking – this becomes an art that I have to learn throughout my lifetime. Usually, a good decision is beneficial not only to the maker but the society in general while a bad decision compromises our morals, feelings, ethics, beliefs, and the country’s laws. In some situations, people’s decision goes against the rules for some personal gain.

The pressure from the world around us increases daily, putting us often to the test. Some decisions are easy to make such as spending on our children’s education while dealing with the reality of providing for their needs requires parents to make ethical decisions all the time.

The success of a company is usually impacted by the effort of eliminating workplace dishonesty. I’ve been faced with situations to commit fraud at my workplace or with my fellowmen. My worse incident happened in 2012, a very bad financial year when my integrity was tested to the core because my decision was probably going to affect the entire organization. We were offered an emergency tender that falls under the “discretionary grant” to provide learnership and internship for almost 50 participants but needed to submit all the mandatory documents. We had the submission file ready except for one document which expired – The Tax Clearance. Our tax status needed to be renewed upon resolving some outstanding payments and penalties. Since the procurement company team was checking companies’ documents manually, my boss suggested that we forge the Tax-clearance for the purpose of submission awaiting to fix the issue with the South African Revenue Service (SARS). Though I disapproved of his idea that left me confused, I did not participate neither in tempering the document nor stopping them from proceeding with the plan. Several reasons refrained me from accepting his idea. First, I couldn’t believe such an idea coming from someone I looked with high esteem, second, I could have been in bad books if I opposed his decision, and last, this was his business and he calls the shots.

 We live during hard times with calamities and tribulations that are affecting many families in the world. I felt like I made a selfish decision. I was more concerned with my own safety. The submission brought the company to a huge discredit when the sponsor requested the company to submit the Tax-clearance PIN (a new method introduced by SARS to verify the originality of the document). I knew very well that the business owner needed that contract to fix the company’s financial status. I knew he was a goal-getter and his intentions to create a new source of income were correct but the method wasn’t.

Some companies or situations put strong pressure on staff to behave unethically and have the interest of the company above their beliefs. I have no regrets about the decision that I took and under identical circumstances, I would not hesitate to make a similar decision.