Can anyone give me an idea for an ethical dilemma?

[Wallywobbles]

Preferably in the work place.

I have to write a piece for my Masters in Instructional Design course and I need to come up with a good dilemma to use as my storyline. Anyone got any inspiration for me. It doesn't need to be long, but it needs to be engaging to get the (theoretical) students imaginations nicely fired up as we work through it.

Could be something to do with IT or confidentiality or back handers or dodgy dealing or hiring - I'd rather not do harassment or anything sex/gender based - I'd prefer it to be gender neutral if it's possible.

Anyone with a good imagination or real experience? Thanks

Are you allowed to canvass opinion for it?

Sorry that was snotty. I didn't read your op properly

Questionable Use of Company Technology

While this may feel like a minor blip in the grand scheme of workplace ethics, the improper use of the internet and company technology is a huge cost for organizations in lost time, worker productivity and company dollars. One survey found that 64% of employees visit non-work related websites during the workday. Not only is it a misuse of company tools and technology, but it’s also a misuse of company time. Whether you’re taking hourly breaks to check your social media news feed or know that your coworker is using company technology resources to work on freelance jobs, this “little white lie” of workplace ethics can create a snowball effect.

Why not study Apple’s technology to use AI to screen all photos shared to the iCloud and sent between users for known images of child sex abuse. (The images are compared to law enforcement databases)

You have to weigh the ethics of user privacy against the ethics of preventing child porn rings. There is also the question of how infallible is AI and the ethics of a person being mistakenly flagged to law enforcement for sharing child sex abuse images when the AI was wrong....the fallout, wrecking of reputations, the where there is smoke there is fire reactions from everyone else, the tendency even today for people in authority to trust the AI and not check anything themself...

Thanks all..

@LukeEvansWife reasonable question - the dilemma is not the assignment, so yes I can canvas opinions.

I just want to find something that everyone can get behind if you see what I mean - from my students - Business School/Uni - to corporate at all levels.

@Mariell - Hmmm - so much of that going on - do you think that everyone might feel a bit attacked if I go down that particular dark alley!!

@PlanDeRaccordement - I think that's exactly the kind of thing that everybody has thoughts on but no-one quite knows where to go with it. I'll do some research on the subject.

What about a workplace exploiting work experience students? All sorts of ethics to consider there. Or the whole zero hours thing?

Ha! @RedBonnet I'm in France, exploiting work placement students is practically a way of life here.

@Wallywobbles
Yes, I find it interesting and it feeds directly into technology design. Something like the Apple screening technology, it has to have very tiny error rate. How do you ensure such a low error rate? How would you even test it when sharing child sex images is illegal? (Unlike other technology tools, you can’t farm it out to a community of beta testers to upload images and randomly insert child sex abuse image in the mix to test it).

Try looking at MoralMachine.net for ideas. It's all about ethical AI and is linked to a couple of big papers in nature & science so citeable

Read the archives at askamanger.org

I think anything considering privacy vs security. Should governments be able to read all emails if it prevents crime etc. Read Dan browns digital fortress or the book the circle ( or watch the film but it misses the pint a bit) for inspiration. Also black mirror some episodes raise interesting ethical dilemmas, some are just weird amd disturbing though.

What about something to do with medical parenting? Ie, if covid vaccines became global intellectual property, many companies could make highly effective vaccines quicker and cheaper.

Have you had a look on 'ethical dilemas' under Other Stuff on Mumsnet? We have a section on here and there might be some work based ones for ideas.

@Mariell

a misuse of company time

This assumes that workers are contracted for a certain number of hours, while? Increasingly it is recognised that so long as results are delivered within timescale agreed, it's up to the worker to organise when they work.

Enlightened companies are more like to have policies that prohibit use of some sites and have no issue with the use of legal sites. While I am trusted to not overuse my company mobile phone, there is no issue with occasional personal use.

Our guideline is 'don't be a dick'. No one cares about occasional use of legal websites.

What about someone on an interview panel weeding out suitable candidates from applicants leaving their preferred candidate (could be friend/relative/neighbours child or whatever) the only one likely to be considered?

How about the monetisation of Facebook. If I google any subject, even on a different device, my newsfeed will be flooded with relevant adverts. Someone is paying for the tailored ad placement.

Also Facebook free to use but the t&c takes a licence on any content loaded up.

I don't know if this is complicated / nuanced enough for what you want. But this is a real life dilemma I had.

I had a pay rise and reduced my hours at the same time, and as a result I didn't realise that payroll had messed up their calcs. When I realised I had been overpaid by about £4000 on a salary of £20000. I didn't have the money to pay it back. I had to decide whether to keep quiet and hope they never noticed (with the added complication that the longer they took to notice, the more I would owe) or to tell them and stop the overpayments, but knowing I didn't have the money to pay it back.

You discover two people doing the same role are paid different salaries, what do you do with this information?

You are proud of your status as a business committed to sustainability. It’s been a challenging financial year due to covid and you may need to make redundancies. A new potential high value client approaches you, one of their businesses relies on palm oil. Do you take the revenue to ensure every employee remains in a job or do you reject the client on sustainability grounds?

One I remember doing recently in my mandatory training (I work for a bank although not customer facing).

A customer wants to invest money and is meeting with Sonia, his account manager. Sonia met with another one of her accounts a few days ago, and they let slip that they would be selling their shares publicly in a few days. They also said this information was classified and she shouldn't share it.

Sonia decides to share it with her other customer, as it will benefit all three of them if the shares are bought quickly and easily, and she will get a bonus for customer retention.

(Or something similar, I know the word used wasn't 'classified' but I can't recall exactly what it was).

I second looking at www.askamanager.org

Thank you everyone. Askamanager.com could be a new Mumsnet for me! Loving it.