Ethical Analysis For Prudence And Morality

Action Perpetrated

Discuss about the Ethical Analysis for Prudence and Morality.

The importance of making an ethical decision, in crucial times becomes very difficult. Nevertheless, often tempted by the present situation, or in order to survive in the present moment, an individual resorts to a morally wrong course of action. As an Application Manager working on a project, I have also been compelled to resort to an ethically unjust course of action. While working on a project with the help of a “leading edge technology”, I have encountered a serious problem in finishing off with my work in a given point. Since the project has been using a time consuming technology, I have been unable to complete or even make a slight progress in the implementation of the project. However, I have not been able to communicate the technical problems to the senior management system, and consequently they had been unaware of the progress despite the fact that the senior management had kept on funding the project despite the lack of progress. Further, while the senior management asked us to explain the progress in written form, left with almost no alternative, I deemed it right to present a set of predetermined results to the management authority. Though this was a deceitful step, the senior management was unable to identify the misrepresented facts, and kept on funding. However, I intend to conduct an ethical analysis of the action perpetrated by me to determine my future course of action.

Given the specific situation, I have perpetrated an action that cannot be regarded to be morally correct. The first fact that proves this is that I kept on deceiving the senior management authority, by pretending that I had been working on the project, as a result of which I kept on receiving funds. However, what was even morally worse is that despite being asked in person about the progress of the project, I held back the fact that the progress of the project had remained on a halt. However, an important fact that should be noted here is that this would have required me to contradict the project manager, I am currently working under, and this might result in the loss of my employment as well.

As far as the issues are concerned, I had perpetrated an action that has involved the deceit of a group of people, and I had manipulated my way to remain good in the eyes of the management authority. I have lied and pretended that I have made remarkable progress in my projects though I have not done the same. However, Socrates does not consider any action to be ethically wrong because it is traditionally considered to be “wrong” by the majority, but rather has put forward the distinctive Socratian thought (Gasper 2016). Challenging the commonplace ideas about what a right action constitutes, Socrates put forward that it is important for a perpetrator to have self-confidence in his course of action, and to scrutinize its impact on the society in a detached way. Hence, the point is the goodness of an action cannot be simply determined by commonplace, socially constructed terms like “pretension”, “lies” and “deceit” (Berman 2014). Though I may have lied, my purpose has never been to deceive the management authority. Rather, owing to the technical problems, my project was delayed. Of course, the point still remains that I could have informed them about the lack of progress, but yet I was directed by my Project Manager to write the program, writing about the success of the technology. I did not deem it right to oppose my Project Manager, and hence I chose it right to keep myself quiet. However, if I have to consider what Confucius said I cannot justify my action. According to the Confucian philosophy, to see what is right, and yet not choosing the right path, is a moral flaw that exhibits lack of courage and sheer hypocrisy. Hence, I should have told my Project Manager that it is ethically a wrong choice to misrepresent facts to the senior management authority (Kuo 2014). 

Ethical Implications

It is also important to find out the people or the party who would get affected by my action. First of all, the senior management authority will be primarily affected by the action, as they have been deceived to believe that the project has made remarkable progress. Hence, though they have funded and are continuing to fund the project, their financial investment is not likely to bring about any change in the completion of my project. As a result, the senior management authority would suffer from a financial loss, without the project bringing them any concrete benefit. The stakeholders of the company would also suffer from a potential loss in case we are unable to complete the project within the given time (Hudson 2016). However, though primarily the management authority would get affected, it is undeniable that I as well as my project manager will also get affected gradually. In case we are unable to complete the project within the given time, we will be questioned and might be accused of having misrepresented facts, leading to a huge penalty, such as suspension or even termination of service.

The ethical implications of the action perpetrated by me are complex and multiple. As far as I am concerned, I had very limited ethical choices to make my decision from. In case I would have taken the path of honesty and integrity, telling every problem to the senior managers, my project manager might have been disgruntled by my action. On the other hand, lying to my senior management is also an ethically wrong option as well. However, my action can be justified in terms of Aristotelian theory of Virtue Ethics. According to Aristotle, an action can be defined to be “virtuous” if it is done in the right way for the right goal. In other words, a virtuous person may fail terribly if he merely tries to show his courage by speaking up the right thing in a wrong situation (Yu 2013). For instance, if I would have told my senior managers that owing to the adoption of a time-consuming technology, our project implementation is being delayed, I might just get myself in trouble. This is because my senior managers might not have any confidence in my expertise, and further this might also upset my project manager, as he would have expected me to conform to his decision. Hence, if the Aristotelian theory of virtue ethics is to be considered, my action can be justified as an ethically correct option. This is because the right action is the mid-point between extremes. Virtue consists of telling what needs to be told, that what can be told (Kenny 2016). Hence, it is an ethical choice to remain quiet about the technical problems for the time-being, as we have not deceived anyone with the purpose of robbing their money. Our project team has tried and will try to complete the project within the given time. In the mean time, the exposure of facts would have ruined the situation, by creating an atmosphere of confusion and distrust. However, again if I have to consider the moral theory of Confucius, my point action can be regarded to be morally unethical. According to Confucius theory, a virtuous person is he, who first tries to overcome his problems, and later he reflects about his success. However, in my case I considered my career first, and realizing that speaking the truth might offend my senior managers as well as my project manager, I considered it right to keep quiet about the entire situation (Cooper 2015). However, I should have prioritized my obligation towards the company I am working for, instead of trying to save my day.

Philosophical Analysis

Again, my action can also be justified to be an ethical one, if I am to consider the definition of morality as put forward by Machiavelli. According to Machiavelli, an action is not defined as virtuous if it consists of actions that are considered to be necessarily “good”, but rather an action that exhibits the political skill of an individual in his ability to avoid problems is defined to be virtuous (Machiavelli 2016). Seen in the light of this definition, it would have been ethically objectionable for me to state the true facts blatantly to the senior managers, as it would not only threat my job stability, but is also likely to disturb their peace of mind, ultimately disturbing the organizational harmony of my workplace. My senior managers do not possess sufficient knowledge about how applications might work, and hence might be worried, if told the truth that all their fund is wasted for noting. However, owing to our efforts to implement the projects, it is likely that with the help of the funds, we would be able to complete the project within the given period of time. Hence, we are not deceiving the senior managers, ad stealing away their money, keeping them deluded. We are just responding to the call of the situation, and hence acted in a way that would be beneficial to maximum number of people. It should be remembered that Bentham and Mill have also stated that an action can be deemed to be right only if the action can produce maximum satisfaction for maximum number of people. Hence, if the truth is to be told, the senior managers as well as the other stakeholders might start anticipating about the future success of the project, and this might also lead to our termination of service as well (Ryan 2015). Hence, my action can be interpreted as an ethically just action, given that it ensured maximum satisfaction for the people involved.

However, whatever the ethical implication be, the question still remains as to what should be done about the situation. Before taking any final step, it is important to take note of moral philosophy as stated by Tom Morris who said that one should treat others exactly the way they want to be treated (Silcox 2016). Accordingly, it is clear that I myself would never wish to be deceived, and told that all my money is wasted because of people lying to me. Hence, I will try my best to communicate the importance of finishing the project within the given time, to my project manager and my co-employees. In case it becomes difficult, we will shift to other technology, at our own expense, and thus I wish to complete the project within the time (Brown 2016).

At the end of the ethical analysis, I would like to state that the only option other than the one stated above was to inform the senior managers. Since they might not understand how the technology was responsible for the delay, there was a high chance that I would have been misunderstood. Hence, it would always be best to keep silent for the time being, start working for the project in accordance with the predetermined results and complete it within the time being. This might imply huge pressure on me to complete the project, but it is the only feasible solution that can save me and the situation alike, without causing anyone trouble.

Reference List:

Berman, S., 2014. Prudence and morality: Socrates versus moral philosophers. South African Journal of Philosophy, 33(4), pp.381-394.

Brown, B., 2016. Configurations of the Ethical.

Cooper, J.M., 2015. Ethical-Political Theory in Aristotle's Rhetoric.

Gasper, D., 2016. Ethics of development.

Hudson, N., 2016. Confucius: A Guide for the Perplexed by Yong Huang (review). China Review International, 21(1), pp.54-58.

Kenny, A., 2016. The Aristotelian Ethics: A study of the relationship between the Eudemian and Nicomachean ethics of Aristotle. Oxford University Press.

Kuo, J., 2014. Could Confucian morality in The Analects present a viable alternative for rulers to the subjective morality in Machiavelli’s The Prince?. Philosophy.

Machiavelli, N., 2016. The Quotable Machiavelli. Princeton University Press.

Ryan, A., 2015. 16. Utilitarianism and Bureaucracy: The Views of JS Mill.

Silcox, M., 2016. Grossman, Morris. Art and Morality: Essays in the Spirit of George Santayana. Fordham University Press, 2014, xvi+ 315 pp., 3 b&w illus., $85.00 cloth, $26.00 paper.

Yu, J., 2013. The ethics of Confucius and Aristotle: Mirrors of virtue (Vol. 7). Routledge.