19 Jun · Respond to the specific questions posed in the discussion.

· Respond to the specific questions posed in the discussion.

· Be sure to base your initial post and responses on course materials, and use 7th ed. APA citations in every post.

· Post your responses over three days and respond to four or more students to receive full credit for frequency of participation.

· Write clearly and proofread; errors can lose you points.

· Quality of posts, citations, frequency, and timeliness of posts all factor into your discussion grade. See the Participation Grading Rubric for details.

ANGELA’S POST:

Good evening class, 

As the Facility Administrator it would be my responsibility to report the incident. I feel as though, by my reporting that the patients would appreciate the decision, as they are more susceptible to sicknesses and diseases than the average person. I applied the rights and duties with this discussion. 

The reason why I have applied this philosophical viewpoint is because although I may not have anything to do with patient care I still work for the organization and having an employee who lied about his vaccination status is blatantly irresponsible and deserves to be terminated as they know the harm they can cause to the patients which is an unethical practice on their end. The patients expect proper care from professionals in the field, they expect the providers, med techs, nurses to be truthful and honest with their care. The duty for the employees is to take that action and provide the best care. 

Because the employee is an asset to the facility this will too affect patient care by elongating wait times, scheduling and the facility being short-staffed until the employee is replaced. But when applying the rights and duties viewpoint Gilbert states, “an individual’s actions will be moral if they recognize the rights of others, and observe the duties imposed on him by those rights” (Gilbert, p 75). This statement ensures that the decision that I have made was just and ethical. 

Reference

Joseph Gilbert. (2016). Ethics for Managers : Philosophical Foundations and Business Realities: Vol. Second edition. Routledge.

CHRISTOPHER’S POST:

Ethical choices are typically not the easiest decisions to make and can lead to overthinking. In this situation, and with many people taking different stances on mandatory vaccinations, this is not the simplest of decisions to make. Initially I am lead in the direction that this employee is doing the wrong thing and this cannot be tolerated. However, I would want concrete information that leads me the right direction prior to making any assumptions. 

I would want to know if they are trying to sound cool and that they might actually be vaccinated. Some people want to stand out and think they may be popular if they are doing something like this. Additionally, this is coming from a third party person who overheard this information at a party. I also do not know if this former employee and Rob get along and that she could also be trying to ruin Robs career, so that has to be taken into account. As a popular and well respected employee of the facility, Rob is also a close friend with the owner. Regardless if this is true or not, this situation required attention and cannot be overlooked. The utilitarianism approach is that we do what is the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Gilbert, 2016, p. 48). In this situation the greatest number of people are the Dialysis patients that are particularly susceptible to COVID.  

As the faculty manager, and knowing the patients that attend this facility are already at a higher risk of contracting COVID because of underlying health conditions this is a very serious matter and must not be ignored as life’s are at risk. Given the seriousness of the situation and although there is no concrete evidence, I would have a conversation with Rob. As a manager, the expectation is that when I ask an employee a question the truth will be given (Gilbert, 2016, p. 182). Given the coverage and general disagreement from people on mandatory vaccinations, I would also be realistic and know that I may not get the truth from Rob so have to approach the situation correctly (Gilbert, 2016, p. 182). Furthermore, when it comes to privacy Rob may not generally like to share this level of information (Gilbert, 2016, p. 183). 

The overall goal here is to achieve what is best for the company meaning what is best for its patients and that requires gathering data to provide the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Gilbert, 2016, p. 185). Regardless of what information Rob provided me, this information along with what the previous employee said she overheard I would definitely inform the next level of management above me. So ethically and what I would choose to do regardless would be to confront Rob and gather the facts ultimately leading me to find out the truth. If it ends up being that there is no way around mandatory vaccination status of working here and he has a fake vaccination card, then my hands would be tied and could not allow him to work around patients. 

References:

Gilbert, J. (2016). Ethics for Managers. Philosophical Foundations and Business Realities. https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=fc939e8f-95c9-4302-b4c5-0765c1abff8b%40redis&ppid=pp_154&vid=0&format=EB

DILIP’S POST:

It is not good to jump to a conclusion without getting the full picture. It is very difficult to gather the actual information on whether he received the immunization from the vaccine providers due to the patient’s privacy. I have to contact him directly about the situation. The first step will be to discuss one on one with him and talk about my concerns.  I will provide him with enough chance to explain his side of the story and discrepancies and mistakes he might have done to the center and its reputation. If the provided vaccination card has proven fake and he admits to providing the fake vaccination card, I will have to take action. Falsifying the documents when the instructions were clearly communicated to all the employees, is against the law and very unsafe for other workers; most importantly, patients. In the medical field, it is each and every individual’s responsibility to keep everyone safe. Trust is very important in the medical field and it’s the basis and foundation for the organization to maintain good relationships with all the stakeholders. 

The company’s policies governed the severity of the penalty for such misconduct. Once found guilty of falsifying important documents, the possibility will be to terminate the employee regardless of his work. Depending on the company’s policy on the vaccination, if it is mandatory to have the immunization administered or highly encouraged to have one. The policy of the dialysis center is mandatory, and Rob will be fired from his job. Whereas, if it was highly encouraged, he will have to receive the immunization or show COVID negative test result each week.  

Reference: 

Gilbert, J. (2016). Terminations. Ethics for Managers: Philosophical Foundations and Business Realities. Retrieved from https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/eds/detail?sid=84b2c297-239e-4ab0-b67a-335b2b8b7030%40redis&vid=0&format=EB&lpid=lp_154&rid=0 

Gilbert, J. (2016). Privacy: Applicants and Employees. Ethics for Managers: Philosophical Foundations and Business Realities. Retrieved from https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/eds/detail?sid=84b2c297-239e-4ab0-b67a-335b2b8b7030%40redis&vid=0&format=EB&lpid=lp_154&rid=0

JASON’S POST:

Given how deadly COVID has been, especially for at-risk patients, I believe that letting someone know that Rob has not gotten the required vaccine and could be putting others at risk, is the ethical decision to make.  In the Utilitarian approach, we have learned that this is the greatest good for the greatest number of people (Gilbert,2016), which in this case would be getting vaccinated and protecting the patients that Rob supposedly has a good relationship with. I also believe that any one who hears Rob share the information, they have a moral obligation to do something about it to potentially save someone’s life.  If nothing is done with this information and someone dies then all those who knew and failed to act could be held partially responsible for what happens and would have to carry this burden with them forever.  As I wrote early in our discussion posts, my best employee was stealing gas from the company, sometimes the best employees can feel like they are not subject to the same rules as everyone else and in this case because Rob is well liked and friendly with the Medical Director, he may feel that he is above the rules. The Medical Director and Rob being friends may create a bias in judging Rob’s performance where by he may not be treated the same as others would be in a similar situation (fairness and justice).  In Aristotle’s main work, Nicomachean Ethics, he discusses the various virtues when friendships are formed at work between managers and subordinates. 

I would alert HR or other appropriate person about the situation so that I can clear my conscience, and let them decide how they want to handle the situation from them there, however would hope that Rob would be fired or reprimanded for his actions which puts many people at risk.  Employment in the US for the most part is at will meaning that most of the workers can be terminated “for good cause, no cause, or even for cause morally wrong without being legally wring” (Gilbert,2016). 

Jason

Gilbert, J. (2016). Ethics for Managers: Philosophical Foundations and Business Realities. Chapter 4: Utilitarianism Retrieved June 11, 2022, from https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=69531839-9441-425b-a2cf-cc4970d94962%40redis&ppid=pp_154&vid=0&format=EB

Gilbert, J. (2016). Ethics for Managers: Philosophical Foundations and Business Realities. Chapter 9: Terminations. Utilitarianism Retrieved June 11, 2022 from https://eds-p-ebscohost-com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/eds/ebookviewer/ebook?sid=69531839-9441-425b-a2cf-cc4970d94962%40redis&ppid=pp_154&vid=0&format=EB