Ethical Decision-Making Case Study: Picking Up the Slack

The case study Chloe Wilson, Picking Up the Slack, presents an ethical dilemma commonly found in working team. In the case study on ethics, there are remarkable actualities of poor behavior of Natalie poor that adversely impact on her last group project. Natalies worrying behavior include but not limited to less focused on meetings, late coming, and not considering the task important. There are inadequate facts about the reasons that constrain Natalie to depict such levels of poor performance prompting her to her marginal participation in planning, discussion, and documentation (Iphofen p.12). Natalies reasons are not shown validly for the present case. These reasons for her actions may go from family issues at home to various commitments that she needs to attend to. This circumstance could have been well comprehended if there was sufficient information with respect to her personal life to establish the wellspring of her poor choices. Despite the information deficiency at present, the information provided can still help in arriving at a decision. The primary concern is the scale on which her colleague, Greg, will assess Natalies performance. The colleague is confused on the most effective method to rate Natalies non-commitment.

While everybody in the team has been assessed reasonably, the best way to settle on the right decision is to stand up to Natalie and award her the review she merits. The five approaches to ethical decision-making have distinctive perspectives on how Greg ought to assess Natalie. The utilitarian approach is the action that realizes the most good or does minimal harm to the affected persons. For this situation, the utilitarian approach demonstrates that Gregs mates would all be affected by the assessment since they are all getting a better score on the project (Guy p.11). Despite the fact that Greg is giving the best balance between good and bad, his actions will still affect Natalie regardless of the outcome (McLean et al. p.71). In any case, the utilitarian approach is more concerned with outcomes; with Greg attempting to amplify good while minimizing the harm in the case. The rights approach shows that everybody has dignity in view of nature, as well as the capacity to choose overtly the course of their lives. The approach clarifies the moral action that best regards and protects the ethical privileges of the affected individuals. If Greg chooses not to give Natalie a legit assessment, he is choosing to protect the GPA and ultimately the graduation of Natalie.

The justice approach concerns the treatment of every single person fairly or equally based on defensible standards. The dilemma is whether it would be reasonable for the non-committed understudy to be awarded a similar score as the active students. It is only fair that every student is awarded based on merit rather than empathy (Bagriet al. p.7). In this way, it would not be sensible for Natalie to awarded similar score to her colleagues. The common good approach states that interlocking connections of society are the premise of ethical thinking and that empathy and respect for the others particularly the defenseless are prerequisites of such thinking (Newton p.56). Greg depicts his fair and respectful ethical actions by giving Natalie a decent review to allow her graduate.

The virtue approach express that ethical actions ought to be steady with perfect qualities to allow optimal growth of ones humanity. Greg's actual character will be uncovered in view of the choice he arrives at evaluating Natalies contribution (Thomson et al. p.57). It will be established whether such actions were steady with his assessments for other team members. The approach seeks to address these dilemma inquiries to development of a person. Considering the fact of the case study, Natalies non-commitment put an enormous weight on the shoulders of her group mates. Her tasks had to be assigned to other members and her grade should reflect just that, poor performance.

Of all the ethical approaches discussed, Greg ought to take the justice approach since it is reasonable to be evaluated based on the degree of group cooperation and achievement of common objectives. Although the instructor will award each member a deserving grade, Greg should settle on the choice of reviewing Natalie honestly. When she gives a candid peer evaluation of Natalie, her GPA will be adversely influenced. Because the case was not specific as far as Natalies GPA is concerned, a conclusion cannot be extended to her graduation time. According to the underlying ethical principles, it would be unfair to other team members to review Natalie dishonestly. Similarly, it would not be rational to take into consideration the problems the victim was facing or giving her a chance to justify her actions. In the case, the issue is the review of the poor performance of a group mate. Despite the myriad approaches to ethical actions for the arrival at the correct decision, the best methodology Greg can opt for is the justice approach. Justice is only realized when meritocracy is used as the premise of the grading system. If Natalie was facing the problem that she thought would affect her contribution to the project, she should have notified the members or supervisor.

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