Ethical advice

Ethical dilemma Advice

Should you invest in environmentally friendly, often more expensive, technologies and processes, or continue to work with cheaper but polluting methods?

 

Should you choose lower production costs in low-wage countries with possible exploitation of workers, or invest in better more expensive working conditions? And if you don’t get involved with that company that exploits workers, your competitors might. Is that fair then?

 

Should you choose to give top executives very high salaries and bonuses while keeping the wages of the average worker low, or should you strive for a more equitable pay structure?

 

With this type of ethical dilemma, I can help you. Mind you, I don’t do ethical management. In ethical management, there is a clear plan of action or goal whose implementation is managed. An example is making sure an organization handles data ethically, or that its human resources policies are inclusive, or that discriminatory algorithms are not used at the IRS. By the way, if the IRS has doubts about whether a particular algorithm is discriminatory or not, there may again be an ethical dilemma that I can help with.

Ethical dilemmas are not about finding the ideal answer, but rather an answer that is socially defensible. One of the focuses of this is that it was carefully considered and feedback was also sought from opponents.

My academic background is a degree in philosophy which I completed at the University of Leiden in 1996. I have also written two ethics books (Practical Ethics, and Critical Thinking about Good and Bad) and taught ethics to students at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences for many years.

Methods.

  1. You email the ethical dilemma you want advice on to a.von.schmid@kpnmail.nl
  2. Put in the subject: ethical dilemma
  3. If there is relevant documentation, please send it as an attachment.
  4. I assess the case. This costs 50 euros per 3 pages of text (1200 words).
  5. I will email you whether I take the case or not.
  6. I provide a quote with the project plan (see below) and the things that need to happen to arrive at a responsible ethical opinion. I charge 150 euros per hour. An average case takes 8 hours to complete.
 
 

The project plan usually looks like this:

  1. We do an introductory interview through teams. This will take up to an hour.
  2. In this conversation, additional questions will be asked.
  3. A focus group will be assembled of people from your organization.
  4. A focus group meeting will be arranged (lasts 2 hours).
  5. In this meeting, the focus group tries to reach agreement on the position in the dilemma and how it should be expressed and communicated to the outside world.
  6. I summarize everything and present it to the board for approval after the event.
 

Here are two more examples of ethical dilemmas:

Should we as a university cut all ties with Israeli universities because Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza?

Should you continue to use the usual marketing strategies with its often misleading claims to sell your products or should you be truthful, which may be less attractive to consumers?