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The ethics of an opposing view

Wednesday 26 July, 2023
by Anonymous

crowd of people with their hands up

You are the Head of Human Resources for a large financial institution. The organisation has recently made a public statement about their commitment to the Voice to Parliament and all employees nationally are now required to have their email signatures include a link to the public statement and RAP.  The signature graphic states "We support the Voice to Parliament".

Frank is a high performing employee with a great reputation across the business, plus he is an active member of the diversity and inclusion committee and manages this training for Sydney employees, but he has told you that he does not wish to include the branding for the campaign on his email signature. He believes that the organisation should respect a diversity of views.

Head office has stated that this is a priority and all employees with a company email address must include the statement.

What do you do?

Please share your ethical dilemmas with us - we can post them anonymously. You can email your dilemmas to  bfso@ethics.org.au

Photo by Mercedes Mehling on Unsplash

Comments

There are 4 comments for The ethics of an opposing view.

Re: The ethics of an opposing view

Thursday 27 July, 2023
by B
The banner should be modified to read “(business) supports the Voice to Parliament”.
Though voting is private in Australia, it is a fact the business has taken a public position.
By tweaking the wording the message is close enough to the same without creating this personal endorsement / friction for employees.
Reply

Re: The ethics of an opposing view

Friday 28 July, 2023
by Chris
The use of “must” for matters not directly related to day to day business is fraught. Each person may have different reasons for their dissension, and to honour this honours their agency as human beings.
Reply

Re: The ethics of an opposing view

Thursday 3 August, 2023
by S
Even with an increasing expectation from customers that organisations make a stand on social issues, we must all remember that supporting a diverse range of views is part of DEI done right. It's important that an organisation strikes the right balance between being clear about its position on an issue and educating its staff on that issue with credible information, while allowing space for individuals to have a different view.
Reply

Re: The ethics of an opposing view

Thursday 3 August, 2023
by S
Even with an increasing expectation from customers that organisations make a stand on social issues, we must all remember that supporting a diverse range of views is part of DEI done right. It's important that an organisation strikes the right balance between being clear about its position on an issue and educating its staff on that issue with credible information, while allowing space for individuals to have a different view.
Reply

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