Topic 4: Moral Dilemmas

Nominal Duration: 1.5 hours

Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this topic, the student must be able to:

1. recognize and recall a moral experience;

2. detect a moral dilemma; and
3. give examples of the three levels of moral dilemmas.

Introduction

A dilemma is a situation in which a difficult choice has to be made between two

or more alternatives, especially equally undesirable ones. It is a conflict in which you
have to choose between two or more actions and have moral reasons for choosing
each action.

1) An individual is presented with two or more actions, all of which the individual has the
ability to perform.
2) There are moral reasons for the individual to choose each of the actions.
3) The individual cannot perform all of the actions and have to choose which action, or
actions to perform when there are three or more choices.

Since there are moral reasons to choose each action, and the individual cannot
choose them all, it follows that no matter what choice the individual makes, he or she
will be failing to follow his or her morals. In other words, someone or something will
suffer no matter what choice he or she makes.

Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas

1. Individual Moral Dilemma

This is a moral dilemma that involves the individual on a personal level. Factors
such as personal health issues, family issues, personal financial issues, peer pressures
and socio-economic issues among many others may lead to ethical tensions within the
person himself. Example: A child in the family is in a dilemma whether to donate his
kidney for the sake of his sister or not considering that there may be some health
complications that may arise in the future.

2. Organizational Moral Dilemma

This is a moral conflict that occurs in the organization or institution where
individuals within the organization will face the dilemma of personal choices against the
working ethics of the organization or institution. Example: a network administrator who
found out about the infidelity of his best friend’s wife through her emails is in a dilemma
whether to inform his best friend about it or not considering the policy of the company
on personal emails. Other examples may be found in businesses, scholarship policies,
medical field, and employment discriminations among others.

3. Systemic Moral Dilemma

This is a moral dilemma that occurs at a macro level. Factors such as political
pressures, economic conditions, societal attitudes, government regulations and policies
may bring about a moral dilemma. These factors affect operations and relationships
which drives an impact to the people, the market, the workplace and others on a local,
national and international level. Examples are death penalty, Contractualization, War on
Drugs Program of the Government, RH Law….

Teacher’s Notes:

Remember that dilemmas occur both in the personal, organizational or systemic level.
One good point to always consider in order to determine these dilemmas is the
person/persons to be affected when a decision is needed to be done. If it affects directly
the person, it is a personal dilemma, if it affects the whole organization, it is an
organizational dilemma and if it affects the whole system, or the problem gets out of the
organization per se and will affect the whole country for example, then it is a systemic
dilemma. Another thing to consider is the range of the dilemma; the wider the scope of
the dilemma, the broader the dilemma is. If it is within, it is personal, if it is within the
organization, it is organizational if it is national, global or universal, then it is systemic.
An example is given on how to determine dilemmas.

Case:

Mr. Peterson is a renowned social studies teacher. After teaching his class regarding
nationalism and patriotism, his students talked to him regarding their planned boycott of
the school cafeteria for the selling of imported products in support of the local farmers.
On the other hand, he knew that the school does not allow any activity which is not duly
approved and authorized by the administration. He then decided to tell the
administration about the boycott a few hours before it happened. But it eventually
happened. After this, the school principal decided to call the attention of the student
leaders and told them that they shall be given a week suspension in consistency with
the school rules as stipulated in the student handbook. The memorandum is dated
October 11, 2011

Case Digest:

This is how we should understand the case:

Who: (mention three people who have dilemmas)

 Mr. Peterson
 Students
  School Principal
When: (Date mentioned or implied)

 October 11, 2011

Where: (Place of occurrence)

 School

What: (Mention the dilemmas in three different levels)

 Personal Dilemma: Mr. Peterson: To tell the administration about the boycott or
not to tell the administration about the boycott
 Organizational Dilemma: School Principal: To suspend the students or not to
suspend the students.
 Systemic Dilemma: Students: To boycott the school cafeteria or not to boycott
the school cafeteria.

Explanation:

The personal dilemma is in the shoulders of Mr. Peterson because he is to

decide whether to tell the administration about the planned boycott of the students. Why
personal, because what is at stake is his relationship with his students or his loyalty to
the school. His decision will affect himself in relation to the students or to the school.

On the other hand, the organizational dilemma is on the shoulders of the

principal.
As the head of the school, it is not only his personal decision whether or not to suspend
the students because what is at stake is the policy of the institution. The decision will
not only affect the school principal per se but instead it will affect the whole image of the
school and its consistency to its policies therefore making the dilemma organizational.

Lastly, the systemic dilemma is within the students whether or not to boycott the
school cafeteria. It is systemic in nature because the issue does not only involve the
institution but it represents their simple way to show their support to local farmers
regarding a national issue. As aforementioned, a dilemma that is national in nature is a
systemic dilemma.

Why: (Mention the decision done and the reason why it is done. The reasons are
basically values behind the decision.)

 Personal Dilemma: To tell the administration about the planned boycott because
of loyalty to the school administration.
 Organizational Dilemma: To suspend the students because of consistency to the
school rules and policies.
  Systemic Dilemma: To Boycott the school cafeteria because of nationalism and
Patriotism.

This is what the answer key should look like:

Who:

 Mr. Peterson
 School Principal
 Students

When: October 11, 2011

Where: School

What:

 Personal Dilemma: Mr. Peterson: To tell the administration about the boycott or
not to tell the administration about the boycott
 Organizational Dilemma: School Principal: To suspend the students or not to
suspend the students.
 Systemic Dilemma: Students: To boycott the school cafeteria or not to boycott
the school cafeteria.

Why:

 Personal Dilemma: To tell the administration about the planned boycott because
of loyalty to the school administration.
 Organizational Dilemma: To suspend the students because of consistency to the
school rules and policies.
 Systemic Dilemma: To Boycott the school cafeteria because of nationalism and
Patriotism.
Assessment Task: Case Analysis

Digest the following cases in a whole sheet of yellow paper. Take a picture of it and
send it to the person in-charge until the midnight of November 30, 2020

The Ramos family is a family known for their influence, power and wealth in their
hometown in Sta. Ines. Their father is the town’s mayor while their mother is one of the
church leaders in the parish. Unfortunately, Lourdes, their daughter, has eventually lost
track in following the footsteps of her mom and dad. Due to the reason that she has
plenty of money and therefore has lots of friends too, she learned to take drugs and is
eventually getting addicted to it. Upon knowing what she has been doing, her father,
though hesitant of what he will be doing because of his love for his daughter, informed
the chief of police about it who happened to be his best friend and Lourdes’ godfather
too. The chief, for the sake of justice and for loyalty to his sworn duty immediately
planned the arrest of Lourdes dated last September 21, 2005. However, since Lourdes
is also a victim of the perennial problem of prohibited drugs, instead of placing her to
jail, the police operatives sent her to the local rehabilitation center where she will be
staying for six months as a consideration.

Who: Mr. Ramos

Chief of Police
Police Operatives

When: September 21, 2005

Where: Sta. Ines

What: Systemic Dilemma: Police Operatives: To place Lourdes in local rehab or in jail
Organizational Dilemma: The Chief of Police: To arrest Lourdes or not to arrest
Lourdes
Personal Dilemma: Mr. Ramos: To inform the chief of police or to not inform the
chief of police

Why: Systemic Dilemma: To place Lourdes in local rehab because she is a victim of
the perennial problem of prohibited drugs
Organizational Dilemma: To arrest Lourdes for the sake of justice and for
loyalty
to his sworn duty
Personal Dilemma: To inform the chief of police because of consistency to the
rules and policies
 January 19, 2014 – a most unforgettable experience happened to Theresa; it
was the first time as long as she can remember that her dad hit her with his belt. The
house was filled with silence because the youngest daughter is lying with her stomach
on the couch and is wailing while their father is getting his belt from the room.
It all started this morning when Theresa and her mom went to the supermarket to
buy some groceries. Because of life’s harshness, the family income is just enough for
the expenses at home and the schooling of their three children who are in elementary,
high school and college. Theresa, who happened to be the youngest daughter knows
this fact very well. However, like other girls in her class, she really wanted badly to have
this newly released sailor moon doll. So while her mother is busy taking up some fruits
from the stand, she sneaked out and went to the toys section to just look at the doll.
However, when she is already holding the doll, she had a sudden feeling of urge of no
longer letting go of it because possessing it entails fame and attention in their
classroom. She then opened her bag and carefully put the package in and went back to
her mom.
Upon paying for the groceries, they headed to the exit door and the alarm system
started to sound and they are therefore held back for questioning. Without suspicion,
the security personnel started to rescan the items inside the grocery bags thinking that
there might be an item where the security tag has not yet been removed and is
therefore the fault of the cashier and not of the customer. However, they cannot find
anything in the grocery items. Because of this circumstance, they decided to check the
CCTV footage of the supermarket. Upon seeing the footage and after considering the
reputation of the little girl, they went back to the cashier and compelled Theresa’s
mother to pay for the doll or else, the case will be brought up to the local police station.
Not wanting to put her daughter into shame and their family to a scandal, the mother,
with tears in her eyes, took out the last money from her purse which is supposed to be
the budget for her uniform and paid for the doll. Her mother told her husband about
what happened and eventually brought Theresa to the abovementioned situation.

Who:

When:

Where:

What: Systemic Dilemma:

Organizational Dilemma:
Personal Dilemma:

Why: Systemic Dilemma:

Organizational Dilemma:
Personal Dilemma:
Learning Resources

De Guzman, Jens Micah, et al. (2018). Ethics: Principles of ethical behavior in

modern society. Philippines: MUTYA Publishing House, Inc.
Ezra, Ovadia. (2006). Moral Dilemmas in real life: Current issues in applied
ethics. The Netherlands: Springer.
Rachel, James and Stuart Rachels. (2018). Elements of moral philosophy, 9th
ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.