On-line Identities Case

The ethical decision maker in this case is Tina, because she is the one who is facing the ethical dilemma. The ethical dilemma that Tina faces is whether or not she should keep her job and do what her boss tells her (which is unethical and potentially not legal) or if she should stay true to herself, and keep her integrity but risk losing her job. So she is faced between the conflict of being dishonest but keeping a job that she knows she wants and is skilled for, or staying honest and potentially losing the job. Tina needs the work, she needs the money, but she has taken an ethics course and can see that what her boss wants her to do is wrong. This is why it has caused her to a drive around for hours listen to music and think about everything that had happened in her life leading up to that moment". Clearly it is really bothering her and causing a lot of conflict.

The key stakeholders are Tina, the publishing company she is working for, her boss, and all the customers. For Tina her interest is keeping the job and what is at stake is losing it if she does not go through with the task that her boss has assigned her. For the publishing company, its interest is to profit and as long as that is fulfilled they are happy--but they also want a business that customers trust. For Tina's boss her interest is for Tina to go through with what was asked of her, but if Tina doesn't, the boss can simply hire a new intern. The customer's interest is using a trusted, reliable source of information online and this value is at stake if Tina goes online and makes pseudonyms with fake names and such.

The plausible alternatives would be for Tina to quit her job and keep applying and hope she gets another (this is assuming the fact that her boss does not change the request and that Tina completely sticks to her ethical values that she has developed in her course).

From a deontological perspective, what the boss is asking Tina to do is always wrong because it is unethical and not legal so Tina should quit her job. From a virtue ethics perspective Tina should