Ethical Dilemma: Cash Sales
The ethical dilemma or conflict: Who to tell or who not to tell.
Options:
1) Do they tell the employer of their suspicions, and lose the trust of their coworker;
2) Do they say nothing to the employer but confront Nathan with their suspicions which could also cause damage to their group dynamic; or
3) Say nothing to anyone and continue on as they are.
Relational capital is the form of leverage that the team possesses in relation to each other. There is mutual liking, knowledge, trust and a commitment to continuing their relationship which is beneficial to all of the team. There is some sense of obligation to give the benefit of the doubt to those that you have a positive relationship with. Just as I would hope that if someone was suspicious or unsure what I was doing they would ask me first before assuming I was doing something wrong or unethical. This would be especially true for those that I have an established relationship with.
I do have an obligation to my employer to let them know what I suspect but I wouldn’t point fingers at anyone specifically as it’s only a suspicion and there could very well be someone else doing it or more than one person. To be fair, they should look at everyone and not just focus on one person. If only one person is looked at, the employer might spook others or the real thief. When the stealing stops it could be for that reason and not that they identified the thief by blaming Nathan. The primary risk in not saying anything is that the employer could find on their own that Nathan is not recording all the cash sales and, knowing that the team splits the tips evenly, feel that all have stolen from them. Everyone could lose their job and possibly face prosecution for theft.
I think most people would answer that they would tell the employer of their suspicions and allow them to take it from there. In