I just started this job 2 weeks ago as the CEO’s personal assistant. He is marri
ID: 433292 • Letter: I
Question
I just started this job 2 weeks ago as the CEO’s personal assistant. He is married 3x and is a very charismatic man, the CEO of a self-built multi-million empire. After a few days, he suddenly asked me if he could take me out to diner in London, if I book my flights and hotel he will afterwards reimburse me. [1]
It was then, she relates, that she knew he wanted to sleep with her. In her words, she’s “totally not interested, but wants to preserve the job by not rejecting him.” So she made an excuse to get out of it and her post continues: “He then bothered me for hours about giving him good reasons why I couldn’t go. Then he said OK, next week we will go to Milan! He is a very powerful man, and I just get nervous of him. But I really do not want to lose my job. What should I do?”
What should she do? Justify in ethical terms.
Make the case that she’s ethically free to follow the advice, to say yes to advance her career.
Explanation / Answer
The personal assistant can agree to the demands of the CEO if it means that her career is fast tracked and her job remains secure. By agreeing to the demands of CEO the personal assistant can at least be assured of better pay and promotion prospects in future.
On the other hand if the personal assistant is not comfortable with such advances of CEO then she should directly tell the CEO about her mindset and make it clear to him that she is not interested in his advances, even if it may mean her losing her job. In case the situation goes out of hand she should approach the HR department of the company and give them the details.
The personal assistant is ethically free to follow the advice of agreeing to the advances of the CEO and flying out with him for dinner. It is her moral choice and hence if her conscious allows then there is nothing immoral about this. She is free to base her decisions on the principles of utilitarianism. As per this principle the morality of a decision depends on the potential consequences of the decision. So, if the personal assistant can see that the consequence of her going for dinner with the CEO is good and positive for her career then she is ethically free to follow the advice of agreeing to the advances of the CEO.