What Are the Causes of Ethical Conflict?

As human beings, ethical conflict plagues us all at one time or another. There are many sources of conflict in life. Moral conflicts abound in the workplace, political arenas, religion and in personal relationships. Competing religious beliefs and world views based on cultural perspectives ingrained in us from birth create many of these dilemmas.

Internal Conflicts

• Internal ethical conflicts can be as simple as trying to decide whether you should tell a good friend that you saw her husband kissing another woman. Deciding what action, if any, to take in a situation like this causes internal conflict. While many individuals would immediately know how to respond to this type of incident, many others would have mixed feelings about the "right thing to do." Another example of internal conflict could arise if you saw an obviously hungry street person steal a loaf of bread from a grocery store. Would you feel comfortable turning that person in? Should anybody be allowed to starve? We know that stealing is against the law, but what is the cost of a loaf of bread compared to a human being's right to eat?

Workplace Conflicts

• The workplace is fraught with ethical conflict. Many corporate environments force us to feel like we must choose between following our ethical beliefs and keeping our job. When an individual's financial survival is at stake and he has a family to support, the choice to "go along to get along" seems the prudent decision. For example, salespeople are often encouraged to omit information that might shed an unfavorable light on the product or company. For the sake of continued employment and making the sale, many commissioned salespeople choose to resort to misrepresentation to earn a paycheck so they can pay the rent that month. With economic survival at stake for employees, the workplace becomes a place of conflict for many people where they are forced to choose between earning a living and acting in an ethical manner.

Religious Conflicts

• Many hotbed social and political issues that cause great ethical conflict between people can be blamed on religious differences. The perfect example of such an issue is the abortion debate. The pro-choice and pro-life supporters often experience an ethical conflict as they argue their point of view. Many pro-life advocates argue that God is behind them to save unborn babies. Other common ethical conflicts caused by religion are people's attitudes toward contraception, capital punishment and homosexuality.

Political Conflicts

• Many people realize that the quickest way to get into an argument is to discuss politics with a person who backs the other political party. That is why some individuals refuse to discuss politics at a social gathering for fear the situation could turn confrontational. The Democratic and Republican parties have very different, deep-seated beliefs about running the government, based on ethical differences. People vote for candidates who are in agreement with most of their beliefs, but those who disagree with them on important issues often cause ethical conflicts.