respond discussion: Ethical teaching and supervision

• Offer an insight to someone who chose a different ethical dilemma in the media titled “The Lab.”
• Expand on or further the discussion.

Main Question Post. Dr. Aaron Hutchins is the Principle Investigator (PI) of his lab. Dr. Hutchins is still in touch with Dr. Ali Ahmed, his mentor and PI when Dr. Hutchins was a post doc. Dr. Ahmed is a great friend and helps to keep Dr. Hutchins in line. Greg is one of Dr. Hutchins’ post docs. Greg is clearly overworked and exhausted on this particular day. A possible ethical dilemma here is allowing Greg to continue to work because Greg is working on something important. Some people believe being overworked is part of being a post doc. However, this is an ethical dilemma because if a person is weary, they become more and more unproductive. Unproductiveness is not helping anyone in this situation. In fact, Karatepe (2013) found that exhaustion is the first phase or symptom of burnout. Jones, Norman, and Wier (2010) found that exhaustion has negative outcomes for the person and the work the person is doing. Therefore, allowing Greg to continue working is not only an ethical dilemma, it is also a bad choice for the work Greg is trying to perfect.

Allowing Greg to continue working while he is visibly fatigued is a violation of Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence. According to Fisher (2017), Principle A involves the effort of doing good and avoiding doing harm. Dr. Hutchins is allowing harm to be done if he allows Greg to continue working while he is physically and mentally drained. Dr. Ahmed’s analogy of a racecar winning the Daytona 500 on “E” (empty tank of gas) was a perfect comparison for this situation (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. [Producer.], 2001). I suggested that Dr. Hutchins send Greg home. Dr. Hutchins sending Greg home to get some rest resolves this ethical dilemma.

Martela and Ryan (2016) believed people have inherent pro-social tendencies for beneficence. Therefore, according to Martela and Ryan (2016), Dr. Hutchins’ instinctive nature would automatically send Greg home to get some rest because pro-social acts lead to a sense of wellness and well-being. Dr. Hutchins made the right decision by sending Greg home so more productive and beneficial work can continue the next day.

References

Fisher, C. B. (2017). Decoding the Ethics Code: A Practical Guide for Psychologists, 4th Edition. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/97814833…

Jones, A., C. S. Norman., and B. Wier. 2010. Healthy lifestyle as a coping mechanism for role stress in public accounting. Behavioral Research in Accounting 22 (1):21-41.

Karatepe, O. M. 2013. The effects of work overload and work-family conflict on job embeddedness and job performance: The mediation of emotional exhaustion. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management(25) 4: 614-634.

Martela, F., & Ryan, R. M. (2016). The Benefits of Benevolence: Basic Psychological Needs, Beneficence, and the Enhancement of Well-Being. Journal Of Personality, 84(6), 750–764. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1111/jop…

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Producer.) (2001). The lab: An interactive video on avoiding misconduct. Washington, DC: USDHHS: Office of Research.
Retrieved from http://ori.hhs.gov/TheLab/TheLab.shtml

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