Dilemma 1
The client's overpayment
A client pays an invoice twice by mistake. Your manager tells you to say nothing until the client notices.
Do you follow the instruction, tell the client yourself, or push back with your manager first?
7 ethical dilemmas at work with no easy answer
Most ethics training covers the obvious cases. The real ones are grey: your manager asks, a client is happy, nobody would ever know. These seven workplace ethics examples are the kind people actually face. Choose what you would really do.
Dilemma 2
The friend's application
A close friend applies for a role on your team, and you are on the hiring panel.
Do you declare it and step aside, stay on the panel and try to be fair, or put in a good word?
Dilemma 3
The known flaw
Your product passes every required test, but you know of a weakness that could cause problems for some customers later.
Do you raise it formally, fix it quietly in the next update, or let it ship?
Dilemma 4
The staff reviews
Your manager asks the team to post five-star reviews of the company's product from their personal accounts.
Do you do it, refuse quietly, or raise the concern openly?
Dilemma 5
The competitor's file
A new colleague who joined from a competitor offers to share their old employer's pricing spreadsheet.
Do you take a look, refuse, or report the offer?
Dilemma 6
The supplier's gift
During a contract renewal, a supplier sends you an expensive personal gift with a warm note.
Do you keep it, return it, or declare it and let the company decide?
Dilemma 7
The sales promise
To close a big deal, a salesperson promised the client a feature that doesn't exist yet. You are asked to build it by an unrealistic date.
Do you work late to make it true, tell the client the real timeline, or push back internally?
What your answers hint at
If you lean toward speaking up or declaring things, you probably see rules and transparency as what protect everyone, including you, and you'd rather be awkward now than complicit later. If you lean toward going along or handling things quietly, you may weigh loyalty to your team and the practical cost of making waves.
Notice where your answers shift: when the instruction comes from a manager, when a friend is involved, or when the harm is distant and uncertain. Those are the pressure points where most real ethical mistakes happen, usually by good people.
How to use these
These work as discussion prompts for team meetings, ethics training or interview practice. Ask each person to answer privately first, then discuss. The goal is not to find the one right answer, it is to hear how others reason.
Beyond a one-line question
A short prompt is easy to answer in theory. ThinkAlike's business ethics and workplace conflict stories put you inside the moment, with consequences that follow your choices.
Want more like this? Try 7 everyday dilemmas, 7 workplace dilemmas, 7 relationship dilemmas, 7 money and friendship dilemmas, 7 family obligation dilemmas, 7 friendship dilemmas, 7 parenting dilemmas, 7 everyday moral dilemma examples, or 7 ethical dilemmas for students.
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