Ethically Difficult Situations Related to Organizational Conditions

• Summary: This article examines ethically difficult situations related to organizational conditions reported by social workers working in public agencies in Crete, Greece. A hermeneutical phenomenological approach for analysing short written narratives was employed in this study. • Findings: Inadequately resourced services and organizational rules and regulations resulted in a variety of ethically difficult situations. Social workers did not develop activities in order to improve inadequately resourced services and to challenge agency policies; they tried to find solutions within the constraints they encountered. • Applications: Increasing resources and changing organizational conditions that cause ethically difficult situations would contribute to improving social work practice. The role of social work education is important in preparing students to challenge agency practices and deal with ethically difficult situations effectively. The development of support systems for practitioners is necessary in order to promote ethical social work practice; social workers should not be left to deal with ethical difficulties on their own. Keywords ethical dilemmas ethical problems organizational environment social work practice Aims and Background Social workers encounter a wide range of ethically difficult situations. Banks and Williams (2005) use the term ethically difficult situation as a generic concept that covers ethical dilemmas, problems and issues. They define ethical dilemma as ‘a story of a decision-making situation involving a difficult choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives and it is not clear which choice will be the Copyrigh