The purpose of this paper is to define and discuss the elements of an ethically defensible decision. I am to answer the questions: what are the ground rules? , what could they be? , what should they be? , what are the ethical implications of the decision? , and how might the decision change the ground rules? In the textbook “Management: Leading People and Organizations in the 21 st Century” tells us that ethics refers to “the principle of conduct governing an individual or a group, and specifically to the standards you use to decide what your conduct should be” (pg. 70).
In online resource “Holistic Education Network” tells us that decision making 5">ethical decision making refers to “the process of evaluating and choosing among alternatives in a manner consistent with ethical principles” (web).
Ethical decision making is weighing the options of right verse wrong. The ground rules for making ethical decisions, are “trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
The Essay on Ethical Decision Making Ground Rule
... to guide an ethical decision, then it may be based on personal or informal ground rules. Since formal ground rules ... ground rules would be the companies' mission statement or long-term goals. The importance of establishing ground rules directly impacts ethical decision-making. If there are no ground rules ...
The Six Pillars of Character are ethical values to guide our choices. The standards of conduct that arise out of those values constitute the ground rules of ethics. The Six Pillars are the basis of ethically defensible decisions and the foundation of well-lived lives.” (web).
Ethical decision making could be our beliefs, our values, our attitude, our actions, our choices and our words. What we say we value and what our actions say we value is a matter of integrity, the foundation that we build our beliefs upon. It’s what we say or do that determines the outcome of the decision we make, and the decision we make will determine the foundation we live by.
Something may be legal, but not be right. Ethical decision-making is more than our beliefs and values. “It’s evaluating complex, ambiguous and incomplete facts, and the skill to implement ethical decisions effectively” (web).
What ethical decision should be is first, what are the issues? Depending on what the issue might be, will determine the conclusion of the decision. Second, what are the reasons? Is the reasons ethical or unethical. Third, what are the value conflicts and assumptions? Forth, what are the descriptive assumptions? And finally, are there any fallacies in the reasoning? Also, ethical decisions should be based on honesty, respect, integrity, and accountability.
What are the ethical implications of the decision? The ethical implications of lets say Enron, is that they can’t be trusted, there’s no respect for the company anymore. Because they did business in an unethical way. The ethical implications of How might the decision change the ground rules? The decision might change the ground rules, simply because they do not have the character traits, the “Six Pillars of Character” to think ethically. Enron did not have any ethical values for themselves, let alone for their customers. Everything they did when it came to the business, was unethical.
It was wrong for Enron to take peoples money they way the did. References Browne, M. N. & Keeley S. K. (2000).
Critical Thinking: Asking the Right Question (5 th ed. ).
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