Week 3.2 Ethical Decision Making Process & Ethical Dilemma

1. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Ethical Decision
Making:
Personal And
Professional
Contexts
Week 3
Dr. Russell Rodrigo

2. 2-2
OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Describe a process for ethically responsible decision-
making.
2. Apply this model to ethical decision points.
3. Explain the reasons why “good” people might engage
in unethical behavior.

3. 2-3
OPENING DECISION POINT:
What Would You Do?
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3

4. 2-4
OPENING DECISION POINT: What Would You
Do?
You found an iPhone 13 Pro
Max. . . .
1. What would you think about as you sat there
trying to decide what to do?
2. What are the key facts that you should
consider before making a decision, as either
the person who discovered the iPhone 13,
the friend, or the judicial board member?
3. Is this an ethical issue? What exactly are the
ethical aspects involved in your decision?

5. 2-5
4.Who else is involved, or should be
involved, in this decision?Who has a stake in
the outcome?
5. What alternatives are available to you?
What are the consequences of each
alternative?
6. How would each of your
alternatives affect the other people
you have identified as having a stake
in the outcome?
7. Where might you look for
additional guidance to assist you in
resolving this particular dilemma?

6. 2-6
An Ethical Decision-making
Process
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Step 5
Step 6
Step 7
Determine the Facts
Identify the ethical issues involved
Identify stakeholders and consider the
situation from their point of view.
Consider the available alternatives
Consider how a decision affects stakeholders;
a. Consequences b. duties, rights, principles
c. Implications for personal integrity and
character
Make a decision
Monitor and learn from the
outcomes

7. 2-7
DISCUSSION OF OPENING
DECISION POINT: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
1.Try to determine the facts:
❑ Knowing that the iPhone13 functioned perfectly would be good evidence
for concluding that it was left behind accidentally rather than intentionally
discarded.
❑ Knowing the actual cost of the iPhone11 would also be evidence that it is
something likely to be highly valued and not something easily abandoned.
2. Ethical aspects involved
❑ The situation raises ethical issues of rights, happiness, personal integrity
and honesty.
3. Who are involved?
It involves two major stakeholders: the true owner and yourself.

8. 2-8
DISCUSSION OF OPENING
DECISION POINT: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
4. Any decision you make will have broader implications:
❑ It will encourage or diminish a campus culture of trust and honesty.
5. Consider the following perspectives:
❑ Imagining yourself in the position of the student who lost the
iPhone11 / the student who might sit in judgment at a campus
judicial hearing.
❑ Imagining the results of keeping the iPhone11 and then having
that fact discovered and publicized.
❑ Considering the number of hours someone might have to work
at an on-campus job in order to earn enough money to buy
another iPhone11 .
❑ Reflecting on the type of person who keeps another’s property
and to ask yourself if this is who you really are and want to be.

9. 2-9
Why Do “Good” People Engage In
“Bad” Acts?

10. 2-10
Why Do “Good” People Engage In
“Bad” Acts?
There are many ways in which
responsible decision making can go
wrong:
❑ People can simply choose to do
something unethical.
❑ Well-intentioned people fail to
choose ethically.
Stumbling blocks to responsible decision-
making and behavior
❑ Cognitive or intellectual.

11. 2-11
Explaining “Bad” Acts?
IGNORANCE

12. 2-12
Explaining “Bad” Acts?
Cognitive barrier
Discipline to explore additional methods of
resolution
Simplified decision rules are most
comfortable to us
Satisficing
Motivation
Willpower

13. 2-13
What is dilemma?
It is a situation requiring a choice
between equally undesirable
alternatives or any difficult or
perplexing situation or problem.
Source: Dictionary.com (n.d.)
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/dilemma?s=t

14. 2-14
What are examples of
ethical dilemmas?

15. The Types Of Ethical Dilemmas: From Truth
To Honesty Conflicts
1. Taking things that don’t belong to you
2. Saying Things you know are not true
3. Giving or allowing false impressions
4. Buying influence or engaging in conflict interest
5. Hiding or divulging information
6. Taking unfair advantage
7. Committing Acts of personal decadence
8. Perpetrating interpersonal abuse
9. Permitting organizational abuse
10.Violating Rules
11.Condoning unethical actions
12.Balancing ethical dilemmas

16. 16
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May Not Be Scanned, Copied Or Duplicated, Or Posted To A Publicly
Accessible Website, In Whole Or In Part.
How We Avoid Ethical Dilemmas:
CALLING IT BY A DIFFERENT NAME
“Peer-to-Peer File Sharing” vs. “Copyright
Infringement”
“Smoothing Earnings” vs. “Cooking the Books”
“Financial Engineering” vs. “Fraud”
“Aggressive Accounting” vs. “Earnings
Manipulation” “Lying?”
“Aggressive Legal Opinion” vs. “Illegal”

17. Watch the Language!
“Cooking the books”
“Copyright
infringement”
“Manipulated
appraisal”
“Changed the
numbers”
“Backdating
Options”
“You lied”
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May Not Be Scanned, Copied Or Duplicated, Or Posted To A Publicly
Accessible Website, In Whole Or In Part.
17
“Financial engineering”
“Managing earnings”
“Smoothing earnings”
“Getting results”
“Peer-to-Peer file sharing”
“I got a second opinion”
“Pro forma adjustment”
“Deseasonalized the data”
“Periodic look-backs
[sic]”
“No, I misremembered.”
“No, I misspoke.”
“No, I managed expectations.”

18. Watch the Language!
18
The employee stole from
inventory.
“The employee showed
poor judgment.”
“He was accepting cash
for political favors.” “He was just accessible.”
“Bribes” “Useful expenditures” (Siemens)
“Suspended from school” “Restricted”
“Conflict of interest”
“It wasn’t so much a conflict of interest as it
was a confluence of
conflicting motives.”
“That’s creative thinking!”
“That’s cheating!”
“The employee showed
poor judgment.”
“He was just accessible.”
“Useful expenditures” (Siemens)
“Restricted”
“It wasn’t so much a conflict of
interest as it was a confluence of
conflicting motives.”
“That’s creative thinking!”

19. 19
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May Not Be Scanned, Copied Or Duplicated, Or Posted To A Publicly
Accessible Website, In Whole Or In Part.
How We Avoid Ethical Dilemmas:
RATIONALIZING
“Everybody else does it.”
“If we don’t do it, someone else will.”
“That’s the way it has always been done.”
“We’ll wait until the lawyers tell us it’s
wrong.”
“It doesn’t really hurt anyone.”
“The system is unfair.”
“It’s a gray area.”
“I was just following orders.”
“We all don’t share the same ethics.”
“If you think this is bad, you should have seen
. . . “

20. 2-20
Classical Ethical Dilemmas
The Old Woman in the Airport
You are in the airport, trying to catch a flight that is
about to leave. As you run down the crowded
corridor, an elderly woman suddenly slips in front of
you and falls to the ground with a cry. Do you stop
to help, if you know you will miss your flight
because of it?

21. 2-21
Classical Ethical Dilemmas
Trolley Scenario 1
A trolley is running out of control down a track.
In its path are 5 people who have been tied to
the track by a mad philosopher. Fortunately, you
can flip a switch which will lead the trolley down
a different track. Unfortunately, there is a single
person tied to that track. Should you flip the
switch? Why?

22. 2-22
Classical Ethical Dilemmas
Trolley Scenario 2
As before, a trolley is hurtling down a track towards five
people. You are on a bridge under which it will
pass, and you can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in
front of it. As it happens, there is a man next to
you - your only way to stop the trolley is to push him over
the bridge and onto the track, killing him to
save five. Should you proceed? Why? How is this case
different from the first?