EDD 8442 Ethics and Social Responsibility Session 1: Blended Dr. Karen D. Bowser

EDD 8442 Ethics and EDD 8442 Ethics and Social ResponsibilitySocial Responsibility

Session 1: BlendedSession 1: Blended

Dr. Karen D. Bowser

Leaders Cast Shadows

Are you defusing bombs or lighting them in YOUR workplace?

Variations on a Theme: Leaders Cast Shadows

• Deny having knowledge that is in their possession.

• Withhold information that followers need.• Use information solely for personal benefit.• Violate the privacy rights of followers.• Release information to the wrong people.• Put followers in ethical binds by preventing

them from releasing information that others have a legitimate right to know.

Johnson, C. E. (2009). Ethical challenges of leadership. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Leaders Cast Shadows

Are you defusing bombs or lighting them in YOUR workplace?

What are ethics?

Developing an Ethical Perspective

• Theories of Ethics• Ethical Concerns of Organizations• Ethical Organizational Perspectives

Ethics1. The discipline dealing with what is good and

bad and with moral duty and obligation2. A system or set of moral principals; 3. A set of moral issues or aspects: a theory or

system of moral values; the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group; a consciousness of moral importance (Merriam –Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2011)

Ethics—What’s Changed?1. The rules of conduct governing a particular

class;2. The branch of philosophy dealing with

values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness or wrongness of motives or ends (Webster’s, 1995).

Ethics

• How to behave• How to be responsible• The purpose of ethics is not to make people

ethical; it is to help people make better decisions (Brown, 2000).

• Does not provide answers, but gives people the possibility of asking better questions and discovering the answers themselves

What is social responsibility? How is social responsibility like

ethics?How is it different?

Is it possible for a leader to make ethical decisions for his or her team that he or she might not

personally make for himself or herself?

What do the objects in the background that I have chosen say about ethics and/or social

responsibility?

Variations on a Theme

• What have you found?• You’re the stars!

ROLE OF VALUES, MORALS, AND EMOTIONS

The Knowing-Doing Gap Pfeffer, J. and Sutton, R., (2000).

• When knowing what to do is not enough• When talk substitutes for action• When memory is a substitute for thinking• When fear prevents acting on knowledge• When measurement obstructs good judgment• When internal competition turns good friends into

enemies

How Could You Do That? The Abdication of

Character, Courage and Conscience (Schlessinger, L., 1996)

• “Yeah, I know…but… (Where’s your character?)

• “I know it’s wrong…but… (Where’s your conscience?)

• “I know it’s right…but…(Where’s your courage?)

• Thinking “Poor Baby” keeps you one (Where’s your self-respect?)

• Of course I have values…Umm, What are they again? (Where are your morals?)

• For Brutus Is an honorable man…Yeah, right (Where’s your integrity?)

• Eenie, Meenie…Oh, I hate decisions (Where are your principles?

Ethical Talk: Ground RulesSome good advice from Weston (2009)

• What Does Work• Slow down and listen.• Speak calmly and listen a lot.

• Connect• Seek common ground.• Keep the focus on the main points.

Ethical Talk: Ground RulesSome good advice from Weston (2009)

• What Does Work• Welcome openings and opportunities• Stay engaged

• See a discussion as a search for better understanding and creative solutions.

• Treat facts as tools.

Common Ground Approach

Pro-ChoicePro-Life

Post 1

• Pay particular attention to the excerpt on p. 49 of the Weston book (“Can God define the Good?”).

• What or who defines “right” and “wrong,” “good” and “bad”? How are these constructs defined? Be specific and support your answer in a scholarly way.

Post 1• Please be sure to respect different frames of reference and avoid references to personal religious beliefs and values. We are all from different walks of life, different religious and cultural backgrounds, so try to see beyond the individual perspective.

• Push your thinking past the automatic responses we all tend to have, like “My parents taught me right from wrong” or “The Bible teaches us right from wrong.” Try to look for the meanings beyond these statements. You should approach your response from an academic and objective perspective, understanding that there are many differing beliefs and value systems.

Post 2Describe an event in your professional life that was an occasion for ethical learning. The operative phrase here is “ethical learning.” There are many occasions for learning, in general, but that is not the focus of this task. The event must involve some type of ethical issue, compromise, behavior, or circumstance. You must describe the ethical nature of the event.

What were the specifics of the event, who or what did it involve, and what specifically did you learn? What made this ethical learning possible? (Weston, p. 8 and Brown, Chapter 3).

10 Ethics Trends for 2010

1. Leader misconduct will become more public!

Employees will use these tools to discredit their leaders.

2. Fair Labor Standards Act claims will grow and expand into “nontraditional” applications.

Example: Lawsuits against companies that do not pay salaried employees overtime.

Paskoff, S. M. (20009). 10 ethical trends for 2010. Workforce Magazine.

10 Ethical Trends for 2010

3. Employee Free Choice Act—developments will make it easier for unions to organize

4. Employers will use the Internet and social networks to learn about applicants because they are cost-effective tools.


10 Ethical Trends for 2010

5. Learning will become far more important than training. Learning is what sticks and employees apply; training is something that is taught.

6. Two key trends for those in their 20s.They will become entrepreneurs. Ex. aps writers

They will seek stability with one company.


10 Ethical Trends of 2010

7. New emphasis on finding people who have analytical and creative skills rather than a specific skill like accounting.

8. Because the economy has enraged workers, more juries will be siding with the employee in claims of discrimination.


10 Ethical Trends of 2010

9. In periods of reduced resources, companies must focus on fair treatment. The business risks of not doing so will be too expensive.

10.“Lean and clean” will replace “lean and mean.” Because of all the corruption in recent years, corporate values will return to values like integrity, etc.


Ethics of Systems: Does YOUR Code of Ethics Do This?

• The written and unwritten rules • Must protect individuals• Must be fair or just• Must generate power (be energizing)

Ethical Concerns of Organizations

• An organization is a network of power and a network of people

• Organizations become places where people make themselves into something as they make something for the organization.

People are moral agents—they can be held accountable for their

own actions.

Therefore, members of organizations are moral agents!

Organizations as Moral Agents

• Corporations are decision-making systems.• Corporate Internal Decision [CID] French, 1984.

• Flowchart or organizational chart• Procedural rules• Corporate policies• Once it goes through these three elements, an action

has been done for corporate reasons.


• Motive – Reason for acting

• Intention – Choosing a particular action

• What role does motivation play in our ethical decisions?


• In an organization, one acts on behalf of another or others.

• An organization is a process through which actions occur.

• To make the right choice, all the resources available must be used.

• Ethical reflection increases the chances that the correct choice will be made.


• Decision-making process• Systems of production and maintenance• Culture


• Decision-making process• Every decision is value-laden• Not to decide, is to decide• Value judgments usually cause conflict• What are the chances, then, that decisions will

cause conflict?

Ethical Perspectives of Organizations

• When the same event is interpreted in different ways• Political spin• Interest groups• Media• Culture• Location

Key Indicators of an Ethical Perspective

• Language –the jargon of a particular view• Connotative and denotative meanings

• Denotative—Particular interpretation of a particular setting (context)

• Connotative—emotional meaning

• Danger in labeling something “ethics” when it is really something else

• Assumes that people have the freedom and power to respond

Key Indicators of an Ethical Perspective

• Focuses on action rather than behavior involved in doing the action

• Looks for reasons to justify acts rather than reasons to explain behavior

• Acknowledges the gap between ought to and is

What is versus what ought to be

• Descriptive ethics• What is

• Explanation

• Behavior

• Normative ethics• What ought to be

• Justification

• Action

Post 3

• Select a leader and a recorder for your small group.

• Be prepared to identify the ethical issues and your team’s conclusions about the merits of “slow medicine.”

Post 3: Small Groups

• Briefly summarize the main points presented including the ethical dilemmas.

• Present your thoughts on the concept of “slow medicine.” Examine how well “slow medicine” fits with your personal beliefs and what you believe to be U.S. society’s perception of the concept. Note, your personal beliefs may not necessarily match what you believe to be the social perception.

Post 3

• Finally, discuss if society should play a role in whether individuals have a right to exercise “slow medicine.”

• Most importantly, after you present whether society should or should not, discuss how you personally would feel with the scope (or limit) you are suggesting for society’s role in determining the use of “slow medicine.”

Slow Medicine

Slow Medicine

People as moral agents.

• Accountability for actions• Can consider alternatives• Must have the freedom and power to choose the

right thing• Must consider the impact

“The choices we make dictate the life we lead.” (Danny DeVito in Renaissance Man)

“We do not get to choose the time we enter or exit this world. The only thing we get to choose is how we spend the time we are given.” (Lord of the Rings)

No man is an island. No man stands alone. Each man’s joys

are joys to me. Each man’s grief is my own. John Donne

In every community the dynamics of self-development and community development remain interdependent.

Post 4• After reviewing the Toffler interview, post a response

to the following: Frequently the source of unethical behavior in corporate environments is financial gain. In educational and social service environments, financial gain is not always an issue, yet ethical breaches still occur. Barring psychological problems, most adults know the difference between what is legal and illegal, and most have a mutually agreed upon sense of “right” and “wrong.” So, then, why does anyone behave unethically?

Post 5

• What is the relationship between the concept of “empowerment” and ethics? Provide and discuss at least three recent (last 5-7 years) sources (books, journal articles) that discuss and develop the concept of empowerment in an organizational setting.

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EDD 8442 Ethics and Social Responsibility Session 1: Blended Dr. Karen D. Bowser