Integrity, Morality and the Professional lifeWhat guides you?

Capstone Presentation – February 6th, 2012

What is Ethics? A code of conduct governing an individual or a group

A set of acceptable values or behaviors

A guiding philosophical statement

What is Integrity?“We have heard sermons and exhortations upon honesty, trust, righteousness, dependability, truthfulness, kindness, justice, mercy, love, fidelity, and many other principles of right living. When one has integrated all of these attributes within his being, when they become the moving force of all his thoughts, actions, and desires, then he may be said to possess integrity, which has been defined as “a state or quality of being complete, undivided, or unbroken; moral soundness, honesty and uprightness.” (N. Eldon Tanner, “Integrity,” Ensign, May 1977, p. 14)

Calvin and HobbesThe Issues1. Skewed definition of success.2. Appears to be a “no-win” situation. 3. “Everybody does it”4. Everyone bends the rules. 5. Doesn’t hurt anyone. 6. People care about success not

principles.7. Acknowledging is a moral victory.

Two CasesWhat are the rules?

What is right?

What would reflect an act of integrity?

Case #1A designer and his wife had just gotten to their seats at a concert they had been looking forward to for some time. Within a minute or two the designer realized that two men behind him were in a business similar to his, they are competitors, and are talking about a product that is proprietary. If fact the designer’s company has a product that is similar and he is on the product team. He also knows, because of the industry grape vine, that this competitor is about six months or so ahead of his company in projected product release.There is about 20 minutes before the concert will start and the designers wife is talking to a friend who is sitting nearby.What should the designer do?

Case #2 – President N. Eldon Tanner

A young man came to me not long ago and said. “I made an agreement with a man that requires me to make certain payments every year. I am in arrears and I can’t make those payments, for if I do it, it is going to cause me to lose my home. What shall I do?”

Targets, Specifications and Loss

Target

U pp er spec if ica t ionLower spececification

Step Loss Function

TargetQuality characteristic

U pp er spec if ica t ionLower spececification

Step loss function

123

Quadratic Loss Function

Q u a l i t y C h a r a c t e r i s t i c

T a g u c h i L o s s F u n c t io n

Specification Limits

Target1

23

Loss FunctionBeing Specification Focused means staying within limits - Here the attention often goes to how close can one get to the limits

Being Target Focused means to strive to get near to target – This paradigm has proven to be the genesis of high quality products and is the root of continuous improvement

Which way are you looking?

Which way are you looking?

Stay away from the edgeStaying away from the edge is an individual responsibility. Occasionally our well‑meaning young people want every detail of appropriate and inappropriate conduct to be specified, perhaps so they can feel comfortable in getting closer to the edge. They sometimes seem more concerned with what the gospel prohibits than what it gives. For instance, some young adults were surprised when they learned that it was inappropriate for mixed young single adult groups to be involved together in overnight activities. They said, Why hasn’t the prophet told us? The Church counsel in this matter has been clear for many years. It should not have been necessary to tell these young people to avoid the appearance of evil. My strong advice is, if there is any question about your personal conduct, don’t do it. It is the responsibility of prophets to teach the word of God not to spell out every jot and tittle of human behavior. Our moral agency requires us to know good from evil and choose the good. If we are trying to avoid not only evil, but the very appearance of evil, we will act for ourselves and not be acted upon.

James E. Faust, Acting for Ourselves and Not Being Acted Upon, Ensign, Nov. 1995, 45

Example at BYU – Dress & grooming

“Things that once might have been considered slovenly or totally inappropriate are now celebrated and even modeled by those in the public eye, who often seem to revel in their capacity to shock and "push the envelope" of propriety.”

Outward Expressions of the Inner Self, Cecil O. Samuelson, Jan 13, 2004

BYU continued“Some believe they are expressing newfound freedoms, when all they are really doing is expressing ignorance or disdain for things sacred and significant while being trapped with the milling hordes of low-class conformity. Some simply take their fashion advice from the crowd and fail to heed useful counsel from parents, Church leaders, teachers, loyal friends, and even their own mirrors!”

Outward Expressions of the Inner Self, Cecil O. Samuelson, Jan 13, 2004

Application of Loss Function When one is uncertain as to what to do

Rules prohibit inappropriate behavior of one individual against anotherRules give the boundary conditions and point toward the operative principleRules provide guidance on how to act

Therefore ethical codes are important part of correct behavior but not sufficient

Ethics Integrity

Character=what we have becomeTarget

U pp er specif ica t ionLower spececification

Consequences of Rule based Behavior

Rules usually specify what one can’t doRelying on specifications lead to the urge to modify (usually loosen) the original specificationsSome search for ways around rules or gradually loosen the rules in an attempt to reduce violationsHonor Code or rating system examples

Seeking the Target (principle)

Target values for quality of products comes from the design (“perfect” part)Target values for ethical or moral behavior may be a bit more difficult to define

Truth Religion Time tested values and characteristics

Developing Conscience (target focus)

Seek a greater understanding of the fundamental purpose or principle of the rule or law – scriptures and reveled wordStudy lives of those who have lived in such a mannerIdentify the actions that satisfy the law and also yield better behaviorLook to examples of those of whom we wish to be likeAct on what we know is right – Isocrates statement

Isocrates “Virtue is not advanced by written laws but by the habits of everyday life”Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-32 & 64:33Choice in the small and simple

Isocrates “Where there is a multitude of specific laws, it is a sign that the state (organization) is badly governed; for it is in the attempt to build dikes against the spread of crime that men in such a state feel constrained to multiply laws. Those who are rightly governed, on the other hand, do not need to fill their porticoes with written statutes, but only cherish justice in their souls; for it is not legislation, but by morals, that states are well directed, since men who are badly reared will venture to transgress even laws which are drawn up with minute exactness, whereas those who are well brought up will be willing to respect even a simple code.”

Case #1Designer Example – Proprietary Information Case StudyA designer and his wife had just gotten to their seats at a concert they had been looking forward to for some time. Within a minute or two the designer realized that two men behind him were in a business similar to his, they are competitors, and are talking about a product that is proprietary. If fact the designer’s company has a product that is similar and he is on the product team. He also knows, because of the industry grape vine, that this competitor is about 6 months or so ahead of his company in projected product release.There is about 20 minutes before the concert will start and the designers wife is talking to a friend who is sitting nearby.

What should the designer do?

Application of the concept Case #1

Designer Example – Proprietary Information

Intent is to adhere to the “spirit” of the law of protection of proprietary information

Staying away from temptation to use any information, and help others as well.

Case #2 – President N. Eldon Tanner

A young man came to me not long ago and said. “I made an agreement with a man that requires me to make certain payments every year. I am in arrears and I can’t make those payments, for if I do it, it is going to cause me to lose my home. What shall I do?”

“I looked at him and said, ‘Keep your agreement.’Even if it costs me my home?!

I said, “I am not talking about your home. I am talking about your agreement; and I think your wife would rather have a husband who would keep his word, meet his obligations, . . . And have to rent a home that to have a home with a husband who will not keep his covenants and his pledges.”

Case #2 How important is it to you to keep your promises and covenants?

Question to ask to Encourage Better Behavior

Is it legal?

Is it balanced?

How would I feel about myself?

To Aid in Acting Right: Procedures – make yourself think through it

Perspective – 100 years from now. Grandchild’s feelings.

Prayer and seek counsel – The very act brings strength and insight

What (who) is your guide? orWhich way do you face?

“For they that are wise and have received the truth, and have take the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived – “

D&C 45:57

What (or who) is the target?

Therefore I would that ye should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.

3rd Nephi 12:48

Christ as the target. Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Moroni 10:32