Ethical Decision Making – Reflection Essay

Introduction

The measures taken to consider and measure the moral ramifications of a series of decisions
presented by the boss or a team/group are known as ethical decision making. Since they have an
impact on stakeholders, any business decision has an ethical or moral component. All choices
should be taken with the highest care and consideration for what the company strives for. This
might be too hard for a manager to handle at times, but it is not unusual for a manager to make
such a choice on their own. Managers could often form committees to assist them in making
choices, since this is a more common practise in companies. Interacting, Delphi, and nominal
groups are the three types of communities.

Discussion

With the above in mind, I'll move on to the issue of a manager making an ethical decision. When
confronted with this challenge, I will need to gather credible and precise data in order to
diagnose and solve it. Doing something on my own would be a huge undertaking and it might be
possible for me to ignore something that another individual would feel strongly about; as a boss,
I would include my staff in the decision-making phase. Since coping with ethics may be a
delicate topic, I will assign trustworthy staff to this group. I wouldn't want facts to spill out until
we address the issue. Empathy and emotional intelligence are important to the positive behaviour
of the decision-making phase, but letting a community of individuals engage with a problem will
be easier because we will all have a wider outlook and more of our points of view will be
considered before determining the action to take.

Professional standards of ethics are restricted in their ability to support counsellors in making
decisions (Mabe & Rollin, 1986). For example, the code may clash with the counselor's personal
values; the code may conflict with institutional (school, organisation, etc.) practise; various
standards of ethics may conflict with one another; and codes address a limited variety of topics.
As a result, ethical decision-making frameworks offer an additional foundation for ethical
thinking. The theory ethics paradigm of Kitchener (1984) is one of the most often quoted in the
literature on ethical decision-making in therapy. In making rational decisions, she differentiates
between four levels of moral thinking. People's intimate, instant, feeling reactions to
circumstances, as well as their opinions about what they should and should not do, are
represented at the intuitive stage. The critical-evaluative stage offers a structure from which
psychologists may assess their intuitive responses, as the intuitive level does not result in a
rational ethical judgement. The psychologist must first use ethical guidelines, which are the
principles of the profession's code of ethics, at the critical-evaluative stage.

Cultural inequality, sexual assault, job overload, unsafe work climate, and labour breaches are
only a few examples of ethical problems. These problems are extremely damaging to any
company, so as a boss, I will first identify the issue, fix it, and then take action to ensure that it
does not happen again. We can easily see in today's corporate climate that dishonest decisions
are always taken despite strict laws. When a clerk called the cops on two black males for just
sitting in the shop in 2018, the cafe company "Starbucks" was in the headlines often. This
situation was addressed, and the company's response was to send nearly 175,000 workers to be
trained in ethnic awareness, as well as to close 8000 stores in North America. We can easily see
from this incident that a manager's first goal should be ethics, since the incident previously
described caused a negative reputation on the whole organisation as a result of one person's
conduct.

An interacting community will be the kind of group/team I would use in my decision-making

An ethics officer is hired by a firm to avoid problems and scandals that might jeopardise the
public's interest in it. They examine and review any part of a company's policies and ensure that
they adhere to the company's code of ethics. It would be appropriate to provide a Delphi
community if the organisation has an ethics officer who might provide professional counsel on
the production, explanation, and implementation of ethics as well as the observance of the
company's policies and programmes. We will just have to decide what step to pursue in this
community and the ethics advisor would have already conducted a thorough report into the
matter and provided a summary of steps to be performed as well as the repercussions of such
actions. The majority of companies do not have an ethics officer, but the need for one is
increasing all the time. If the company does not have an ethics officer, I would adhere to an
Interacting community.
I propose that we use a "Decision tree" to make an ethical decision in the communicating
community. After all of the requisite analysis on the issue has been completed, we will be left
with a number of options, which will be organised into a decision tree. These alternatives will be
illustrated together with their effects in a straightforward diagram with two options next to each
choice. The legal or immoral nature of the approach will be one of these choices. Whether it is
ethical, it would be called a choice; if it is not, it must be eliminated. It might seem to be a
straightforward process, but as a planner, I'd have to be extra careful not to fix an ethical issue
with an immoral one.

When faced with alternative options, the boss can also pose follow-up questions. Managers
should challenge themselves, “Is this activity legal?” If the response is yes, he or she should
inquire, "Does it increase shareholder value?" If he/she answers yes to that query, he/she can
then inquire, "Is it ethical?" The last issue is crucial and if it is not answered, the firm will
proceed with the proposal and it is better for their stakeholders, but that will be detrimental to the
company's image. Analyzing both of these problems in a community setting would be the most
beneficial and no one member would be in charge of the answer, reducing the chances of making
a mistake.

A business looking to extend and broaden its scope by opening up shop in a new place is an
example of where the manager will like to address the above listed concerns while faced with an
ethical problem. This proposed corporation wishes to build a second warehouse in order to
manufacture more products for their clients. They attempted outsourcing but ultimately wanted
to manufacture the products themselves. This move would almost certainly benefit the
company's owners because it would result in more capital coming through the business as a
result of the additional plant. If ethical issues such as emissions and excessive physical labour are
ignored, the business will lose more money than it gains by constructing this plant. As a result,
the management must make the right judgement and ensure that everyone's interests are met, not
just the stakeholders'.

I would recommend that we use the "Rating paradigm of decision making" in my engaging
community when coping with the ethical decision we would have to produce. Defining and
assessing the situation, proposing alternative solutions, testing the alternative solutions, and
applying the decision are the four key points of this model. The logical model has one flaw: it
allows assumptions on what managers know, implying that the manager has all the knowledge
needed to make the right judgement possible, which is impossible since any information would
be out of control. That is why I would like to work in an engaging environment so I would be
able to learn more about my colleagues.

The model's first move is to pinpoint the problem. Information regarding the situation and what
caused it can be obtained, but a decision to change the enterprise must be taken, whether the
decision is good or negative. The next move will be to come up with other options. The larger
the problem, the more options that must be provided. When considering a strategy, the boss can
be innovative and see it from a particular perspective; this is why having an engaging community
is so beneficial because I can get input from someone who have a certain perspective on the
problem. The next step will be to determine which answer is the safest, which is where I will
pose the questions I discussed earlier regarding the business that wants to grow.

The decision's implementation will be the fourth and final move. I would prepare ahead of time
to ensure that I am responsive to those who will be impacted by the adjustments and that the
appropriate tools are utilised. I'll also keep an eye on the schedule and, if necessary, provide
input on the process, as well as delegate particular tasks to employees. Finally, in industry,
coping with an ethical issue can always be taken seriously. A company's image can quickly be
destroyed by a single blunder, so I'd like the right people by my side while making these critical
choices and ensuring that they are implemented with the requisite support.
References
De George, R.T., (1987). The status of business ethics: Past and future. Journal of Business
ethics, 6(3), pp.201-211.

Introduction to Management. [UniCaf]. Retrieved

King, P.M. and Kitchener, K.S., (2004). Judgment model: Twenty years of research on epistemic
cognition. Personal epistemology: The psychology of beliefs about knowledge and
knowing, 37.

Mabe, A.R. and Rollin, S.A., (1986). The role of a code of ethical standards in
counseling. Journal of Counseling & Development.

Sternberg, E., (2000). Just business: Business ethics in action.