Ethical Decision-Making in the Military Decision-Making Process Contribution to the JSCOPE 2000 Conference “Moral Considerations in Military Decision Making”. Dr. D. (Desiree) Verweij Lieutenant Colonel G.A.A.M. (Gérard) Cloïn (drs.) Major E.C. (Erhan) Tanercan MED (drs.) E-mail: ilmo@army.disp.mindef.nl Tel: +31 76 527 46 53 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting +31 76 527 46 53 end_of_the_skype_highlighting Introduction A great deal has changed in the Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) in recent years. Not only has the task of the RNLA changed, but so has its composition. To begin with the first aspect: the task of the RNLA and that of the armed forces as a whole has been extended. …show more content…
In its Mission Statement,[ii]the Royal Netherlands Army indicates a number of values and standards that are important for the army and the execution of its tasks. On the basis of these values we can establish rules of behaviour that apply for all members of the organisation. As mentioned above, values form the basis for action. We are not constantly aware of this; we adhere to rules and have certain ideals without actually thinking about it. An increasing number of organisations and professional groups are realising that it is a good thing to think about this sometimes; hence the increased attention being paid to corporate ethics and professional ethics. 2.Corporate ethics and professional ethics Corporate ethics and professional ethics constitute a further division of general ethics, as discussed in section 1. The ethics of the armed forces, or military ethics, contain both. In practice, corporate and professional ethics often coincide. The difference between corporate ethics and professional ethics is usually seen as the difference between the individual and the organisation as a whole. Applied to the armed forces, this means that professional ethics concern the moral aspects (values and standards) of the actions of the individual soldier; corporate ethics concern the moral aspects (values and standards) which play a part in the activities undertaken by the armed forces, or the RNLA, as an organisation. This difference between corporate and
The Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) is a repeating plan of procedures used to understand the situation and mission, develop a course of action, and produce an operation plan or order. The MDMP integrates the intangible and comprehensive aspects of planning and integrates the activities of the commander, staff, subordinate headquarters, and other partner involved in the planning process. We need the MDMP because it allows the leader to apply thoroughness, clarity, sound judgment, logic, and professional knowledge to understand conditions, develop choices to solve problems, and obtain results. The MDMP aids in the collaboration and planning with the higher headquarters. The higher headquarters gather and shares information concerning future operations with subordinate and neighboring units, supporting units, and unified action partners. They plan meetings, issues warning orders or use other means. The MDMP consists of 7 steps that have numerous inputs and outputs. The outputs can lead to an increasing understanding of the situation. The commanders and the staffs perform these steps consecutively. They may revisit several steps as they learn more about the situation before constructing a plan or order. The 7 steps of the MDMP are receipt of mission, mission analysis, course of action development, course of action analysis, course of action comparison, course of action approval, and orders production.
Purpose: To make an effective decision, it is vital to follow the basic groundwork in the ethical decision making process. It is a nine step process that will yield better results, when making choices. Many organizations adopt the ethical decision making process to prevent decisions that are influenced by emotions, and one’s personal gain. The NCAA is an organization that utilizes the ethical decision making process to accommodate athletes, personnel, and universities.
According to Hartman (2014), people can make ethical decisions by an ethical decision making process. The ethical decision making process consists of seven steps that guide people make an ethical decision. First, people need to know and understand the facts of the situation to eliminate the assumption and opinion because the facts could help people to resolve ethical issues from the gecko and forges the path to make a sound decision. Also, the facts could explain many ethical conflicts between people, which would enable people to resolve their perceptual difference with the facts (pg. 47 ~ 48).
Change maker…the ones who can see the improvements that can be made in a positive way for the betterment of all. The leaders, the role models, the inspirations. Everyone is an ethical change maker. You could be a housewife, office worker, doctor, teacher the list goes on. There are many ways that one becomes a change maker. A Change maker is anyone who follows through with making a difference in society, no matter how small that difference may be. Transforming humanity on the global level is often the doing of a Change maker, but it all starts with small changes made by just one individual. A Change maker can be anyone and everyone who wants to impact those around them for the better. Any type of influence can constitute a change, whether it
Professional ethical theory and practice become the distance from one to another that explore new modes for business, as for other professions. The conventional approaches of professional ethics are concerned with telling people how they ought to behave. These questions include what is one’s moral obligation? What ought we to do? What is our duty? What is the ultimate principle of moral right and wrong? (Blackburn & McGhee, 2004). Business is a complex corporations operate between manufacturers and consumers, employers and employees, managers and stockholder (Hoffman, Frederick, & Schwartz, 2014).
Like people, corporations also have their own set of ethics. So corporations have a set of rules, a code of ethics and
Decision making is identifying the problem, analyzing the problem, find solutions for the problem and decide the solution for the problem. This is the army definition of Decision making. “Decision making is knowing if to decide, then when and what to decide. It includes understanding the consequence of decisions.”(FM101-5) The military decision-making process (MDMP) is “An iterative planning methodology to understand the situation and mission, develop a course of action, and produce an operation plan or order.” (ADP5-0)
Nurses often encountered various ethical dilemmas in the practice setting. Both virtue ethics and caring ethics support good ethical decision making for nurses (Park, 2012, p. 149) but these are inadequate to assist in solving an ethical dilemma (Park, 2012, p. 149). For that reason an ethical decision making tool is helpful for the nurses or clinicians to come up with an ethical decision (Kelly, 2012, p. 571) that allows them to gather information, identify any gap of understanding on the issue or the disagreements between the involved parties through a clear communication (Park, 2012, p. 140). Several authors presented an ethical decision making processes (Park, 2012, p. 141), here presented the two processes that can be applied in resolving an ethical dilemma. One example of ethical decision making process is the DECIDE model by Thompson, Melia & Boyd (Allen, Chapman, Francis, & O’Connor, 2008, p. 5) and the Integrated ethical decision-making model which was derived from the combination of the different ethical decision-making models strengths (Park, 2012, p. 140). These two ethical decision-making model steps are identical to each but differ on the detailed instruction on how the steps are to be done or used in actual case. By comparing the two models the integrated ethical decision-making model have a detailed instruction. The
Corporate ethics, is an application of moral principles, behaviors, and values to conduct activities to accomplish business objectives and the common good toward stakeholders, stockholders, and the broader society. Modern business is focused in making profit for its shareholders and a leader or a group of leaders come together to make corporate decisions to achieve it. Corporate ethics depends upon the personal ethics of those who are in authority and also the employees working in that corporate environment. There are possibilities that the decisions are taken with personal benefit in mind, what they think is the right course of action, and lack of transparency. Ethical dilemmas are common place in today's corporate world due to cutthroat completion and ethical leadership must apply ethical analysis process to make fair and just decisions. Every day, decisions are made to launch products, make sales, support customers and improve organizational processes, so leaders must show self-restraint to achieve the stated objective.
Business values and ethics differ with every company. They are formed by the behaviors and good ethics that is required in a professional environment.
Everyone at one time or another will encounter an ethical or moral obligation in his or her life. While business ethics can be debatable, it is defined as a general perception in a “utilitarian” approach of common good for most people such as guidelines and rules that when faced with an ethical dilemma they can assist in making a good choice concerning moral obligation, character, responsibility, and social justice. (Prasad.) It could be something small as catching someone stealing from the company or even on a larger scale of hiding dangerous side effects to a new drug. When the situation takes place in a professional setting, people should act in a manner that would express the good of the company. There are many instances when ethical and moral behavior is not expressed throughout a company. The reason may be that some individuals might not understand what ethics are exactly and what it truly means to act in a proper way. In order to be ethical, one also must determine what course of action would
The definition of professional ethics is a group of values and principles that directs the behaviour of a professional or an organisation in relation to what is right and what is wrong. There are many general aspects regarding professional ethics such as, honesty, accountability, respectfulness, loyalty, confidentiality and obedience to the law. Corporate social responsibility is a form of social ethics. The definition of this responsibility is that it is management’s duty to ‘make choices and take actions that will contribute to the welfare and interests of society as well as the organisation’ (Samson and Daft, 2015, pp. 176). When it comes to a manager’s capability to make these ethical choices, there are a variety of factors that can influence this. This is due to the range of personality traits that individuals bring to their professions. The factors that make an influence on their moral decision-making are, religious backgrounds, family up bringing and their personal values and beliefs.
In business world it has become too easy to let small infractions slide by until they become big problems (Templeton,2010).Ethics have become the core values that guide the managers, stakeholders and employees how to behave in an ethical way and the values promote exemplary behaviour in all circumstances (Pilenko,p.4,2011).Reputation is a priceless asset that most
Ethics is defined as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and doing so with moral duty and obligation. The corporate perception of ethics often varies from the definition of the term which can cause an abundance of issues in the workplace. Interpretations range from what a person’s feelings say are right or wrong, religious beliefs, law requirements, or just what is acceptable to society morals. Despite the varying translations of business ethics one thing that is undeniable is the huge positive or negative affect it has on a company’s success. It is evident that people are influenced by those around them; celebrities, politics, peers, and superiors are just a few examples to claim. The ethical practices of managers and co-workers are influential to the employees who work for and with them and should demonstrate the conduct which the company would like to be known for in the public eye because of the potential gains and competitive benefit of morally sound employees who are dedicated to the code of ethics their business enforces and promotes.
Business ethics administers the conduct that relate to what is right and what is not. They refer to moral standards that guide the way a business conducts its activities (Casestudies, 2015). The same rule that determines a person’s activities also applies to business. Acting in a moral way includes recognizing right and wrong actions and after that making the morally right decision. People often view ethics as a set of principles that they should all follow and in the business environment, the principle does apply. This concept of a set of principles that all individuals should follow relates to the Kantian moral idea. The basis for the ethical worth of an activity is the determination of whether it follows a universal principle that