Making Informed Ethical Decisions

The issue of ethical decision making has become more important in recent years for a variety of reasons. An understanding of ethical decision making in organizations is more significant to the development of organizational science. Managers engage in decision-making behavior affecting the lives and well-being of others. The individual responds to an ethical dilemma with cognitions determined by his or her cognitive moral development stage.

It is important to understand that ethics is not equal to personal emotions. Therefore, ethical decision making should be void of personal feelings. Moreover, an ethical action is that which protects and respect the moral perspectives of those affected. Indeed, ethical approaches help to determine the standards of behavior that constitute a common good for the human

Professionals in all fields experience ethical problems especially in health care. In fact, ethical issues arise in government, industry, science, and academia (Steneck, 2004). Ethical issues can be see in every decision making process which often involves competing goals and motives (Werhane, 2002) Ethical decision making (EDM) requires a number of complex cognitive processes in which people must assess the effectiveness of alternative courses of action in the context of their understanding of the problem and the relevant rules and guidelines involved (Miner & Petocz, 2003). Occupational therapists (OT) have increased autonomy to meet the clients and provide unrestricted practice in today's healthcare

In the late 1990’s Officers Caruso and Rigg became whistleblowers regarding the activities that were occurring in Corcoran Prison. Conditions in the maximum security prison were detrimental to the safety of the prisoners that were incarcerated due to practices of forced integration among rival gang members and guard sanctioned fights between inmates. These unsafe conditions lead to the shooting death of an inmate. Caruso and Rigg stated many of the prison’s policies and practices contributed to the death of the inmate, including unclear rules regarding use of force, unethical behavior of guards and the covering up of the level of violence present at Corcoran, and failure of the prison administration to effectively make changes necessary to reduce the Violence and assure that the rights of the prisoners were respected (Dryburgh, 2009).

Ethical decision making is defined as a complex process used by healthcare professionals to resolve ethical dilemmas. It depends and involves different factors such as ethical morals, values, beliefs, personal experiences and as well as legal matters. Ethical decision making also involves ethical judgement, sensitivity and choice. In decision making the process need to be logical to guide and support the healthcare professionals. In healthcare setting all the healthcare providers do have an ethical responsibility to respect cultural differences and professional ethics is been inbuilt to the entire healthcare provider. Healthcare providers are required to have the knowledge on ethical principles and rule that direct their practice example code

Values are discussed when we look at ethical issues mainly because ethical decisions will be based on the different values people share. Ethics are unlike mathematics and sciences because they are based on subjective opinions rather than objective facts. All opinions are formed from environments and experiences that build a person’s character. Since these experiences will be different, a person’s values will be different as well. Therefore, it is important to discuss values in order to understand the controversies that rise over ethical issues.

Factors influencing ethical decision-making. In the field of counseling psychology, there has been much research invested into decision-making regarding ethics. As described below, these factors include past experiences of the professional, cognitive biases and beliefs, perception of involvement and commitment, individual differences, and personal values Dietrich (2010). These factors influence the decision making process and the outcomes.

Ethical and moral decisions are a big part of being a successful healthcare worker. Being in the healthcare career cluster means making decisions that you may not necessarily agree with or that others may not agree with, however it is the best decision for the patient. In this paper, the use of ethical and moral decisions are outlined as I make the decision to grant one of three varying patient's 10,000 dollars for health care.

Albert Borgamann (2006) states that, “the moral landmarks that the modern theories of ethics have discovered and the traditional virtues that set norms for practices of excellence work well in telling us how to treat one another and how to conduct ourselves (p. 10). A person’s core ethical framework is individual yet is guided by upbringing and often is based on what Borgamann (2006) considers “a system that appears to exhibit a fine division of moral labor between laws and ethics (p.25).

Predication: On, 12/22/16, Point Of Contact(POC) Asset Protection Manager(APM) Rosie Fasano was contacted by Asset Protection Partner (APP) Domick Wolszyn who discovered that on 12/4/16 Service Clerk Associate(SCA) Jasmine De Jesus was ringing Assistant Store Manager Trainee (ASMT) Shaela Rodriguez. During the transaction, CSA Jeus voided two items that were passed to ASMT Rodriguez and consumed.

The first step of the Ethical Decision-Making Procedure is stated as, “1.0 Become Aware of Dilemma” (McNamara). According to the given case scenario, the dilemma is clearly stated. It reads that the client (mother) does not believe in rewards or support the use of them for her son. The mother is going against what the BCBA believes in and stands for, thus causing a direct dilemma. Removing reinforcers is not feasible for the professional BCBA, and this must be properly addressed with the client. Situations like these are where the Ethical Compliance Code comes into place for the sake of the clients and professionals involved.

Understanding ethical behavior from a process standpoint can enhance individual’s ability to recognize and respond accordingly to ethical dilemmas. A model developed by psychologist James Rest consists of four components of ethical behavior. The four components in this model are: moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral motivation, and moral character (Johnson, 2016). This paper will provide a brief overview of each component and how it can affect an individual’s decision making method. Also discussed will be practices which can be employed to improve skills in each separate component.

According to Hartman, Desjardins & MacDonald (2014), there are various types of stumbling blocks that blurs one’s intellectual and cognitive abilities related to making a responsible ethical decision. The first possible barrier is ignorance because a person tries to rationalize his decision deliberately and voluntarily regardless of facts and available alternative. The person intentionally ignores a decision that possibly benefits the stakeholders as well as the decision maker. Additionally, ignorance could lead the decision maker to make a rash decision without considering other possible alternatives and how his decision would affect others.

A question that comes up often about research or plans are the ethics of obtaining such research or plans. Though what is meant when people discuss the ethics of research. Ethics is a series of principles that help guide more human moral behavior. So in short when ethics is discussed about research it is talking about the moral and human decision making when doing research. Though how do we question if something is ethical or not? This question is answered by the six principles of ethics, Respect for Autonomy, Nonmaleficence, Beneficence, Justice, Fidelity and Veracity. Following these six principles gives a more concrete definition on what being ethical means.

Ethics is a subject that deals with people’s thoughts and actions, and whether or not these thoughts and actions are considered good or bad. The head represents the Way of Knowledge that is reason, while the heart represents the Way of Knowledge that is emotion. Many factors influence ethical thinking, and the use of reason and emotions are two of these factors that I am going to discuss. Many ethical decisions rely on logical thinking rather than emotional thinking, which is what I am going to establish in the following paragraphs. Logical thinking is more reliable than emotional thinking when dealing with ethics because it does not take into account any personal bias towards a situation. I will consider only these two specific Ways of Knowledge when evaluating whether or not ethics is more a matter of the head or the heart.