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8 Steps for Ethical decision making

Step One: Gather the Facts
The philosophical approaches dont tell us explicitly to gather the facts. But they seem to assume that well complete this
important step. You might be surprised at how many people jump to solutions without having the facts. Ask yourself, How
did the situation occur? Are there historical facts that I should know? Are there facts concerning the current situation that I
should know?
Fact gathering is often easier said than done. Many ethical choices are particularly difficult because of the uncertainty
involved in them. Facts may simply be unavailable. you should attempt to assemble the facts that are available to you before
proceeding.

Step Two: Define the Ethical Issues

Many of us have knee-jerk responses to ethical dilemmas. We jump to a solution without really thinking through
the ethical issues and the reasons for our response Dont jump to solutions without first identifying the ethical issues or
points of values conflict in the dilemma. There are generally multiple ethical issues that go back to the deontological, or
principle-based, theories. At a more personal level, there are the ethical issues related to principles such as honesty, loyalty,
and promise keeping. Is it more important to be honest with a friend or to keep a promise to ones boss? Who is owed more
loyalty? Think about the situation from a justice or fairness perspective.
Points of ethical conflict may go back to the conflict between consequentialist and deontological approaches. For example, if
I tell the truth (consistent with the principle of promise keeping), bad things will happen (negative consequences). A
consequentialist would think about the ethical issues in terms of harms or benefits. Who is likely to be harmed? Who is
likely to benefit from a particular decision or action? A virtue ethics approach would suggest thinking about the ethical issues
in terms of community standards. Does your relevant community identify a particular action as wrong? Why or why not?

Step Three: Identify the Affected Parties (the Stakeholders)

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Both consequentialist and deontological thinking involve the ability to identify the parties affected by the decision. The
consequentialist will want to identify all those stakeholders who are going to experience harm and benefits. The deontologist
might want to know whose rights are involved and who has a duty to act in the situation.

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Being able to see the situation through others eyes is a key moral reasoning skill. Lawrence Kohlberg, developer of a key
theory of moral reasoning, called this skill role taking. Frequently, you have to think beyond the facts provided in a case in
order to identify all affected parties. It often helps to begin with the individuals in the case who are immediately affected and
then to progressively broaden your thinking to incorporate larger groups.
Once stakeholders are identified, role-playing can help you to see the issue from different stakeholder perspectives. In your
classroom or your department, get individuals to seriously play the relevant roles. This step incorporates the Golden Rule:
Treat others as you would like others to treat you. Imagine yourself as each of the players in a decision situation. What
decision would they reach and why?
Another consideration may be to ask whether you can test a potential decision with affected parties before your prospective
course of action is made final. The objective is to gauge how various audiences will react and to be able to adjust or finetune a decision along the way. One question you could ask yourself is, how would this or that stakeholder react if this
decision were made public?

Step Four: Identify the Consequences

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After identifying the affected parties, think about the potential consequences for each of these parties. This step is obviously
derived from the consequentialist approaches. It isnt necessary to identify every possible consequence. But you should try to
identify consequences that have a relatively high probability of occurring and those that would have particularly negative
consequences if they did occur (even if the probability of occurrence is low). Who would be harmed by a particular decision
or action? Can you determine which solution would accomplish the most net good? A popular version of utilitarianism asks
the question, Which decision or action will produce the greatest good for the greatest number of people? Would telling a lie
to your friend benefit the most people? Or would it be better for all affected parties if you were to tell the truth?
LONG-TERM VERSUS SHORT-TERM CONSEQUENCES In ethical decisions, its particularly important to think in terms of
short-term and long-term consequences. Are you confident that your position will be as valid over a long period of time, even
if circumstances or people change?
SYMBOLIC CONSEQUENCES Its also extremely important to think about the potential symbolic consequences of an action.
Every decision and action sends a message; it stands for something. What message will a particular decision or action
send? What will it mean if it is misunderstood?
CONSEQUENCES OF SECRECY If a decision is made in private in order to avoid some negative reaction, think about the
potential consequences if the decision were to become public.

Step Five: Identify the Obligations

Identify the obligations involved and the reasons for each. The obligations you identify will vary depending on the
people involved and the roles they play. For example, our faith in our financial system depends in part on auditors
obligation to tell the truth about a companys financial difficulties. Similarly, our faith in science as an institution
depends on the integrity of the scientific data and how scientists report it. The auditor and the scientist have a
particularly strong obligation to tell the truth.

Step Six: Consider Your Character and Integrity

In thinking about what you should do in an ethical dilemma, it can be useful to consider what your relevant community would
consider to be the kind of decision that an individual of integrity would make in the situation. Begin by identifying the relevant
professional or societal community. Then, determine how community members would evaluate the decision or action youre
considering.
Remember the disclosure rule. It asks whether you would feel comfortable if your activities were disclosed in the light of day
in a public forum like the newspaers or some other medium. If you would be uncomfortable telling your parents, children,
spouse, clergy, or ethical role model about your decision, you should rethink it.
This kind of approach can be especially valuable when a decision needs to be made quickly. Suppose someone in your
organization asks you to misrepresent the effectiveness of one of your companys products to a customer. You can
immediately imagine how a story reporting the details of your conversation with the customer would appear in tomorrows
paper. Would you be comfortable having others read the details of that conversation? The ideal is to conduct business in
such a way that your activities and conversations could be disclosed without your feeling embarrassed.

Step Seven: Think Creatively about Potential Actions

Before making any decision, be sure that you havent unnecessarily forced yourself into a corner. Are you assuming that you
have only two choices, either a or b? Its important to look for creative alternatives. Perhaps if youve been focusing on a
or b, theres another answer c. For example, what if you received an extravagant gift from a foreign supplier. This situation
could easily be conceptualized as an a or b quandary. Should you accept the gift (which is against company policy), or
should you refuse it (which could be interpreted as a slap in the face by this important supplier from a culture where gift
giving is a valued part of business relationships)? A potential c solution might be to accept the item as a gift to the company
that would be displayed in the headquarters entrance, explaining that large personal gifts are against company policy.
Obviously, you would have to check with your company about the acceptability of this c solution. But the idea is to think
outside the box.

Step Eight: Check Your Gut

The emphasis in these steps has been on a highly rational fact-gathering and evaluation process once you know that youre
faced with an ethical dilemma. But dont forget your gut. Remember that we are all hardwired to be empathetic and to desire
fairness. Empathy is an important emotion that can signal awareness that someone might be harmed. And intuition is
gaining credibility as a source for good business decision making. We cant always say exactly why were uncomfortable in a
situation. But years of socialization have likely made us sensitive to situations where something just doesnt feel quite right.
So if your gut is sending up red flags, give the situation more thought. In fact, this may be your only clue that youre facing
an ethical dilemma to begin with. Pay attention to your gut, but dont let it make your decision for you. Once you know youre
facing an ethical dilemma, use the rational decision-making tools developed here to help guide your decision making.

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Comments
# Ravi Shankar

2013-06-30 07:55

VERY HELPFUL ARTICLE

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# Tiru

2013-07-05 23:34

How to search the previous articles?

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