I feel a bit melancholy to be addressing my last blog for my Bellevue course, “Ethics and Decision Making”. It has been an interesting and inviting course and I have learned a great deal. Completing the assignments in the course and “chatting” with my fellow classmates has taught me that there are different levels of ethical conduct. Is stealing unethical? Is taking a loaf of bread from the store to feed your starving child unethical? Is stealing $200,000.00 from an employee retirement fund to buy a new Mercedes unethical? Are they equal?


Bounded awareness is a new concept to me. Understanding the preconceived notions that affect how people come to a decision or rule on an ethical concept was fascinating. Of course, I find any communication strategies fascinating though unfortunately everyone else hasn’t read the book so they don’t necessary follow the same rules.

Delving into the Enron fiasco was especially interesting to me. While I heard about it on TV and read articles about it, it wasn’t until this class that I had a full grasp of the deep level of corruption, unethical conduct and narcissism involved by those that toppled a giant in the industry. By the same token, I was surprised that the space Challenger disaster didn’t get more attention on grounds of ethics and decision making. Was it ethical to try to avoid acknowledging the problem by asking if the seal will work instead of asking if the seal would fail? In the case of Challenger disaster, a commission study found that NASA’s decision making process “contributed” to the accident. Managers knew of the design flaw and they disregarded warnings by an engineer. This decision making process, or failure to make ethical decisions, resulted in the torturous death of seven crew members while their families watched. Is this measureable to damage by Enron? Can there be a comparison?

Finally – the question: Can ethics be taught? My answer is “no”. Ethics is an on-going education developed over childhood and adolescence. By the time an adult is going to school to learn “Ethical Managerial Decision Making”, the base of that person’s ethics is set. The only thing that further ethical education will do is make them aware of tools to defend their ethics or understand the next guy’s lack of ethics. Personal ethics in management cannot be taught. It can only be expanded.

Emotions in Decisions

Dealing with human emotions in business is an interesting and intriguing task. In my recent readings of “Judgment in Managerial Decision Making” by Max H. Bazerman and Don Moore, I have several “ah-ha” moments. I am fascinated by all the things to consider to make an objective and rationale decision. I am also fascinated by how many factors I need to consider when I am observing the behavior of others and the factors affecting them.


The motivational and emotional influences affecting decision making are very important to understand and comprehend when playing a management or leadership role. There are many times I have to override my impulse to do something and instead replace it with the action I know is right. In other words, doing the right thing, not doing the compelling thing. The conflict between what I want and what I know is right. That is the two individuals referenced in the book on page 85 and known as “multiple selves”. Does overriding my desires in this case keep me just one step from identifying with the alcoholic or drug addict? Immediate awards or delayed rewards? The “should” self is much safe but the “want” self can be oh so much more gratifying.

The book questions the effect of “positive illusions” as well. I like to see a person with a positive self image. Even those that may not have the skills to accomplish the task may have the confidence to give it a try and thereby, pull it off. I would rather see a failed attempt than no attempt at all.

More interesting, and perhaps more dangerous, is “self-serving reasoning”. I am not very patient with self deception in others. The science of learning to look at a situation objectively and without self interest is perhaps one of the strongest traits an individual can possess. Teaching it can take an entire semester alone. This self interest perspective has caused me many a long meeting without resolution. Biases can affect self interest as well. I would like to think I can avoid bias when I make a decision, but chances are that would be “self-serving” reasoning.

Do emotions affect reasoning? Absolutely. Can emotions influence judgment? Positively. The important thing to learn is to loop back to the beginning of this post and remember to think of what you “should” do, not what you “want” to do. If you can’t do that, get some sleep and tackle it in the morning

Ethics is a lost art

As I wrap up my reading of “The Seven Layers of Integrity” (Jones & Ferrill, 2006), I reflect back on comments regarding the prosecution of ethical violations as well as the author’s statement that ethics and integrity can be trained into management.


I do believe that more ethics courses should be required for business and management degrees. I also firmly believe in the requirement of mandatory courses in ethics as part of the continuing education policy for renewal of licenses. However, I don’t know if ethics is a concept that can be “taught” to an individual that doesn’t already possess the basic integrity to follow ethical standards.

Ethics classes can help clarify the path of best practice in a license holder. It can answer case study questions and give the attendee clarification of his actions that would be ethical and safe to avoid problems in the future. But, in doing so, is the attendee more concerned with ethical behavior or self preservation? Does one act ethically because they want to take the high road or do they take a safe path of ethical conduct to avoid getting in trouble? Would they take the same path if they were certain there would be no retribution for their actions?

I think that the average person would not act in a manner considered “ethical” if the alternative was a more satisfying personal gain. Very few men possess true “ethical” behavior. What they do possess in the intelligence to choose a path that is acceptable to those around them. Very few men are truly ethical for the sake of inner peace. Men such as Mahatma Gandhi are the exception to mankind, not the rule.

I believe that if ethics is going to be taught with the expectation the student will voluntarily choose ethical behavior in the future, it will be imperative to begin in childhood and create ethical behavior as a daily trait. By the time an adult enters college, personal agendas are set and ethical choices will be mandated by personal need. The days of June and Ward Cleaver have passed.

Contemplating Ethics and Integrity

This blog post looks at my enrollment in Bellevue’s “Ethics and Decision Making” MMC 640. Ethics is described as, “the study of moral standards and how they affect conduct. (Encarta.msn.com). Integrity is defined as, “the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards”. (Encarta.msn.com).


Can one have ethics and not have integrity?

I expected this course to be idealistic. It looks at the ethics of decision making. I didn’t expect it to take a realistic look at the ability to teach or guide ethical behavior. While it is easy to look at the Discovery shuttle seal disaster or the Enron fiasco, it is another matter to realistically set out ways to measure and guide ethical behavior.

I believe that reviewing previous famous cases on “ethics go wrong” make for interesting posts, but I and skeptical that ethics in business decision making can really be molded or guided because of a university course. While I want to make the best ethical decision possible, and my integrity will cause me to draw the line in the sand and walk away rather than behave outside my own measurement of ethical norms, I believe that it is the specific company culture that will dictate the final decision of what is ethical behavior.

It is most interesting that the majority of our society believes themselves to be ethical. However, when polled, the readily admit to unethical behavior.

Writing a paper on ethics in business and the property measurement for integrity will be interesting and enjoyable for me. Making a commercial about ethical decisions, as required in this class, will be a struggle for me. I am confident however that when it is all over, I will have a better understanding of how to apply my own ethical standard to business decisions and have the tools to guide others in accepting and following my decisions. In the field of politics and law, that will be no small feat.

The Beginning

My name is Kandace and I live in New River, Arizona with three horses, 5 dogs a cat, my husband and my 15 year old daughter. This blog page is part of my MMC 620 "Ethics and Decision Making" course at Bellevue University. I am looking forward to a fun and educational course.