Monday, December 7, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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.
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