Ethical Self Reflection
Running Head: Ethical Self Reflection
Ethical Self Reflection
By
Masters in Organizational Leadership
Abstract
In many cases, a person must choose between two or more “rights” that may or may not align with both one’s moral and ethical standards. The care-based, rule-based, ends-based thinking to arrive at a decision rather than rationalizing after the fact are necessary for analyzing ethical dilemmas (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2012, pp. 164-165). The self-reflection needed to identify one’s fundamental nature, and to understand the morals, ethics and values one uses to make decisions are critical to becoming an authentic leader who is a moral manager that serves the people that follow him or her (Hughes, et.al, pp. 152-153).
Ethical Self Reflection
What is right? Morals define personal character related to the ideas of both right and wrong. Ethics, while inherently linked to morals and one’s moral obligations, is a set of moral principles used in a social system in which those morals are applied. In other words, ethics point to standards or codes of behavior expected by the group to which the individual belongs. These standards could be national ethics, social ethics, company ethics, professional ethics, or even family ethics. So while a person’s moral code is usually unchanging, the ethics he or she practices can be dependent on exogenous factors not controlled by the individual or the group to which the individual belongs.
Care-based thinking describes what is commonly referred to as the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you want others to do to you”, of conduct and is most closely aligned with Aristotle’s writings concerning happiness. Aristotle writes in Nichomachean Ethics that, “If happiness is activity in accordance with virtue, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest virtue; and this will be that of the best thing in us” (Aristotle, 1992, p. 7). Thus the idea of ethics does not begin with the morals of either right or wrong,
Ethical Self Reflection
By
Masters in Organizational Leadership
Abstract
In many cases, a person must choose between two or more “rights” that may or may not align with both one’s moral and ethical standards. The care-based, rule-based, ends-based thinking to arrive at a decision rather than rationalizing after the fact are necessary for analyzing ethical dilemmas (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2012, pp. 164-165). The self-reflection needed to identify one’s fundamental nature, and to understand the morals, ethics and values one uses to make decisions are critical to becoming an authentic leader who is a moral manager that serves the people that follow him or her (Hughes, et.al, pp. 152-153).
Ethical Self Reflection
What is right? Morals define personal character related to the ideas of both right and wrong. Ethics, while inherently linked to morals and one’s moral obligations, is a set of moral principles used in a social system in which those morals are applied. In other words, ethics point to standards or codes of behavior expected by the group to which the individual belongs. These standards could be national ethics, social ethics, company ethics, professional ethics, or even family ethics. So while a person’s moral code is usually unchanging, the ethics he or she practices can be dependent on exogenous factors not controlled by the individual or the group to which the individual belongs.
Care-based thinking describes what is commonly referred to as the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you want others to do to you”, of conduct and is most closely aligned with Aristotle’s writings concerning happiness. Aristotle writes in Nichomachean Ethics that, “If happiness is activity in accordance with virtue, it is reasonable that it should be in accordance with the highest virtue; and this will be that of the best thing in us” (Aristotle, 1992, p. 7). Thus the idea of ethics does not begin with the morals of either right or wrong,
References: Aristotle. (1992, January 3). Nichomachean Ethics. The Internet Classics Archive, X. (D. C. Stevenson, Ed., & W. D. Ross, Trans.) Cambridge, MA, United States. Retrieved from http://classics.mit.edu//Aristotle/nicomachaen.html Brennan, J. G. (1992). Foundations of Moral Obligation; The Stockdale Course. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press. Covey, S. (2006). The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything. New York, NY: Free Press. Heinlein, R. A. (1953). Assignment in Eternity. NY, New York: Baen Publishing Enterprises. Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2012). Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Mill, J. S. (1863). Utilitarianism. London, England: Parker, Son and Bourne. Retrieved from https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=lyUCAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-lyUCAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1 Wakin, M. M. (1976). The Ethics of Leadership. American Behavioral Scientist (Pre-1986), 19(5), 567-588. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/194626859?accountid=12871