Organisations who have a ‘code of conduct’ have very clear ideas about their organisational values, morals, beliefs and stances on select issues. But surely many situations can actually be ethical dilemmas for some of the individuals involved?
eg: a needy/favorite client wants your personal contact number but your organisation has strict professional limitations forbidding that practice.
How often is it that we get to ‘climb inside’ these decisions and ‘unpack’ their ramifications?
4 Comments
Charlie said
Hi Bek,
Yes, despite the existence of clear organisational codes of conduct the reality is that from an ethical stance almost all situations contain, or are, ethical dilemmas. By that I mean that different ethical imperatives (justice, equality, autonomy, compassion, beneficence, fidelity…..) are in tension with one another - and sometimes in conflict.
In situations such as that above it is important to ‘boil it down’ to the ethical underpinnings. A quick reading of this situation might see the person being asked to give their personal mobile phone number as torn between beneficence (i.e. to do good), autonomy and fidelity (i.e. to respect agreements made such as abiding by the code of conduct).
This kind of focus on matters ethical might seem rather complex or confusing even, but really how often do we have the opportunity to climb inside ethical situations, attitudes and consequences? Almost never…
Making ethical decision-making explicit can lead to clarity and confidence especially in situations that are stressful, emotionally loaded and so on…
Cheers, Charlie
bek said
Thanks Charlie, so how does one go about doing that, say in an organisational setting?
My observance is that all individuals involved have opinions, it can all be very emotive at times and very often no-one necessarily has the facilitator abilities or knowledge to contain that ‘energy’. Could it not go pear-shaped very quickly?
Charlie said
Hi Bek,
Yes, you are right there is a lot of energy and emotion invested in our ethical selves. We generally hold our ethical values very dear, despite quite probably never having had any real opportunity to deeply focus upon them, nor to learn tools, perspectives, or frameworks to guide them.
As you know I have worked as a facilitator of, and lecturer in, the study of ethics for some years now. So again, yes, occasionally there can be awkwardness and confrontation involved in this kind of work but almost invariably the people I have worked with come back later recounting experiences where their training has really helped them in life their professional/personal lives.
I am now in a position to offer this training to organisations and businesses (here in Australia). I am in the process of setting up 4 hour pilot sessions as a form of market research. I can be contacted at cwsbrennan@gmail.com for further details.
Cheers, Charlie
PS Bek, where does the expression ‘pear-shaped’ come from?
bek said
mmm pertaining to a voice apparently it means ‘rich and sonorous’…
in this instance more likely to mean ‘going horribly wrong’-
also apparently Maggie Thatcher used it chatting to Ronald at some press conference confounding the American press…
an aussie-pommie thing - I belief originating with our flyboys when performing distorted aerial manoeuvres..??
I’m sure there’s an ethical dilemma there somewhere