While reading “Principles of Management” , I learned all about decisions. The text describes decisions as a key part of management. It mentions how one decision in an organization can start a chain reaction. It’s key to understand that decisions need to be made ethically as they affect so many people. 

This text reminds me of myself when I often make decisions quickly without thinking carefully. I have made many mistakes from not thinking about the effects of decisions on others. I realized that the main issue was I didn’t look at all the options present. Realizing that I make decisions based on emotions is critical to changing my ways in the future. 

I have worked with many decision making models for organizations in my other classes. For example, the most common one I remember is the ProACT model. I feel like models like this help my decision making process within an organization. It helps me gather all information and properly define my problem from the start. I am able to look at all options rather than picking one immediately. 

In the world, we see so many different businesses get into large scandals because they didn’t make decisions properly. This costs them their reputation and, ultimately, sometimes their whole business. This shows just how costly making improper decisions is to an organization. Leaders who make these poor decisions could use models in the future to change the way they look at problems. Publisher. (2015).

Principles of management. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing edition, 2015. This edition adapted from a work originally produced in 2010 by a publisher who has requested that it not receive attribution. https://doi.org/10.24926/8668.1801

While reading “Ethical Decision making by Individuals in Organizations” by Thomas Jones, I learned that Jones believes the ethical issue itself is missing from most models for ethical decision making in organizations. Essentially, this means that the moral intense the ethical issue is, the more a person acts ethically. He introduces the idea of moral intensity which states that all situations sit on different levels. They vary from each situation and have about six different factors. Jones believes that moral intensity affects all different stages of ethical decision-making models.  

This article reminds me of my own experiences because I tend to weigh my decisions based on how intense I feel the situation is. Smaller ethical situations can take longer for me to notice than big and immediate ones. The intensity of the big ones makes it feel more urgent to react to. It also makes me feel like the impact will be bigger so I should weigh my decision more carefully. 

I believe a good example of this is climate change. I feel like this issue has been ignored for a long time and still is. This is because the effects of decisions related to this issue seem to be so far away. Thinking this way results in a worse outcome overall. 

Recently, I read an article for another class about the effect of smaller decisions. It mentioned how they are overlooked especially and businesses and can result in major loss. This article showed me the importance of thinking of the smaller choices which relate to moral intensity as well.   

Jones, Thomas M. Ethical Decision Making by Individuals in Organizations: An Issue-Contingent Model. Academy of Management Review, vol. 16, no. 2, 1991, pp. 366–395. “The more intense the moral issue, the more likely it is that decision makers will perceive its presence and respond with moral behavior” (p. 372).

While reading “Playing Favorites? Hospital Boards, Donors Get COVID Shots”, I learned that many hospitals recieved backlash from giving employees and board members the vaccine first.  In Seattle, one hospital gave a donor the vaccine before others and the hospital released an apology. This looked really bad as he was giving the hospital a good amount of money. This happened inmany other instances where people were given the special treatment of vaccines before others. 

In doing my research for Mini- Analysis 4, I saw the effects of a lack on integrity on the publics trust. These articles I read reflect what I learned from this one. I research financial institutions who have the reputation of being unethical. These traits are similar to the ones I see here as companies such as the Seattle hospital put their wellbeing over the right thing to do. 

During the pandemic, I remember how everyone was frantic. Certain groups of people needed vaccines more than others for health reasons. My mom was a teacher and had to get a vaccine in order to continue teaching. This was further down the line and not iidiately in the beginning as that woudlve been unfair to those who needed it. 

I see evidence of unethical issues like this frequently in society. When watching the news, I hear all kinds of stories about how people with money gain more advantages than those without. This also applies to people with power in general. 

Guth, W. D., & Tagiuri, R. (1965). Personal values and corporate strategy. Harvard Business Review, 43(5), 123–132. https://hbr.org/1965/09/personal-values-and-corporate-strategy

While reading “LuLaRoe was more than a scam, a Washington State lawsuit claims”, I found that the company LuLaRoe was pyramid scheme. This company would strick customers into buying many clothing pieces in bulk which they could sell separately. The leftovers were supposed to get refunded, yet they didn’t leaving many in financial problems. There were many other suspicious acts by the company. 

This article was intriguing to me because I knew people who sold LuLaRoe. My mom had many friends who decided to partake in this practice that my mom would buy from. I owned so many of these clothes. My mom’s friend would buy these clothes in big shipments and then set up a whole room in their house where they could act like it was their store. I think this is part of the fascination with the company. Before reading this article, I had no idea they had unethical business practices. 

This reminds me of the other article we read about scooters. This was also a pyramid scheme who faced the same unethical practices leading many to financial issues. In both of these articles, nobody believed it to be a scam at first. This scam seemed to be at a smaller scale though than the scooter one. 

This article makes me realize how many companies are pyramid schemes that I might never know about. There are so many ways that people can be tricked into losing money. It’s hard to know what might be the real deal. 

Jones, Charisse. “Lularoe Was Little More than a Scam, a Washington State Lawsuit Claims.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 29 Jan. 2019, www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/28/lularoe-pyramid-scheme-duped-consumers-washington-suit-says/2700412002/.

While reading “Ethical Role of a Manager”, I learned the impact of managerial decsions on the evniroment and the people itself. The article mentioned ethical desicion making frameworks and how they are used by manager in daily problems. It compares the narrow view vs the broad view of the ethical role of manager. The broad being that leading is inherently ethical as each decsions effcts the people/environment  and the narrow focuses on only the interest of the shareholder. 

This article relates to me personally as ethical decsion making occurs daily. Whether it be relates to school, work, or just in personal life dilemmas occur all the time. I make decisions based on my own moral integrity daily and sometimes fail to do so. This results in consequences and in turn I have to take responsibility for my mistakes. This article remind me how important it is to stay true to my ethical standards when making all my decsions. 

This reminds me of the Hot Topic Headline this week on generative AI. Both articles talk of the importance of managers thinking beyond just profit and focusing on the ethical side of decsion making. They also mention the long term effects of decsions and how it can have major consequences. 

In the real world, many corporations face issues based on bad managerial decisions. Facebook had a data privacy issue where morals were overlooked to solely focus on profit. This is just one example and happens quite often. On the other hand, some companies are good at prioritizing ethical decision making, like Ben and Jerrys who are known for their transparency

Waddock, Sandra. “Ethical Role of the Manager.” Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Ed. . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2007. 786-91. SAGE Reference Online. Web. 30 Jan. 2012.

While reading, “The Role of Values in Leadership: How Leaders’ Values Shape Value Creation”, Scott Lichtenstein tells the history surrounding leadership. He provides evidence of different styles of leadership. Value-based leadership leads to better results in companies rather than just companies who solely focus on outcomes. He believes companies grow from leadership that stems not from ego but from moral integrity and teamwork. 

This article lead me to relect on my own values and how they define who I am. For example, I have lead many parts of different projects. For one of my classes, I took the VIA strengths test which showed me my top values. When leading, I have learned that I tend to gravitate towards those. Personally, I can agree to the “listen first” method mentioned because I value perspective. 

This article relates to many issues today as companies face backlash from lack of moral standards. Rather than leading with their core values, the lead with the purpose of only accomplishing strategic goals. For example, Wells Fargo went through backlash from employees opening unauthorized accounts from pressure by the company. This was a huge issue that caused major damage to their reputation. This happens to many companies who prioritize profit over work environment. 

This article reminds me of the VIA strengths test website. It mentions how knowing your strengths can help maximize them which in turn can make you more successful. This relates to Lichtenstein as he believes leading with values is vital to making a leader successful. 

Lichtenstein, Scott. “The Role of Values in Leadership: How Leaders’ Values Shape Value Creation.” Integral Leadership Review, Jan. 2012, https://integralleadershipreview.com/6176-the-role-of-values-in-leadership-how-leaders-values-shape-value-creation

While reading “Frameworks for Ethical Analysis” by the Science Learning Hub, I learned that there are 4 ethical frameworks commonly used to make judgements. These include rights and responsibilities, consequentialism, autonomy, and virtue ethics. Reading these made me realize that I usually result in using virtue ethics. When I am stuck in between two choices, I think of what I should do based on what society deems as good. For example, at work when I have to decide whether or not to help a co-worker even if it leaves me behind on my own work. Typically, I think of what is the “good” thing. 

This article reminds me of the business ethics blogs we were reading for this chapter. These blogs were full of authors sharing their opinions boldly despite what others may think. Relating this to consequentialism, I think that the article focused on the effects of bad ethical decisions and the harm they would/have caused.  

In real events, we see consequences to decisions made. Every business must make decisions that can affect the way their consumers feel. This reminds me of Ben and Jerry’s, the ice cream brand, in recent years and how they have spoken up about their political standpoints. This caused their sales to increase and decrease per statement released. Some people believe it’s best not to speak on ethical debates because of this reason. Ethical decisions are never cut and dry and the consequences always seem to be vast. 
Frameworks for ethical analysis. Science Learning Hub. (n.d.). https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2146-frameworks-for-ethical-analysis

While reading the article “Thinking Ethically” by the Santa Clara Markkula Center, I learned the five approaches to dealing with moral issues. These include the Utilitarian, Rights, Fairness or Justice, Common-Good, and Virtue Approaches. These approaches can help decide how to solve moral dilemmas by using what values are important to you. 

The Common-Good approach reminds me of group projects I used to be a part of. In highschool, I used this approach the most often as I felt I should think of the whole group in every decision I made. This caused me to act selflessly, sometimes sacrificing my potential gain. I have used all of these approaches in life, this is just one example. 

These approaches reminded me of a book I read called 1984 by George Orwell. In this book, the government controlled everything and everything was being watched. The book consisted of people who thought they were better than everyone else. This specifically ties into the virtue approach because in the book they valued different virtues to alter everyone’s thinking. These virtues changed the way people dealt with balmoral dilemmas. 

This framework of approaches can be applied to the world and its many controversies. There are many ethical debates that focus on these many approaches to help come to a conclusion. For example, AI has been a heated debate for years. This debate follows the ethical problem solving questions mentioned in the article. What are the benefits and harms? These methods of solving ethical problems allow us to consider all details. 

Velasquez, Manuel, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer. “Thinking Ethically: A Framework for Moral Decision Making.” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University, 2021, https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

While reading “40 years of storming: a historical view of Tuckman’s model of small group development”, I learned about the four step process. This step process is used in decision making and can help show the process in making a decision. The four steps include forming, storming, norming, and performing. During the forming step, you identify the problem. During the second step, the problem is discussed and usually disagreements occur. Throughout these disagreements, teams talk to each other. The norming stage allows for these disagreements to come to compromise. A decision is made and they make a plan for execution. In the final stage, they see the effects of the solution when it is executed. 

This reminds me of another article I read in my Thriving in Interdisciplinary Studies workshop. It showed a step process for making a decision just like this. Unlike this one, it had about 8 steps to making an informed decision. 

This article relates to my personal life as I use processes like this to make decisions in real life. I used something similar to make my decision on what college to choose. These processes help guide decisions more thoroughly. I can relate this to the world as decisions are made everyday especially in businesses and can have lasting effects. People should use these 4 steps to calculate a proper decision. 

Natvig, D., & Stark, N. L. (2016). A project team analysis using Tuckman’s model of small-group development.

While reading “How to link personal values with team values”, I saw the importance of how values affect businesses. Each different core value affects the behavior of an individual which in turn affects how businesses make decisions. CEO of Levi Strauss, Robert Haas, states in an interview that the soft stuff (values) is just as important as the hard stuff (strategies/logic). This reminds me of my past working experiences. I used to think that working was all about the work. I would go in and not talk, be silent and then leave. Slowly, I learned that it was just as important to create a work environment that supports my values. Without this, it is miserable and doesn’t work correctly. For example, I value honesty and kindness so it was important for me  to work for  a business that shared those values. 

This article is similar to one I recently read in SLC 250. It was about how our values affect decision making. “How to link personal values with team values” mentioned how a team decided on a set of values to make company decisions. This relates to the other article because it showed how much our values affect decisions, even when we don’t realize it. 

In the world, recently I have seen many news stories on ethical business practices. This is relevant as these ethical decisions being made are influenced by core values of companies. “Exploring individual and team values is a critical foundation for major organizational change” (Scott 7). In order to create better business practices, new ethical decisions have to be made by establishing common values. 

Scott, Cynthia, and Dennis Jaffe. “How to Link Personal Values with Team Values.” SlideShare, Slideshare, www.slideshare.net/cynthiascott/how-tolinkvalues-article. Accessed 09 Sept. 2025.