The idea that the more intense a moral issue is, the higher chance it is likely that decision makers will use and respond with moral connects to many experiences I have had in both my academics and also professional life. For example, during group projects, I noticed that when teammates are fair or honest, it becomes easier to address it with them directly since it is starting to become a major problem within our group and isn’t morally right. By recognizing the importance of ethical issues, it motivates me to act consistently with my values rather than choosing the easier choice of ignoring nonmoral behavior.

This article also reminded me of readings in organizational behavior that we have read in class that have either shown value-based leadership or haven’t. Similar to Jones’ idea, these text emphasize that individuals are more likely to make ethical decisions when they perceive moral stakes are higher. The articles in class show us that having a leader who shows value-based leadership, will lean on these more in troubling times. Jones’ model is practical in illustrating how the intensity of an issue shapes behavior, which provides a more general perspective than general virtue ethics or rule-based approaches.

On a broader level, this concept is evident in the many real-world corporate scandals. When companies face highly visible ethical dilemmas like the data privacy issue at Facebook, decision makers are forced to confront the moral intensity of that situation. Those who fail to recognize and respond appropriately can cause a lot of harm, damaging the trust and accountability people have given that corporation. Jones’ framework highlights moral awareness can guide everyday decisions and prevent major ethical dilemmas within an organization.

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 UCSD article emphasizes ” Evaluate the options by asking whether they are legal, fair, and aligned with your values and organizational policies.” This approaches resonated with me because in mirrors the challenges I’ve faced in both internships and academic projects. When networking, there’s often a pressure to embellish experiences or emphasize minor achievements to stand out. However, I’ve realized that sustaining authenticity and staying true to myself preserves long-term credibility and aligns with my personal values even if it won’t help me in that certain situations. Similarly, in group projects, I’ve encountered situations where a teammate underperformed, and it would have been easier to not address it to them. Using fairness as a guiding principle reminded me to address it directly to that member while still being respectful to them as well.

This framework also connects to other leadership and ethical theories we have read about. Value-based leadership and the concept of ethicals from organizational behavior focus that decision should be guided more by principles that rules. USDC provides concrete steps that can be applied to real-life situations, making the approach practical when using it.

On a broader scale, this ethical approach parallels corporate practices governance. For example, tech companies evaluate ethics and use similar questions in order to be sure their innovation balances with responsibility (AI). If more organizations were asked whether their actions were legal and fair, more companies could have avoided scandals. The UCSD model demonstrates that ethical decision-making is both a personal practice and a critical part of maintaining organizational and public trust.

University of California San Diego. “A 7-Step Path for Ethical Decision-Making.” UCSD Blink, Ethics Awareness. “Evaluate the options by asking whether they are legal, fair, and aligned with your values and organizational policies.”

This chapter on transparency authenticity reminds me of my current job that I am working at a country club. Our team constantly deals with unhappy players for a variety of things. Most of them relate to the new ownership that has acquired us and that the course has been opened up to many more members than it was before. We often have to explain to members why this is happening and that this is a permanent change. The club was running out of money and memberships needed to be expanded. Lubetzky’s point about valuing truth over convenience resonates with this story. I felt that I should just be honest with the members that this will be the new reality and that it is likely to be this busy here constantly rather than telling them what they want to hear. As a future leader, this pushes me to prioritize honesty in business decisions, no matter the pressure from customers and peers around me.

This chapter connects to the Boeing 737 MAX article, which was also apart of this unit. Both highlight how a lack of transparency undermines ehtical leadership. Lubetzky praises Patagonia’s open supply chain practices as a model of authenticity, while Boeing’s suppression of saftey issues led to tragic outcomes. While Lubetzky focuses on building trust proactively, Boeing only try to build it in response to the tragedy, showing the need for honesty from leaders throughout the supply chain process.

Lubetzky’s emphasis on transparency mirrors current issues in the fashion industry, where brands like Shein face criticism for having unethical labor practices in order to achieve their low prices. Unlike Patagonia’s transparent sustainability efforts, these companies prioritize profit over truth, leading to consumer distrust. This reflects a broader challenge that businesses must adopt authentic practices to maintain trust, especially in a social media world that can easily spread and damage companies reputations with unethical business practices.

Lubetzky, D. (n.d.). Do the Kind Thing: Chapter 7 – Transparency and Authenticity. In Do the Kind Thing.

The Boeing 737 MAX case reminds me of a time during high school group project where we had to rush to finish it because of a tight deadline. To save time and be sure that we submitted it on time, we overlooked minor details in the rubric and didn’t include them in our final submission. While our project obviously wasn’t life-or-death like Boeing’s, the idea that we need to get it submitted fast over focusing on quality felt similar. This article made me reflect how easy it is to justify small oversights when the pressure to deliver is high. It’s a reminder that ethical decision-making starts with focusing on the small decisions and I’ll carry that with me into my professional life.

This article connects to Sandra Waddock’s “Ethical Role of the Manager.” Waddock stresses that ethical leadership requires integrating values into everyday decisions, not just addressing failures after they occur. The Boeing case exemplifies this, as managers failed to ensure saftey over competitive pressure and pressure from people higher up. Boeing’s reactive response to the crashes shows how misaligned their values are. Boeing only took correct steps to make their process and culture happen after a disaster had happened. Both texts highlight ethical cultures must be embedded in organizational practices to prevent harm.

The Boeing case also relates to recent scandals in the automotive industry, where companies like Volkswagen manipulated emissions test to meet regulations and advertise themselves as a green company. Like Boeing, these firms prioritized short-term gains over long-term reputations and trust. This comparison highlights a broader trend in high-stakes industries where competitive pressure can compromise ethics. This emphasizes the need for strong oversights of projects and a culture that encourages engineers to prioritize safety over profit.

Herkert, J. R., Borenstein, J., & Miller, K. W. (2020). The Boeing 737 MAX: Lessons for engineering ethics. Science and Engineering Ethics, 26(6), 2957–2974. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-020-00252-y

The idea that managers act as role models reminds me of experiences I have had in in a group with an inspirational leaders. I have had a leader who took responsibility, communicates clearly, and treated everyone equally. This leader also did this naturally, it was just in his nature to treat people that way and lead that way. This created a respectful and productive environment where people are excited and energized to work and produce. In contrast, when a leader isn’t respectful or ignores others, it creates a toxic workplace that limits the potential of that business. This also connects to the virtue ethics. This means that a leader’s character and values are much more important than how the company is performing. Lichtenstein complements that by showing how those values also help determine strategy and organizational behavior. He believes that ethics is rooted in who we are as people and not the choices that we make .

Companies whose CEOs value sustainability often incorporate environmental goals into operation rather than just treating them as a option. When built into the strategy, you’ll see much better results and a larger emphasis on it as the company operates. When values become misaligned, tension and instability often follow. The values dynamic that Lichtenstein describes explain why some cultural transformations don’t work. If the leaders value do not resonate with the employees, the culture will not be sustainable and will likely fall through. It is important to have a leader who embraces the companies culture, not one that tries to get the company to follow their culture.

Lichtenstein, Scott. “The Role of Values in Leadership: How Leaders’ Values Shape Value Creation.” Integral Leadership Review, Jan. 2012,

The idea of being both moral as a person and as a leader is a great to remember as I go through my career. As a student, when I work in groups or teams for assignments or clubs, the best results came when I led with honesty and respect for my teammates. When I valued other people’s input, the whole group was more motivated to share ideas which led to better results. If a leader does not have strong moral values, then you cannot expect that to be implemented throughout the whole company.

This concept connect very strongly to the virtue ethics framework discussed in previous modules. Virtue ethics emphasizes developing traits like honesty, compassion, and courage. Waddock explaining moral leadership directly reflects this as he states that management starts with who you are as a person. This also reminds me of the virtue lens. The focus of it being that we should aspire to be who we want to be, not just show it by the outcome of actions. If you work to be that person consistently, then it will be normal to act that way and lead that way.

In the business world, it is important to have correlation between personal and professional ethics. Cook’s commitment to privacy and fairness show that ethical leadership can influence what a company values and their culture. We also see many examples when leadership has poor moral and ethical standards (Boeing). Companies must not emphasize profit over safety and culture. When leadership moves away from the companies value, risk is increased and more people begin to work unethically.

Waddock, Sandra. “Ethical Role of the Manager.” Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

The Science Learning Hub article “Frameworks for ethical analysis,” introduces four key elements to judge difficult situations and these are rights and responsibilities, consequentialism, autonomy, and virtue ethics. The author states, “Ethics does not often come up with right and wrong answers,” but that “some ethical conclusions may be more valid than others.” This relates to when somebody builds a decision/argument that is has a clear framework and reasonable answers. When I reflect personally, I reflect whether to keep things private when someone tells me a secret or tell someone who could help out in that situation even after the person says no. On one side, I feel as though it is right to protect my friend and honor what he said to me. From the consequentialist view, I feel that I should help him out when I believe I can lead him in the right direction to solve his problem. These perspectives articulate what the article describes that not one answer can be the perfect answer, but each provides important insight. The framework also makes me think about public issues like the government duties during the pandemic. They had to weigh the effects of personal freedoms and public safety in order to protect the population of people who can be severely affected by Covid-19. Each perspective had reasonable insight but it did lead to very complex debates between the citizens Using the Science Learning Hub’s model is helpful because it doesn’t act like there is one correct answer to a problem. It encourages decision making from various perspectives. By doing this, we can come to a more thoughtful and fair decision that can benefit both sides.

Source: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/2146-frameworks-for-ethical-analysis

The Markkula Center’s “A Framework for Ethical Decision Making” explains that “recognizing an ethical issue is the first step in ethical decision making. It requires being able to see that our actions have consequences for others.” I think this is an important reminder because it shows us that thinking carefully rather than making quick decisions can influence the outcome of our choices. On a personal level, I reflect on the group projects I’ve been part of. If I don’t contribute, all of my work then stacks up on my group mates. That one decision I chose to make affected the whole group, which is exactly what the framework is explaining. Ethics is bigger than just a major decision, it is a part of every decision we make, small or large, that can influence people around us. I also connect this to fairness in the real-world situations. Choices made by governments and corporations have influences that can affect the entire world and even the future of it. The Markkula framework highlights the importance of recognizing responsibility instead of acting what is in our best interest. Ethical-decision making is more than a personal practice, it is a responsibility for everyone. I think the one idea in the reading that stood out to me in the reading is that there isn’t always a perfect answer. What should happen when thinking of an answer is gathering all the facts, considering consequences, and trying to come up with the most fair outcome. Ethics emphasizes careful reasoning.
Sources: https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/

After reading Carucci’s article on “Why ethical individuals sometimes make unethical Decisions,” it made me reflect on serious decision about poor ethical decisions that can severely damage an organization’s image. This article represents how challenging it is to grow a workplace based on ethical practices and mutual respect, and how quickly a harmful culture can harm a company.

Toxic workplace leadership, along with faults in protocol and inattention to detail, didn’t just cause a lost of life, but also lead to serious financial and legal trouble. While it’s difficult to located the origin of catastrophe solely on the people who lead the business, it did lead to serious concerns in their business model which had loss of life.

Carucci’s mentions that unethical actions stems from the absence of a positive role model. This aligns closely with what we are currently learning. Based off of these readings, it is critical to lead by example by serving others with integrity and encouraging a supportive community. I’m excited to grow my understanding of leadership to grow as a leader within the community and to continue it through my professional and personal goals.