Deck 2: Ethical Decision Making: Personal Andprofessional Contexts

Question 1

Consider your own personal values and explain where they originated. Can you pinpoint their derivation? To what degree have you chosen your own values? To what degree are your own values products of your family, your religious or cultural background, or your age? Does it matter where values originate?

Answer 1

Values stand for the standards, principles, beliefs etc. that people carry and follow throughout the life adopting them in their actions and behaviors while interacting with the world.
The personal values of Mr. Y originated the place he belonged to in a way that the family he was born, the society he belonged to, the country and nation he was a citizen of has played major role in forming his personal values.
The major derivation of personal values is through the family members because a person takes most of his values and principles in his life from his family.
The personal values of Mr. Y have been produced largely from his family, his religion and cultural background, his age etc. This is because an individual gets affected by his family members and learns both positive as well as negative traits imbibing their actions into his own and making the values followed by the family as his own personal values. Same is the case with the culture and religion wherein an individual takes insights and learnings from the society he lives at and also the religion he follows, and all this is taken by him as per his age factor creating a set of personal values that he follows throughout his life.

Question 2

Identify an activity that is outside of your "zone of comfort"; in other words, do something that you might not otherwise do, experience something that you might not otherwise experience, because the activity would otherwise be something with which you would be uncomfortable. This activity does not need to be something enormous or intimidating; but instead it could be something as basic as being the first to apologize after an argument, or agreeing to dress up for a masquerade party when you might not usually feel comfortable doing so. You might offer to cook dinner for a friend, when that would normally be an uncomfortable arrangement; or you might ask a question in class, or offer to lead a presentation, if those are things something that make you uncomfortable.
It is important that you consider your expectations (i.e., how do you think you will feel, what do you think it will be like?) before engaging in this activity, and write them down. Then, after the experience, complete the assignment by writing a description of the actual experience and indicating whether the reality matched your expectations, considering in particular your original perceptions and expectations and whether they were accurate. How closely can we trust our perceptions and pre-judgments about our expectations of experiences? How true is our "gut instinct?"

Answer 2

Expectations of an individual stands for how capable an individual think about oneself and how much efforts he thinks he can put towards a particular task that may be of his comfortable or uncomfortable zone.
Mr. Y went to a strip club which is something out of his comfort zone, and he might not have gone otherwise because this place makes him uncomfortable.
Before going to a strip club, Mr. Y felt very scared, embarrassed, unconfident, and hesitant. But when he went there and spent a considerable time with friends, he took that experience as something that he should have done atleast once because life is too short to miss anything. The expectations that Mr. Y had for himself of feeling embarrassed, hesitant etc. vanished when he entered that place and he felt completely comfortable and excited to be there at a strip club dancing and enjoying the moment.
One can believe one's perceptions and pre-judgements about his expectations of experiences in an accurate manner if the person had a prior experience of being at such a situation before attempting once again to be there at that similar situation. But when an individual is attempting something new and to be there at a completely new situation, then it is not always that his perceptions matches with his expectations of that particular experience.
An individual's gut instinct is true most of the times because before undertaking any task or action, an individual relies upon his past experiences of being in similar situations and tries to make judgements about his experience and results of being at such a situation relying upon his gut feeling and hunch.

Question 3

What issue, challenge, or idea do you care about most in the world? Share it in a brief essay, then convince your reader why it is so important that she or he should also care about that issue to the same extent. It may be effective to use the theories discussed in prior chapters to persuade your reader of the value of your argument.

Answer 3

An individual faces several issues and problems on daily basis, and these problems becomes inevitable if timely resolution is not undertaken.
The idea for which Mr. Y cares most about in this world is to be good always and to work so hard thinking that it is no tomorrow ever. This idea gives motivation and determination to perform to Mr. Y which he thinks as the best solution to get rid and escape of worldly issues and setbacks.
This idea is important because if everyone will start undertaking their tasks with umpteen focus and dedication, then there will not setbacks in life and every task will get completed on time favouring success to progress to all the related entities. When people will not delegate their work to others and will complete it on their own, this will decrease the expectations that people possess from others which leads to the envious and sour relationships.
Thus, by having effective time management and dedication towards ones work responsibilities, people could make maximum of their life and lead a completely satisfied and fulfilling life giving satisfaction not only to self but also to others.

Question 4

Your CEO recognizes you as having extraordinary skills in decision making and communications so she asks for guidance on how to best communicate her plans for an imminent reduction in force. What are some of the key strategies you will suggest she employ in reaching such a decision and making the announcement?

Question 5

Describe the qualities you believe are necessary in an "ethical leader." Provide support for your contentions and explain why a leader should display these qualities in order to be considered "ethical" from your perspective. Then identify someone you believe embodies these qualities in her or his leadership and provide examples. Finally, provide an example of someone who you believe does not possess these qualities and describe that person's leadership.

Question 6

How can your global firm best ensure that it is taking into account the perceptual differences that may exist as a result of diverse cultures, religions, ethnicities, and other factors when creating a worldwide marketing plan?

Question 7

Describe an event or decision that you would judge to be clearly unethical. Can you imagine any circumstances in which it would be ethical? Can you imagine a situation in which you yourself would do something unethical?

Question 8

As a class exercise, write a brief account of any unethical or ethically questionable experience you have witnessed in a work context. Read and discuss the examples in class, keeping the authors anonymous. Consider how the organization allowed or encouraged such behavior and what might have been done to prevent it.

Question 9

Lisa is trying to raise funds to support the creation of a free clinic in a poor neighbourhood in her hometown. She has been trying very hard; but she has not been able to raise enough money to get the clinic up and running. One day, she gets a huge check from a high profile business executive whom she met at a fund raiser. She is ecstatic and finally sees her dream taking shape. However, after a few days, the person who gave Lisa the money is arrested for fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. What should Lisa do? Should she still keep the money and look the other way? Does the source of the money matter or does the end justify the means?

Question 10

Bernard Madoff ran a Ponzi Scheme for nearly two decades. Many have questioned how he got away with it for such a long time. Explain the role that normative myopia might have played in the duration of his scheme. Using the Internet, conduct research in connection with the Madoff scandal, and determine the key factors that you believe may have helped him to coordinate this scheme so successfully.