Ethical Issues | Course Paper

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Week Seven Writing Project

Business Ethics

Neyshmarie Cruz

Professor Huxford-Davis

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How People Develop Ethical Reasoning

At some point in your life, you’ve probably contemplated the idea of making a certain

decision and then had someone ask if it was an ethical one. In a perfect world, everyone would

know what that meant but not all do. In my paper, I will be addressing what ethics and ethical

reasoning are and how an individual comes to develop and apply them.

Ethics are described as moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the

conducting of an activity. Reasoning is the act of thinking about something in a logical and

sensible way. Together, ethical reasoning is simply put as the ability to identify, assess, and

develop ethical arguments from a variety of ethical positions. This is helpful to us, as individual

people, because it helps us to converse with our peers and problem solve in the most efficient

and effective ways. Not only are we able to positively interact with others, but we’re also able to

be decent people. More often than not, our ethics and how we developed them drive the very

nature of our beings.

The way in which one develops their ethics and ethical reasoning includes a multitude of

factors. One of the first factors that come into play is one’s upbringing. In his article, Amitabh

Dwivedi says, “Human beings in themselves are a bundle of weaknesses: they are full of self-

appreciation, self-justification, biased behavior, and self-deception. However, it is expected of

them to cultivate fair-mindedness, self-knowledge, integrity, and honesty” (Dwivedi, 2020).

While we are all born with the weaknesses Dwivedi lists, our upbringings help us to acquire the

favorable traits he says are expected of us. As children, we are taught to use manners, to treat

others as we wish to be treated, and what constitutes a good or bad decision. You don’t just tell a

child, “be ethical. not stupid.” You teach them. For example, if you were to defend a child in

your school that was being bullied, you’d be told it was the “best” or “right” decision. Therefore,

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making it a good one. But, if you were bullying said child, you’d be told it was the “worst” or

“wrong” decision. Therefore, making it is a bad one. This would then create a clear idea in your

head that good decisions reciprocate good results and bad ones do not. You’d then be drawn to

base every decision on the ethical reasoning of whether or not you’d be praised or talked down

for it.

While upbringing opens the door for ethics and ethical reasoning to engrain themselves in

our brains, culture and lifestyle also help to develop them as well. In his book, Ken Mantelow

says that “Culture and its effects on our human psychology have changed the way we process

and make important decisions” (Manktelow, 2012). In the world we live in, there is no one

specific culture. We all come from different backgrounds and homes and bring a different story

to the table. Because of this truth, we see many occasions where someone‘s ethics clash with our

own because our cultural norms or standards are different from theirs. What one culture might

dictate as correct, the other could condemn. It’s up to us to educate ourselves to the best of our

abilities so that we can avoid offending someone else’s ethics and understanding in our day to

day lives. This is found to be especially helpful for us not just with others but also within our

schools and workplaces. In the book, Journal of Business Ethics, Rosina Mladenovic does a

study in which she interviews multiple students now in business-related workplaces. Mladenovic

finds that a majority of the interviewees credit their ethical reasoning skills in the workplace

currently to the different people and opinions they were subject to throughout college and

graduate school (Mladenovic, 2019). No matter what ethical standards you developed as a child,

I think this example shows that we are always capable of learning more.

I believe that my ethical reasoning was primarily developed as a young child through my

family and culture and our spiritual beliefs. I am a young bilingual Spaniard, Puerto Rican, and

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Italian woman who has been raised in the middle of Columbus, Georgia all of her life. My

mother and father were both raised in primarily Catholic homes but departed from the Catholic

religion when they came to meet Jesus and raised us as Pentecostal Christians. My parents were

raised on the concepts and foundations of respect and sternness but made it a point to teach us

how to love others well. Their teachings meshed with the standards of Christianity then set the

foundation I have built my personal ethical beliefs upon. I never understood why I reacted to

certain things in the manners in which I did but, my research for this paper helped to enlighten

me. I’m an individual whose greatest strengths and weaknesses lie in wanting to please others.

This often led to pushing down my ethics to please society with a certain decision. Now, I’ve

found positive ways to honor both without disregarding my ethics.

Ethical Philosophy

While ethics and ethical reasoning are a big pill to swallow and understand, we’ve

learned how they develop for individuals and that ethics are personal principles that guide a

person’s decision making when they’re doing an activity or actively working towards a type of

result. Within this vast umbrella that is ethics are many subtopics, such as the ethical levels,

theories, philosophies, and principles. For today’s paper, the learner will be diving deeper into

the topic of ethical theories and philosophies. “Ethical theories provide part of the decision–

making foundation for individuals and represent the viewpoints from which individuals seek

guidance as they make decisions” (Xu & Ma 2016, pp. 546). Ultimately, the ethical theory one

decides to identify with when it comes to making big or small decisions in their lives, is directly

linked to ideals that are important to them. Regardless of which one they identify with, an

individual’s application of it is what will lead to the most correct and ethically fulfilling solution.

The four distinctive categories of ethical theories are deontology, utilitarianism, right, and

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virtues. Each theory is different and represents a specific type of decision-maker and the theory

that resonates with the learner the most of the four is deontology.

Deontology

“Deontology is the ethical principle where the morality of an action is valued according

to the adherence to moral norms regardless of the consequences” (Kroneisen & Heck, 2020, pp.

1013). “Hence, the morality of an action depends on the intrinsic nature of the action. The

deontological class of ethical theories states that people should adhere to their obligations and

duties when engaged in decision making when ethics are in play” (BAN, 2019). The ethically

appropriate response of the deontological theory is solely based on the idea that an individual

will prioritize and uphold the standards of their obligation to society or people when it comes to

decision making. Zhi Xing Xu says, “A deontologist will always keep his promises to a friend

and will follow the law. A person who adheres to deontological theory will produce very

consistent decisions since they will be based on the individual’s set duties” (Xu & Ma 2016, pp.

537). While this theory has many noticeably positive attributes, there is also one perceived

“flaw” within it. This “flaw” is that there is no rational foundation for deciding one’s

commitment. For instance, a businessperson may decide that they must always show up fifteen

minutes early for a meeting. While this can be perceived as something good, outside looking in,

we don’t truly know why this individual decided to act the way they did. An example of this

would be, if our fictional person who’s decided they must be fifteen minutes early is running

late, how are they expected to drive? Does their action of speeding on the way to work, de-value

the authenticity of their duty to society to uphold the law? This example opens the door for more

consideration of the theory and why one would choose it.

Deontology Reasoning

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I choose deontology over the other theories because I believe it best describes the way I

conclusively decide what my moral standards are and how I implement them into my own life

daily. Some areas in my life that I feel morally responsible to honor are my obligations to my

faith, my family, my academics, and my career. Regarding my faith, I’m always actively trying

to live in a way that aligns with the way of the Word. A way that can honor the life and mission

of Jesus. According to Matthew 4:19, “we are called to be fishers of men.” In Luke 9:23, “we are

called to take up our cross daily to follow Him.” To do both of these things well in my walk, I

remind myself daily of each call because I have always been drawn to honor them so that I can

have a fruitful life. Regarding my family, I feel consistently encouraged and obligated to be a

better daughter, sister, and human being. Through my desire to honor my household and family

name, I work hard to be successful and make it my duty to give my very best in everything that I

do. Lastly, regarding my academics and career, which I believe are conjoint, I feel the obligation

and desire to get all A’s and do my best so that I can achieve the success I know I’m capable of

and make the most of my finances. I pay a lot for school and never want a penny to go to waste;

my obligation is to make each cent matter. I strongly desire to have all the

educational/foundational knowledge I need to jump into my career and make the most out of it.

Preparedness is the ultimate goal. All of these areas and obligations are significantly important to

me so, I make it my personal ethical, and moral obligation to make decisions that push all these

areas to grow; decisions that push me to be a better me at the end of the day.

While ethics can be viewed as a simple ideology, the learner believes there is a grand

deal of knowledge that can be applied to our own lives should we choose to seek it. Ethical

theories and philosophies can be conformed and molded into vastly different boxes for each

person and the learner believes there is a beauty in the eclectic nature of it all. The research

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conducted behind the study of deontology opened the learner’s eyes further into understanding

the complex essence of who one is and for that, the learner is grateful.

Ethics and freedom of speech

Exploring the topic of ethics and freedom of speech presents the catalyst of a delicate

balance between laws, rules, and regulations and the coverage, protection, and distinction that

one can observe between the United States constitutional law and the laws that regulate places of

employment. This week the learned will further explore this delicate balance between the

coverage and distinctions that exist in the rules that regular freedom of speech in the workplace,

its implications when one of the two laws is breeched or appears to be breached and the

implication for whistleblowers and the laws protecting whistleblower rights as the learner utilizes