Ethical Decision Making Essay Example for Free

Ethical Decision Making Essay Abstract Ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines questions of morality, or right and wrong. In this paper we will discuss the philosophical approaches used in ethical decision making. The two approaches that will be elaborated on are the utilitarian approach and the universal approach. Several questions will be addressed, (1) what is the utilitarian and universal approach? (2) How do we use them in the ethical decision making process and (3) examples of how it relate in the field of Criminal Justice? When conflict arises it’s not always possible to decide who is right or wrong; however our moral responsibility is to resolve problems to the best of our ability. The utilitarian and universal theories are two of several philosophical approaches or methods that can be implemented when making these types of decisions (Zalta Geoff, 2008). The Utilitarian Approach: Utilitarianism is one of the most powerful and persuasive approaches to normative ethics in the history of philosophy. The utilitarian approach to ethical decision making focuses on taking the action that will result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people. It also focuses on the consequences of the course of action and policy, as well as the affects it has on the well-being of the people directly or indirectly impacted by that action or policy. This approach is used to promote the welfare of everybody by maximizing benefits and minimizing harm (Zalta Geoff, 2008). For instance, when faced with a situation your first thought or question is what should you do? Once you assess the situation then you would apply which ethical decision is the best action to take. If you implement the utilitarian approach you did so with the intent of producing the greatest balance over harm. Utilitarianism offers a relatively straightforward method for deciding the morally right course of action for any particular situation we may find ourselves in. In the criminal justice field this approach can be widely used. To discover what we ought to do in any situation, we first identify the various courses of action that we could perform. Second, we determine all of the foreseeable benefits and harms that would result from each course of action for everyone affected by the action. And third, we choose the course of action that provides the greatest benefits after the costs have been taken into account (Velasquez, Claire, Shanks, S.J). The Universal Approach: The universal approach to ethical decision making is similar to the Golden Rule. The golden rule is best interpreted as â€Å"Treat others as you want to be treated†. Universalism argues that knowledge can and should be applied to everyone in every similar situation (Williams Arrigo, 2008). This approach can be taken in two steps. First, determine whether or not a particular action should be applied to all people under all circumstances. Second, decide if you would be willing to have that same rule to you. This approach claims that ethical principles hold for all and not for some, it is for everybody without exception (Williams Arrigo, 2008). In other words if you act a certain way towards another and are not willing to be treated in that same regard than you are in violation of the universal rule. To apply the universal approach correctly we need to take into consideration the effects our decision making have on other people’s lives. We also have to be able to imagine ourselves in the other person’s shoes on the receiving end of the action. Imagine you are a police officer in pursuit of what seems to be a drunk driver, while in pursuit the drunk driver hits a pregnant woman crossing the street. What do you do, do you stop for her and leave a drunk driver on the road, or do you call the accident in and continue to pursue the drunk driver to keep him from potentially killing himself and others. The utilitarian approach would more likely call for back up and continue after the drunk driver, but if we use this same example and compare it to the universal approach, the question then becomes what would you want done to you. Both philosophical approaches are infused with flaws, the use of â€Å"utilitarian† thinking is not always clear of what form of action should be taken or if the action you took will have a favorable outcome for the majority. It is difficult to judge what decision will supply the best way to respond to a situation. The universal approach unlike the utilitarian bases its decisions on the facts that the action taken is best for everyone regardless of the situation or the difference in people. My choice between the two is somewhat tossed, because my belief is that you should do unto other as you would want done to you, but at the same time my desire to ensure the greatest number of success is important to me as well. Within the Judicial system decisions are made with or without the input of others; however it is our moral obligation to ensure that we make the best ethical decisions that we can, because every decision somehow directly or indirectly affects someone else. References Velasquez, M., Claire, A., Shanks, M. M., S.J. (n.d.). Markula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved from Santa Clara University: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/thinking.html Williams, C. R., Arrigo, B. A. (2008). Is Morality Relative? The variability of Norms and Values. In C. R. Williams, B. A. Arrigo, Ethics, Crime and Criminal Justice (p. 77). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. Zalta, E. N., Geoff, S.-M. (2008). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosphy : http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/metaethics/

Constructing and Reconstructing Essay -- Constitution, Founding Father

1. Woody Holton reveals the motives of the Founding Fathers depend widely on individual judgment of the terms under the Articles of Confederation. Holton claims that historians excessively rely on sources by the Federalist which reveals a prejudiced Federalist view (Hollitz, 110). Woody Holton uses the writings of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton to expose the Founding Fathers deeper motives in writing the Constitution. The Founding Fathers were frustrated because state legislatures had been given in to popular demands to reduce taxes and increase the money supply (for relief from the recession). While citizens were behind on their taxes; states were unable to pay interest on bonds, which crippled the government operations (Hollitz, 91). The idea of Hamilton claiming that states suffered from an â€Å"extreme democracy†, the Founding Fathers establish a central government that was less responsive to the will of the popular support (Hollitz, 94). The Founding Fathers , Holton says, mistrusted the abilities of average citizens who made up much of America’s voting population, and believed that power should be left to the elites (Hollitz, 94). However, the â€Å"framers† also recognized that the Constitution did not address ordinary citizen’s concern, and it would need to be ratified by the 13 states. As Woody Holton explains, the Founding Fathers felt that the uneducated citizens had â€Å"driven the country toward economic recession†, proving that they do not â€Å"possessed the ability to govern themselves† (Hollitz, 94). Also, the Confederation demonstrates the dangers of democracy showing that common people should not have control over their government. 2. From Federalist No. 10, James Madison explains that a republic is a government i... ...litz, 306). African Americans found themselves separated from white society and segregated by class. Blacks were often educated in segregated schools and churches, punished in segregated prisons, nursed in segregated hospitals, and buried in segregated cemeteries (Hollitz, 306). African Americans were segregated and treated with inequality especially in their public life. African Americans in free states faced barriers with job opportunities and were limited to the protection of life, liberty, and property (Hollitz, 306). Republican Party refused to address social equality for African Americans and claims to be â€Å"white man’s party† and do not accept black equality. Woodward and Foner conclude Reconstruction laws proved the failure in American race policy for earlier generations and betrayed the hopes that African Americans had invested in the new governments.

Internal & External Factors that Affect Management

In today’s ever changing business world companies from of all sizes have to be aware of the different factors that might affect the way they are managed and ultimately operate. There are two main areas where these factors can originate, internally and externally. According to â€Å"Businessdictionary. com† (2013), â€Å"Internal factors are inner strengths and weaknesses that an organization exhibits. Internal factors can strongly affect how well a company meets its objectives, and they might be seen as strengths if they have a favorable impact on a business, but as weaknesses if they have a deleterious effect on the business.† (para. 1).External factors are the opposite of internal factors because they involve all relevant forces outside a firm’s boundaries, such as competitors, customers, the government, and the economy. In the following we will discuss how a company like Google is affected by internal and external factors that change their four function s of management such as globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics. Organizational culture is a business’ DNA.Depending on how strong or weak an organization’s culture is will determine how successful that business generally becomes. This analogy can not be more evident than with or organization, Google; founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 while still at Stanford pursuing graduate degrees. Their youthful outlook remains dominant within company culture today (Johansson, (2010)). Organizationally, Google maintains a casual and democratic atmosphere (quite similar to our owner’s personalities), resulting in its distinction as a Flat company.Within the walls or more correctly the parameters of this flat company, teams are made up of members with equal authority and certain level of autonomy is maintained. This unique approach has lead Google to boast about some unique cultural aspects such as: double rooms (few single offices! ) with thre e or four team members, dogs, lava lamps, and massage chairs and even local touches like ski gondolas in Zurich, express each office's unique location and personality. With benefits like those, it’s clear to see how Fortune magazine describes us as the best company in the world to work for.The fostering creative, relaxed work environment along with the entire unique employee perks help shape the strong unified culture amongst Google (Johansson, (2010)). On the other hand a week organizational culture can lead to toxic consequences for a business. Consider, Enron, a prime example. Once one of the most successful businesses in its heyday has long gone but its lessons endure. The company’s epic fail resulted in the biggest business bankruptcy ever, facilitated by unethical behavior by its top-level managers.Ethics which are part of the planning function of management goals are to identify both the rules that should govern people’s behavior and the products that are worth purchasing. Proper ethical behavior is generally demonstrated and facilitated by top- level manager as a working example for other employees to adopt and cultivate within the organization. â€Å"Just as character matters in people, it matters in organizations,† says Justin Schultz, a corporate psychologist in Denver. This was not the case with Enron’s leaders, who sought excess at the expense of their employees, shareholders and community.In the end, those misplaced ethics destroyed Enron and essentially the only product they produced worth seeking can be found in university textbooks that characterizes Enron’s unethical behavior (Silverstein, (2013)). Similar to how internal factors influence a company culture throughout an organization and vice versa during planning, external factors can influence management within the function of planning. Particularly technology, for example just as with any planning phase, decisions about technology must balance inte rnal capabilities (strengths and weaknesses) with external opportunities and threats.Management uses several techniques to better understand how technology is evolving within a particular industry (Bateman & Snell, Chapter 10,Assessing External Technological Trends, (2011)). Globalization is another one of the major factors that can influence the way that a company manages itself. According to â€Å"Oxforddictionaries. com† (2013), † globalization is the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale† (para. 1).According to Adams (2008) â€Å"Businesses are said to be competing on a level global playing field almost without regard to location or nationality. † (p. 153). This could be advantageous to a company like Google or a disadvantage as well. Planning can be a problem with globalization because not only is Google doing business in other countries they also have offices in them as well. Communication on a real-time level can be difficult by collaborating with people in different time zones and languages. This could be helpful thoughas well because of all of the different backgrounds and diversity in the countries that Google operates in can give strong ideas to plan upon. Organizational efforts can be a bit troublesome as well when you are working across such a vast area and diverse people. Getting the right people together to attend meetings, whether it’s over the phone or face to face via video conferencing, can be hard to organize as well. Although again this could be advantageous to Google because of all of the diversity of its employees, organizing can lead to big things.One of the more important functions of management is leading and this could be compromised by globalization in a couple different ways. If you have a employees working on a team that are far apart in different countries, the team leader or manager can find it difficult to get the most out of his workers because of language barriers, time zones, or ethical differences. However, this could work out good for the manager because he or she could use the different backgrounds of the employees to motivate or come up with new tactics to improve efficiency.The one thing that should not have an effect by globalization is controlling. With technology these days watching over or supervising a group, ever over a vast area, is not that difficult. With the invention of video conferencing and things like databases and dashboards, managers are able to see and control a wide variety of things. On the other hand, some things can be easier to get by management, like time working on a project, than if it was all in one building. Another factor that can change the way Google manages itself is diversity.The previous few paragraphs touched on this point a little but this does change things a lot. Planning can be a bit challenging because of how many different backgrounds an d morals that a manager has to consider. Again this can be helpful though as well because of the different ideas that can come out of the diversity of the employees. Organizing these diverse people can be hard as well. Some of them might have different religious holidays and beliefs so the manager might have to work around them to maintain a good moral.On the flip side this could be a good thing because again the diversity can be an advantage to the manager. Leading can be another way that this can be advantageous because a manager can really play on the emotions of their diverse employees by really respecting their beliefs and morals so that the manager can gain respect. The down side is that it might go against the morals of the manager to respect or allow an employee’s beliefs in which the leader of the team is dissatisfied. Controlling can be difficult because of the different language barriers and time zones to really get a handle on things.With all of these different fa ctors weighing on Google’s management functions, it appears that there are many more advantageous opportunities to increase efficiency and profits while expanding the company to new heights. However, if any of these factors start to change or start to affect the company in a more negative way without addressing it or changing, things might go terribly wrong for the company. So make sure that everything is running smoothly and not to a point that it will look bad on the company.

Research Methodology Research On Research - 1072 Words

Research Methodology Introduction: Introduction in research is the most important section as it gives an overview of the research and the contents of the document to the readers. It should take users from their own lives to the place of the research analysis. Introduction part should give the essential information of why the research topic is important in the field. It should be concise though it does not have any word limits. In general introduction gives the review of the research. It is the best place to tell any assumptions that is there in the research if any. It should define the outline of the research and it should end with research questions which makes reader understand what exactly the research paper is going to achieve. Literature Review: Literature review is briefly summarizing the article which was reviewed. It is more focused on the topic of analysis and how it relates critical analysis in your research work to other research works. To start with literature review, skim the articles to get the idea of research work. Focus on introduction, conclusion and some paragraphs to gather general purpose of the article and based on that group the articles into categories For instance, group them into topics and subtopics. If exact words from the article is taken, citing that sentence with page number is essential. Also the most important part is that the articles should be relevant to the topic of research. Literature review is more about evaluating and integrating theShow MoreRelatedResearch Methodology For The Research1255 Words   |  6 PagesCHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Introduction In doing the research, the methodology must be appropriate so that the analysis findings could reach the objective. Research methodology proposed one procedure in order way to be follow to answer all the questions in the research that want to be made. Quoted by Denzin and Lincoln (1994), methodology is a process that related with research objective and data. In the others word, it is early research planning that include the research scope, data collectionRead MoreResearch Methodology Used For Research1207 Words   |  5 PagesResearch Methodology Introduction This chapter discusses the methodology used for this research. Describing type of methodology in research study and define the chosen method and approach for this research. Then, the outline of research strategy used, framework this research conducted and data sources collected to obtain valid and reliable research as the objective determined. Review of Research of Methodology Broadly speaking, there are several purpose of research. It depends on the objectiveRead MoreResearch Methodology : Research Project1402 Words   |  6 PagesRESEARCH METHODOLOGY 1. RESEARCH PARADIGM Stating a knowledge claim means that researchers start a project with certain assumptions about how they will learn and what they will learn during their enquiry. These claims might be called as paradigms (Lincoln Guba, 2000; Mertens, 1998); philosophical assumptions, epistemologies, and ontologies (Crotty, 1998); or broadly conceived research methodologies (Neuman, 2000). Philosophically, researchers make claims about what is knowledge (ontology), howRead MoreResearch Methodology And Methods Of Research1033 Words   |  5 PagesCHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction There are various methods of research which can be implored in carrying out a study. Research method is very important because the use of different methods gives different results. This chapter explains and justifies the materials and the methods used in the research. The selection of method used for the research is based on the research problem, aim and objectives of the study to be achieved. This chapter therefore fully explains the research design;Read MoreResearch Methodology Of The Research Approach978 Words   |  4 PagesThis chapter outlines an overview of the research approach adopted in the study as well as the research methodology and the practical approach adopted to achieve the set objectives of the study. In addition, it also highlights the data collection methods, ethical considerations, and data analysis. Case studies will be used as a research strategy as they are distinguished by their ability to investigate a phenomenon which, in this case, will be the upgrading heritage buildings through sustainableRead MoreA Research Study On Research Methodology1179 Words   |  5 PagesResearch methodology Research Methodology is an approach to discover the consequence of a given issue on a particular matter or issue that is likewise alluded as examination issue. In Methodology, scientist utilizes distinctive criteria for tackling/seeking the given problem. Diverse sources use distinctive sort of strategies for taking care of the problem. In the event that we consider Approach, it is the method for seeking or taking care of the exploration issue. (Modern Research Institute, 2010)Read MoreResearch Methodology For The Research Design Essay1447 Words   |  6 PagesThis following chapter seeks to show how the research is to be carried out. It focuses on methods/techniques to be used in conducting the research, the logic behind the methods employed, and justifications for each of the approaches/techniques. It focuses on the different ways of gathering information and data. A review of the literature reviewed in chapter two has helped to determine the types of methodology that are suitable for this study. In addition this chapter brings out the sampling methodsRead MoreResearch Methodologies632 Words   |  3 PagesResearch Methodologies In selecting a research methodology, researchers must approach the subject matter with consideration of that which is desired as a data outcome. In light of this, the most commonly used methodologies are quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods. The quantitative study is usually defined so as a result of a clearly delineated range of numerical scales, sets or representations designed to concretely define the findings of the resultant research. By its hypothesis and itsRead MoreResearch Methodology1700 Words   |  7 Pagesï » ¿An overview of Research Methodology Research defines as a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic . In fact, research is an art of scientific investigation. The term research refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the problem, formulating a hypothesis , collecting the facts or data , analyzing the facts and reaching the certain conclusions either in the form of solutions toward the concerned problems or in certain generalizations forRead MoreResearch Methodology For Research Design2478 Words   |  10 Pages3.1 Introduction This chapter presents the research methodology employed in this thesis in respect of the research objectives by ensuring the application of the appropriate methodology. Among other things the research design, population, sampling procedures and sample size, data collection technique and research instrument were discussed. Finally, the data analysis and research limitations were looked at. . 3.2 Research design Research design constitutes the entire strategy for data collection