Course Description:

 

This class was an opportunity to gain deeper knowledge on how ideas can be ethical matters and dilemmas in the workplace, with the ideas of how our own moral rationale and ethical behaviors affect our leadership qualities. The first step of this class required an in depth reflection of our world views and how we’ve developed our philosophical ethical backgrounds. Next we took time to think about our moral development and how we’ve had opportunities to respond to ethical problems in regards to the experience and steps we’ve taken to resolve the matters at hand. This allowed us to look at the different interpretations of how to respond to ethical pressures and the values that surround difficult ethical decisions. This was supplemented with the idea of how credibility plays a role in our leadership and ethics. The next module we used to learn about involved the idea of groupthink and how we approached our decisions when others were affected or involved. This gave us a look at how community can influence our decisions and create cooperation in both positive and negative ways too. Lastly we discussed the morality in own judgments and how we attempt to solve our own critical reflection of ethical decision making.

 

Course Artifact:

 

I’ve included my paper that looks at the challenge of making ethical decisions of a jury room, based on the film 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda. This examines the ideas of groupthink and the mentality of individual ethics. Lastly, this paper has a look at creating a community through moral goals and how communication can be an influential tactic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Course Materials:

 

Books:

Cha, S. E., & Edmondson, A. C. (2006). When values backfire: Leadership, attribution, and disenchantment in a values-driven organization. Leadership Quarterly, 17, 57-78.

 

Christensen, S. L., & Kohls, J. (2003).  Ethical decision making in times of organizational crisis: A framework for analysis. Business & Society, 42(3), 328-358.

 

Cooper, T. L. (2006). The responsible administrator (5th ed.). United States: Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint.

 

Cuilla, J. B. (1995). Leadership ethics: Mapping the territory. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(1), 5-28.
 

Gaudine, A., & Thorne, L. (2001).  Emotion and ethical decision-making in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 31(2), 175-187.

 

Johnson, C. E. (2007). Ethics in the workplace: Tools and tactics for organizational transformation. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

 

Johnson, M. (1993).  Moral imagination: Implications of cognitive science for ethics. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.  

 

Klein, S. (2002). The head, the heart, and business virtues. Journal of Business Ethics, 39(4), 347-359.

 

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2003) Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 

Lichtenstein, B. M., Smith, B. A., & Torbert, W. R. (1995).  Leadership and Ethical development: Balancing light and shadow. Business Ethics Quarterly, 5(1), 97-116.

 

Nicholi, A. M. (2002). The question of God. New York, NY: The Free Press.
 

Price, T. L. (2006). Understanding ethical failures in leadership. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.

 

Spitzer, R. J. (2000).  The spirit of leadership: Optimizing creativity and change in organizations. Provo, UT: Executive Excellence Publication.

 

Wall, T.F. (2008).  Thinking critically about moral problems.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. 
 

Werhane, P. H. (2002).  Moral imagination and systems thinking. Journal of Business Ethics, 38(1/2), 33-42.

 

Films:

Fonda, H., & Rose, R. (Producer), & Lumet, S. (Director). (1957). 12 angry men [Motion picture]. United States: Orion-Nova Productions.