Introduction to Ethical Decision Making

As we live our lives, whether as a parent or child, spouse or partner, relative or friend, or employee or manager, we presumably try to be the best that we can be in what we are doing. We want to live up to all expectations; those of others and of ourselves. Our basic goals include making a decent living, enjoying our work careers, making our loved ones proud, and taking care of the well-being of our families in relative security and material comfort. But at the very least, we wish to stay out of trouble, not get fired, avoid being sued, not harm others, and certainly not end up in jail. Basically, we hope to fulfill our responsibilities both at work and at home, while living a good life with no major regrets.

We have many motivations to achieve these goals, including feelings of loyalty, love, responsibility, self-worth, and self-satisfaction. But along the way and on a daily basis, as we attempt to fulfill our life objectives, we inevitably face ethical dilemmas that need to be resolved. Sometimes we simply don't realize we are facing ethical dilemmas, and make decisions we realize only in hindsight should have been handled differently. In other cases we might realize there are potential ethical implications to our actions but we decide to ignore them, either consciously or subconsciously. Often, this is because we choose to do what will help us achieve what we want, rather than what we know we ought to do. Either way, there are going to be potential implications as a result of our actions or inaction, both for ourselves and for others, throughout our lives.

Just like everyone else, I have faced and continue to face ethical dilemmas. I still vividly remember being in junior high school and sitting in my mathematics class. Just after class ended I opened one of the textbooks that had been left on the desk. I discovered that a 20 dollar bill had been left inside the textbook. Thoughts immediately crossed my mind. Should I keep it? What would I buy with it? What about the other student who had forgotten about his or her money? Why did the other student leave a 20 dollar bill in a textbook in the first place? Twenty dollars was a lot of money for a teenager at that time. In the end, right after class, I decided to take the money to the Principal's office. Why did I do this? Why didn't I just keep the money? No one would ever have known if I had kept it. To this day I'm still not sure why I returned it.

Later on as a first year law student, without too much disposable cash around, I discovered there was a scholarship I could apply for. I knew of another student who could also use the money, and I was also aware that she had received better grades than I had. If I told her about the scholarship, she would probably apply reducing my chances of receiving the scholarship. Should I tell the other student about the scholarship opportunity? In the end, I told her. Fortunately, we both received the scholarship. But how would I have felt if only she had received it? Or what if I hadn't told her and only I had received it? Would I have felt guilty? Would I have looked back and felt I made the right decision?

After graduating from law school, I started working for a big downtown law firm. Despite generally enjoying the practice of law, I also noticed a number of things that caused me concern. I was invited into the office of an associate lawyer who said he would teach me what I needed to know to become a partner. He showed me how I could "bump up" the time sheets for each client by adding a few minutes to each activity's entry. He said that at the end of the day, he knew he had spent "x" number of hours per day at work, and that he was simply adding in the extra time that he didn't quite document properly during the day. When I expressed a bit of surprise at this technique, he said that corporate clients wouldn't notice or care in any event. I wondered, is everyone doing this, and are the senior partners aware that this practice was taking place? Later, while I was meeting with a senior lawyer in his office, a client called. I heard the lawyer explain to the client that while he could not advise him to destroy a particular document that the client had just found, if the document continued to exist, it would have to be produced to the opposing side and the client would definitely lose his case. The lawyer then hung up. I assume that document was never seen again.

Later, I began to notice that many of the other junior lawyers at the firm were taking advantage of the "free dinner after 7:00 p.m." policy, which was intended to encourage employees to work well past 7:00 p.m. After discovering that my colleagues had no concerns, I also began to wait until exactly 7:00 p.m. to go pick up my meal from a restaurant and eat it at home. This was of course justified in my mind, since everyone seemed to believe they were working hard and deserved the "free" dinners. In any event, I did technically stay until 7:00 p.m., and if this was an issue, the firm could always modify its policy. I wondered how many other ethical issues I would face if I remained in the practice of law.

After deciding to leave the practice of law for academia, I was at a job interview for my first full-time academic position at a business school. The position included teaching both the subjects of business law and business ethics. I felt fortunate to have been invited to the campus, and I wanted to do well during the interviews. With a wife and two young children, getting my first academic appointment was certainly a priority. While meeting with one of the senior professors, I was asked a question that I never expected. She asked: "If you could only offer one course to business students, which one would it be, business law, or business ethics?" I knew that the interviewer was a professor who taught and published in the field of business law, and would therefore presumably prefer to hear "business law" as my response. I immediately asked myself, should I give her the answer which I believed she wanted to hear, and likely improve my chances of being hired?

Without thinking too much, I gave the response I sincerely believed, "business ethics." I indicated my reason, that if students understand their proper ethical obligations, then as future managers most of their legal obligations would necessarily be accounted for. I also suggested that managers that focus only on their legal obligations might neglect their ethical obligations potentially leading to serious negative consequences for others. In the end, I did not receive an offer for the position, and I'll never know if my answer made any difference in making their decision. But I thought how ironic it was that I considered giving an insincere answer during an interview for a position teaching business ethics.

I don't tell these stories to suggest that I am necessarily an ethical or at times unethical person or a good or bad role model. In fact, there's no question that just because someone teaches business ethics or moral philosophy (or is a religious leader, president of a country, politician, prosecutor, judge, police officer, or chief executive officer) means they are necessarily the most "ethical" person.1 But when I reflect on my life, the most salient decisions made in the past that define who I really am all seem to hinge on those incidents that involved ethical implications. But it's not just the more important decisions in our lives that stand out. In fact, every single day, we face ethical dilemmas or issues that require resolution. Sometimes we recognize these dilemmas as having ethical implications, such as impacting others, and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we only realize the ethical implications days or weeks after we have acted a certain way. And even when we do recognize that we are facing ethical dilemmas, there are many different reasons why we decide how to act a particular way on any given day.

Unethical Activity in Society

So how much unethical or immoral activity is taking place in society in general?2 It seems that dishonesty, cheating, and breaking promises starts early, and continues throughout life for many. In terms of dishonesty, some researchers have found that on average we lie two to three times for every 10 minutes that we speak, that by age three we know how to fib, and by age six we already know how to lie.3 One of the more famous lies includes former US President Bill Clinton, who first publicly stated: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinski.these allegations are false, and I need to go back to work for the American people."4 Later, Clinton publically admitted: "While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information. Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment, and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.I misled people, including even my wife."5

Cycling athlete Lance Armstrong, at one point named one of Time magazine's "Most Influential People,"6 vehemently denied for years taking performance enhancing drugs leading to winning the Tour de France only to later confess that he had been lying the entire time.7 Armstrong finally publicly admitted during an interview with Oprah Winfrey the...