Week 6: Podcast
Digital Checklist for Week 6
License: © 2022 by J Wood is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Summary of Rationale/Identification of Learning Gap
This discussion of ethics will be included in the graduate level class “intro to nonprofit organizations.” The topic of ethics in the nonprofit sector is presented in Week 8 of the term and assumes that the student has a certain amount of background knowledge in nonprofit organizations.
I chose to create this resource because, it’s useful to step back and consider ethics more broadly so, as the professor, I know students are on the same page about what how we define ethics. Once some common terms and application of ethics are explored through this podcast, students will have an opportunity in another assignment to study the specifics of common ethical violations in the nonprofit sector and their implications for individual organizations and the sector as a whole.
The educational value add is creating a common language around ethics and reflecting on personal experiences of ethical dilemmas.
Transcript: Exploring Ethics
When my kids were little, one 7 and the other 3, I watched as the 7 year old grabbed something from his younger brother. Not surprisingly, the 3 year old turned around a grabbed something from the 7 year old in retaliation. At this point, I intervened by saying “now, now boys, two wrongs don’t make a right.” The 3 year old responded with “well, how many does it take then?”
Needless to say, we had a good laugh over that at the time, and, years later, still laugh about it mostly because it said so much about the personality that was only just beginning to emerge in that small child. But my son’s unintentionally funny reply does set off a series of questions worth considering. Can ethical standards be quantified, packaged neatly and given away as standardized rules and expectations? As we all know, ethical dilemmas are messy and we don’t think about think about them very often. I probably won’t help clarify anything for you here today in this quick chat, but I do think it’s useful to dust off our understanding of ethical standards as we prepare to do a deeper dive into ethics in the nonprofit sector.
Ethics is defined by the BBC as simply “ a system of moral principles.”
There are many ethical principles that define the behavior of people, what they should, and should not, do. Examples of these principles include:
Trustworthiness (or be honest)
Respect (or be tolerant of differences)
Responsibility (or be accountable for your choices)
Fairness (or play by the rules, or not taking advantage of others or situations)
Caring (or Be kind)
Citizenship (or do you share in your community)
This list actually comes from education.com and is offered as suggestions for how to explain ethics to a child. I like it because it is simple, straight-forward and can serve as a useful framework through which to view ethical dilemmas.
But what about Ethical ambiguity? Is there only ever one right answer?
Different cultures, religions and groups can perceive the morality of behaviors in very different ways. Abortion is a good example of a highly charged and controversial ethical dilemma. What we believe about the ethics of abortion can bring us together as a people and it can pit us against each other, sometimes violently. In these instances, it is useful to have a sort of ethical construct or framework through which to pass the arguments. Again, according to the BBC, the framework my help us realize that there are only small pieces of the issue that we disagree on but, if fact, we have lot of commonality on a large portion of the central issues around this topic.
Context is important when exploring ethical issues. What is considered a commonplace ethical practice for one culture could be considered a major breach in ethical standards in another. For example, a vegan may consider the practice of killing and eating an animal an unconscionable and unthinkable violation of ethical standards but it is a matter of survival, life or death, for an indigenous native American tribe in Alaska. Without the vital source of sustenance that results from killing and eating a caribou, for example, whole tribes could be wiped out.
In a professional setting, the ethical dilemmas are often less thorny than abortion or dietary necessities, but it doesn’t mean they can be dismissed. For example, does taking printer paper or a box of pens from the supply closet and take it home for your own use, constitute an ethics violation?
Here are some questions to consider that will take into account context and culture: If you take the paper home and use it for work related business, that’s one thing, right. If it’s for your child’s research paper, that’s something else. Is it common practice to take things out of the supply closet for home use? In other words, is everyone doing it? This doesn’t necessarily make it right but it may be that this is considered an acceptable practice in your office, which would be part of organizational. Did you ask anyone before taking the paper? Is there a formal or informal “permission” that is granted before you can take it? And finally, how much did you take? One ream or did you clear the shelf?
In this case, answers to these questions and others don’t necessarily make taking printer paper right or wrong. The act of removing a ream of paper from a shelf is not, in and of itself, a violation of common ethical standards. The context around which the paper is removed makes the difference.
Let’s go back on review our list of ethical principles. Which one or ones are at play here. I think I might look at fairness and responsibility. Does everyone in the office have access to printer paper for home use? Have you taken advantage of an unlocked, largely unmonitored supply closet for your own personal gain?
In this example, is it necessary to consider whether anyone was been personally impacted or harmer as a result of taking this paper? If no one was personally impacted by this relocation of paper goods, does it make it right?
What other questions have I missed that you would add to this list of considerations?
Can you think of a time in your own life (personal or professional) where you were confronted by an ethical dilemma. What tools did you have available to you to sort through this problem?
Ethical decisions are deeply personal and influenced heavily by our upbringing and experiences and our own personal sense of right and wrong. It’s worth taking some time to think about your own moral compass, your own definition of right and wrong, because you never know when you might next be confronted with a situation that requires you to make a judgement call and perhaps even intervene.
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