Introduction:

Key Concepts

Introduction:
Key Concepts
& Basic Concepts
 Key Concepts
This section addresses the following questions

What are moral standards, and how do they differ from other rules of
lives?

What is a moral dilemma?

Why is freedom crucial in our ability to make moral decisions?

What is the advantage of owning moral standards (morality and ethics)

over merely abiding by moral standards?
 Basic Concepts

Moral vs. Non-moral standards

What are dilemmas?
Three levels of moral dilemmas (Individual, organizational,
systematic)
Foundation of morality: Freedom-responsibility for one’s act
and to others

Minimum requirement for morality: Reason and impartiality

 Ethics
Ethics may be described as a critical
reflection on various life situations. It
is an inquiry into some standard to
guide one’s action or as a tool to
understand a given condition.
Ethics
Ethics – is a branch of philosophy
which deals with moral standards,
inquiries about the rightness or
wrongness of human behavior or
the goodness or badness of
personality, trait or character.
Ethics
Ethics – realizing the fullest
potential as free persons acting
in the world and doing right for
others.
Ethics
Ethics – is a study of the
morality of human acts and moral
agents, what makes an act
obligatory and what makes a
person accountable.
Etymology and Meaning of Ethics

Ethics- comes form the Greek

word “ethos” meaning “custom”
used in the works of Aristotle while
the term “moral” is the Latin
equivalent.
Etymology and Meaning of Ethics

Based on the Greek and

Latin etymology of the word
“ethics” ethics deals with
morality.
 Ethics and Morality
Ethics – a philosophical reflection on the
realities of life for a fuller and more meaningful
human experience. It proceeds from
understanding and inquiry.

Morality – proceeds from commandments,

rules or traditions commonly considers as
authoritative and unexchangeable.
 Moral
Morality involves impartiality
because it ensures all interests,
are accounted for, weighed
rationally, assessed without
prejudice.
Moral
Moral is the adjective describing
a human act as either ethically
right or wrong, or qualifying a
person, personality, character as
either ethically good or bad.
7 Step Moral Reasoning Model

01 Stop and Think 05 Consider

Consequences
02 Clarify Goals 06 Choose

03 Determine Facts 07 Monitor and Modify

04 Develop Options
Importance of Rules
Form groups. Recall and share with your
group a rule that you have to follow at school
and the reason behind such rule.

What if there were no rules?

What are possible consequences?
Are rules important why or why not?
Do you find them constricting? Why or why
not?
Rules and Standards

Rules and standards are

important guides for action, They
provide stability in the life of a
person or a community and are
indispensable in the formation of
individual or communal identity.
Rules/Laws is made for the good of man. State
the good that is derived from the following school
rules.

1. No ID, No Entry
2. Student/Teacher tardiness beyond 15 minutes
means absence
3. Any form of cheating is punishable with
suspension
4. Use of illegal drug is punishable with dismissal
 Rules
Rules are important to social being.

Rules are meant to set order.

For the sake of following the

command but it is the way to act.
 Rules
Rules are not mean to restrict your
freedom.

It is not acting because rules demands

it but because it has to act the way.
Moral and
Non-Moral
Standards
Classify the following into groups:
Moral Standards and Non-Moral Standards

1. No talking while your mouth is full.

2. Do not lie.
3. Wear black and white for mourning; never red.
4. The males should be the one to propose marriage not
females.
5. Don’t steal.
6. Observe correct grammar when writing and speaking English.
7. Submit school requirements on time.
8. Go with the fashion or you are not “in”.
9. Don’t cheat others.
10. Don’t kill.
Moral Standards

1. No talking while your mouth is full.

2. Do not lie.
3. Wear black and white for mourning; never red.
4. The males should be the one to propose marriage not
females.
5. Don’t steal.
6. Observe correct grammar when writing and speaking English.
7. Submit school requirements on time.
8. Go with the fashion or you are not “in”.
9. Don’t cheat others.
10. Don’t kill.
Non-Moral Standards

1. No talking while your mouth is full.

2. Do not lie.
3. Wear black and white for mourning; never red.
4. The males should be the one to propose marriage not
females.
5. Don’t steal.
6. Observe correct grammar when writing and speaking
English.
7. Submit school requirements on time.
8. Go with the fashion or you are not “in”.
9. Don’t cheat others.
10. Don’t kill.
Moral Standards Non-Moral
Standards

-social rules,
are norms or demands of etiquette
prescription that and good manners.
serves as the
frameworks for
determining what
ought to be done or
what is right or wrong
-Followed as
action, good or bad expected by society
character.
Moral Standards Non-Moral
Standards

Consequence
standards
- depends on results Examples are: good
manners, right
Non-consequence conduct, etiquette,
standards rules of behavior
– based on the set by parents,
natural law (Law of
God) teachers, standards
of grammar, art,
Moral Dilemmas
You are driving your car when you see five
children run out into the road in front of you.
When you put your foot on the brake it does
not work. The only alternative to hitting the
children is to turn the car onto the pavement.
However, a boy is standing on the pavement
and if you drive onto the pavement you will
hit him instead. What should you do?
You work at a company with one of your friends.
Your friend is a computer whizz and one day he
tells you that he has hacked into the company’s
accounts and discovered that the assistant
manager is stealing money from the company. You
feel you should tell the manager, but if you do, she
will ask how you know. If the manager hears that
your friend has hacked into the company’s
accounts your friend will be fired. What should you
do?
Mr. Heinz is ordinarily a law-abiding man. One day, his
wife becomes gravely ill. Heinz takes her to the doctor,
who prescribes a medication for her. She does quite
well on this medication and begins to recover. However,
Heinz has no insurance and runs out of money quickly
paying for this expensive medication. After a few
months, he can no longer purchase the medication and
his wife begins to take a turn for the worse. One day, he
is in the pharmacy and notices that no one is behind the
counter. The medication is in plain view. Should he
steal the medication to help his sick wife?
The Old Woman in the Airport You are in
the airport, trying to catch a flight that is
about to leave. As you run down the
crowded corridor, an elderly woman
suddenly slips in front of you and falls to
the ground. Do you stop to help, if you
know you will miss your flight because of
it?
 Moral Dilemma
Moral dilemma is a problem in the
decision making between two
possible options, neither of which is
absolutely acceptable from an
ethical perspective. It is also
referred to as ethical dilemma.
 Moral Dilemma
1. The agent is required to do each of two or more
actions which are morally unacceptable
2. The agent can do each of the actions;
3. But the agent cannot do both or all actions. The
agent thus seems condemned to moral failure, no
matter what she does, she will do something wrong(or
fail to do something that she ought to do)
 Moral Dilemmas in the Organization

Ethical dilemmas in the workplace are quite common

and they’re not always easy to answer. The concepts
are straightforward, but the challenge is in the
execution.

Even when the organization have great policies and

procedures, there’s still a high risk of unethical
behavior.
 Why do some organizations stumble when it comes to
ethics?

In many cases there are mixed

messages, such as inconsistent
application of policies or a
tendency to overlook borderline.
Three Levels of Moral Dilemmas
The mission of Catholic school A is
to serve the poor by giving quality
education. It is torn between the
obligation to charge low tuition to
help the poor and to pay better
salaries to keep quality teachers.
Mr. Heinz is ordinarily a law-abiding man. One day, his
wife becomes gravely ill. Heinz takes her to the doctor,
who prescribes a medication for her. She does quite
well on this medication and begins to recover. However,
Heinz has no insurance and runs out of money quickly
paying for this expensive medication. After a few
months, he can no longer purchase the medication and
his wife begins to take a turn for the worse. One day, he
is in the pharmacy and notices that no one is behind the
counter. The medication is in plain view. Should he
steal the medication to help his sick wife?
A principal ought to welcome and encourage
parents and community participation in school
affairs. Based on her experience, parents and
community are passive and so the principal
always ends up deciding and doing things just
the same. She is obliged to observe parent’s
and community participation which do not give
any input at all at the same time she is
obliged to accomplish things on time.
Individual

This refers to personal dilemma.

The case of Heinz is one of the
best known individual dilemma’s
of Kohlberg.
Individual

The dilemma is faced by an

individual who is torn between
2 obligations - to save the wife
or obey the law.
Organizational

An organizational dilemma is a
puzzle posed by the dual
necessities of a social
organization and member’s self-
interest.
Organizational

It may exist between personal

interests and organizational
welfare or between group
interests and organizational
well-being. (Wagner, J. 2019)
 Organizational

The example of the catholic school in the

activity phase shows the dilemma between
the goal of the school to give quality
education for the poor and so must charge
the lowest tuition fee possible and yet to keep
quality faculty, the school must raise their
salary consistently.
Organizational

Organizational dilemmas arise

due to different opposing
concerns between various
groupings in organization.
 Structural

The case of the principal whether to be

participatory or non-participatory in
school affairs but due to her not so
favorable experience of attempting to be
participatory ended up to one-woman rule
is an example of a structural dilemma.
Samples of Structural Dilemma
 Differentiation Versus Integration in Structural
Dilemma

Different divisions have their

own different culture and so
coordination between divisions
bringing them together for
becomes more difficult.
 Differentiation Versus Integration in Structural
Dilemma

Any attempt to introduce

reform in society or
government creates structural
dilemma.
 Differentiation Versus Integration in
Structural Dilemma
For instance, promoting or introducing
universal health care, which is tantamount to
socialized health care, gives rise to a
structural dilemma, that is a conflict of
perspective of sectors, groups, and
institutions that may be affected by the
decision.
 Differentiation Versus Integration in
Structural Dilemma

Why would those who contribute

less to the social fund enjoy the
same benefits as those who
contributed big amounts of
premium?
 Differentiation Versus Integration in
Structural Dilemma
Ex.
In a study, patients are buying medicines from private
sector at many times their international reference price.
If the government intervenes by introducing price
control, the drug stores may lose so much. If the
government does not do anything at all, the patients will
continue to suffer because they may not able to afford
high prices of medicines.
Gap Vs. Overlap

There may be gaps and overlaps

in roles and responsibilities. If
key responsibilities are not
clearly assigned, there may be
gaps or overlaps in tasks.
 Gap Vs. Overlap

If there are gaps, organizations end up with

no one doing the responsibility. If there are
overlaps, things become unclear and may
lead to more confusion and even conflict
and worse, wasted effort and perhaps even
resources because of the uninented
overlap.
 Gap Vs. Overlap

A patient in a teaching hospital called her

husband to report how disturbed she is
and how sleepless she was during the
night. At night, she couldn’t sleep
because hospital staff kept waking her
up, often to repeat what someone else
had already done.
 Gap Vs. Overlap

Conversely, when she wanted

something, her call button rarely
produced any response. There is
a gap as to who according to rule
is supposed to respond.
 Gap Vs. Overlap
A boy wanted his pants shorter. So he went to
his mother. His mother is busy computing
grades and told her son to ask his sister to do
it. His sister was busy reviewing for final
exams and ask her brother to ask their elder
brother to do it. But his older brother was also
busy with his school project and so could not
also attend to it.
 Gap Vs. Overlap
His pants were beside him. After finishing her
grades, mother peeped into her son’s room and
remembered her son’s request. So she took a
pair of scissors and shortened them. Before she
went to bed the sister also remembered her
brother’s request, full of remorse she went into
her younger brother’s room, got a pair if
scissors and shortened them, too.
 Gap Vs. Overlap

The older brother finally completed

his school project and suddenly
remembered his brother’s asking for
help. So he went to his younger
brother’s room, got a pair of scissors
and cut them too.
 Gap Vs. Overlap

When his younger brother woke

up, he was surprised to see a pair
of extremely short shorts. The
pants which he wanted to make
just a little bit shorter ended up too
short for Him!
 Gap Vs. Overlap

This is what happens when there are

gaps or overlaps in an organization. The
gaps leave an important task undone.
The overlap results unnecessary and
counterproductive, redundant procedures
which ultimately lead to waste of
resources.
 Gap Vs. Overlap

This is what happens when there are

gaps or overlaps in an organization. The
gaps leave an important task undone.
The overlap results unnecessary and
counterproductive, redundant procedures
which ultimately lead to waste of
resources.
 Lack of Clarity Vs. Lack of Creativity

If employees are unlcear about

what they are supposed to do, they
often tailor their roles around
personal preferences instead of
system wide goals, frequently
leading to trouble.
 Lack of Clarity Vs. Lack of Creativity

When responsibilities are over

defined, people conform to prescribed
roles and protocols in bureaucratic
ways. They follow job descriptions
regardless of how much the service or
product suffers so end up uncreative.
 Lack of Clarity Vs. Lack of Creativity
“You lost my bag!” An angry passenger
shouted confronting an airline manager. The
manager’s response was to inquire, “How was
the flight?” “I asked about my bag”, the
passenger said. “That’s not my job,” the
manager replied. “See someone in baggage
claim.” The passenger did not leave as a happy
airline customer.
 Lack of Clarity Vs. Lack of Creativity

The job of the manager was overdefined

and made the manager uncreative and
inefficient. Her job in relation to the airline
system wide goals was neither clear and
so ended up giving the wrong answer
that turned off the airline passenger.
 Flexibility versus Strict Adherence to Rules

You accomodate by bending rules to

help someone or you stick strictly to rules
mo matter what and so unable to help
someone who is thrown into a helpless
situation. Or you may become being too
accomodating that all rules are no more.
 Flexibility versus Strict Adherence to Rules

Your jobs are defined so clearly that

you will stick to them even if
circumstances are such that by
sticking to your job description the
service or product that your
organization provide suffers.
 Excessive Autonomy Versus Excessive Interdependence

This refers to being too isolated

versus too much coordination.
 Excessive Autonomy Versus Excessive Interdependence

When individuals or groups are too autonomous,

people often feel isolated and disconnected.
Ex. School teachers working in self-contained
classrooms and rarely working with other teachers
may feel lonely and unsupported.

In contrast, if units and roles are too tightly linked,

people are distracted from work and waste time on
unnecessary ot too much coordinaton.
 Structural Dilemma
Structural dilemma is the dilemma arising
from conflicting concerns among various
sectors of society. In the first instance of
differentitaion versus integration, the
dilemma is how to enforce a decision, policy
or rule intended for everybody among many
different or unique groups or individuals.
 Centralization versus Decentralized Decision Making

In decentralized decision making,

organizations can respond to change more
rapidly and effectively because the decision
makers are the people closest to the situation.
However, top managers may lose some
control. This is the dilemma of tight
overcentralization or diffusing authority which
is loose.
 Application
Give true to life examples of structural
dilemmas that ilustrate:
1. Excessive autonomy versus
interdependence
2. Flexibility versus strict adherence to rules
3. Gap versus overlap
4. Differentitation versus Integration
5. Centralized versus decentralized decision-