Case study for policy and ethics

Concepts to Understand - Identifying the Ethical Issue

In order to properly identify the ethical issue, you have to first try to determine the main, big, overriding issue of the situation.  You need to succinctly, in one simple sentence ask that main question.  It will be phrased something like, "Is it ethical that....?"  "Is it right that....?", etc. 

You need to consider, is this an ethical issue where there are gray areas, and perhaps some people might differ on the answer?   If so, that is what you are looking for.

Is this clearly a right and wrong answer or even a legal issue?  Then, this likely isn't the overriding ethical issue you are looking for.

It is helpful to identify WHO it is that has the issue.  Often something wrong happens, and then it is someone else's responsibility to figure out what to do about the transgression.  So, if Bob swipes the post-it notes from the office closet, and Sally sees him do it, what is the ethical issue here?  Bob swiping the office supplies is NOT the ethical issue.  That is just wrong to do.  The ethical issue is:  What should Sally do about what she saw?   Sally needs to think through a few things before she makes up her mind.  One of the things we are going to learn about in this class is how Sally can go about doing this.  There are all kinds of different ethical critical thinking theories and models to help Sally out. 

Often times the real ethical dilemmas we find ourselves in, and you will see with the people in our case study presentations, someone is trying to do a good thing, and something goes awry.  And, sometimes, the person doesn't even get caught.  That doesn't make it any less of an issue.  As we all know, especially in the area of public service, small continuing issues have a habit of being exposed and causing a lot of big problems for people. 

One thing to keep in mind when considering your ethical issue for your case presentation is that there will be ONE main big ethical issue in the story.  It is very important to identify that quickly.   That issue is what you will need to ask your expert about, and it will be what your research needs to focus on. 

There will be other sub issues.  These are real world scenarios that actually happened.  Real life is not as simple as with Sally and Bob.  Discussing these other sub issues AFTER identifying the main issue is fine.  Just be sure and keep your eye on the main issue.  That issue is where you will ultimately find the lesson of the story. 

Instruction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=metRxeydIdI