Ethics in Leadership

6.3 Project Assignment- Course Project - Ethics Guide

Getting Started

Ethical questions and decisions can be very complicated. They often contain lots of factors and sometimes need to be made rather quickly. As a leader, not only do you want to have some clear ideas about how to make such decisions before those decisions are required, but you also want all of the members of your organization to be guided by clear principles and practices when they are confronted with choices.

This assignment allows you to summarize all that you have learned in the course into some type of deliverable (product) that can help you and all your organizational members understand key ideas to guide ethical attitudes and actions.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Summarize key principles and practices of ethics and decision-making in ways that others can understand.

Background Information

As you move toward finalizing your course project, let's look at two more steps in being your “best self”: Moral Intent and Moral Action.

Moral Intent (step three)

YOUTUBE: Being Your Best Self, Part 3: Moral Intent | C

Moral Action (step four)

YOUTUBE: Being Your Best Self, Part 4: Moral Action | Con

*Note. There are a couple of unfortunate language choices used in this video as an illustration made by its authors. IWU does not support or promote such usage.

An important item in many organizations is an ethics policy. Not only do organizations often have long, complex manuals and ethics hotlines, they also frequently require annual training on many issues such as sexual misconduct, discrimination, and information security. In essence, the organization provides clear information on the type of behaviors and even decision-making required. For those in supervisory roles, the required training is often more intensive due to the authoritative (and potentially coercive) roles that leaders fill.

For your course project, imagine that your organization’s HR department or the top leader has asked you to develop an Ethic’s Guide for Leaders. You are not asked to develop a full ethics policy or policy statement but a simplified guide that explains the fundamentals for ethical thinking, decision-making, and conduct in the organization that supports a healthy and trust-based culture. In other words, the guide will help explain the key considerations, principles, practices, and perhaps even “why?” 

Be creative. Develop some type of product - guidebook, infographic(s), or possibly even “charts” or poster - in Microsoft Word or other software that communicates perspectives in a way that organizational leaders (at all levels) can easily understand, remember, and implement in their leadership roles. In essence, the product should help promote right thinking and right doing in the organization.

Note. Ground this project in the principles, practices, and “tools” you are building from your work in the course.

Instructions

1. Review the project description provided in the Background Information.

2. Your product should include @ 7 – 10 important ideas (e.g., principles, practices) for leaders.

3. Product length should be no more than 4 – 5 pages, not including a reference page for any cited material that you use (APA 7th).