Kohlberg
Under this theory, an individual’s sense of ethics and morals progress
/ become more complex through a series of cognitive stages as they
age. We all begin at stage 1: pre-Conventional morality in which we
learn the difference between obedience and punishment. In line with
the first stage, Kevin would most likely end up taking the work home
and participating in ghost ticking to protect himself and his job. He
would be acting mostly out of self-interest. In stage 2: Conventional
morality, we start seeing things through how they affect other people
in addition to ourselves. For Kevin, he would be looking at how
partaking in ghost ticking might affect his company as well as the
clients if something were to go wrong, and that “fear” of causing
issues would steer him away from such actions (or at least make him
think twice). At stage 3: post-Conventional morality, we begin to see
things through the lens of “how will this affect society?” and consider
universal principals such as “justice”. At this point, Kevin would be
thinking about how working after hours and ghost ticking are
considered unethical, and that it is his role, not just as a future CPA,
but as a member of society to not allow that to happen. He would not
even consider doing either, and would feel it was his duty to confront
the issues regarding ghost ticking that he was told about by his
coworker.
Rest
According to Rest’s four-component ethical decision-making model
ethical acts are the outcome of a mix of diverse cognitive structures
and physiological processes that describe how a person detects an
ethical challenge. The four stages consist of: moral sensitivity, moral
judgment, moral motivation, and moral character. Following these
steps would lead to Kevin seeing how his activities would affect his
work-life balance, and how falsifying information via ghost ticking
and not recording his after-hour labor may have a detrimental impact
on that. To avoid letting himself slide down the slope of unethical
behavior, he must work to prioritize his ethical beliefs and push to
have a strong moral character.
Ethical Decision-Making
Under this final model, Kevin will be able to assess his problematic
situation from multiple perspectives, consider the advantages and
drawbacks, and decide what his best course of action would be. The
main facets of this model are to: Identify the ethical and professional
issues (ethical sensitivity), identify, and evaluate alternative courses
of action (ethical judgement), reflect on the moral intensity of the
situation and virtues that enable ethical action to occur (ethical
intent), and finally to take action (ethical behavior). This strategy is
the most straightforward, and it helps Kevin to analyze his
alternatives and choose the most ethical course of action. Kevin's
apparent ethical standards are demonstrated by his criticism of the
company's morality. It is up to his moral character to have the
courage to refrain from ghost ticking since it is unethical. He should
work to find alternative methods to get through his workload and
report his coworker for her unethical actions.
Resources:
Bragg, S. (2022, May 24). Four-component model definition.
AccountingTools. Retrieved September 1, 2022, from
https://www.accountingtools.com/articles/four-component-model
Kurt, S. (2020, August 17). Stages of moral development - Lawrence
Kohlberg. Educational Technology. Retrieved September 1, 2022,
from https://educationaltechnology.net/stages-of-moral-
development-lawrence-kohlberg/
Mintz, S. M., & Miller, W. F. (2023). Chapter 2: Cognitive Processes
and Ethical Decision Making. In Ethical obligations and decision making
in accounting: Text and cases. essay, McGraw Hill LLC.
