A634.9.4.RB - A Reflection of Our Learning

The changing and modeling of ethics is a challenge that leaders will face every day. The implications and ramifications that ethics play needs to be focused on in order to become a better leader. I think that one of the biggest key lessons for me was that the golden rule isn’t the same for everyone. The golden rule should apply to everyone but it won’t be looked at the same by everyone. The rule changes with each situation and person.

A slippery slope ethical argument is the next key that I took away a lot of good insight from. With ethics, the slippery slope doesn’t need to go that far just because we think the situation can run out of hand, it doesn’t mean it will. I think this is important when trying to think about what other people will do or why someone acted a specific way. Another key point to go along with this slippery slope is punishment. I think that there is a lot of good arguments in punishment. There needs to be more open debate punishment. As leaders, we need to think about punishment that effects our lives. This would vary from punishment for our kids and our employees. Does the punishment fit the crime?

I think this course has given new light to a lot of subjects on ethics in my every day. I don’t think I have drastically changed any of my ethics but I think that the lessons learned will have a greater impact on my ethical behavior and actions. I think that a lot of these lessons will sink in when a situation comes up that I can apply them to. I have changed some of my thinking towards other people’s actions and why they do some things.

A634.8.3.RB - Gun Control: What is the Answer?

I don’t think that there is a good answer to the old question of, “Do citizens has a right to bear arms?” The question has too many implications and too many slippery slope answers. I think there was good proposition in Chapter 12, LaFollette (2007).

“A Third Way” is about having the owner be more responsible for their guns (LaFollette 2007). I think that there is too little responsibility for guns. The people who own guns should have to go through training classes and must provide proof of a storage container. There are too many children that have access to guns that can really hurt or kill themselves and others. I have heard too many times on the news that a child was playing with a fire arm and it went off. There is no reason or excuse for that, only lack of respect for the weapon. I don’t agree with LaFollette’s opinion that the owner of the gun is responsible for the actions of the gun. There are too many situations where this rule can go wrong. If someone child steals their gun and goes killing in the school, that parent is financially responsible for all those kids? Kids will get into anything when they try hard enough, if the gun is locked up tight with no access it won’t be of any use if there is an emergency that requires a gun.

As an avid gun owner, I find it too easy to swap and trade guns with other people. There needs to be a requirement for someone owning a gun. Maybe it could be on your licenses, that you have the proper training and education about guns to own one. I have gotten a gun from a coworker without any documentation. There isn’t any verification that my coworker could have requested to know that I knew how to handle a gun.

In the UK there is a ban on hand guns, decades ago it was banned and it is only recently that it has seen real fruit. It is working but it took a long time. “The real problem, of course, is that no one knows just how many guns are out there on the streets”. There is a problem with knowing who has a gun. I think this is the base argument for letting people have a gun but educate people if they want to own. I don’t think we placed enough emphasis on education of gun handling. People don’t know what a gun can actually do to a human body. It’s all movies and prop blood, people need to see the damage a 9mm or 20mm bullet can do.

David Barnett @davidmbarnett. (2017, December 17). Firearms Act: Twenty years on, has it made a difference? Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/firearms-act-twenty-years-on-has-it-made-a-difference-dunblane-port-arthur-a8110911.html.

A634.7.4.RB - Egoism: Psychological and Moral

Egoism

I think that everyone has an ego that directs them to self-satisfaction or interest.  Some people like to see others succeed; parents like to see their kids grow to be better than them. Egoism has different aspects that are complicated. Some parts of the ego are so subconscious that we couldn’t put a finger on the exact reason we do something. Some of our subconscious could have been because of an instance in our childhood.

I think that people are always after self-interest instead of only after self-interest (LaFollette, 2007). People must have a reason to do something, choosing dinner is always a debate in my house. What should we have for dinner? We choose what we have for dinner based on the self-interest of what sounds good or what will taste good. I don’t think we are only after self-interest because with dinner we keep in mind what the rest of the family will eat.

Workplace ego

Egoism will always get in the way of ethical decisions in the work place. The workplace is a do what is right for the company instead of what is right for each employee. If egoism wasn’t an ethical workplace issue then employees would be 100% efficient, work for the pleasure of a hard day’s work and we wouldn’t have to issue monetary gains.  Leaders in the workplace need to take great care not to push the ethical egoism to the detriment of the company.

An example of ethical egoism in the work place is a problem I run into constantly. In my facility, we have cells that have an overabundance of work and other cells that are steady. We must borrow employees from one cell to put in the overabundance cell to complete the workload.  When we borrow employees, we must be selective not to move too many employees to make the other cell lack manpower to keep up with the work. The ops managers don’t like to let us borrow employees to help any other cell because that means they will get backed up. Their self-interest to look good trumps their want to serve the company’s needs.

There are rewards for looking better than other leaders, even if it’s only the praise from the boss. Gains and rewards aren’t always money, some leaders like to be noticed rather than money. I think there should be team rewards as a whole and everyone should suffer as a team. If someone fails, then they need help from another leader. If only one person gets a reward, there is too much “only self-interest” LaFollette, H. (2007).

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing