Decision In Paradise

Ethics Awareness Inventory Paper

In today's world, more and more people hunger for success. Our modern culture could be labeled as greedy and thoughtless. I believe that if it were so easy to be ethical, ethics would be a very small area to study. Every person looks at ethics in a different way. We all agree that there is right and there is wrong, however we disagree on how to make those decisions. According to the Ethics Awareness Inventory (University of Phoenix, 2003), my ethical perspective is more likely to be based on Obligation and least on Equity. Reading through the Ethical Inventory Assessment, there was much that I could agree with.

I am an individual who firmly believes that human beings have the right to individual respect, and should be allowed to make their own choices. The Ethics Awareness Inventory supports my belief that personal developmental growth takes precedent over efficiency, through dehumanization and social structure. For example, furthering my education is one way of advancement through personal growth.

Family and educational experiences had an impact on my ethical thinking. However, I believe that my relocation from Romania had a deeper impact. Being raised in a different country, my ethical beliefs were different. Recognizing the difference was the first step in understanding and overcoming those issues. Romania did not favor diversity in the work place, unlike diversity shown in the Unites States. Our governmental motto was not of full disclosures to its people. Fiduciary experiences in law, medical and sales were the motto for this people. One must learn through adversity.

Being the oldest child, I felt obligated to take care of my siblings and make everybody happy, regardless of personal cost. I always tried to avoid conflict, only to become frustrated and often without resolution.

The Ethics Awareness Inventory refers to a combination of characterizations, representing four categories of ethical values, which include Character, Obligation, Results and Equity. The four categories were design to assist in a better understanding of personal ethics perspectives and styles.

Character/virtue

According to the Ethics Awareness Inventory (University of Phoenix, 2003), a person whose ethical perspective is most likely to be Character, believes on what is good to be, rather than what is good to do. People who fall in this category judge an individual ethical behavior by looking beyond the person's character. To me, honesty and integrity are the most important traits a person should posses. I believe that just following the rules is not enough to make a person ethical.

One weakness of this ethical style is that, one does not take in consideration the change in a person's moral character. The way one would treat a disclosure at the beginning their career, may not be the same when they become a seasoned professional on that same career. For example, is it right to tell your client, there is a better deal elsewhere?

Obligation/deontology

Deontology, meaning obligation or duty, is an area of ethics that focuses on rightness or wrongness of action, rather than opposite of the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions. In order to make the right moral choices, one must first understand their own moral duties and what rules must be used to control those duties.

Although, deontology has positive attributes, it also contains negative ones. One negative of deontology is that there is no logic or rationale for deciding an individual's duty. For instance, a businessman is always on time for a meeting. Although this is a righteous duty, we don't know why he or she has chooses to make this their duty.

Results/utilitarianism

The ethical theory of Utilitarianism means determining a person's action by its outcome. It is not enough for a person to say that they are ethical, results count. Talking about the process is not enough. Therefore, an individual's goals are to achieve the utmost good for society.