The Essence of Ethics.

Ethical decision-making reveals what you see as good, both within yourself and the world around you

Richard Garry in Story of the Night by Irish writer Colm Tiobin said: "We saw nothing not because there was nothing, but because we had trained ourselves not to see." His comment captures the blindness that many people bring to the ethical moment. Some of us just don't see an ethical dilemma. Others are trained not to see. And some are blind to any motives for acting.

Good ethics, whether at work or home, demands self-knowledge. Whereas some groups want to see ethics as a skill or a particular part of organizational transformation, practising good ethics ultimately comes down to you and how you make decisions.

The word ethics finds its roots in the Greek word "ethos" which means a notion of character permeated with values that determine the identity and good or bad of an individual or group. Most of us can easily identify groups and individuals that we think are good or bad. In fact, we carry a whole series of built-in responses that sometimes announce that some person or group is right or wrong.

Yet, there are times where we are not so sure. Or there are times when we find ourselves making excuses because we do not know what to do or how to respond.

When doubt lingers, it's usually a good sign that we are not too sure of what is right or wrong, and we find ourselves in a situation marked with ambiguity, fuzziness and uncertainty. Test yourself in "10 Ethical Statements" (see box).

When you review how you responded to these 10 questions, understand the underlying story or world vision that shapes your decision-making. Your responses to a given situation often flow from stories and images of life deep within you and they are often unconscious. And, until you understand them, you may be trapped or ruled by them. It's a lot like individual tastes in clothes, food, movies and cars. There are some things you like and others you don't like. But why?

You bring to the table of decision-making your own worldview. Like Richard Garry, you have a different experience of life. Not only are the experiences important, but also the way in which you integrate these experiences in your daily living is just as important. Education, family background, social setting, and political and religious affiliations shape what you see and what you don't see. In some cases your background and personal stories open your views, while at other times they may imprison you when you are confronted with emerging ethical choices and directions.

If, at your organization, the unspoken rule is to agree with the CEO at all times or face intimidation, sarcasm, possible loss of job or isolation, people quickly learn that to survive, they have to be parrots. How many of us are willing to be parrots all the time? And, what is the cost to us? Moreover, what is the cost to the organization and the CEO, and how can one intervene?

The unexamined life produces parrots throughout the business and social world. An examined life starts to ask questions such as: What does my soul ask of me? Where do I lack permission to be myself? Where am I stuck in my development of body, soul and mind? Who can challenge me to see a different viewpoint or break me out of my narrow vision? Finally and maybe most importantly, ask what it is in yourself that you cannot face, and where does it leak out?

How you answer this difficult question reveals a great deal about the polarity of love or fear as primary motivator of our decision-making. It also reveals the shadow side of your life - the side that awakens you during the night or appears unexpectedly in a loose comment. It's the side of yourself that can wreck your personal, social and business life.

In business as well as daily life, we are challenged to know ourselves and to explore those parts of ourselves which remain in hiding or we hold back from real expression. Ethical decision-making, how you do it, and the story that it reveals about your life and worldview emerges from these decisions.

By Tom Maddix, director of Mission Services for the Alberta Catholic Health Corporation. Maddix holds degrees in social and organizational ethics and is co-author of the book Knowing Your Ethical Preferences: A Working Guide (ITP Nelson, Scarborough, Ont.).

Fear or Love?

An old saying is that our basic stance in life is either one of fear or love. If fear moves us, we tend to be protective, isolationist, insecure, rigid and weary of looking at the shadow side of things or issues which threaten our status quo. Whereas if Love moves us, there is an openness, a feeling of ease and a willingness to explore various options without falling prey to fear of the unknown.

10 Ethical Statements

Here are some True or False questions to ask yourself. In responding to them, you wilt start to recognize how difficult it is at times for us to know, first, if we are making a good decision, second, if the decision we are making is really the right and good one, and third, how we made the decision and why.

1. When a person's personal value system collides with the organization's value system, the organization's values usually takes precedence as long as the person is employed by the organization.

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2. People with great power in an organization who violate the law should be punished more severely than people with little power who commit the same illegal act.

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3. It is all right for employers to use psychologists, motivational speakers and consultants to persuade workers to behave the way their employers desire.

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4. Leaders and employees facing a moral dilemma should resolve it on this rule only: if it helps the organization, province and the country, it is morally correct.

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5. I am in favour of supporting human rights for everyone as long as it does not cost me anything.

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Test yourself by responding to the first answer that comes into your mind. Trust your intuition. It is probably the best way to understand your inner story and what makes you tick. There are not necessarily right or wrong answers, they are simply to help you evaluate why you make certain decisions in a variety of situations.

6. Relatively few people reach a stage of moral development in which they are comfortable challenging either authority or consensus belief systems.

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7. In screening job applicants, employers have a right to examine such personal matters of the candidates as records or repayment of debts; reasons for previous dismissals from other companies; drug and alcohol use; and conditions of health.

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8. The best reason for building an ethical organization is that it pays off. Good ethics means good profits.

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9. Responsible business practices put a priority on fair working conditions as well as clean air when reviewing a investment portfolio.

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10. It's okay to alter facts on reports if the organization will good to shareholders and the public.

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