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Problem Type Sub-Type Solution Outline
Disagreement
Factual Type and mode of gathering information
Conceptual Concept in dispute and method for agreeing on its definition
Conflict
Moral vs. Moral
Non-moral vs. moral
Non-moral vs. non-moral
Value Integrative Partially Value Integrative Trade Off Moral Ecologies
Finance-Driven Ecologies
Customer-Driven Ecologies
Quality-Driven Ecologies
Strategy for dissenting from a staff position where one is outside decision-making Practicing ethical advocacy when "going to the mat" on ethical perspectives in group decision-making Ability to draw attention to ethical values that form center of organization identity Likely Concepts in Conceptual Disagreement Public Intellectual Property, Faithful Agency, Professional Integrity, Loyalty, Public Safety and Health, Due Process, Responsible Dissent Working from Legal Definitions Bridging: moving from cases to concepts Discussion: Playing on shared values and trust to reach consensus through dialogue

The materials on moral ecologies come from Huff, C., Barnard, L., and Frey, W. (2008). “Good computing: a pedagogically focused model of virtue in the practice of computing (parts 1 and 2)”, Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society, Volume 6, Issues 3 and 4: 246-316. See also, Michael Davis, Thinking Like An Engineer, Oxford, 1998, 119-156.

    Instructions for using problem classification table

  1. Is your problem a conflict? Moral versus moral value? Moral versus non-moral values? Non-moral versus non-moral values? Identify the conflicting values as concisely as possible. Example: In Toysmart, the financial values of creditors come into conflict with the privacy of individuals in the data base: financial versus privacy values.
  2. Is your problem a disagreement? Is the disagreement over basic facts? Are these facts observable? Is it a disagreement over a basic concept? What is the concept? Is it a factual disagreement that, upon further reflection, changes into a conceptual disagreement?
  3. Does your problem arise from an impending harm? What is the harm? What is its magnitude? What is the probability that it will occur?
  4. If your problem is a value conflict then can these values be fully integrated in a value integrating solution? Or must they be partially realized in a compromise or traded off against one another?
  5. If your problem is a factual disagreement, what is the procedure for gathering the required information, if this is feasible?
  6. If your problem is a conceptual disagreement, how can this be overcome? By consulting a government policy or regulation? (OSHA on safety for example.) By consulting a theoretical account of the value in question? (Reading a philosophical analysis of privacy.) By collecting past cases that involve the same concept and drawing analogies and comparisons to the present case?

    Moral ecologies

  • "Moral Ecology" refers to the organization in which one works. Calling this organization an "ecology" conveys the idea that it is a system of interrelated parts. These "ecologies" differ depending on the content of the organization's central, identity-conferring values.
  • In finance-driven companies, financial values form the core of the organization's identity. Ethical advocacy requires skills in bringing ethical issues to the attention of decision-makers and getting them to take these issues seriously. It helps to state ethical concerns in multi-disciplinary language. (For example, show that ignoring ethical concerns will cost the company money in the long run.)
  • Customer-driven ecologies place customer values like usability, affordability, and efficiency, in the forefront of group deliberation and decision-making. Often, one must play the role of "ethics advocate" in deliberation and decision-making. One is expected to argue forcefully and persistently ("go to the mat") to make sure that ethical considerations are integrated into group deliberations and decision-making.
  • Quality-driven companies place ethical values into the core of group deliberations and decision-making. Here one is not so much ethics advocate as ethics enabler. This new role requires that one help one's group find creative ways of integrating ethical values with other concerns like customer and financial values.

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Source:  OpenStax, Using the ethics bowl to integrate ethics into the business and professional curriculum. OpenStax CNX. Dec 20, 2009 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col10411/1.2
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