Guidelines for Signature Assignment: Personal Action Journal and Paper

We, and those around us, encounter ethical situations with varying frequency in our daily lives. These events occur in our daily lives in person, in the media, or in our conversations with acquaintances and work colleagues. The journal is intended for you to observe, record and reflect on those crucial moments. We also improve the learning process by sharing our knowledge with others. Consequently, you must keep a journal and share your insights in class using the Blackboard Discussion Board. This means making one Partly journal post in the Personal Journal Postings section of the Discussion Board.

The Signature Assignment Final Paper: "I am an ethical leader" - Reflection Journal is a four to five-page summary of your journal entries and the key lessons learned during the class. In essence, it should encapsulate what you learned from the class readings and discussions, how taking this course has contributed to your understanding of ethics and leadership, and what lessons you intend to apply to your personal and professional lives in terms of ethical analysis, decision making and ethical leadership.

This assignment is focused on your personal level of ethical leadership. In this assignment, students work on understanding, analyzing and implementing choices, related to their own ethics-related situations. Students are expected to demonstrate an understanding of the theoretical foundation of ethical thought as they reflect on their own personal challenges. They apply course frameworks in analyzing their own choices and dilemmas [see the section "Key Concepts" above]. Students will develop their own personal plan for development as an ethical leader.

Your paper must be written using APA style.

The Personal Action Paper is a summary of your journal entries and the key lessons learned during the class. In essence, it should encapsulate what you learned from the class readings and discussions, how taking this course has contributed to your understanding of ethics and leadership, and what lessons you intend to apply to your personal and professional lives in terms of ethical analysis, decision making and ethical leadership.

All the discussion board topics are on following

Discussion board topic

Part 1 - CHOOSE ONE - Ethical and Legal

1. Some people try to simplify ethical decision-making by using the formula: Legal = Ethical (if it is legal, it is ethical; if it is illegal, it is unethical). Is this approach reliable? Are there instances when something that is legal is unethical, or something that is illegal is ethical?

2. Are we (individuals, employees, citizens) cynical about organizational ethics? Why? Can we afford to be cynical and if not, what can/should we do?

Part 2 - CHOOSE ONE - Auto Recalls

COLLAPSE

1. What are the top 3 lessons learned from the Ford Pinto scandal? The auto makers have faced massive recalls lately, do you believe they have forgotten their past mistakes and are therefore repeating them? Do you agree with the government's involvement given the recurring problems?

2. You have read about some of the issues creating ethical dilemmas and challenges. You also read about the impact of ethical failures and several ethical perspectives/philosophical approaches (e.g. Utilitarianism, Virtues, Care, Duties, Golden Rule).

What has been your experience dealing with and observing ethical challenges and the related impact on leadership? Have you observed others apply one or several of the ethical perspectives and encounter difficulties? Do you believe there is a lack of ethical leadership in our society

Part 3 - CHOOSE ONE - Whistleblowing Programs

1. Does your organization have a whistleblowing program? If you asked your organization's employees and contractors the following: "Would you fear retaliation if you reported unethical activities to the whistleblowing program?" What do you think the general response would be? Yes? No?

2. Treating people fairly (e.g no discrimination, harassment, absence of conflicts of interest, promoting customer confidence, confidentiality, product safety, fiduciary responsibility, use of corporate resources, appropriate use of social media, providing honest information) are widely established expectations, yet some people fail to abide by these expectations. How can we improve on this so managers and employees treat each other more fairly?

Part 4 - CHOOSE ONE - Cultural Systems

COLLAPSE

1. What has been your experience dealing with the formal and informal cultural systems at your current or past organizations? Are manager/leaders connected sufficiently to both of them so they understand what is happening in their organizations and can take actions to improve on both of them?

2. Is your organizational culture supporting and promoting a healthy ethical climate in terms of fairness, benevolence, collective interest and principles? If yes, what are some of these best practices? If not, what could/should be done to improve on it?

Part 5 - CHOOSE ONE - Ethics Survey

COLLAPSE

1. Has your organization conducted an ethics survey? Were the results shared with the organization? What actions were taken to improve the ethical climate in the organization as a result of it?

2. Does your organization have an Ethics Office/Ethics Officer? Do you hear from them often enough to provide guidance, influence hiring and performance evaluation, provide useful ethics training and in general promote a healthy ethical culture? Is the ethics officer fair, trustworthy, credible and does s/he have a good relationship with management and employees?

Part 6 - CHOOSE ONE - Leading by Example

1. Have standards been set clearly and is there follow-through in your organization? Do managers understand and act as if they lived in a fish-bowl when it comes to walking the talk? (i.e. everyone watches what they do). Are managers in your organization Example Setters

2. You read about Employee Engagement. How would you describe the level of engagement within your organization? Consider the possible stratification of the employee population (e.g. by number of years with the organization, by hierarchical level, by business unit/geography.