Question:

Respond to below with 200 words and 1 direct question.

Haidt's five psychological moral systems or roots are harm/care, fairness/reciprocity, ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity (Haidt, 2008). These morals affect internal and external ethical conflict, as individuals have to balance their beliefs along each continuum and against society's rules.

Nixon (1994) discusses an internal ethical conflict that Certified Public Accountants (CPA) faced between their own morals and the CPA Code of Professional Conduct. In his example, a CPA represented an individual client who chose to file a fraudulent tax return with the IRS and use a separate tax return to apply for a loan at the bank where the CPA worked. Nixon displayed how confidentiality and conflict of interest issues can raise moral dilemmas that go against the written code when a client chooses to make a fraudulent claim.

Nixon (1994) used the utilitarian theory to address these issues, thus the prominent moral root he reviewed was what action would cause the most or least harm. Other issues he discussed were the CPA's respect in reference to whether the CPA would lose clients if it were seen that confidentiality was not adhered. Loyalty to the bank, the individual, and the CPA's own morals were all in play. Finally, fairness and sanctity come in to play. A fraudulent claim is unfair to those who honestly pay their taxes as well as unfair to the bank, as well as its customers and employees, which makes a judgment on loans based off of these documents. The CPA's moral purity is in conflict with the code that requires confidentiality even though it goes against a right action.

I think it is important to point out that the CPA would require a certain degree of morality for this to be an ethical issue. The CPA would require high moral agency and a sense to go beyond compliance as Sekerka, Bagozzi, and Charnigo (2009) explain in regard to moral courage. If the CPA simply adhered to the code without thought of internal morals, no ethical dilemma would exist, as the bank and the IRS would likely not know of each other and the CPA would have no vetted interest to take action outside of the code of conduct.

Haidt, J. (March 2008). The moral roots of liberals and conservatives. TED. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html

Nixon, M. R. (1994). Ethical reasoning and privileged information: Resolving moral conflict. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(7), 571. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/198082092?accountid=8289

Sekerka, L. E., Bagozzi, R. P., & Charnigo, R. (2009). Facing ethical challenges in the workplace: Conceptualizing and measuring professional moral courage. Journal of Business Ethics, 89(4), 565-579. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-0017-5