Most of today's employees want to be involved and expect to have some level of responsibility in helping to meet organizational goals. They want more autonomy to make their own decisions and to accomplish their own goals. Each worker is different in the way they view the workplace and each has a unique set of expectations for what makes them feel happy and successful in their work (Hitt, Miller, & Colella, 2006). The Ethics Awareness Inventory (EAI) was designed to assist in the development of a deeper understanding of one’s personal ethical perspective and style (University of Phoenix, 2003). Based on my results from the instrument, this paper will describe my ethical perspective and briefly explain each of the four ethical perspectives: (1) Character/virtue, (2) obligation/deontology, (3) results/utilitarianism, and (4) equity/relativism. I will also include issues that I have faced or am likely to face in addressing ethical dilemmas in the workplace.
According to the EAI, my ethical perspective is most likely to be based on obligation. Obligation is about duty and what a rational person should morally do. In other words, I believe that each person’s conduct should be based on his or her conscience. The flip side to this is since I look into the intent behind a person’s action to judge his or her ethical conduct rather than focusing on the results, it may result in economic hardship in my life or a lost promotion or termination in my workplace. Another issue I would face in addressing ethical dilemmas is what I determine to be the right choice may not appear to be the most beneficial choice for the organization I have agreed to support. The EAI also indicates that cost-benefit analysis is the preferred decision-making tool of many organizations; however, ...