Ethics awareness inventory analysis

Ethics Awareness Inventory

According to the Ethics Inventory, I fell into two categories: those who are obligation-oriented, and those who are results-oriented. In some ways, the ethical beliefs of these two categories are in conflict; for instance, usually people who base ethical decisions on obligation or duty are not as concerned with results as with principles. However, I scored high in the results-oriented category as well. I believe that my ability to span both categories of ethical decision making have proved beneficial for me in the past and will continue to in the future. For example, the ethics awareness inventory analysis indicated that I do not operate in terms of absolutes; I do not feel that there can be any absolute standards of right and wrong because the world is too complex. Therefore, I am more prone to being open-minded and flexible than people who do feel that there should be universal ethical standards. My ethics awareness has increased a great deal as a result of completing and analyzing the inventory.

I scored primarily high in the obligation category, which indicates that I value people's intents even more than their results. However, I also scored high in the results category, meaning that I do often feel that ethical behavior should be based primarily on outcomes, and not on immutable principles. While at first these two concepts seemed contradictory, I later realized that they can coexist in one ethical philosophy. I also believe that the conflict between my idealized hope for universal ethical principles is balanced by a more practical outlook that accepts that each situation and each individual must be judged separately. I do feel that each and every human being deserves respect and dignity, and I am a firm believer in equal opportunities. However, I dislike authoritarian forms of organizational control and mistrust any attempt to provide a blanket set of moral values to place upon a group of people. While I feel that a person's intent is equally if not more important than the results of their actions, on a larger scale I base an organization's actions on whether or not it produced the greatest good for the greatest number of people, according to a basically utilitarian core philosophy. Nevertheless, I have noticed that such an approach can backfire, as what is good for the majority often neglects the needs of minority groups that may not have the political power or sufficient numbers to stand up for their needs. Therefore, I advocate a balanced approach to making ethical decisions, one that accounts for the needs of any minority groups, and one that addresses the needs of each and every person in the organization; but an approach that in the end produces the most reliable results.