Personal ethical framework development and application

Definition of an Ethical Framework
An ethical framework that would be useful to me is one which I can use it to assess how to go about behaving in a given circumstance. The framework should be based on the virtue-ethics perspective. As Lutz (1996) points out, “Piaget and Kohlberg belong to the cognitive-developmental tradition of developmental psychology” in which the moral development of a child is decided through social interaction and comes about naturally rather than through formal education (p. 1). Kohlberg’s theory of moral development is that there are six stages of moral development. First, there is the stage in which the child does what is right to avoid being punished. Second comes the stage in which the child does what is right because he perceives it serves his own interests. Third comes the stage in which the child desires to see himself as a good person and for others to see himself as a good person too. Fourth comes the stage in which the person now does what is right because there is a need to serve a larger body or community, which can only be achieved by doing what is right (this is the development of the conscience towards the social system stage). Fifth is the stage at which the person does what is right out of a sense of duty or obligation to the law. Sixth comes the stage in which the person does what is right because of a sense of the validity of the universal moral principles that he perceives to govern the world and to which he has a personal commitment (Lutz, 1996). This theory is useful in developing my own framework for ethical decision-making.
Description of How I Developed My Framework
I developed my framework, first, by going through the six stages of Kohlberg’s moral develop model as if I were passing through them for the first time. First, I asked, “What is right to engage with customers?” The answer was what I had been taught—to treat others as you yourself would like to be treated. I have since learned that this is what is known as the Golden Rule, and it applies perfectly well in business ethics. One cannot go wrong if one adheres to the Golden Rule. Second, I asked, “Does following the Golden Rule benefit myself?” I answered that, yes, it certainly does because when you treat others the way you want to be treated you cannot expect that anyone will be hurt by your actions, as I would never set out to hurt myself. Third, I asked, “Can I see myself as a good person if I follow the Golden Rule as my ethical framework?” I answered that, yes, of course I can, as there is nothing about that Golden Rule that anyone has ever objected to: it is universally acknowledged and accepted as one of the most righteous principles on earth. Therefore, if I adhere to it I can most certainly regard myself as a good person and would likely be regarded by others as a good person as well. Fourth, I asked, “Does adhering to the Golden Rule serve the wider community and the interests of my own organization?” I answered that, yes, doing good unto others is the very definition of serving the wider community and my own organization: it enables me to put the needs of others before my own and to serve those needs so that the community and the company can grow and develop successfully. Fifth, I asked, “Do I feel an obligation or sense of duty with regards to adhering to the Golden Rule?” I answered that, yes, I certainly do and I feel that if I violated that rule I should lose whatever dignity, respect and reputation I have earned. Sixth, I asked, “Can I commit myself to the Golden Rule as a universal principle of rightness?” I answered that, yes, I certainly can because the Golden Rule is a universal principle and it is one that I feel I have a duty to uphold.
Personal Application
My ethical framework is based on a mixture of religious conviction and ideology. The religious conviction is that Christ taught the Golden Rule when He taught His followers to love God and love their neighbors. His teachings were taught to me from a young age and they have stayed with me over the years. My own moral development occurred through the lens of the Christian religion. However, there is much in Christianity that is universal. The ideology of my framework, for example, is that the Golden Rule is basically an ideal that has translated well across all cultures and that all people find is a good rule no matter where they are.
I have applied this framework throughout most of my life but not always with perfection. Developing the framework is certainly not the same as living by the ethical principles that underline it. Practice, however, does make perfect and as the years have gone by I have found that it is indeed easier to stay true to the principles and the framework. Doing so also has given me confidence to tackle sticky situations and challenging interactions in ways that have made me proud afterwards. As Kholberg and Hersh (1977) point out, “schooling is a moral exercise,” (p. 53) and I feel like my life has been through a lot of schooling.
Analysis
My theory is based on the ethical perspective of virtue-ethics—i.e., the development of a good character; that is, engaging in behavior that will help one to develop a good character. The theory of virtue ethics is one of the major ethical theory systems; the other two being deontology or duty-based ethics and utilitarianism, also known as pragmatism. Virtue ethics is similar to both as it focuses on achieving what is good, but it defines the good in different ways. Virtue ethics focuses on perceiving the good in terms of what it does for one’s character, whether or not aligns one’s character with the universal good—the ideal of good. Deontology focuses on the idea of doing good according to what one’s duty is. In other words, one will do what is right if that course of action is one’s duty. Duty is the determining factor in determining morality. A child will have certain duties (such as the duty of obeying one’s parents), parents will have certain duties (such as providing for the family, taking care of the children and the home and so on), and people in other roles will have duties as well. The morality of their actions is determined, according to this theory, by whether their behavior matches the duty they owe.
The utilitarian perspective is a little different in that it determines the right course of action by asking what the greatest good for the greatest number of people is. So neither duty nor what might be deemed virtuous or ideal is used to determine the right behavior in the utilitarian theory. This theory looks merely at the practical outcome of the behavior and supposes that if it helps more people than it hurts then it may be said to be good or right. If it hurts more than it benefits, then it is likely not the right course of action to take.
These are the three major theoretical ethical perspectives and each has its applications in life. Each can be used to justify and to invalidate a course of action because ultimately each hinges upon a conception of the good. And if there is no common or shared conception or perception of the good, the theories themselves are unlikely to yield the same results for all people. This is why I like my ethical framework because it does not rely on the subjective perception: it gets right to the heart of how right action might be achieved. One should do unto others as one would like done unto oneself.
Synthesis
My personal ethical framework influences my ethical reasoning and decision-making and behavior by giving me the basis upon which to determine whether each of my actions is moral. If I am angry with someone in my line of work, I can use this framework to guide me by stepping back and asking, “If this person were angry with me for the same reasons I have for being angry with him, how would I want him to behave towards me?” Then I answer myself, “I would want him to address me straight out in a calm and constructive manner rather than keeping his angry feelings towards me buried where they might stew and turn into genuine ill-will the next time we cross paths. In all likelihood I am unaware of having made him angry at all and what he perceives as upsetting was completely unintended on my part. Perhaps he feels that I ought to know better and perhaps there is some truth to that. If he would be so kind as to bring it to my attention I would probably feel grateful and would ask his pardon and we would most likely become friends from that point out, having established an empathetic relationship. That is how I would like him to act towards me.” Upon hearing myself say that, I would think, “Well, of course, that is exactly how I should behave towards him.” Instantly my anger is gone and I do precisely unto him as I would like to be done unto me, and while the outcome is not always as I imagine it to be at the very least I am no longer harboring thoughts of ill-will towards another. It is also a practice that encourages humility and honesty, for it is no easy thing to tell someone to his face that something he has done has upset you—but when you learn how to handle these situations with delicacy and compassion, you yourself begin to feel like you are growing as a person. I have certainly felt that in my own life and that is the main reason I have always made an effort to use this framework.
Evaluation
My final conclusions about my framework and its usefulness are that it works and I would recommend it for anyone who does not yet have a framework or who finds their framework to be less than adequate. One simply cannot go wrong when it comes to applying the Golden Rule. Even in the example described above, the outcome was not what I envisioned and we did not end up becoming friends but it was still better than holding my anger in and trying to get revenge because he actually thanked me later and said that my words had given him something to reflect on and he ended up changing his manner in certain ways. We never had any more problems with one another but we never did become friends either. Nonetheless, by treating him with respect even though I felt I had been wronged, I ended up turning the wrong into a right. All I had to do was put myself in his shoes and thing how I would like to be treated if I had been the one to make him upset. When we do this it opens our eyes to a whole new reality and can really help guide one to making the right decisions. This rule can apply to anything in life, even if it is something that is unlikely to impact another person. For instance, so you want to engage in a victimless crime: well, there are no such things as victimless crimes if we really think about it, and the Golden Rule framework that I have developed has help me to realize that.
References
Ajzen, I. (2002). Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the
theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Psychology, 32(4), 665-683
Kohlberg, L., & Hersh, R. H. (1977). Moral development: A review of the theory. Theory
into practice, 16(2), 53-59.
Lutz, D. W. (1996, January). Rival traditions of character development: Classical moral
philosophy and contemporary empirical science. In Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics XVII. Washington, DC.