A consideration of all alternatives,
4. A consideration of how you would feel if the plan/action was implemented,
5. A projection of consequences, and
6. A consideration of how you would justify your actions to the public.
Barnard also develop a construct called, "moral basis for the solution of moral conflicts." In applying this construct to the police officer's situation, Barnard suggests opening up to the co-workers/subordinates to tell them the rationale behind the decision and writing a letter to management perhaps discussing how your role is really an expanded version with duties to the subordinates along with duties and allegiance toward management.
Another potential conflict is within one's self and one's inner values. There might be conflicts between private goals and public goals or between objective and subjective responsibility. Tussman notes that in our society,...
In the modern era, this tendency to not be able to clearly support the public interest over the private interest has increased.
The law provides the moral minimum by which a conflict of interest arises. Indeed, there are other situations which are not strictly delineated by law wherein a conflict of interest may arise. Just because an act is legal, it does not mean it is necessarily ethical. There will also be times when we will challenge a law because it conflicts with our morals or ethics such as the Civil Rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's. Bribery, influence peddling, and information peddling are three kinds of conflicts of interest to avoid in the public domain.
