SLC 300 (601) Fall 2024 Leading with an Ethical Perspective

In the article “Thinking Ethically” it discusses the five different approaches to values to deal with moral issues. The most important approach mentioned is The Utilitarian Approach. This is seen in the business world almost everyday when it comes to making decisions. A big one we see quite often are employees getting laid off. This just happened at CISCO for some people as it affected thousands of people. In doing this, it is saving the company money, which will benefit the remaining employees. Health and safety policies are overlooked as well in the business world as some companies are looking to invest in updated safety equipment. This prioritizes the employees well-being and is a benefit in the long run. The second most important approach stated in the article is The Rights Approach. This is seen in different work environments on a daily basis as many places are fighting for worker rights. This means employees are fighting for fair wages and a safe working environment. Strikes are being held worldwide which is showing an action being done by employees to voice their concerns. Workers have the right for fair treatment and deserve a safe workplace that they should be allowed to feel safe in everyday going into work. Both of these approaches are very important as they can guide employees, peers, and workers in the right direction, but it is important to understand when moral issues are taking place and when action should be done. 

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/thinking-ethically/

In “Thinking Ethically,” the five approaches to ethical decision-making that the authors review include what they call the utilitarian approach, which offers that the ethical action is the one that produces “the greatest balance of good over evil” (Santa Clara University). This brings to mind work situations in which the choice between reducing employee hours or laying off a small group are often had to be made. When the leadership decides to cut hours; this they consider would distribute the impact more evenly, a decision grounded on the utilitarian notion of the greatest good for the greatest number.

On a bigger scale, the Rights Approach focuses on the respect of an individual’s rights, such as that to privacy and to choose freely. It would say, “We have the right to do, believe, and say whatever we choose in our personal lives so long as we do not violate the rights of others” (Santa Clara University). It reminds me of those hot debates going on around the world about data privacy. It is an ethical question whether companies are justified in collecting and selling personal information when often people do not give their consent for everything happening with their data.

Both cases show how the ethical frameworks guide moral standpoints, both personally and globally, by considering the rights well and the impacts.

In this article “The Framework for Ethical Decision Making” I learned the six different ethical lenses and a structured approach to resolve ethical dilemmas. One of the six ethical lenses is The Common Good Lens. This lens focuses on ideas and ethical decisions that would contribute to the community and society welfare. This past year a couple friends and I volunteered at the food bank. This allowed us to pack food for those in the community who need it. We were able to provide healthy food which can increase well-being. While volunteering, I feel as if me and the people around me were building a better community. We all came together to try and better a problem that will always occur. Another ethical lens that I feel is used by many college students is The Care Ethics Lens. This lens is solely for relationships, empathy, and responsibility towards others. I have used this many times in college as I have been involved in many group projects which require you to be collaborative with others. Last semester, I had a semester-long project with a group our professor put us in. We had to meet in person and all had to encourage each other that we could share our thoughts and any ideas we may have. This led to disagreements within group members, which led me to calming both peers down and leading a conversation on our feelings. Overall, while using the framework for ethical decisions it can lead you to having  better outcomes with collaborations in groups. It can lead to improved communication within group members, and can impact one’s social growth to only get stronger.

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making/

Looking into ethical decision-making, “A Framework for Ethical Decision Making” emphasizes that a situation must be given its respect according to a number of ethical lenses; hence, the critical question is, “Which option best respects the rights of all who have a stake?” (Santa Clara University). This reminds me of my personal experiences, particularly when I was put in a situation of having to make a tough decision regarding a friend’s honesty. I needed to consider the hurt I might cause by telling the truth and calling him out and balance it with the level of openness and honesty our relationship needed at that moment. It was a dilemma just like the ones described in the document, since I had to take the rights and feelings of each party into consideration, and it showed me again the subtlety in ethical decision-making. 

On a larger scale, reading through the ethical considerations of the text reminded me about the current global talk pertaining to climate change. Most countries have to make hard choices that affect their citizens and environment, and most often are based on short-run gains rather than long-term sustainability. In these contexts, the emphasis of the document on evaluating options through lenses such as the common good and the utilitarian lens will be paramount. For instance, economic development can be imperative, but it has to balance itself against environmental protections to meet the needs of the greater community. Debates about climate policies show some similarities, and yet many differences, between personal ethical dilemmas and ones such as those found in society.

I found the readings in module 2 to spark my interest in learning further about how are values are used in the workplace and team settings and understanding the impact they make. The article Personal Values and Performance in Teams helped me to understand the ways that values have been studied for years and the impact it makes to understand why individuals and groups embody the values they do. It was interesting to read about the 4 ways that the values were studied. I especially thought “the third approach to studying values, an examination of differences in values across national cultures” was interesting as it gave insight to the way values are unique across various cultures and made me curious about how this plays a role in the team work we engage in (Glew, 1). Individuals with different background and unique sets of values make for a unique team and sense of collaboration while opening up a space for learning from one anothers perspectives. Another important point the article made was that “values are potentially useful predictors of individual and team performance” (Glew, 1). This was relevant to our group assignment we are workign to now as we see the important of developing interview questions that are centered around values to ask our CEO candidiates as knowing their values will give us the best sense of their individual and team performace.I now have a better understanding of how values are studied, their influence on individual and team work, and how I can continue to learn more about values of myself and others.

Glew J. David, Personal Values and Performance in Teams. N.d.. https://moodle-courses2425.wolfware.ncsu.edu/pluginfile.php/654177/mod_resource/content/2/Glew_Personal_Values_Performance_Teams.pdf

Module 2 provided great insight to various important topics and the readings gave great examples of how these topics are connected to real settings and scenarios in the world. One reading that I gained insight from was the reading, How to Link Personal values with Team Values. This readings shared the purpose behing why it is so imprtant to lead with values in the workplace and shared the case of Levi Strauss completing an exercise with employees to identifiy the top values of employees within the company. The article shares that “people were amazed at the diversity of the values and at the range of values people selected as most important” (Jaffee, Scott, 1). This shows how vastly different each individuals values are but how they also motivate us in unique ways and drive our work. I found it interesting how many values each employee shared and the few that were selected in the end as the top core vaues. A couple values that shared great isnight into Levi’s and how the company operates based off values were integtrity and communication. Both of these values are vital to the proper operation in the workplace, leadership, and overall motivation of employees. I have seen both of these values within any leader that I have ever worked alongside and how they were driven in their work by them. The article retierated the motivation behind values with this statement, “a company’s values what it stands for, what its people believe in-are crucial to its competitive success. Indeed, values drive the business. Values motivating employees and driving their work” (Jaffee, Scott, 1). From this we gain a better understanding of the powerful motovators that values are and how we can ahve great collaboration in teams and produce great work if we keep our values at the forefront of all that we do.

Jaffe, Dennis T., Scott, Cynthia D.. “How to link personal values with team values”. EBSCOhost, 20 Aug. 2015.

https://moodle courses2425.wolfware.ncsu.edu/pluginfile.php/654176/mod_resource/content/3/Jaffe_Link_Personal_Values_Team_Values.pdf

This module was useful in gaining a better understanding of ethics and leading with one’s values. One of the readings that I found the most insightful and useful in making a connection to the world and how these values and ethics make a difference in our daily lives was the reading How to Live with Purpose, Identify Your Values and Improve Your Leadership. One piece that was mentioned was that those who are great managers typically are those who lead with their values. This is something I have seen to hold true in a corporate settig wth the team I worked with during my summer internship. I was able to not only see how my managers led with their values to guide our tea but also was able to interact on multiple occaisions with the company CEO. The reading shared “most people have approximately 5-7 core values that identify who they are at their core. Each person’s values are unique to that person; even if two people happen to pick the same value word, such as integrity, each person will demonstrate it differently in her daily actions and language” (Loehr, 1). I saw this to be true within the setting and my interactions with the CEO. He led intentionally with his values and it was true that although he held the same values as many others within the company, he had a unique set of values from his experience and time in leadership that shaped him into the value driven leader he is. His language and actions spoke highly of his character and aligned with the company’s mission and vission statment as well as the company values. It was great to experience this leaderhip this summer and be able to have a real wodl experience to connect back to this course.

Reference:

Loehr, A. (2017, December 7). How to live with purpose, identify your values and improve your leadership. HuffPost. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-to-live-with-purpose_b_5187572

40 years of storming: a historical review of Tuckman’s model of small group development By Denise A. Bonebright

This article brings to mind the many advancements and studies in group development by naval officers and/or military departments. The need for consistent and repeatable processes within the military is crucial, as a result in the realm of group development is quite extensive when observing military operations. I have found that military studies and developmental models have served as key fundamental research on grpup processes and development.

In the article it is the widespread use of Tuckman’s model in HRD and management is mentioned and is used to show hows how foundational models can become pillars in fields. This reminds me of similar industries adopting early frameworks simply because they are the only available references at the time. I would be interested in learning more about other models that have been developed after the Tuckman model and how common and accurate they are within teams.

Group dynamics are more complex in the real world than Tuckman’s suggest. The idea of moving linearly from one stage to the next is overly simplistic and ignores external pressures. In reality, teams are deeply influenced by external factors like organizational culture, market conditions, or even global events that dramatically affect team functioning. These external pressures can disrupt group development in ways Tuckman’s model doesn’t account for.

In Personal Values and Performance in Teams: An Individual and Team-Level Analysis, David J. Glew demonstrates how personal values can have some sort of effect on  both individual and team performance. In order to have successful teamwork, David says the importance of how teams must have a strong alignment of personal values with organizational goals. He believes this aligns to enhanced cooperation, commitment, and performance. I would say I have to agree. This reminds me of one of my summer jobs this past summer where I was at a workplace where not all of our goals aligned and we were all different in our own way. This led to some confusion and frustration in the workplace because we felt like we were all distant from each other because our end goals don’t necessarily align with one another. Glew’s research revealed that personal values did not significantly predict peer-evaluated performance, despite the expectation of a positive impact. In contrast, an individual’s prior performance proved to be a stronger indicator of their future team-based performance. However, at the team level, the value of equality had a positive influence on overall performance for undergraduate teams, while the results were less clear for MBA teams.

https://moodle-courses2425.wolfware.ncsu.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=468573

In “40 Years of Storming: A Historical Review of Tuckman’s Model of Small Group Development,” Denise A. Bonebright shows how important and vital the use of Tuckman’s Influential Model really is in the workforce and in everyday life. The most important stage of this model is the “storming stage”, according to Denise A. Bonebright. This stage is the stage that helps groups clarify goals and rules and is necessary in order for a successful team of any sort. This essay reminds me of any baseball team that I have been on since I’ve been here at NC State. Normally, at the beginning of the year, we start in the ‘forming stage’. At first, none of us are really sure where we are going to play and how we are going to fit in to be a part of the team which hints at the ‘forming stage”. The ‘storming stage” usually occurs within the first few weeks of the season where some people are mad that they aren’t playing in a certain position or where they want to be. This can cause disagreements of course, but at the end of the day it sharpens out the cream of the crop so that everything will fall into place when needed. After all of that talk is dimmed down a bit and everyone knows their role, the “norming stage” occurs and everything falls into place. This is what is predicted from Tuckman’s Influential Model at the end of the day but this is just an example of how this model is used and put into real life situations.

https://moodle-courses2425.wolfware.ncsu.edu/pluginfile.php/654178/mod_resource/content/2/40%20Years%20of%20Storming%20Tuckman.pdf