A Framework for Ethical Decision Making
Making good ethical decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that impact our choices. A negotiator should always have a method for ethical decision making. When practiced regularly, the method becomes so familiar that a negotiator can work through it automatically, without consulting the specific steps.
Collaborate when in ethically challenging situations! The more novel and difficult the ethical choice a negotiator faces, the more he or she needs to rely on discussion and dialogue with others about the dilemma. Only by careful exploration of the problem, aided by the insights and different perspectives of trusted colleagues, can a negotiator make sound ethical choices in difficult situations.
Method For Ethical Decision Making
1. Recognize an Ethical Issue
2. Get the Facts
3. Evaluate Alternative Actions
4. Make a Decision and Test It
5. Act and Reflect on the Outcome
Collaborate when in ethically challenging situations! The more novel and difficult the ethical choice a negotiator faces, the more he or she needs to rely on discussion and dialogue with others about the dilemma. Only by careful exploration of the problem, aided by the insights and different perspectives of trusted colleagues, can a negotiator make sound ethical choices in difficult situations.
Method For Ethical Decision Making
1. Recognize an Ethical Issue
- Could this decision or situation be damaging to someone or some group?
- Does this decision involve a choice between a good and bad alternative, or perhaps between two "goods" or between two "bads"?
- Is this issue about more than what is legal or what is most efficient? If so, how?
2. Get the Facts
- What are the relevant facts? What facts are unknown? Can I learn more about the situation? Do I know enough to make a decision?
- What individuals and groups have an important stake in the outcome? Are some concerns more important? Why?
- What are the options for acting? Have all the relevant persons and groups been consulted? Have I identified creative options?
3. Evaluate Alternative Actions
- Which option will produce the most good and do the least harm? (The Utilitarian Approach)
- Which option best respects the rights of all who have a stake? (The Rights Approach)
- Which option treats people equally or proportionately? (The Justice Approach)
- Which option best serves the community as a whole, not just some members? (The Common Good Approach)
- Which option leads me to act as the sort of person I want to be? (The Virtue Approach)
4. Make a Decision and Test It
- Considering all these approaches, which option best addresses the situation?
- If I told someone I respect-or told a television audience-which option I have chosen, what would they say?
5. Act and Reflect on the Outcome
- How can my decision be implemented with the greatest care and attention to the concerns of all stakeholders?
- How did my decision turn out and what have I learned from this specific situation?
*Sources of all content found on Sources page.