Ethical Decision Making Model analysis Essay Example for Free

Ethical Decision Making Model analysis Essay What is the ethical decision making model? What is critical thinking? In this paper I will discuss the ethical decision making model and how critical thinking impacts ethical decisions. Personal experiences will be used as examples. When we are faced with making an ethical decision we are usually faced with an ethical dilemma. To make a good decision we need to use Logical thinking that draws conclusions from facts and evidence which according to www.ncrel.com is the definition of critical thinking. Recently I was personally faced with an ethical dilemma that has to do with work and school. Im currently on a tuition reimbursement program though my company and there are certain criteria that will make my paid education taxable or nontaxable. Of course if my tuition is nontaxable I dont have to pay taxes and Ill be saving lots of money. One of the criteria for making my tuition taxable is if my educational program qualifies me for a new position at work. If I answer no, the tuition is not taxable and Ill save some money but, in my situation the answer would be yes so my tuition should be taxed but, If I answer no, no one will find out and Ill be cheating my company or the government out of some money. Im now stuck with an ethical dilemma. In the end I choose to answer yes and pay the taxes, following an ethical decision making model helped me do the right thing. The ethical decision making model I followed and will break down is from the Josephson institute of ethics. The model follows 7 simple steps to finally come to a conclusion and make a decision. 1. STOP AND THINK One of the most important steps to better decisions is the oldest advice in the world: think ahead. To do so its necessary to first stop the momentum of events long enough to permit calm analysis. Stop and think wont always be used if you are faced with a decision that needs to be made very quickly but, if youre permitted the time to think about the situation you should. In my case I though about what could happen if I were to avoid paying taxes. I could get in trouble with the law and even my  company. Would it be worth getting fired? No I dont think so. Stopping to think provides several benefits. It prevents rash decisions. It prepares us for more thoughtful discernment. And it can allow us to mobilize our discipline (1). 2. CLARIFY GOALS Before you choose, clarify your short- and long-term aims. Determine which of your many wants and dont-wants affected by the decision are the most important. The big danger is that decisions that fulfill immediate wants and needs can prevent the achievement of our more important life goals. If I were to break the law it would definitely affect my goal of getting my BS in business management. I could also loose my job if I didnt pay taxes and I wouldnt have the resources to pay for school. 3. DETERMINE FACTS Be sure you have adequate information to support an intelligent choice. You cant make good decisions if you dont know the facts. To determine the facts, first resolve what you know and, then, what you need to know. If you dont have enough facts then go find out more about it. Once we know more facts we then see that more decision factors come into play and its easier to make a decision. Here are some guidelines provide by Josephson institute: Consider the reliability and credibility of the people providing the facts. Consider the basis of the supposed facts. If the person giving you the information says he or she personally heard or saw something, evaluate that person in terms of honesty, accuracy and memory. Remember that assumptions, gossip and hearsay are not the same as facts. Consider all perspectives, but be careful to consider whether the source of the information has values different than yours or has a personal interest that could affect perception of the facts. Where possible seek out the opinions of people whose judgment and character  you respect, but be careful to distinguish the well-grounded opinions of well-informed people from casual speculation, conjecture and guesswork. Finally, evaluate the information you have in terms of completeness and reliability so you have a sense of the certainty and fallibility of your decisions. To find out the facts about my tax evasion I ask my friend Megan Kau whos a tax attorney what she thought I should do. Lets just say that the punishment is worse than the crime and thats all the facts that I needed. 4. DEVELOP OPTIONS Now that you know what you want to achieve and have made your best judgment as to the relevant facts, make a list of options, a set of actions you can take to accomplish your goals (2). If its an especially important decision, talk to someone you trust so you can broaden your perspective and think of new choices. If you can think of only one or two choices, youre probably not thinking hard enough but, in my case I would be breaking the law so actually there were no other choices. I was either breaking the law or not breaking the law. 5. CONSIDER CONSEQUENCES Two techniques help reveal the potential consequences also provided by Josephson Institute: Pillar-ize your options. Filter your choices through each of the Six Pillars of Character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship. Will the action violate any of the core ethical principles? For instance, does it involve lying or breaking a promise, is it disrespectful to anyone, is it irresponsible, unfair or uncaring, does it involve breaking laws or rules? Eliminate unethical options. Identify the stakeholders and how the decision is likely to affect them. Consider your choices from the point of view of the major stakeholders. Identify whom the decision will help and hurt. In this case, Ive said before, I would have been breaking the law and if I  anyone were to find out about it I would be very ashamed of what I did. In prior readings I remember a quote that said to make a ethical decision ask yourself, would you be ok with it if it was posted on the front page of your local news paper, If the answer is no, then dont do it. 6. CHOOSE Its time to make a decision. If the choice is not immediately clear, use on of the following strategies to make the decision: Talk to people whose judgment you respect. Seek out friends and mentors, but, once youve gathered opinions and advice, the ultimate responsibility is still yours. What would the most ethical person you know do? Think of the person you know or know of who has the strongest character and best ethical judgment. Then ask yourself: what would that person do in your situation? Think of that person as your decision-making role model and try to behave the way he or she would. I choose to do the right thing which is to pay taxes. 7. MONITOR AND MODIFY Since most hard decisions use imperfect information and best effort predictions, some of them will inevitably be wrong. Ethical decision-makers monitor the effects of their choices. If they are not producing the intended results or are causing additional unintended and undesirable results, they re-assess the situation and make new decisions (3). In my case I think Ill live with the decision Ive made. No one will be hurt by my decision and the law wont be broken on my part. As you can see making an ethical decision can be broken down with the 7 steps provided and if the steps are followed, an ethical decision should be made. Critical thinking plays a big part in making my decision even when following the 7 steps listed. Again critical thinking is Logical thinking that draws conclusions from facts and evidence. Critical thinking plays a huge role in step 3 of the model that I used. I think step 3 is one of the most important steps in the process. Sometimes I still have the urge to save some money and skip out on paying taxes but, because Ive used critical thinking as part of my decision, Ive learned to know that facts are important and in the end making the right decision will better me in the future and also help me reach my goals with less obstacles. Works Cited The seven step path to better decisions http://www.josephsoninstitute.org/MED/MED-4sevensteppath.htm Web definitions www.ncrel.com

Comparing Brave New World and George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four (198

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is more relevant today than George Orwell's 1984. Although both of the two totalitarian societies are based on plausible premises, the Utopia depicted in Brave New World still has a chance of appearing today, while the Big Brother-dominated society created by Orwell, being based to some extent on the totalitarian societies that existed at the time of the book's inception, is simply obsolete.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brave New World remains more believable in modern times because the events that led up to the creation of Huxley's Utopia have the greater chance of occurring tomorrow. In both novels, the birth of the totalitarian society is brought on by a catastrophic war that probably involves the entire world. However, in 1984, the war is in the process of being fought, giving the reader the impression that somewhere in this world, there is still a non-totalitarian government which could defeat Orwell's nightmarish police state. In Brave New World, the war that preceded the creation of Utopia has long since passed; it often appears as though Utopia has always existed. This makes it much more believable than Big Brother, especially since it seems more likely to occur when the world is at peace. Also, the war depicted by Brave New World contains technology that seems particularly significant in modern times. In Utopia, Western Europe Controller Mustapha Mond mentions that the war preceding the inception of their society was fought using Anthrax Bombs. Because biological weapons have become more common part of military arsenals in recent years, readers of Brave New World have more reason to believe that its version of the war that starts the rise of totalitarianism could happen today. Finally, 1984 ... ... in Huxley's Brave New World, is more universal and more relevant to modern society than 1984's Big Brother. While both Utopia and Big Brother are equally plausible versions of a future society, the two were brought into existence by different preceding events. Also, Big Brother has a faint historical basis: Orwell meant for it to reflect the totalitarianism of the communist governments that existed in his era. Huxley gives no indication in Brave New World whether Utopia echoes a particular totalitarian society in real history, allowing it to remain plausible in an era when the brutal Communist regimes that existed in Orwell's time are virtually gone. Finally, Big Brother ensures its dominance by inflicting pain on dissidents while Utopia uses pleasure. Utopia, therefore, would stay in power more easily because pleasure is a more effective method of control than pain.

Olympics Document Based Question Essay

DBQ Essay (Modern Day Olympics 1896 – 2002) War, Nationalism, and money paid by various corporations/countries all shaped the modern day Olympics. War played a major role in shaping the modern day Olympic Games. In document one, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic movement, states that the Olympics would serve as a reduction of war because of the worldwide competition between various countries. Coubertin wrote this document to attempt to convince the Athletic Society of France to revive the Olympic Games. In document 3, the autobiography of Arnold Lunn talks about how the Nazis used certain competition to prove to the world that a dictatorship (or Nazism) is better than democracy. The only thing that mattered to the Nazi’s was to win. The Nazi’s had pictured the Olympics as a war where it was the Nazi’s against the world. Document 5 reveals that if Japan wouldn’t have hosted the Olympic Games after the Second World War, they would’ve never gotten what they needed to rise as a world trade power. Ryotaro Azuma wrote this document to recognize the fact that the Olympics had evo lved into an event that would ultimately save a country. Nationalism also played a major role in shaping the modern day Olympic Games. Document 2 recognizes the fact that men were too proud to let women represent their country in the Olympics. Document 4 represents nationalism because it shows how proud America would be if they beat the Soviets in any sort of competition during the Olympics. Bob Matthias wrote this document to show us the determination and pride the U.S had to defeat the soviets, and how the Olympics evolved into a competition between just the U.S and the Soviets.

Montana National Parks Cattle Barons, Volcanoes

Rock Island Union Prison

In August 1863, United States Army began construction of the Rock Island Prison. Located on an Island between Davenport, Iowa and Rock Island, Illinois, the prison was designed to house captured Confederate Army soldiers. The plan was to build 84 barracks with each one housing 120 prisoners along with their own kitchen.  The stockade fence was 12 feet high. There was a sentry placed every one hundred feet with only two openings to get inside. The prison was to be built on 12 acres of the 946 acres that encompassed the island. The First Prisoners In December 1863, the yet unfinished Rock Island Prison received its first prisoners who had been captured by General Ulysses S. Grant troops during  the Battle of Lookout Mountain,  in Chattanooga, Tennessee. While the first group numbered 468, by the end of the month the prison population would exceed 5000 captured Confederate soldiers, some of them also having been captured at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, Tennessee. Temperatures were below zero degrees Fahrenheit in December 1963 when those first prisoners arrived. The temperature would be reported as low as thirty-two degrees below zero at times during for the rest of that first winter.   Disease and Malnutrition at Rock Island Since the construction of the prison was not completed when the first Confederate prisoner’s arrived, sanitation and disease, especially a smallpox outbreak, were issues at that time.  As a response,  in the spring of 1864, the Union Army built a hospital and installed a sewer system which helped improve conditions inside the prison walls immediately, as well as ending the smallpox epidemic. In June 1864, Rock Island Prison severely changed the amount of rations that prisoners received due to how Andersonville Prison was treating Union Army soldiers who were prisoners. This change in rations resulted in both malnutrition and scurvy which led to the death of Confederate prisoners at the Rock Island Prison facility. During the time  that Rock Island was in operation, it housed over 12,000 Confederate soldiers of which nearly 2000 died, but although many claim that  Rock Island was comparable to the Confederate’s Andersonville Prison from an inhumane standpoint only seventeen percent of their prisoners died compared to twenty-seven percent of Andersonville’s total population. In addition, Rock Island had enclosed barracks versus the man-made tents or totally being in the elements as was the case in Andersonville. Prison Escapes A total of forty-one prisoners escaped and were not recaptured. One of the largest escapes occurred in June 1864 when several prisoners tunneled their way out. The last two were caught as they came out of the tunnel and another three were caught while still on the island. One escapee drowned while swimming across the Mississippi River, but another six successfully made it across. Within a couple of days, four of those were re-captured by Union forces but two were able to completely elude capture. Rock Island Closes The Rock Island Prison closed in July 1865 and the prison was totally destroyed shortly thereafter.  In 1862, the United States Congress established an arsenal on Rock Island and today it is our country’s largest government operated arsenal that encompasses almost the entire island. It is now called Arsenal Island. The only remaining evidence that there was a prison that held Confederate soldiers during the Civil War is the Confederate Cemetery where approximately 1950 prisoners are buried. Additionally, the Rock Island National Cemetery is also located on the island, where the remains of at least 150 Union guards are interred, as well as over 18,000 Union soldiers.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - 1243 Words

Title- The Perks of Being a Wallflower Author- Stephen Chbosky Genre- Fiction The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a novel about coming of age that is seen through the perspective of Charlie, a young ‘wallflower’ that is starting high school and experiences the troublesome teenage life filled with drugs, sexuality and love. Charlie writes this book in a series of letters to an anonymous person. Charlie is the main protagonist of the story who is apprehensive and a kind-hearted boy however he has many problems happening in his life that he doesn’t like to concern others with â€Å"I just don’t want you to worry about me, or think you’ve met me, or waste your time anymore†. I admire Charlie because he is very considerate of others and although he is shy he overcomes this fear when he tries to find friends and step out of his comfort zone† Normally I am very shy, but (Patrick) seemed like the kind of guy you could just walk up to at a football game even though you were three years younger and not popular†. In ret urn Charlie is rewarded with his first real friend at high school. I also admire Charlie for his mature attitude towards finding new friends and moving on from the death of his friend Michael. Charlie really needed to start interacting more with people, during the story we find out that Charlie misses having a friend and that being alone can be difficult and cause negative effects â€Å"It would be very nice to have a friend again. I would like that even more than a date†. I thinkShow MoreRelatedThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower1568 Words   |  7 PagesThe Perks of Being a Wallflower is the story of a unique high school student named Charlie and his journey of self-discovery throughout his freshman year. Charlie’s personality changes drastically from the beginning of the book to the end of it; and this is what I want to focus on. First I am going to detail Charlie’s personality at the beginning of the book and then use Erik Erikson’s theory of Psychosocia l Development, Kohlberg’s theory of Moral Development, Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive DevelopmentRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower1597 Words   |  7 PagesStephen Chbosky’s film â€Å"The Perks of being a Wallflower† and J. D. Salinger’s book â€Å"The Catcher in the Rye† are two coming of age texts which link to the theme of alienation through the ‘coming of age experience . Both protagonists in the film and novel experience alienation from their respective societal expectations. Charlie from â€Å"perks† is a reserved teenage boy who is tormented by his past of sexual abuse and death of his aunt and best friend. Although isolated by his own reality, Charlie seeksRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower857 Words   |  4 Pagesfamilial expectations, peer associations, and, even, mass media. In â€Å"The Perks of Being a Wallflower†, the protagonist, Charlie, is subjected to undergoing experiences involving drug use, suicide, underage drinking, sexual abuse, mental illness, stigmas, homosexuality, the Goth culture, and sexual infidelity by the end of his freshman year in high school. At the beginning of â€Å"The Perks of Being a Wallflower†, Charlie is portrayed as being a smart, yet introverted teenager who yearns for affection and acceptanceRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower2078 Words   |  9 PagesIn both Steven Chbosky and J.D. Salinger’s coming of age novels ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ both authors successfully explore the idea of entering adulthood as an outsider. The Perks of Being a Wallflower follows a fifteen-year-old boy, Charlie. Charlie has recently lost his best friend Michael to suicide and is struggling to come to terms with his death. He is in his freshman year of high school and struggles to fit in socially, until he meets a group of seniorsRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower1056 Words   |  5 Pagesmajor concept in today s teens. With social anxiety being the third largest mental health problem in the U.S., it is no wonder (Richards). Social anxiety is a type of anxiety disorder that causes extreme fear in social settings. People with this disorder struggle with everyday communication, worrying that they are constantly being negatively judged, or that they will embarrass themselves in some way, shape, or form. In The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, we meet Charlie, a freshman whoRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower1401 Words   |  6 PagesI chose to do my Abnormal Psychology paper over The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I heard about this movie a couple of years ago and I never had time to watch it until recently. I did have a difficult time diagnosing what disorder I thought the main character had, but it turned out to actually be a learning opportunity for myself. This assignment did give me the opportunity to watch the movie differently than I have examined a movie before. What I mean is, for this assignment, I had to examine inRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower1181 Words   |  5 PagesIn the film The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie, an introverted boy, coping with the recent suicide of his friend, begins high school. He finds trouble making friends until he meets Patrick and Sam. As Charlie attempts to improve his social interaction, and cultivate a sense of self, he continuously experiences blackouts and triggers. Nearing the end of the film, Charlie has a mental breakdown, which leads to his hospitalization, and he uncovers his repressed memories of his Aunt Helen molestingRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower Essay1033 Words   |  5 PagesThe Perks of Being a Wallflower is a book written by Stephen Chbosky wrote a book that many people can relate to when it comes to the sayings of the characters. Sam said, â€Å"Iâ€⠄¢m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is.† Later in the book, the main character Charlie says a quote that has so much meaning when it comes to identity and figuring out who we really are. Charlies says, â€Å"I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybeRead MorePerks Of Being A Wallflower1337 Words   |  6 PagesPerks of being a Wallflower is an American film written and directed by Stephen Chbosky and released in September 2012. The film is based on a background of a student, Charlie Kelmeckis, who from childhood setbacks has been suffering from depression. He has been discharged from an institution of mental health care to start adapting to the normal lifestyle as a high school student. Charlie Kelmeckis is uneasy starting his first year of school; he is very shy and finds it difficult to make friendsRead MoreThe Perks Of Being A Wallflower870 Words   |  4 PagesSociology is the scientific study of being behavior in human groups (Schaefer). There are very many examples of sociology in the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I view alienation, deviance, and gender roles to be the most prominent. This movie is about the struggles of a teenage boy named Charlie’s freshman year of high school. Charlie is seen as a social outcast and he just barely makes it through the year with the help of his best friends Sam and Patrick. Throughout the movie Charlie

Argumentative Essay on Gay marriage free essay sample

Gay People can’t do this. Women shouldn’t be able to that. But touch my semiautomatic rifle and you’re attacking my rights. †- Remi Kanazi Why should someones rights to marry be based on a person religious beliefs or their own opinion on family values. Gay Marriage: If they like they should be able to put a ring on it. Same sex couples should be allowed to publicly celebrate their relationship in the same way as heterosexual couples. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation states that many same sex couples want the right to legally marry and honor their relationship in the greatest way our society has to offer Also same couples should have access to the same benefits enjoyed by heterosexual married couples. Many benefits are only available to married couples, such as hospital visitation during an illness, taxation and inheritance rights, access to family health coverage, and protection in the event of the relationship ending. We will write a custom essay sample on Argumentative Essay on Gay marriage or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Same sex couples should not be denied the right to marry their partner as it states in the 14th amendment it forbids states from denying any person life, liberty or property, without due process of law or to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. By directly mentioning the role of the states, the 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment. This is just one of many examples why a same sex couple should have the right to marry, every person in America should have the same rights as another. Same sex marriages is a civil right. The 1967 Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia confirmed that marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man† and same-sex marriages should receive the same protections given to interracial marriages by that ruling. Legalizing gay marriage will not harm heterosexual marriages or family values and society will continue to function successfully. Gay marriages and same sex relationships don’t harm anybody or has any negative effects on one’s life. Same sex partners just want to be married and have a family like heterosexual couples. A study published on Apr. 13, 2009 in Social Science Quarterly found that laws permitting same sex marriage or civil unions have no adverse effect on marriage, divorce, and abortion rates, or even the percent of children born out of wedlock. And also gay marriage legalization is correlated with lower divorce rates, while the ban on gay marriages are correlated with higher divorce rates. Studies shown that Massachusetts, which became the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2004, had the lowest divorce rate in the country in 2008. Its divorce rate declined 21% between 2003 and 2008. Alaska, which altered its constitution to prohibit gay marriage in 1998, saw a 17. 2% increase in its divorce rate. The seven states with the highest divorce rates between 2003 and 2008 all had constitutional prohibitions to gay marriage. If the reason for marriage is strictly reproduction, infertile couples would not be allowed to marry. Ability to create offspring has never been a qualification for marriage. George Washington, often referred to as the Father of Our Country,† did not have children with his wife Martha Custis. Also there are plenty of children in foster homes waiting to be adopted by couples it should not matter if they couple is gay. As long as the couple is financially sound and has a good household environment there should be no problem with adopting kids. It shouldn’t matter if a child has 2 mothers or 2 fathers a family is a family. One day it won’t be called a gay family just a family. As you can see same sex couples should have the right to get married. Another person’s feelings or opinions should not control their rights or lives. No one should judge one another off their sexual orientation. Marriage is a right not a hetrosexual priveledge. And if you were gay you wouldn’t want anybody denying you your right to get married. There’s no freedom until we are equal.