A634.9.5.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

The MSLD 634 Leadership Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility has left me with many important lifelong lessons that will come into play daily within my entire life. If I had to choose three key lessons that will stay for me forever I would choose affirmative action, living morally and perspectives on realism. Every article and all the readings throughout The Practice of Ethics by LaFollette (2007) really supported these three lessons. Affirmative action struck a nerve for me because it has become a very recent topic in the news today, especially because I live in Florida with the Travon Martin case. This confrontation happened only 30 minutes from where I live and the key witness was someone I have known for at least 14 years so it’s a very close issue for me. I do feel that race was a factor in why the confrontation began. I feel that George Zimmerman did what a ‘typical’ person would do and profiled him because he was a male in a hoody walking in the rain at night. I do not disagree that had I seen this unknown person in a neighborhood I knew quite well that I would also feel alarmed; however he did not need to get out of his car and provoke matters the way he did. I believe it is instances like these that reinforce affirmative action and prevent us from becoming a nation of equality. Racism cannot die until older generations die with it.

I am 28 years old and I am a part of the “Millennials” (Deyoe, R. H., & Fox, T. L. (2012) so my generation has never faced the challenges previous generations did with racism, slavery or segregation as we are now protected with civil rights. Therefore one would imagine a world of equality, which clearly doesn’t exist. Affirmative action was developed for all the wrong reasons, it was a way to “correct past discriminatory policies by ensuring groups are treated fairly” (Bell, 1995). As I stated before I believe that Affirmative action does have good qualities in that it provides minorities with a chance to go above and beyond with additional opportunities not given to them in the hand of life they were dealt. It also creates diversity among colleges and work environments, which is a necessity today. Affirmative action does make it known that we are trying to make up for past mistakes by making sure to prevent them from reoccurring again in the future, but is this actually a negative? Affirmative action fails to give equal opportunity to all deserving students. We as Americans need to eliminate our narrow-minded views and habits of filtering out people based on things they cannot control. We need to eliminate applications asking about race, gender, national original, culture or anything else that is irrelevant and begin empowering all human races to go above and beyond what is expected. We are only different on the out surfaces we are all made up of the same ingredients on the inside. Its time we start measuring someone by their abilities and not their color.

Living Morally was discussed in our text chapter 13. Here LaFollette describes our inability to relate to others due to our tendency to make quick judgments. We fail to identify the context of the situation and the morally relevant facts and consequences involved to make the appropriate action. We lack the imagination to understand the situation wholeheartedly and we also tend to pass judgments on others based of their character, which we typically inaccurately can evaluate. Never have I felt guilty of such an accusation because after reflecting on my life I was able to identify two examples where I have been a victim of this as well as the perpetrator. Being on both sides of this equation allowed me to truly understand the detrimental effects of living a life without morals guided by principles. Treating people this way only reinforces the idea that we are people of quick irrational judgments that lack the depth to determine a person’s character accurately. I have since dramatically adjusted my ways of thinking and started to open up to more people to learn more about them before I decide who I think they are.

Perspectives and relativism was an area I struggled to understand the most. In the Velasquez (1992) article I was able to grasp the concept with this sentence: “ethics is an inquiry into right and wrong through a critical examination of the reasons underlying practices and beliefs. As a theory for justifying moral practices and beliefs, ethical relativism fails to recognize that some societies have better reasons for holding their views than others.” Here I started to put everything into perspective of how we as a society determine what is acceptable and what isn’t. It is very clear that majority always rules so if the majority of the society in which I live think it is unacceptable to grow weed in our backyards, then guess what no one will be growing weed. I find it kind of funny that we are blessed to have free will to choose; however we micromanage our lives with rules and regulations. If we can become a nation with the same morals and principles then I feel that socially we wouldn’t need these laws preventing us from exercising our free will.

Upon reflecting on my perceived value of this course I have discovered that prior to taking this class my ethics were guided by habits that I learned growing up and my religion. Now after coming this far I can see things from a wider scope meaning I can see the bigger picture. Narrow thoughts have now broaden throughout the ideas of consequential and deontologist. I really look at every decision as what will happen next not what happens when I make this decision. I always picture how it will affect others and how their decisions affect me. Some of the positive and negatives of this class include being able to effectively reflect on myself and see that I lean towards a more ethical decision maker. I have developed my own set of virtues to live by that correlate with my morals and values I hold dear to my heart. I will always be as honest as I can be, I will have integrity, and compassion, accountability and the will to try to be a better person so I can make this world a better place. A negative is that I still am struggling to be more open minded when it comes to certain aspects of my life because I am so stuck in my ways. I am taking baby steps so I know I am still taking the initial steps to become better at this.

To be honest the only thing I could have done to my learning experience would have been to taken this term off since my time has been so divided between a sick child and being overwhelmed at work and with my schoolwork. School is my passion and I feel when I cannot dive into my assignments I cannot complete them as well as I would have liked too. Another thing I also might have done was talked more about my thoughts out loud with others because a lot of my new values developed, but I have yet to share them with anyone but my papers.

The University or my instructors could provide additional support for my learning if they would present Dr Knab or Dr Watkins in an EagleVison course or even have them present in a conference. The inspiration they give me through online learning would be heightened if I was able to see them in person. After attending the Worldwide conference I was able to really connect with my degree program and engage with them on a deeper level, which in return truly made me feel inspired. They were able to talk one-on-one with me and I was asked certain questions and the discussions we had were key into getting my more aligned with what this program is teaching.

I positively feel that the topics covered seemed particularly relevant to my experiences and to what I expect to come in future courses. This course really brought all the courses thus far into full circle because in the beginning we learned about different styles of leadership, then we moved into becoming more self-aware, then into critical thinking and decision making and management skills, and then when we were prepared we learned about ethics. Having good morals and principles guiding our decisions allows us to become more ethical individuals and I believe this is the key to leading effectively. I want to be a leader leading with values and morals that benefit all.

References

Deyoe, R. H., & Fox, T. L. (2012). Identifying strategies to minimize workplace conflict due to generational differences. Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, 5, 1-17. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/1035289108?accountid=27203

Bell, A. (1995, Feb 17). Lawmaker seeks to end affirmative action programs. The Patriot. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/273208934?accountid=27203

Article from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University:

Ethical Relativism by Manuel Velasquez, Claire Andre, Thomas Shanks, S.J., and Michael J. Meyer (1992)

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Wiley- Blackwell.

A634.8.3.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

The Second Amendment can be interpreted in many ways much like any law or rule; however the way it has been interpreted by so many for so long is the right to bear arms.  In The Right to bear Arms The Second Amendment is noted as “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (p39). Now if anyone truly understands what can happen during an uprising, and the needs to be able defend ourselves it was our founding fathers. Although we are in a different time then they were I believe this right still needs to be respected and abided by as at anytime we can again face the threat of an invasion of our enemies. Now more than ever there are terrorists living amongst us just waiting for us to be defenseless. So do I feel that we as Americans should have the right to bear arms? Yes I do.

I never owned a gun until I got married and my husband and I bought a house together. Upon unpacking my husband unpacked his rifle and I was very concerned with how I felt about this large gun I knew could kill me. After talking about it with my husband I learned a lot about the gun and now feel more comfortable with it in my house. Knowing that should someone break into my house I have protection to defend my family makes me feel secure. My husband works as a golf course superintendent in The Villages, which is roughly 57 miles from my house. He has to be at work by 5am every morning so he is up and out of the house usually by 3:45am, and he doesn’t return sometimes until after dark depending upon his scheduled actives. So I am left home alone with my daughter majority of the time. Being a petite woman doesn’t make me feel very safe to protect my family and I have to agree with the group of female state legislators who argued, “that armed women are better able to protect ourselves” (Schwartz, E. (2008, p39). My home is also protected with a security alarm system; however the cops are not alerted until I either ask for help over the intercom or I do not answer; therefore it would be quite a bit of time until someone could come rescue my daughter and I.

I grew up in Florida and my family hunts year round so I have always been exposed to guns. I have shot handguns and rifles and I enjoy it. My belief that we Americans deserve the right to bear arms comes from an understanding that the people who are bearing them are being responsible. I feel that if we are to keep the law as it is then we should administer better regulations such as background checks, registering the firearm and mandatory safety course to educated all gun owners. Everything is good in moderation and I believe that this is another aspect of the regulations that should be enforced. There should be a stricter law on the amounts of firearms owned as well as the caliber of the gun. I do not feel that anyone other than our military should own automatic machine guns or any other gun that could potentially due more harm then simple defending of ones self or hunting wild game.

After reading chapter 12 of LaFollette (2007) I feel he is onto something good with this idea he presents “I propose we make handgun owners (and perhaps all gun owners) strictly liable for harm caused by the use of their guns” (p 194). This is a fabulous idea because I do foresee this would impact a lot of the unnecessary irresponsible fatalities and crimes that occur with guns. Lately in the news it is evident now more than ever we need safer gun laws after the most recent tradegy in Newtown. I felt outragesd that a child obtained his mother’s guns so easily, and then used them brutally murdered at least 20 small innocent children. Because of my ill feelings I am convinced it is not the guns that kill people its people that kil people through reckless behaviors. Parents need to educate their children and spend more time with them so that they can identify these mental issue and try to prevent any unfortunate events to follow. From what I have learned the boy who murdered the children, teachers, his mom and then himself was suffering from mental health issues that went unresolved. If we can enact regulations that can prohibited any guns ownership within potential dangerous environments this may help to get these weapons form being easy accessible to people who definitely need extra attention on their issues.

Things can happen regardless of laws and this is a known fact. We try to protect the world trade center from bombs after the early 90s attack, but you cant prepare to prevent a plane from flying into the building. It is apparent that the more laws we enforce the more creative the criminals and terrorists become so why not develop stricter regulations in order to provide our law abiding healthy citizens to protect themselves?

References:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/15/15907407-elementary-school-massacre-20-children-among-28-killed-in-connecticut-slaughter?lite

Schwartz, E. (2008, March 17). The Right to Bear Arms – Cover Story p38. Retrieved from:

http://vw9tq4ge9f.search.serialssolutions.com/?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info:sid/summon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=The+Right+to+Bear+Arms&rft.jtitle=U.S.+News+%26+World+Report&rft.au=Emma+Schwartz&rft.date=2008-03-17&rft.pub=U.S.+News+and+World+Report&rft.issn=0041-5537&rft.volume=144&rft.issue=8&rft.spage=38&rft.externalDocID=1441916841&paramdict=en-US

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Wiley- Blackwell.

A634.7.4.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

Working at the same place I attend school credits my high opinion I have for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide. Working here is truly amazing and I am grateful for the opportunity to also call myself a student here. From an employee perspective I feel my personal Department practices a very ethical way of leading. From my previous director to my current one I am pleased with how I am treated and the way in which I am expected to treat others. We operate under a team mentality and no one person is credited, as our work is an overall weight of the department’s success. I have experienced unethical work environments in the past so coming from experience I understand the difference all to well.

Working in an unethical environment was miserable. I was constantly feeling bad about myself and for all those the company was directly affecting. At times I would watch employees stealing time from the company while still on company property. The employees would get back into the shop early and then crack open beers, and although this is very unethical the owners would reinforce the idea that it was acceptable behavior as they would crack open a beer with them. Many times I was advised to lie to creditors and businesses calling to obtain payments for their services. I was told to lie and tell them payments were in the mail when I knew I as not mailing them. I was told to ignore the phone calls and also to simply pretend the owners were not present when they would be sitting next to me. However disturbing the situations were they always found the means to support their drinking habits. At times when the company was really facing closure they would have me print paychecks for the employees and then hide them so that the employees were unable to cash their checks until a check was deposited many days later. This was down right illegal!

After watching the Chuck Gallagher presentation “Straight talk About Ethics!” I became more aware of how truly diluted the owners ethical values of the company were. In the video Chuck broke down how one can become diluted with the slippery slope example. In the outer shell there is the first mistake most people can make, “not good for the customer”. At this stage the employee will operate from a psychological egoism mindset in which “ a person will continually engage in an activity only if it has the effect of satisfying what she perceive as to be in her own self-interest” (LaFollette, p273 (2007). This type of behavior is not an ethical acceptable way to act at Embry-Riddle however it was at the previous company. At Embry-Riddle we are told to never deceive or act in self-interests, as this is punishable behavior. The second level was “it’s not good for the company” which can be compared to minor ‘no no’s many people do on a daily basis. For example I have heard of people at Embry-Riddle Face Booking while at work on company time, or printing homework assignments. Although these behaviors are wrong the degree of the wrongness does not meet the same level that the owners were doing to their employees. The idea remains the same in both situations it is still stealing time and property and the behavior should not be tolerated.

The third level is “policy violation”. This is a purposely known act of lying to the employer or employee. An example I have experienced was when I was forced to lie to our employees about their paychecks. I felt so guilty knowing these men worked all day in the sun and needed their funds to pay for their family’s food, but I was stuck between keeping my job to support my family or staying ethical and lose my job. I made the wrong decision for too long in which I now feel more capable of saying no in the future. The next level of the shell is “unethical” this is again a factor I have experienced and also committed at my previous employer that would never happen at Embry-Riddle. I was lying to creditors and sharing information with others in my town about the businesses unethical way of working while also being unethical. One wrong does not make another wrong okay and this is a message few fail to realize. At Embry-Riddle if you see someone doing something wrong then you are encouraged to stop it by telling someone and they will keep you anonymous.

The last shell is “illegal”. Here again involves drinking on the clock, stealing time, and keeping people’s wages from them and so on. Illegally the company still operates today it is because of their previous good reputation that so many people still do business with them. Luckily for me I was able to get out and start working for an amazing place like Embry-Riddle. Here we are encouraged to always do the right thing, treat others with respect and remain honest. I cannot take back what I have already done, but I can move forward with a better view on life and the goal to live more ethically.

References

Business Ethics Keynote Speaker - Chuck Gallagher - shares Straight Talk about Ethics! (14:21 min)

Source: YouTube (Poster, Chuck Gallagher; Uploaded January 27, 2013)

LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics. Malden, MA: Wiley- Blackwell.

A634.6.3.RB_McNerneyLeighAnn

After taking the Virtue Quiz my results concluded with the following: You're on the right path. Even though you made a few choices that didn't reflect Ben's plan for becoming more virtuous, overall you scored pretty well. Although Franklin gave up on his formal effort to be more virtuous, he devoted much of his life to self-improvement. After re-reading Ben Franklin’s 13 Virtues it occurred to me where my shortcomings are and I feel that if I can begin to include these three virtues more in my daily life I will begin living a more aligned life with a stronger better character. The three virtues I have decided to focus on are Silence, Frugality and Tranquility.

Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation.

First off after reading his definition for this virtue I was not positive what this meant. Did he mean gossip? Did he mean secrets? What exactly did he mean? Finally I realized it was all the above, it was anything that could be perceived as selfish, incorrect, exaggerated etc. Reflecting on my life I am a very loyal person in being loyal my ideas are that I will do whatever I can to support my family member, friend, spouse, child or coworker if I can. Realizing that every action has a reaction and thinking from a consequential point of view I now see that although at the time my actions were meant to be good sometimes I can cause a more deserving person pain. For example I have a coworker who is up for a promotion and I want her to get it, instead of letting her achieve this on her own I step in and start hearing helpful information and then share with her so that she has the upper hand. Now this is very harmless because the information was nothing to cause another person harm; however it was information another person did not have upon being asked some questions. This act of protecting and enabling one has now disabled another.

Although I would still be inclined to react this way again in the future I am now seeing the penalties and consequences involved and I am not as positive I would be as aggressive in the future for the fact I wouldn’t want to be unethical. Another way to abide by this virtue would be to be quiet more often. I already keep a lot of things to myself and consider myself a good secret keeper; however I am not a good secret keeper to everyone as again if my friend, family member, spouse, child or coworker was inclined to benefit from the information I would most likely share it. If I can learn to stay silent I feel I would face less trifling interactions when my indiscretions come back to bite me. If I flip the scenario around I am not positive these same individuals would be treating me this way and I am not sure if I am making the situation worst by becoming too involved. Looking forward I am going to actively practice being silent as the old saying, “ an empty barrel makes a lot of noise but a still tongue keeps a wise head”.

Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself: i.e., Waste nothing.

Being frugal involves avoiding waste of anything at all costs. You do not waste food, money, time, energy and so on and being frugal is not a bad quality, as many tend to perceive it is actually a desirable quality many fail to achieve. I fail to achieve this, as I am a wasteful person. I waste food, I waste time, I waste energy I waste many things for no apparent reason other than I am lazy. I am not lazy in the essence I don’t do anything with my life or time I am lazy because when it comes down to it if I am tired I relax, if I am hungry I eat until I am full and then throw away the extras when I should have rationed out the correct amounts. If I am sad or stressed I buy things to fill the gaps instead of being smarter with my money. I am 100% positive this is the virtue I need to focus on the most as I am too concerned with suffering the consequences at another time instead of taking the time to make better informed decisions about many important issues in my life. Frugality in my opinion keeps people down to earth on life and keeps people disciplined. Throughout my life I have made great decisions and horrible ones and majority of my bad ones comes from being in-patient. I believe patience involved becoming more disciplined and in order to do this I have to improve one decision at a time.

For example I needed a new fridge recently as mine was no longer dependable. I was losing entire fridge full of groceries at least once every 4 months and this was costing a lot of money that we do not have. This past weekend we finally made the decision to purchase a new fridge; however after many long days leading up to this day we had no luck finding an affordable fridge in the correct color. We bought this house 4 years ago fully equip with appliances, but now we can see they are the bottoms of the barrel quality. We went to HH Gregg and found a package deal for a fridge, dishwasher, microwave and oven and realizing that most of our appliances had begun to fail we decided it was a good idea to buy the package; however we did not consider how we would pay for all of these appliances so we applied for an interest free credit card. This was discouraging because we just spent two long years getting out of credit card debt and now we are $3000 deep in debt and unable to pay this card off anytime soon. Reflecting on my purchase now that it’s been several days I regret the decision to open a card and wish I had been more frugal and patient. If I had the ability to discipline myself and saved money I would have eventually been able to purchase the much-needed fridge with cash avoiding the unnecessary stress of additional credit card debt.

Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

On top of my inability to stay quiet at all times and practice a frugal lifestyle I am not at all tranquil. Currently I have so much stress I am going through that I am having anxiety attacks and heart pains and I am having to go to multiple doctor appointments to resolve this issue. My life is not easy and many of the situations I am going through are unavoidable. Shortly after giving birth I suffered postpartum depression and developed an adjustment disorder. I feared leaving my child and I cried daily because everyday I dreaded having to leave her for work. At my work the environment is difficult because we work very closely in cubicles. I work with many different personalities and I don’t typically feel all of them are ethical at all times. I have come to the conclusion that they may need to practice the art of silence as well. I am no perfect person so I try to focus on the good and set the example of a team mentality in the hopes these coworkers will eventually mimic it. I also work a full time job while being a full time wife and mom, which is another important factor when considering the anxiety I have. Since my child was born we have had many issues with ear infections, fevers and now a diaper rash that is not going away. My daughter whom is 18 months has yet to sleep through the night, and I am struggling at work every day. Since she is sick often I have missed an abundance of days since my husband is unable to leave work.

My husband is the breadwinner of our household and a very good father. He works over an hour away and has to be on the golf course every morning by 5 am. This requires him to wake up at 3:30am, which is a grueling schedule. He does not return home until after I do around 6pm to 7pm. This schedule puts all the burdens of picking up, dropping off, leaving early and doctor visits on me. My husband and I are both students trying our best to better our situation and in time our dedication will pay off. In the mean time; however I am losing it on a daily basis. I

If I can bring tranquility into my life I feel as though I will be a different person. The tension I have and the shortness in my temper would be lessened and I would be more centered. In order to add tranquility I have taken a suggestion of meditating whenever I have the chance so that I can relax and let go of these stressors. I am also trying to add some kind of enjoyment to my life since all I do is take care of my baby, work, sleep, and do homework. I have yet to laugh in months so I am going to start making more time for things I want to do such as running. Tranquility is about becoming at peace with oneself and calm, and this is something I hope to experience in the coming weeks.