Role Models and Ethical Decision Making free essay sample

When taking on a career where you are considered a public servant you also take on the responsibility of being held to a higher standard. I think that it is fair that a law enforcement officer is held to a higher standard than the other citizens. In public servant jobs you always have to be on your toes. I do think that police officers should be allowed to go to the bars and drink. But that comes back to the responsibility issue, you are held to a higher standard in the public eye, so yes it will make you look bad it you go to the bar and get drunk. People have that image in their heads of you in a uniform 24/7 so even if they see you out they associate you with the public servant view. So with that image of you at a bar, they are going to think hypocritical about you. We will write a custom essay sample on Role Models and Ethical Decision Making or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Are police officers ever off duty? Technically, you are â€Å"off duty† when you punch in your time clock. But no, you are never truly â€Å"off duty†. For example, if I know you are a law enforcement officer and we are at the mall and a fight breaks out and shots are fired, I’m expecting you to handle the situation because you are trained to do so. You still have your eye out for danger even when you are off duty. You can step in and defuse situations even when you are off duty. You can save a life while â€Å"off duty† and assist the situation until an officer gets there. There are so many scenarios that I can mention. But no, there are so many things that you can do to protect the community off duty. When reading the scenario about, â€Å"you are a police officer assigned to a Crash Reduction Unit†, your job is to issue citations for traffic violations in order to reduce the number of vehicle accidents. Today, you have been specifically assigned to monitor traffic at a busy intersection, which is controlled by a red light. This particular intersection is notorious for wrecks, some of which have been fatal. During your shift, the following list of people runs the red light: Using your discretion, determine who gets a ticket and who gets a verbal warning? † The list was: the mayor, your mom, your spouse, your best friend, a pregnant woman on her way to the hospital, and a 22 year old man. The city’s mayor would get a ticket. Just because he is the mayor does not exclude him from abiding by the law. In fact, he should be setting an example for the city. I would also give him a ticket just because he is my boss. It would reassure him of the fact that I am out there doing my job in protecting the community. His title for the city has nothing to do about him not abiding by the law. I don’t think I would give my mom a ticket. I would have to sit her down and talk to her. Let her know that it is not acceptable for her to do that. It is the same for me, as I would deal with my husband. I can’t live without my mom guiding me through my stages of life. But, I also know that she would have to have a legitimate excuse for running the red light because that is not like her at all. I would make my dad and her sit down so that I can explain to her about what she did. But I would give her a verbal warning. My husband, this one is a tough question. On one hand, I would say that I would give him a ticket. Just because I care about his safety and I don’t want him to get hurt or hurt someone else. I need him to learn a lesson. He has a family to take care of; he needs to realize that life is precious and that running a red light isn’t worth losing your life, or taking someone else’s. I heard the saying once, â€Å"I would rather sit 2 minutes at a red light, than sit for the rest of my life paralyzed. † After I heard that, I now slam on my breaks on yellow. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to give him a ticket because we are a family and that money comes out of my account as well. Also, being a police officer I could just talk to him at home and save the money for something else. But if I didn’t write him a ticket I would at least make sure that I talk to him about it because it is a serious problem, especially at that intersection. In this situation I would give my best friend a warning. I would want to give him punishment for running a red light. He needs to know that just because I am a police officer doesn’t mean he/she gets out of everything. I also care enough about him/her that I don’t want them to get injured, knowing I could have prevented it. But it also depends on if he flat out runs it or he gets caught at a yellow light and just goes. If he were going 80mph through it, yes I would give my best friend a ticket because they are a danger to the public. But I think I would handle it the same as my mom and my husband. I would give the pregnant woman in labor a ticket in a heartbeat. If she is speeding that is kind of one thing because she is in pain. But running a red light where you can hit oncoming traffic or get T-boned regardless of the pain I would give her a ticket. I really don’t care if it is a â€Å"life or death† situation because if it is, you are risking death twice by causing a car accident and taking the risk of getting hit and maybe killing or harming someone else. I might not give you a ticket right then, but you better believe you will be getting one. This might sound bad, but if you are willing to risk the life of your unborn child’s life by running a red light that is known to car accidents then you need to reevaluate your parenting techniques. For the 22 year old who is belligerent and insists that you should have something better to do with your time, I wouldn’t. If I was asked this question before talking about ethical choices I would give him a ticket because the attitude would have just made me more mad than the actual running a red light. But now, after doing outside of the classroom thinking, I think that I wouldn’t give him a ticket. I would pull up his history, and if he didn’t have anything I would let him go. Who knows, that might change his opinions on police officers. It might have just been a bad day for him, something more than him just running a red light because he wants to. Task 2 Article 1: In â€Å"Making the Care for Ethical Decision Making†, nurses who prescribe medicine are often faced with ethical decisions. There are over 20 different models that give the nurses help in how to deal with the decisions. The article also states that Cooper (2010) and Adams (2011) â€Å"suggested that an awareness of several theories, including deontological duty, utilitarian consequences, and the four principles of biomedical ethics of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice were needed, to be able to reflect adequately on ethical issues that relate to nurse prescribers. † The methods used are: 1. Identifying an ethical problem, based on gathering of all relevant facts. Depending on the situation there might not be an ethical choice to make. So during this step the nurses have to decide if it is ethical or not. This step also helps them to narrow down and collect more data to use in the Ethics Code of Nurses. Before they can go further they have to make sure that they know all the relevant information, because if they don’t then it would not be a true ethical decision. The nurses have to make sure that no information is omitted there or it could be bad, or illegal. 2. Thinking of others. This stage is for the prescriber to discuss with the client about their views, issues, or other possibilities. But aside from the client, you also have to think about the patient’s family, co-workers, and the public. How will this affect their daily lives, and whom will it affect. 3. From possible options, making the ethical decision. During this stage, you try and predict what the outcomes are of your choices that you have made. If you get an outcome, is it justified? 4. Implementing the ethical decision. â€Å"Evaluations of the ethical decisions and not later implementations for quality† (Cooper, 2012) This article tells about how ethical decision-making has a major impact in the career of nurse prescribers. The four stages that help the nurses make the most ethical decision offer more advice to them other than their Code of Ethics for their job. It goes beyond and puts in the reality for them of what they are going to face. I chose this article because I believe that nurses who prescribe medicine face the same, if not more, ethical decisions than law enforcement. They also have to think of the wellbeing for the patient. Is that medicine good for the patient to have? Is it too expensive? Will the side effects change their behavior? And so many more possibilities! They have to be able to think of others as stated in the methods applied. The methods that are applied in the article show how people should process every ethical decision. Which is another reason why I chose it, it breaks down how you should think about each situation and it gives me something to go off of when I have to make choices like these. ARTICLE 2: Examining Ethical Leadership and Its Impacts on the Followers Behavioral outcomes Leadership was studied because scholars think that leadership has an effect on the followers. Those leadership roles in businesses enhance and influence the work environment (work, church, school). Using 117 data reports, it revealed that when a leader is considered a role model, and good at ethical decision making, that the followers tend to be committed to the task and also satisfied with their jobs. Making these places a better environment to be in. The research methodology was that the researchers went to a hospitality industry in Malaysia. It is an attraction for tourist because of the agency there the industry started with 30 workers and now has over 2800 workers. The researchers thought that they were doing something right because of the large expansion of their agency. Out of the 200 questionnaires that were handed out only 117 were usable. To measure this ethical leadership ten different items were used, four items were to examine satisfaction of the employees, and eight items were used to count future commitment. The results came back as they figured, which were good. They were right, meaning that if you have a role model who makes ethical decisions as a boss, the employees are going to follow in their footsteps to because of the example the boss is giving. They want to acquire to be like them, and make them work more efficient. I chose this article because we deal with that every day. That is the reason you have role models in your life, because you want to be like them. So when you have a leader, the followers are going to be like the leader because they are inspired to be like them. The leader sets a good example for the followers and it causes them to make better choices. I deal with this daily; you should only follow people who make you be a better person. So it is the same as if you follow someone who makes bad choices then you are probably going to start making those choices. ARTICLE 3: This article presents a model that merges virtues, values, character strengths and ethical decision making into one. It discusses the ethical boundaries that have taken over most ethical decision-making. If they can reinstall virtue back into ethical decision making then it will link the rest together. Changing things to have virtues base decision-making. The research methodology was the, virtuous mean, VBO, and buffering VBO. Virtues, motivational values, and character have all been excluded from the ethical decision-making. They still argue the VBO to EDM. They think it can increase levels of moral reasoning, which is critical of character. â€Å"We are optimistic that re-introducing the VBO model of EDM alongside consequentialist and deontological frameworks can contribute to the habituation of routines anchored in the virtuous mean. † (Crossan, 2013) My synopsis for virtue would be the behavior at which it shows your high moral standards. It is based on your character and behavior. How you handle and present yourself and letting people know that you have your standard set high for yourself. You are very prideful, and have a lot of dignity. Next is character, and to me that is any word that describes you as a person. If you list off a bunch of words such as honest, loyal, religious, etc. , then that defines you as a person. I think that it shows who you are as a person. It shows people what you stand for and how you go about dealing with things. Third is integrity, which is what I talked about in the first part of this paper. I have many definitions for integrity. What you do when no one is looking, doing something and not expecting anything in return, acting upon something when it is not expected of you to do so. These all define integrity on a personal level for me. Last, motivational values, from what I have read from the book it are your judgment on worth. What do you rank at the highest of importance in your life? What do you prioritize? In the book it gives a good example of when looking for friendship do you want honesty, or someone who you can have fun with? What do you value more in your life?