How Will People Learn to Think Ethically if We Don’t Teach Them?
While we place a heavy emphasis on corporate education and childhood education as a nation, we don’t often see “learning to think ethically” on the classroom agenda or the corporate training schedule. How can people be expected to navigate the complexities of life and work responsibly without learning how to think ethically?
Ethical Thinking Helps us Behave Ethically
The most responsible and ethical response to a situation only becomes obvious by applying ethical thinking.
If you are teaching in a classroom or corporate setting and ethical thinking is not yet on your agenda, review these interesting sources and evaluate their application. See if you agree that ethical thinking needs to be one of the foundations included in childhood and corporate education.
5 Sources for Thinking Ethically
Five Ways to Think Ethically Video Featuring Kirk O. Hanson, Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
The Ethical Mirage: A Temporal Explanation as to Why We Aren’t as Ethical as We Think We Are – a Harvard Business School Working Paper by Tenbrunsel, Diekmann, Wade-Benzoni and Bazerman, hbs.edu
Should We? How to Think Ethically by Mary Ann Cutter Ph.D., University of Colorado
The Importance of Responsible Thinking by Bob Korn, truthpizza.org
Teaching Children to Think Ethically by Susan Gardner, published in Analytical Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, posted online at viterbo.edu
Questions for Reflection
1. Have we made it a priority to help people think ethically about their work?
2. How well are we teaching people the process of thinking ethically?
3. Do our leaders understand that ethical thinking does not just “happen” and that they need to coach people through it?
4. How will ethical thinking help our company in the future, in areas that include risk prevention and customer service?
5. How will we incorporate ethical thinking into our meetings and leadership training programs in 2012?
© 2011 Leading in Context LLC
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