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Text Lewis, C.W. & Gilman, S.C. (2012). Ethics Challenge in Public Service (3rd ed). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-1-118-10986-1
Read:• Chapter 7 - Understanding Who and What Matters
• Chapter 8 - Designing and Implementing Codes Respond with positive feedback to peers responses.
Do you believe the “slippery slope” is especially corrosive to ethical decision making? Why or why not? Gilberto I do believe that the "slippery slope" significantly undermines ethical decision-making. This is because a seemingly minor decision to overlook an unethical action can escalate into larger unethical behaviors. Each person has a threshold for what they consider ethically acceptable, and this threshold can be lowered as one becomes desensitized to the consequences of their actions. For instance, at a previous job, a coworker would take leftover food meant for donation at the end of the day, rationalizing it as a form of donation to himself.
When superiors investigated after this was reported, they discovered from surveillance footage that he had also been stealing ingredients. While this may not seem like a textbook example of a slippery slope, it illustrates how initial minor transgressions can embolden someone to commit more significant acts of theft. This suggests that allowing small unethical acts can set a precedent, potentially leading individuals to repeat or escalate their unethical behavior. Therefore, leaders should be vigilant and prevent such behavior from the outset to maintain high ethical standards.
Lewis, C. W., & Gilman, S. C. (2012). The Ethics
Challenge in Public Service: A Problem-Solving Guide (3rd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Marissa The "slippery slope" makes it easy for people to keep doing
bad things once they start. At first, small wrong actions might not seem so
bad, but they can lead to bigger ones. This is why it is crucial for
supervisors to hold their employees accountable.
People often find ways to convince themselves that what they're doing isn't really that bad. And if others around them are doing the same thing, they might feel like they have to do it too. So, the slippery slope can mess with how people make good choices because it can make them forget what's right and wrong over time. Sadly, this would be a culture issue within an organization. Frequent evaluation and following through with holding people accountable is paramount. Question 2 Is the appearance of conflict of interest a fair standard? Is fairness important, and why? Brando A conflict of interest arises when your private or personal interests conflict with your public duties or appear to do so. A conflict of interest can occur in various circumstances, which may hinder your ability to decide fairly and objectively regarding the tasks carried out by your organization. You must prevent even the impression of a conflict of interest because it can negatively affect an organization's reputation and integrity. Leaders must commit to upholding the public's belief in our capacity to remain neutral and objective and demand that your organization enforce this commitment. However, the appearance of a conflict of interest is not a fair standard. Unfortunately, fairness is thrown out the window because maintaining the public's trust depends so heavily on how they perceive you, right or wrong. Gloria Since this is a discussion board, maybe some of you can give me better clarity to this question since I struggled to understand this question. As as understand it.. Appearance of conflict of interest is that the person benefitting from the conflict of interest does not know that they are committing illegality. As stated in the textbook, Alan Cranston during the saving and loans fiasco of the 80’s claimed “no one knew what was in his heart” while he was committing a crime. He did not know that it would collapse the market. And that makes it ok? If that is the case then the appearance of conflict is not a fair standard. Fairness in how a business is run is very important so that there is honesty and transparency in a company that is suppose to profit for employees, business owners and stakeholders. We cannot determined what is in a person’s heart when they are doing bad investments and lying in order to benefit at the time themselves and the company/corporations they work for, in the end it is the tax payer that ends up paying the ultimate price and rescuing the companies that not honest because we could not read what was in their hearts.
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