UCLA Applying Ethics to Personal and Professional Life Discussion

More than for many other professionals, public administrators face the daily challenge of balancing the ethics of personal and professional life. To perform their functions and duties, public administrators may have to carry out administrative actions that might collide with their personal or professional ethical beliefs. What would your personal ethical code of conduct dictate in the face of political or organizational policies that threaten personal liberties? What might help you frame your responsibilities in terms of protecting civil liberties while protecting all members of society?

For this Discussion, you choose a relevant category and topic of ethics that applies directly to your professional or volunteer concerns. Focus upon a decision that requires the application of ethical reasoning. This decision may be either private or public, be related to your current or future profession, involve either one individual or a large group, and be local or international.

To Prepare:

Note that Dr. Hana Callaghan’s (2020) article focuses      on how voting requires ethical thinking in order to support that which      represents “the good” in public policy.

Creating an ethical organization, says Dr. Kim Clark      (Dean Emeritus, Harvard Business School), even if decisions are personally      difficult, allows for the possibility of that organization to have an      enormously beneficial impact on society and culture.

Select a social justice issue or concern that touches a      professional organization in which you are a participant (e.g., employee,      financial supporter, volunteer, etc.). The issue may be related to human      rights, liberty, equality and equity, or a concern about justice. The      matter may be private or public, affect a small or large group, and have      either a local or an international reach.

Postyour response to the following bullet points:

Discuss why the issue or concern is an ethical      challenge. (Cooper, Step 2)

Explain how your ethical decision is an affirmation of      human rights, equity, liberty, and/or justice.