The five different decision dilemmas posted in this chapter’s Thinking about Ethics tend to address the decision maker. For example, “You are senior vice president with responsibility for a major business division….” Learners ought not to excuse themselves from thinking, “so their heads hurt” about decision-making ethics, because they are not yet managers, let alone senior VPs. Therefore, here is an original exercise on the side of decision making in which they do already have an opportunity and obligation to perform ethically. It occurs, when they are among the “others” to be involved by a decision maker in making his or her decision. This happens when they, as associates on their jobs or as students in their courses, are aware that the decision maker has turned to them (or should have and did not) and asked for information and ideas.

Questions:

1. You may use these scenarios that parallel those in this version of Thinking about Ethics for teamwork, or simply post them or hand them out as supplements and ask that they do the additional thinking required. You may ask for a written reflection on what this sort of perspective on the ethics of decision making brings to mind. 

2. The exercise is called: Your fingerprints Are Also on the Gun to signify an important reality of participative decision making. From the moment these learners, as individuals, provide the first bit of information or venture the first idea in a brainstorming or Delphi round, they have changed the character of the decision and influenced its final version and subsequent outcomes. Like it or not, they share responsibility for the quality of that decision and accountability for the outcome.

3. An ethical implication of this claim may be apparent upon reading it. Why should an associate or student who just provides information or ideas, but does not preside over the making of the final product—the decision—be held to such a high standard? Why not?  The point of this extension of the exercise is that they must examine their own values and beliefs about how to participate with integrity.

4. Here are several scenarios for them to ponder. You may wish to either write more based on what is actually going on in your local context, or ask students to write some and try them out on each other (and you). Scenarios from the “other side” of the decision maker: 

a. You are an associate working part-time on the late shift in the shipping area of a mid-sized manufacturer. This is your fourth week on the job. You have been noticing loose, random items tucked behind boxes and in out of the way places. You mentioned this to a seasoned co-worker who told you that they are the day shift’s problem and to just do your job. Just at the end of this shift, you are surprised to see the plant manager has come in early. He assembles the skeleton crew and asks, unrolling a chart, “What can you folks tell me to help me figure out why we have these spikes in our incomplete order complaints from customers?” Noticing a chilling look from the old timer, what do you say or do?

b. As a member of a team of classmates working on a major team project for which you will share the grade, you are responsible for doing deep research on three companies. The deadline for the paper and presentation is just a few days away. You realize that you have invested far too much time running down tangents on one of the companies and have done nothing on the other two. Does this present an ethical concern?

c. You are working in a customer service unit of a large insurance company. Your assignments have led to you having unusual expertise in a very technical area braced with legalities. Unfortunately, you and your team leader do not get along. The head of your unit has asked your team leader for people best qualified to help her craft a new policy. Clearly, to you, what you know would be invaluable. However, your team leader has recommended one of his favorites who knows little about this aspect of the work. What will you do? Is it what you believe you should do? 

d. Not long after you learned more about groupthink, the team in which you are participating in a semester-long business simulation has posted still another losing round of decisions. This is going to cut into your grade. Moreover, you and one other team member have been coming up with answers and ideas that would have turned out right. The rest of the team who seem to prefer getting out of class early to solving the problem sets has consistently overridden you. Do you try to show the others they have lapsed into groupthink? On the other hand, do you call upon the professor to break the pattern? What is the right thing to do?

e. You have impressed the head of the branch bank where you have been working part time. Now you are close to graduating and have heard through the grapevine that the job you want to gain loan experience will be open soon. Only one other person has been mentioned. This person is a single parent who has worked full time for a year longer than you have been with the bank. However, only you will have the degree. You know that your “competition” regularly breaks the rule on personal phone calls during banking hours. What do you do with this information?

5. An alternative to further engage learners in grappling with the source and stuff of dilemmas is to ask them to write some of their own, individually or as a small writing team.