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1. nt through when faced with a moral dilemma. How successfully did you complete
each stage? What would you do differently next time? Write up your analysis.
2. Develop a plan for improving your moral reasoning as part of your education. How
can you take advantage of your college experiences to become more of a
postconventional thinker?
3. Evaluate your duty orientation based on your responses to Self-Assessment 6.2.
Where do you feel the strongest sense of obligation? The least? How are you
scores reflected in your behavior and ethical decisions? Are you comfortable with
your scores? If not, how might you raise them?
4. Create an original case study that demonstrates one or more of the ethical blind
spots in action.
5. Which of the four decision-making formats do you find most useful? Why?
�. In a group,
ainstorm a list of possible ethical dilemmas faced by a college
student. How many of these problems involve a clash between two important
values? Identify which values are in conflict in each situation.
7. Apply one or more of the formats to one of the scenarios at the end of the
chapter. First, reach your own conclusion. Then discuss the situation in a group.
See whether you can reach a consensus. Make note of the important factors
dividing or uniting group members.
�. Use a format from the chapter to analyze an ethical decision facing society (e.g.,
gay ma
iage, transgender bathrooms, immigration, health care, gun rights, the
death penalty). Write up your analysis and conclusions.
Student Study Site
Visit the student study site at https:
study.sagepub.com/johnsonmecl7e to access full
SAGE journal articles for further research and information on key chapter topics.
CASE STUDY 6.1
ETHICAL SCENARIOS FOR ANALYSIS
Scenario A: Marketing Easy Money
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study.sagepub.com/johnsonmecl7e
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You are the marketing manager for a regional mortgage company. Prior to coming to
your cu
ent position, you worked at a national lender that went bankrupt during the
housing crisis of 2008–2009. Your previous employer aggressively marketed mortgages
to those who couldn’t afford them and encouraged bo
owers to take out home equity
loans to pay for cars, vacations, and other luxuries. When home values crashed,
o
owers were unable to repay their loans. The improving housing market has
encouraged your competitors to once again ramp up their sales pitches. One local
mortgage lender advertises “zip mortgages,” highlighting the speed of its application
process. Another promises to help bo
owers with credit problems get mortgages. Yet
another encourages homeowners to view their houses as “banks,” refinancing thei
homes to pay off credit card debts, to invest in stocks and bitcoins, and to make
purchases. You wo
y that these messages will once again tempt consumers to live
eyond their means, buying homes they cannot afford and putting them at risk should
house prices dip. So far your firm has avoided such marketing tactics. However, you
CEO is wo
ied that the firm will lose market share to its more aggressive competitors.
He has asked you and your department to draw up a new advertising campaign that
describes how easy it is to bo
ow from your company and the firm’s willingness to
work with those who have credit issues. He also wants the campaign to highlight how
o
owers can use the money from refinancing their houses to pay for such non-home-
elated items as vacations, boats, motorcycles, college tuition, medical bills, and credit
card debt.
Will you create the advertising campaign your CEO wants?
Scenario B: The Tenure Review Report
You are the chair of the tenure and promotion committee at your small university. You
committee, made up of senior faculty, evaluates the teaching and scholarship of
professors and then makes recommendations to the university provost. Committee
members take their responsibilities seriously, knowing that peer review—where faculty
members evaluate the work of other faculty—plays a critical role in higher education.
They feel an obligation to maintain high teaching and research standards. No professo
can be tenured (given guaranteed employment) or promoted to a higher rank (associate
professor, full professor) without a positive recommendation from your group. Those
denied tenure must leave the school at the end of the cu
ent school year. Your closest
departmental colleague is being reviewed for tenure. (Your families sometimes
cele
ate holidays together and your children are friends.) He expects that you will offe
a positive review and encourage the committee to recommend tenure. Unfortunately,
your coworker’s teaching evaluations are below average. His scholarship is not strong
enough to make up for these shortcomings. You know that your colleague will be
devastated by a negative evaluation and will be forced to move to another city to take a
new position. He will feel betrayed and blame you for the committee’s decision, though
you are only one voice in the group.
Will you support your colleague’s application for tenure?
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Scenario C: The School Name Change*
You are a school board member for an u
an school district. Most of the African
American high school students in the district attend Thomas Jefferson, making it the
only high school where minority students outnumber whites. Leaders—both black and
white—from the neighborhood su
ounding Jefferson High have requested that the
district change the name of the school. They point out that the only black-majority high
school in the district is named after someone who owned hundreds of slaves, had at
least one child with a slave, and expressed racist views. However, some minority
students and alumni defend the Jefferson name, noting that the school has a long,
proud history and is nationally known for its marching band and debate team. You
ealize that renaming buildings that honor racist historical figures is a national trend.
Yet, at the same time, you recognize that Thomas Jefferson holds a special place in
American history. He was a primary author of the Declaration of Independence, a
founding father, and is enshrined on Mt. Rushmore. Tonight the board will vote to accept
or reject the neighborhood proposal. If accepted, the process of selecting a new name
would begin. Possible replacements include abolitionists, local historical figures,
Barack Obama, or the name of the neighborhood where the school is located.
Will you vote for or against the proposal to change the name of Jefferson high school?
*Inspired by actual events.
Scenario D: The “Win–Win” Decision
You direct the real estate department of a major retail clothing chain. Your primary
esponsibility is choosing sites for new stores as the company expands. When
selecting sites, you use a grading system based on such factors as the average income
of area residents, the cost of land, su
ounding businesses, and access to local
highways and mass transit. Your firm wants to add an outlet in a mid-size city in a new
te
itory. Your sister owns one of the proposed sites under consideration. When you
grade the possible locations, hers is the only one that earns an A. The other two sites
come in at a B and a C grade. You decide to recommend your sister’s property since it
eceived the highest rating. You do not think you need to notify your supervisors that a
elative owns this parcel of land. After all, this appears to be a “win–win” decision, one
that benefits the company and your family. However, you decide to take a couple of days
to reflect on your choice before submitting your report.
Should you stay with your initial decision to recommend the property without revealing
you are related to the owner?
Source: Adapted from Goldman, S. M XXXXXXXXXXTemptations in the office: Ethical choices and legal
obligations. Westport, CT: Praeger, Ch. 5.
Scenario E: Out the Side Door?*
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You are a municipal judge deciding less serious cases involving violations of traffic
laws, disorderly conduct, fish and game regulations, and local ordinances. A case
involving an undocumented landscape worker charged with reckless driving is on you
court docket. You know that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials
will be waiting outside the courtroom to take this individual into custody following the
hearing. He has lived in the country for over 20 years, is ma
ied to an American citizen,
and has three children. He will be deported even though his crime is a minor one.
Relations between your local court system and ICE are tense. Federal officials have
stepped up their efforts to deport illegal aliens at the same time your town has declared
itself a sanctuary city, which limits its cooperation with federal immigration
enforcement. You and the other judges are committed to keeping the courtroom a safe
place for all citizens. You and your colleagues wo
y that members of immigrant
communities will refuse to report rape, domestic violence, and other crimes if they
know they will be taken into custody when they come to court to testify. You could let
your reckless driving defendant escape ICE officers by having him exit through the doo
used by court officials. Doing so could be seen as interfering with federal law
enforcement and might
ing obstruction of justice charges and an investigation by the
local bar association. Nevertheless, you believe that you would have the support of the
chief municipal judge and your fellow jurists if you let the defendant walk out the side
door.
Would you let this defendant use the side (court employee) door?
*Inspired by actual events.
SELF-ASSESSMENT 6.1
Moral Attentiveness
Instructions
Indicate the extent you agree with each of the following statements on a scale of 1 =
strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.
1. In a typical day, I face several ethical dilemmas.
2. I often have to choose between doing what’s right and doing something that’s
wrong.
3. I regularly face decisions that have significant ethical implications.
4. My life has been filled with one moral predicament after another.
5. Many of the decisions that I make have ethical dimensions to them.
�. I rarely face ethical dilemmas.
7. I frequently encounter ethical situations.
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�. I regularly think about the ethical implications of my decisions.
9. I think about the morality of my actions almost every day.
10. I often find myself pondering about ethical issues.
11. I often reflect on the moral aspects of my decisions.
12. I like to think about ethics.
Scoring: Reverse your score on item 6 and then add up your scores. Items 1 through 7
measure the extent to which you recognize moral aspects in your everyday experiences.
Items 8 through 12 measure the extent to which you consider and reflect upon moral
matters. Scores can range from 7 to 49 on items 1 through 7 and 5 to 35