Theme 2: Organizational Performance
Ethics in the Workplace and Academia Exams
Course: EAC 555 - Ethics in the Workplace and Education

This narrative discusses select responses from a midterm exam and a final exam in a course on ethics ethics in the workplace and education. The exams required me to analyze ethical issues and consider theory-based approaches to the solving of ethical dilemmas. The emphasis of this course was on thinking critically about ethics and social responsibility and bridging the gap between individual morality, citizenship, and the challenges afforded by organizations.

The midterm exam covered topics in moral philosophy (e.g., why we need ethics; the history of ethics; how to frame ethics; how to judge ethics using basic criteria) and individual moral responsibility (e.g., integrity; solidarity; collective consciousness and moral authority; socialization and institutional evil; professional integrity; and, conflict of interest). Question 5 asked whether conflicts of interest are inevitable in Training & Development or Human Resource Development (HRD). I reviewed professional codes of ethics from a few organizations, and provided support for and opposition to the question. In support, I discussed how codes of ethics and organizational policies minimize conflicts of interest and encourage and promote a culture of integrity or virtue at the individual and organizational levels. In opposition, I discussed how conflicts of interest are inevitable in today’s organizations due to employee diversity, performance pressures, and globalization.

The final exam covered topics in applied ethics (e.g., the need for ethics in the workplace and education; social responsibility; conceptual and practical frameworks; issues influencing society, organizations, and HRD; imperatives of HRD; and, research ethics). Question 2 asked how social responsibility relates to HRD in the workplace. Only in the past few years, in the wake of scandals (e.g., Enron, BP), organizations are realizing the importance of being socially responsible. And, many socially responsible issues and concerns fall naturally within the traditional roles and values of the HRD profession. I discussed AHRD’s Standards on Ethics and Integrity, and provided contemporary examples of organizations using HRD to establish a socially responsible culture.

Click here to view Ethics Midterm Exam, Q5
Click here to view Ethics Final Exam, Q2