Personal ethics paper

Personal ethics paper

You can get 5 points added to the paper if you submit a draft of this paper. I will give you up to 3 sentences of feedback. You can also re-submit a revision of your paper after it is graded, you can earn up to 50% of the points you lost if you make the corrections. Please highlight your corrections when you submit them.

Use the following format to identify the problem, the ethical issues and the stakeholders. Then find alternative solutions, carefully evaluate each alternative and make a recommendation.

1.     Problem statement

2.     Identify the ethical issues

3.     Identify the stakeholders

4.     Identification and evaluation of alternatives

a.      Alternative 1

i.     2 or more advantages

ii.     2 or more disadvantages

b.     Alternative 2

i.     2 or more advantages

ii.     2 or more disadvantages

c.      Alternative 3

i.     2 or more advantages

ii.     2 or more disadvantages

5.     Conclusion and recommendations

Provide an overview of a work-related event that you personally experienced. The event should include a problem that can be seen as an ethical dilemma for you. The problem statement section (heading 1) should identify the problem to be resolved in the subsequent sections. The last sentence in this section should clearly state who the decision maker is and what his or her problem is. Your role is to advice the decision-maker so that he/she can solve the problem. The decision maker can be you, a manager or anyone you choose but it can only be one person (not a group of people).

Identify the ethical issues, and explain why you think they are ethical issues (heading 2). Identify all the stakeholders and how they are impacted by the ethical issues in the paper (heading 3).

Write alternative approaches to solve the problem using the ethical frameworks posted in Blackboard (heading 4). Different ethical frameworks lead to a different way of solving the problem or improving the situation. Explain how the ethical framework relates to a course of action that will fix the problem you identified in the first paragraph. I find that when students seek that third or fourth alternative, they make better recommendations. Your will lose points if you have fewer than three alternatives.

Evaluate each alternative approach in terms of its advantages and disadvantages. All alternatives should have both advantages and disadvantages. You will lose points if you have fewer than two of each per alternative. This is the most important section in the report.  If a student rushes to choose a solution without carefully considering other alternatives and evaluating them carefully, a less than optimal recommendation is often chosen.

Choose one of the alternatives as a recommendation to the decision maker (heading 5).

·       “How long will this paper take to write? When should I start working on it? What should I do to make sure I get a good grade?” The paper will probably take 2 – 3 weeks to plan, write and proofread. Some students will take longer and some less time. Think carefully about the paper. Spend time writing, proofreading and re-writing the papers. Have someone proofread your assignments for clarity, and for grammar and spelling. If your friend does not understand what you are trying to say, neither will I.

·       “How should I cite my sources?” See Appendix 2.

·       “Should we cite our textbook when using definition from it?” Yes, absolutely. Not citing someone else’s work is the definition is plagiarism. Do not take credit for the work that the book authors did. Some students seem to think that only direct quotes require a citation. This is incorrect.

Login info for online textbook: www.flatworld.com

User: rahima6965@uhcl.edu

Pass: #Neymarx11

·       “What style of writing should I use?” For any kind of writing, consider your audience. In business, you typically write for managers. A busy manager should be able to take a quick glance at your paper and get the major points. If he or she wants more details, it should be easy to get to them without spending too much time figuring out what the main point of your paper is. Second instruction: write something you didn’t like about the syllabus. Your writing style should be direct, concise and precise. You do not need different ways of saying the same thing. In fact, it is much easier to read the same word again rather than trying to figure out if ‘business’, ‘organization’ and ‘company’ are all the same thing. Some students think using synonyms makes their writing more interesting; it does not. Vague writing is not helpful to a manager, so make your points clear and logical.

·       “Can I submit several drafts of the paper?” Yes, I will set up Blackboard so that you can submit several drafts. I will grade the last version you submitted (before the deadline).

·       “Will you post an example of a paper?” No. I have several reasons (1) as a college student, you should be able to read, interpret and execute instructions without seeing an example, and (2) when I have done this in the past, some students have simply used the paper as a blueprint and did some rewording here and there. I am not sure those students learned anything other than how to copy someone else’s paper. As you can imagine, this is not the point of the assignment.

·       “How long should the paper be?” The paper has a strict 1500-word limit. I will not read more than 1500 words. While there is no minimum, students who make their papers too short (800 words or so) rarely show a thorough understanding of the issue and its possible solutions. Do not include citations and references in the word count.

·       It is hard to write only 1500 words. You can write as much as much as you want, on your first draft. As you proofread your paper, eliminate redundant phrases and comments that do not add value to your paper. This will take time and effort.

·       “Can I have two or more decision makers?” No, if you do, you will lose points in your paper.

·       “What type of problems are okay to write about in this class?” This is a management class. You need to select an ethical problem that you faced at work. If you have no work experience, choose something that can apply to the workplace like problems working with teams at school or in a volunteer position. Do not choose a technical or another type of non-managerial problem. (Examples of non-managerial problems include how to get a loan, how to fix a car, etc.)

·       “Can I recommend something new or a combination of alternatives?” No, there should be almost no new information added in this section.  If you are recommending it, it should have been evaluated in section 3. Do NOT recommend combining alternatives 1 and 2, unless you have evaluated 1 and 2 together.

·       “Do I need to recommend what I actually did?” Reporting what actually happened is not what I have assigned. I am interested in your ability to understand the problem using what you know from this class. I want you to evaluate and propose alternative solutions. Then, I want you to choose a solution. Your solution should be different than what actually happened.

·       “Do we need those exact headings or do we write it in paragraph form? Can we use bullet points instead of full sentences?” You do not need these headings but it is easier to follow the paper if you use them. It also helps you make sure that you met the requirements for each section. You can use bullet points for some parts of the assignment but please make sure your thoughts are fully explained. Example: if you mean to say, “Laying off workers will save the organization money in the short run”, do not use a bullet point that says, “Money is saved