Overview of the Seven Steps in the Ethical Decision-Making Model
Each business that is aimed to conduct essential activity and keep stability usually looks for solid solutions, which help to maintain an organization’s working process on a high level. One of the most significant problems that must be solved inside an organization is the employees’ ignorance of fair and ethical behavior in their workplace. As a contemporary business develops quickly, it requires updates in terms of proper resolutions. The decision-making model is the tool that helps management to solve such problems, make decisions, find the right solutions, and make appropriate conclusions.
Many companies involved in business and economics conduct various financial severe functions. Different departments and their workers conduct their duties and sometimes face ethical dilemmas – situations where choices must be made (Haahr et al., 2020). When making these choices, employees hesitate between different values, interests, and norms, which eventually has negative consequences.
One such dilemma is the manipulation of accounting data by accountants in an organization (Tutino & Merlo, 2019). It appears when an accountant wants to hide unpleasant data from management in favor of their own or colleagues’ interests to present a false but positive image of the financial situation in an organization or department. This kind of situation must be avoided, so the ethical decision-making model should be applied.
Application of Each Step to the Ethical Dilemma
Defining the Problem
Decision-making models help managers and employees engage in corporate issues and detect the weaknesses that may lead to them. Specific questions and answers should be provided to apply the model to the problem, resulting in beneficial and truthful solutions. In the first step of the model, the problem should be defined considering its consistency with the organization’s policies and guidelines (ECI, 2022). Reviewing the issue according to the applicable regulations and the organization’s principles is necessary.
Gathering Relevant Information
The second step provides assistance and support search (ECI, 2022). It is a critical stage because it helps clarify the direction to choose in the problem’s battling and decision-making.
Generating Alternative Solutions
The third step allows management to find and identify alternatives (ECI, 2022). It is one stage that requires problem research and finding different solutions, which may be helpful if the first idea does not work correctly or gives positive outcomes.
Evaluating Alternative Solutions
The fourth step of the model provides the alternatives evaluation (ECI, 2022). This evaluation is necessary as it helps to understand which variants are the most applicable and practical. The evaluation should be based on such vital aspects as policy, regulations, laws, values, and personal qualities. These four steps are connected with the theoretical part of the model and require further actions to be accomplished.
Selecting and Implementing the Course of Action
Starting from the fifth step, practical measures are applied to resolve an organization’s problematic situation. In the next step, a decision should be made by managers or employees (ECI, 2022). After action considerations from the previous stages, decision-making time comes.
It is one of the most crucial parts of this process, as it decides the final results of a situation. After this, managers or employees decide on an action in the sixth step, making it work (ECI, 2022). It is an integral part of the decision-making process, which requires such skills as attentiveness and concentration.
Evaluating the Outcome
Eventually, the last step of the model offers to evaluate the decision taken (ECI, 2022). When implementing this step’s requirements, managers or employees have to review the results of the previous steps and evaluate the chosen decision based on the policy, regulations, values, and principles. It is important because it becomes clear whether the decision’s outcomes work and give positive results for a department and the organization.
References
ECI (2022). The PLUS ethical decision making model. Ethics.org. Web.
Haahr, A., Norlyk, A., Martinsen., B., & Dreyer, P. (2020). Nurses experiences of ethical dilemmas: A review. Nursing Ethics, 27(1), 258-272. Web.
Tutino, M. & Merlo, M. (2019). Accounting fraud: A literature review. Risk Governance and Control Financial Markets & Institutions, 9(1), 8-25. Web.