Reflect on the three key lessons you take away from the course. Reflect on your perceived value of this course
The MSLD 634 Leadership Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
opened my eyes and educated me on many things.
However, I will limit my value added lessons learned to the three that were
among the top of my list: living
morally, ethics and technology, and three generations in the workplace.
Living
Morally
I had my interpretation of how to live morally
before I began this course and believed I was doing a good job. Additionally, I always felt I had an open
mind when it came to others and their behavior and I took pride in my open-mindedness. LaFollette (2007) strengthened how I can
enhance my moral thought and avoid bias towards others through identifying five
factors:
- knowledge of the morally relevant facts;
- knowledge of the effects of our actions;
- having a vivid moral imagination;
- caring about others;
- interpreting others’ behavior
These factors really helped me understand that I need
to be more cognizant of how I think and act.
I realize I can accomplish this through persistent education, increased
self-awareness, and thinking through the effects of my actions. Furthermore, I can apply another key lesson I
learned in the course to my actions, which is the Golden Rule. I have always tried to live by this rule and it
was refreshing to really see the value of a phrase that seems so simple, yet so
powerful. “Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you” is a valuable tool which can and should be practiced
throughout all areas of our lives. Seeing
this lesson incorporated into our curriculum validated how priceless this
phrase truly is. It makes me feel like I
have been doing something right when serving in a leadership capacity because I
have always believed that if I took care of my people, they would take care of
me. Also, we typically behave in a
manner that will provide us personal gain. However, if we change from
selfish behavior to selfless behavior, we will automatically find ourselves
avoiding these pitfalls. I really want
to act more selflessly and assist in creating a better society. I believe LaFollette (2007) states it best in
saying “the most significant way of shaping other people’s moral behavior is by
what we do rather than what we say” (p. 209).
Ethics
and Technology
I have always been fascinated by technology, its
evolving advancements, and the impact it has globally. I never really viewed technology as relating
to ethical issues because I had tunnel vision of only the positive aspects. For example, technology helps improve
communication, health, travel, and the list goes on. However, it is a little scary how dependent
we have become on technology as a society.
I have experienced on numerous occasions the crippling effect losing
connectivity has on productivity in an organization. I always tell people that technology can be
our best friend at times and our worst enemy.
Also, I realized that technology also has an ugly side and can cross
ethical boundaries. My military
experience exposed me to a lot of technology and I witnessed the benefit of
having such advanced technology when used in a wartime environment. Of course it was wonderful to be on the side
possessing such technology because it gave us distinct advantages. Drone technology was especially useful in
such an environment. Ironically, we are
now seeing the evolution of drone technology in our country and ethical issues
are arising because of it. Our Fourth
Amendment right to privacy is one such issue being threatened by increasing
drone use. The lesson I learned here is
that ethics plays an enormous part in technology and its advancement. I failed to see how important the correlation
was before this course and will now take a more cautious approach relating to
ethics.
Three
Generations in the Workplace
Another take away from this course was the
eye-opening subject of generations in the workplace. I consider myself a person who is extremely
aware of my surroundings. Yet, I never
really made a connection to understanding the importance of the dynamics
between different generations in the workplace.
I work in an organization which consists of a multi-generational
workforce and frequently interact with such a workforce on a daily basis. I have found at times I can become frustrated
with the differences that each generation possesses. For example, I am considered part of Generation
X (born between 1965 and 1979) and work professionally with many Baby Boomers
(born between (1945 and 1964) and Generation Yers or Millennials (born between
1980 and 1999). I can relate to both
generations in some ways and I can also at times see the strengths and
weaknesses of each generation in how they work.
I tend to have computer technology related issues when dealing with a
lot of Baby Boomers, but have come to the realization it is because they simply
have not been exposed to such technology like other generations. It is not that they are bad workers or do not
care, it is just that they had different experience and training compared to
younger generations. Conversely, I have
noticed a lot of Baby Boomers do not rely on technology so heavily. The Generation X and Y employees would rather
use email, whereas, Baby Boomers have no problem picking up the phone to
communicate. I saw the value in this straight
to the point method years ago. I have
followed suit because sometimes simply talking to someone resolves issues much
faster than sending misconstrued emails back and forth. These are just a couple examples of the many
differences between the generations in the workplace. This course really helped me recognize the
challenges and benefits of having such a diverse workforce and these exist
because of the multi-generation employees.
I will someday find myself the older generation in the workforce with my
own set of generational challenges and will remember that is not necessarily a
bad thing. Every generation will have
their strengths and weaknesses.
References:
LaFollette, H.
(2007). The practice of ethics.
Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
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