Ethics is more than simply following the rules. The Do’s and Don’ts that dominate modern business ethics lead to a loophole-mentality that has been the ruin of many an executive, and a major obstacle to the success of many large organizations. This course provides a solid grounding in the realist nature of ethics and organizational priorities, and leads participants to discover how ethics is a guaranteed path to sustained high performance!

Situational Ethics vs. Ethics in the Situation

Many ethicists today argue for a “situational ethics” in which one judgment of right and wrong is as good as another, so long as you have good intentions toward resolving the situation. This course helps participants understand how such an approach quickly corrodes trust in an organization, and then introduces participants to the priorities that enable and build up integrity and the application of common sense principles to any situation.

Before Ethics

It is commonly recognized that such behaviors as honesty, open-mindedness and respect are all basic principles of right conduct that are essential to the optimal operation of an organization. Yet many people fail to realize that it is difficult to embed even these basic principles into a culture unless the priorities of the organization and its leaders are properly aligned to the organization’s end. This course fosters an understanding of the priority of “ends” over “purposes” and demonstrates the ethical imperative of properly aligned priorities.

Case Studies: Ethics and Organizational Flourishing

This course examines real-life instances in which ethical behavior has made the difference between organizational floundering and flourishing. Ethical misconduct, of course, abounds in today’s world. Yet there are also many excellent examples of leaders who have smoothed the way to organizational success by making a firm commitment to the ethics of sound priorities.