1. Would you agree that if you have your ethical antennae up that you will be more likely to detect an ethical issue you face than if you are focusing completely on pleasing your boss, being part of your team, or perhaps meeting a production quota? What does that tell you about how you have to approach your job if you wish to be a moral person? | think that if your antenna is up you are more likely to be aware of ethical issues, whether you do something about it or not is a different story. I think you can actually accomplish making quotas and sales and being ethical all at the same time. | think that you need to work for a company that believes the same ethical code you do, if you are working for a company that thinks it is okay to be dishonest and you're an honest human, it is probably not the best fit for you in an organization. 2. Think about the last time that your gut told you not to do something. Was it right or wrong? Ihave learned to trust my gut and if my gut is telling me no, then I find out why it is telling me that and do some deeper digging either in myself or my surrounding to find out what set off that particular alarm. 3. For one of the people in the video, relying on her gut failed her in matters of personal relationships. For another, relying on his gut helped him reach the right solution regarding the identity of a car bomber. What lessons can we draw from these two experiences? Itis a good reminder that we are all human and that our “guts” can be wrong. It is also reminder that it is important to understand why our guts are telling us what they are telling us. Examining how self aware are we actually, and realizing that mistakes are going to be made. 4, Why is it that most people can easily see how conflicts of interest affect other people's decisions, but many people have faith that they themselves can remain objective even in the presence of such conflicts? My opinion would be that we always hope that when we are faced with such a dilemma we will be the exception to the rule or we know better. | also think that people will outwardly say they would not make the same mistake but inwardly worry that they would also fall victim to a decision. | think we could be too afraid to say, “hey, human made a mistake and I think given the knowledge that person had I might have made the same decision.”5. Is it right to pay a bribe to induce a government entity to approve a program that will benefit people? How would you decide? How would you ensure that your self-interest was not unduly affecting your decision? Well no, ethically it is not appropriate to bride no matter how much it could benefit the people. What | do not understand is why people can't do the right thing, given that it could help so many. | think that people know what the “right” thing is but cave to political, social or organizational pressure. This is where bribes come into play. Decisions are not about me, it should be what is best for most, you can't make everyone happy but you can do the right thing and not accept a bribe. Making important decisions could be best in groups. 6. Most people want to be “good” people, yet often do things, typically minor, of which they are not proud and would not want others to know about because their actions would reflect poorly on their character. How does this happen? I think this happens because of fear and shame. Brene Brown does a great job explaining that fear and shame drive most of our ability to hide the wrong doings. | think if we were to accept people as their whole selves we would not run into this issue ‘as much as we currently do. We want to save face and not be seen as unethical by another individual. 7. Think of something that one of your friends, family or acquaintances did recently that you view as wrong. What rationalizations did they give for their actions? A peer of mine was responsible for teaching and training a lead on my team. This peer is well respected and a high performer. However, they justified thawing food in an inappropriate manner because we would be missing out on a potential sale. While it did not put anyone in danger, we have thawing routines for a reason. To her the sales were more important than following the outlined roles and routines. 8. DeSteno wrote: “Ayn Rand had it right when she said, ‘Rationalization is a process of not perceiving reality, but of attempting to make reality fit one's emotions.” We humans possess a strong, innate desire to view ourselves as competent and upstanding, meaning that when we fail ourselves in some way, we tend, consciously or not, to explain it away.” Do you agree? Why or why not? I completely agree. | have the “gift’ of rationalization and | consider myself to be an ethical person. | think we are always looking for the way to say this is why I did this. Instead of owning your actions and learning from them and moving forward.Acknowledging your mistakes and learning from them is part of growing as an individual. 9. Can you think of a situation where you wanted to do the right thing, but found yourself unable to do it? What prevented you from acting according to your values? Yes, | can think of a situation. The reason why was fear, fear of being in the minority, fear of not being liked. Fear of being rejected in what you are saying to the person that you do not agree with. | can vividly remember wanting to say something but fear got in my way which led me to feeling shame. 10. Can you think of a situation where it was difficult to do the right thing, but you managed to do it? What factors were present that enabled you to live up to your values? I can also think of one of these situations. Recently, we have had to make some tough decisions as an organization and as a store. | had promoted a partner that | did not believe could do the role but did not have the choice because I had reached out to. peers and needed support but was left with nothing. So then a pandemic happened and I found the courage to have the hard conversation and retract the offer and set clear expectations moving forward. What was different was the pandemic, it allowed me to refocus what | believed in and knew to be the right thing. 11. What do you think of the “liked versus respected” dichotomy suggested by one of the people interviewed for the video? Where | have an issue is why cannot it be both. Why can’ta leader be liked and respected. It does not have to be one or the other. | think that if you are fair, consistent and transparent you will be liked and respected. It is the ability to remain consistent and open at the same time to help others grow and succeed. I do not like that dichotomy. 12. Have you had the courage to lose a job or something else that was valuable, as did one of the interviewees who forfeited a teaching job for the sake of integrity? How did he summon the courage? Not a job, but a personal relationship that happened to be my mother. | do not believe my mother to be a good person of integrity and it took a lot of professional help to realize that was a toxic relationship that was impeding my ability to be a kind good person. | think that at some point you have to be willing to do what is right even if at personal financial cost Case Study13. Do you think Mr. Barron was demonstrating moral awareness or a lack of moral awareness by showing the video of the minstrel show? Explain your position Ido think he was, | think it is important to show facts. He did not make the video, he was just the vessel through which the history was coming. | think he could have discussed this with his students’ parents or the principal. It is important to understand the past so that we can learn from it and move forward. 14, Should Mr. Barron have warned his students that some of them could have been offended by the racism portrayed in the video? Why or why not? Is it ever necessary for teachers to provide disclaimers about content that they use in their classrooms? Explain | think that maybe I would have not warned but started a discussion before the video to spark conversation. | think that if you warn someone they might start to have preconceived notions about what they are watching. | think showing that video to fourth graders would have been inappropriate. High school juniors and seniors and of course college would be an appropriate platform. 15, Should teachers be prevented from showing examples (books, films, photos, etc.) of historical events and/or practices that are considered racially insensitive by today's standards? Why or why not? No, history should be learned from, this is not to say that it is right, wrong or what have you. It is to learn something. Going into the lesson with the guidance that there is a lesson to be learned. We cannot undo the past, only move forward and do better. Future generations can't do better if they do not know what the past was. Let's be real honest everyone is offended by everything. if we all stopped to listen, instead of listening to respond we might be in a better world. We don’t have to agree with everyone but listening and trying to understand is crucial. 16. What do you think is the best way to teach about stereotypes? Is it possible to do this without offending someone? Explain This is a very loaded question. Stereotypes can be stereotypes for a reason. That does not make them right or wrong they just are. | think that it is important to acknowledge the stereotype and talk about it with boundaries on what is acceptable/professional and appropriate conversations. As a classroom we can't teach more without talking about the hard things. Learning to accept others as who and how they are would help to not allow people to not be offended by literally everything. Hard conversations are hard for a reason and | would venture to guess that everyone that has had a hard oruncomfortable conversation has learned something about themselves and the person they are talking with.