OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Describe the four ethical communities
2. Apply the ethical communities to your personal case situation

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Briefly restate your situation from Module 1 and your role.

My organization is an entertainment theme park that provides attraction experiences for
the public to enjoy. They can enjoy these rides and shows that tell some of their favorite stories
with the use of some of the latest industry-led technology. My role is the senior leader of the
maintenance team which is required to perform specific routine inspections to keep the attraction
systems operating and available for the public to enjoy. The problem we are faced with is how to
best certify that all required maintenance against our manufacturer’s requirements is completed
each day before turning over the attraction to our operating partners. What tools do we have?
How do we record findings and corrective actions and how do ensure a safe operation for those
who want to enjoy the attraction?

2) Describe how the ethics of the organization influenced the situation.

In this field of work, the work we perform is regulated by the state. We have practices in
place to constantly be looking for gaps in our processes that can result in an incident. Daily, one
of these layers is to know that the technicians performing the work are acting responsibly and
performing the inspections per their job plans and not deviating without concurrence by an
engineer and leader. Another layer to ensure compliance is to have multiple eyes on anything
that could change the design and cause failure. We do not allow a single entity to change or
deviate from the business practice.
We train our technicians the work they do ensures the public’s safety when they come to
enjoy our attractions. If they were to choose to not perform the job as they were trained or as
documented in their job plans, it can put the attraction at risk for potential downtime and
component failure. Regardless of any personal opinions or desires to deviate from the written
plan and internal business practices becomes an ethical choice for the individual to choose how
they should act. If they discover any findings, they should be engaging their leadership and
engineering for awareness of their concerns rather than put themselves in the position to be held
accountable. Our goal as the leadership team is to remove barriers for our employees to make
their roles clear. The last layer of this is our leadership being responsible for an official turnover
to the Operations team. They are to review all the work order applications and ensure all the
compliance-related work has been completed according to our business policies and regulations
with the state. When we know we are compliant each morning, we provide an electronic

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signature to our turnover application that documents and communicates we are ready for the
operation that day. It is the leader’s responsibility to act with integrity and provide a compliant
attraction every day.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.
Within a role of working with a large team, performing work that creates a safe
environment to produce a show that the public wants to enjoy, we have to work more towards a
caring and loving position in terms of an ethical community. We need to perform our work
knowing that other humans, especially our family members will want to experience these
attractions that we put a lot of hard work into. As the owner of the attraction and experience,
working for a large corporation, love is largely absent and we the leaders need to provide
stewardship of the collective well-being (Bolman & Deal).

As we make decisions in our daily operation we can have a greater vision that focuses on
what our work provides to the public who comes to enjoy. We provide experiences that bring
people joy and connection to some of their favorite stores. We can connect our team with this
greater purpose over just coming to work to punch the clock, do routine work, and collect a
paycheck. Building on this ethical community of family can create a purpose of how our team
can be a part of the story and the importance of how we properly tell it and ensure that we are
maintaining compliance with all of our regulations and standards.

4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned about
ethics.
I feel our organization does a great job staying connected to making the appropriate
decisions that keep our guests safe and produce a great show. Safety is always our first response
and it will always override the decision to have the best show possible. Our leadership should
continue to break down barriers that produce lesser morale for our team and encourage telling
more of the whys behind the work we do. Confronting vulnerability allows us to drop our masks,
meet heart-to-heart, and be present for one another (Bolman & Deal).
These whys behind the what help tell our stories and can produce a purpose of people
wanting to be at work, performing the right work, and making the right decisions because they
can feel proud of what they do for our company. Our leadership can continue to provide
transparency in their communication and provide information that keeps meaning behind what
our team does for the organization. We can instill the ability to make ethical decisions with the
work they do that will help tell the best story possible and most importantly keep our guests safe.

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 Reference or References

Bolman, Lee G., Deal, Terrence e., Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, 7e