Course Reflection

This course has been a great look at ethics. The Fryer textbook was written in a manner
that gave me the opportunity to question what I know about ethics and my beliefs. This book
presented the material in a factual way that allowed us to learn about the origins of theories, who
wrote them and why. Then it took those theories and applied them to business today that we are
familiar with, not just when the theory was written. In my opinion, the author did a good job
presenting the information, giving us their opinion, and letting us decide whether we agreed with
the theory or not. If we agreed with something, why or why not. It gave us the opportunity to
decide how much conviction we have about some common beliefs that we think we hold and if
we were ready to make a change. I appreciated the way the textbook never said this is ‘right’ or
‘wrong’. It let us know, according to a certain theory for example, that common feminists’ theory
beliefs are in the idea of relationships and social interactions. How does one’s actions affect
society and relationships, not as an individualistic perspective. This textbook allowed us to make
up are our minds instead of telling us what the right answer was.

The Persuall format, I have really started to like. With the absence of an actual classroom
discussion, I feel this is one of the best ways to get the students to interact with each other. The
ability to create your own posts, whether they are comments, simple trivial questions, or you are
really looking for help understanding a topic, is a wonderful application of technology for an
online environment. There were times, that I was about to make a simple comment, but after I
read what another classmate had wrote, my simple comment turned into deeper thought. After
this, I could flag the conversation to go back to and see that several others had posted comments
or questions about the topic. I would gain insight to other feelings and perspectives others had on
certain topics. Most classmates were very courteous and respectful about what was posted. When
they did not agree with something, they were able to express their opinions and why without
being interrupted. (I really like that part of this format). If people are in an online learning
environment, I would highly recommend using Persuall or a format that is like it.

The Planet Jockey Moral Minefield simulation I did like, for the most part. There were
things that I did not agree with, but this is one of the things I liked about it. It gave us an
opportunity to run through real-life that have happened, and then apply what we have learned.
Some of the correct answers, according to the simulation, I did not agree with to different levels
of disagreement. There were some answers that got my blood boiling, and others that I slightly
disagreed with. We were then given an opportunity to write about it, and this part I really liked.
We can do the readings, communicate with other classmates through the Persuall format, run
through the simulation, then write a reflection paper to express what we have learned, what we
will use in the future, what we agree with, or in this case, what we disagree with. This simulation
was written, using the experience of real people, real scenarios, and real outcomes. When things
are produced using experience, instead of theory, I can appreciate it more. For example, if you
are a therapist who specializes in addiction, but have never had an addiction on their own, do you
really know what an addict is feeling, or have you just read it in a book? Can they look you in the
eye and tell you, “I understand what you are going through.”? This is the third class that has used
this simulation and the overall experience I’ve had is a great one. It did give me some different
perspectives and reasons why they would handle certain situations the way they did.

The changes that I had over the semester were not internally in the way I feel or believe.
They were in what I know. I learned the origins that theories came from, who they came from,
the time frame when they were written, the reasons for why they were written. The ideas that
were taught gave me the ability to say I have a feminist, normative, biocentric belief system. The
Utilitarian approach is interesting doing good for the most amount of people but at what cost?
The concept that Friedman proposes, the shareholder theory, blows me away, that people would
only consider the shareholders and what maximizes their profits. How could anyone not consider
the whole picture when deciding? Why would they only consider a small portion of the people? I
will give an example of the thoughts I have about a business scenario. Hypothetically, if you
were a mining company, like De Biers, and you were only mining diamonds in the United States,
and you were profiting ten million dollars a year. I f you were given an opportunity to expand
your operation to Africa and this expansion would multiply your profits by ten. Yes,
$100,000,000 in profits. That’s a great opportunity. But at what expense? Well, we all know
what those expenses are. What if we made a different choice? What if we expanded to the same
location, but instead of brining in all the mining equipment, and causing all the damage that they
do, we hire the local people to do the mining as they have done for years. This would only
increase your profits to twenty million dollars, essentially doubling your profits. By doing this,
we are respecting their culture, incorporating the feminist theory incorporating all social aspects,
environmental, and normative theories, taking all stakeholders into account before making their
decision.

What I’ve taken from this class and these theories, primarily has reinforced ideas that I
believe in. It has opened my eyes to some theories, that frustrate me, but understanding why
these theories have been used. To be honest, I don’t know why some of these theories and ideas
are used, no matter what year they were thought of. The idea that only those shareholders
involved are the only ones who matter is an idea that does not sit well with me. In the future, I
will continue the path that I have been set on, which is a belief in an altruistic way of life.
Helping others without expecting something in return. Those with power should consider how
this power affects people. We don’t realize what effect we have on others for years to come but
when we do come to that realization, would your actions be different if you could go back? I
want my actions to be of sound mind. When people come to me years from now, I won’t have
the question if I did things right or if I would do things differently.