Leadership and Ethics

1. Leadership and Ethics Lesson # 2 We haven’t taught you any real answers, we have only taught the skills you need better to seek your own answers.” Admiral James D. Watkins

2. Leadership and EthicsA Leader is: A person that leads A person who directs a military force A person who has commanding authority or influence

3. Leadership and Ethics Father of our Navy said a leader should be... “ the soul of tact, patience, justice, firmness, and charity. No meritorious act of a subordinate should escape his attention or be left to pass without its reward, even if the reward is only a word of approval.

4. Leadership and Ethics He should not be blind to a single fault in any subordinate, though, at the same time, he should be quick and unfailing to distinguish error from malice, thoughtlessness from incompetence, and well-meant shortcoming from incompetency, and well-meant shortcoming from heedless or stupid blunder.” Father of our Navy John Paul Jones

5. Leadership and Ethics“Moral means what is right” “You cannot live in two different worlds, but rather must meet the same standards in both your personal and your professional life, for without a high sense of moral responsibility you may have achieved by your personal example in other areas.” Admiral de Cazanove

6. Leadership and Ethics “Power can be delegated but responsibility cannot.” Admiral Nakamura “An officer must consistently do the right thing, even if this is not always easy.” “Moral responsibility and ethics can be viewed as a pyramid.” Admiral de Cazanove

7. Leadership and EthicsLegal & Moral Ethics “What separates the moral person from the rest is that the moral person makes those decisions based on his or her conscience.” Admiral Watkins People may not agree on what is precisely meant by “good” and “evil” Laws are made to guide us

8. Leadership and Ethics Legal & Moral Ethics We cannot live our lives as naval officers and be pacifists in the strict definition of the word. Pope Paul the sixth: “As long as man remains the weak, changeable and even wicked being he often show himself to be, defensive armaments will, alas, be necessary.”

9. Leadership and Ethics Legal & Moral Ethics • Roman Catholic Vatican II Council observed: “All those who enter the military service in loyalty to their country should look upon themselves as custodians of the security and freedom of their fellow countrymen; and when they carry out their duty properly, they are contributing to the maintenance of peace.”

10. Leadership and EthicsMoral Reasoning Every human being engages in moral reasoning. Consequences for actions Basis of felt obligations • Promises • Oaths Everyday morality is not systematic • What do we value? • Why do we value it?

11. Leadership and EthicsMoral Theories Attempts to more fully articulate our everyday moral thinking. Moral Theories are somewhat abstract… Evaluate our current moral beliefs Consistence in our beliefs Provides guidance for complex issues Complex decisions Value conflicts

12. Leadership and EthicsMoral Philosophers Traditionally they have three main categories • Agents (persons) What makes a person vicious or virtuous? • Actions Which actions are right, which wrong? • Consequences which consequences are good, which bad?

13. Leadership and EthicsThe Ring of Gyges Lets consider the story “The Ring of Gyges.” Do you think that all people would act in the same way if given the ring?

14. Leadership and EthicsThe Ring of Gyges Why be Moral at all? If we can lie and steal with impunity then why be moral? If our deeds sometimes go unrewarded or even unrecognized, then why be moral?

15. Leadership and EthicsTrying Out One’s New Sword • Moral isolationism • Strange cultures • separate societies • sealed units 1. Does the isolating barrier between cultures block praise as well as blame? 2. What is involved in judging?

16. Leadership and EthicsCulture Relativism Many people in contemporary society are inclined toward relativism - roughly, the view that there is no objective truth in morality, right and wrong are only matters of opinion that vary from culture to culture, and possibly, from person to person.

17. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism Descriptive relativism claims that members of different cultures have different moral beliefs. Normative relativism claims that the truth of moral beliefs depends upon particular cultures, such that the belief that cannibalism is right can be true for culture A but false for culture B.

18. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism Normative relativism has some rather undesirable implications: • it prohibits us from ever morally condemning another culture’s values and practices; • it suggests that we need look no further that our own culture for moral guidance; • it renders the notions of moral progress and moral reform incoherent.

19. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism Frame work for Ethical Decision-Making 1. Identify the problem. • Be alert; be sensitive to morally charged situations. • Gather information and don't jump to conclusions. • State the case briefly with as many of the relevant facts and circumstances as you can gather with the decision time available.

20. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism 2. Specify feasible alternatives. • State the live options at each stage of decision-making for each decision-maker. • You then should ask what are the likely consequences of various decisions. • You should remember to take into account good or bad consequences not just for yourself, [your squad or company], but for all affected persons.

21. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism 3. Use your ethical resources to identify morally significant factors in each alternative. • Principles • Respect for autonomy • Don’t harm • Do good • Be fair • Moral models • Use ethically informed sources • Context • Personal judgments

22. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism 4. Propose and test possible resolutions. • Perform a sensitivity analysis. • Impact on others’ ethical performance? • Would a good person do this? • What if everyone in these circumstances did this?… • Does it seem right? Are you still satisfied with your choice?

23. Leadership and Ethics Culture Relativism 5. Make your Choice. • Live with it • Learn from it. This means accepting responsibility for your choice. It also means accepting the possibility that you might be wrong or that you will make a less than optimal decision. The object is to make a good choice with the information available, not to make a perfect choice. Learn from your failures and success.

24. Leadership and EthicsYour Moral Values 1. What are our own deepest moral values? 1a. What qualities do you look for in others people as well as in yourself? 1b. Are these values you think everyone shares, or are some of your values ones that you feel are not always observed by our culture as a whole? 1c. How have your values changed, if at all? 1d. What influenced their development?

25. Leadership and Ethics 2a. Why do you think people are moral ? 2b. Is it because they fear punishment or ostracism? 2c. Is it because they believe that they should always do the right thing just because it is the right thing? 2d. Is it because they believe they are following “higher” orders?

26. Leadership and EthicsIssues 3a. What is the moral issue that you are most undecided about? 3b. Describe the pro’s and con’s in regard to this issue. 3c. How do you go about arriving a decision when it is unavoidable?

27. Leadership and EthicsEthical Problems 4a. Is telling the truth more important than avoiding harm to others? 4b. Why or why not?

28. Leadership and EthicsEthical Problems 5a. Suppose you cold save one thousand people from certain death by killing a single innocent person. 5b. Would that be permissible? 5c. Why or why not?

29. Leadership and EthicsEthical Problems 6a. Imagine that 5 of our shipmates are ill and you own all of the drugs they need to be well. Are you obliged to give them the medicine? 6b. What if you only had enough to cure two of them? 6c. How would you decide what to do?

30. Leadership and EthicsConstitutional Ethics Reading assignment: Chapter two: Constitutional Ethics Cases: General Longstreet and the Constitutional Paradigm by Cdr. Larry Galvin The First Principle by Dr. Aine Donovan A general; salutes by quitting by Richard Newman