OGL 321

Paper 6

By: Allison Phillips

Arizona State University

February 16, 2020

 Abstract

This week we come to focus on ethics within the workplace. What is ethics? How does it

benefit the work that is being asked to do, as well as the organization as a whole? First, as

defined by Merriam-Webster, ethics are “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and

with moral duty and obligation” (merriam-webster.com). Ethics is what drives the people within

an organization to strive for successful goals and timely completions on projects. Without ethics

an organization would not succeed; no one would want to work for anyone, and people would

only want to do things for themselves and not for others. As shared from pmi.org we understand

that “Ethics is about making the best possible decisions concerning people, resources and the

environment.” Not only for the workplace though; ethics is something we deal with on a daily

basis at work but also when we are away from the workplace. This week with our simulation and

our learning outcomes we focus on this ethical attribute. Having good ethics really helps build

the respect, responsibility, and trust within the organization , also known as transparency, which

in turn leads to overall success.

Bad Decisions

Within this week’s simulation I feel that I made loads of mistakes and bad decisions. I

went into the first round just playing the game and going through it to see what this week would

be about. Were there going to be any rough obstacles thrown in halfway through? Were any of

my team members going to quit on me like in previous weeks? Will it be an overall easy run and

things would go as smooth as butter? No, no, and no. I found that there were not any big

obstacles thrown at me, team members did not quit on me, and it was not easy. A few of the

times I ran through the simulation I did not stop to think about my decisions and how they would

affect my team and the project. I found that often times I did not even focus on the stakeholders
and the budget of the project. My bad decision of not being considerate of my team on some

aspects hurt my productivity and left my team members upset and stressed out. All of these

negative things add up and lead to the overall failure.

“A decision to change scope or content of the product or service, even if it goes under

change control, will likely have an impact throughout the supply chain at one time or another.”

(Kliem, pg. 22). Every decision, ethical or unethical, has an effect on the organization. The

outcome is not always noticeable at first, but over time one decision that was made may lead to a

consequence down the road that may not be easily fixable. Learning when to say no, or when to

consult with other members of the organization to get a better sense of what decision to make

may be your best bet. Without consulting with others, we learn this week that there are numerous

consequences for making unethical decisions. Losing your reputation, credibility, career, and

having a legal action take place because of your choices. (Kliem, pg. 31).

In everyday life we make decisions nonstop and a lot of the time we do it without being

aware. Some decisions come naturally, and some take more effort than others. One can decide to

not go to work. This would be unethical as it would lead you to losing your job, which then may

help you in not getting another one. Choosing to go to work would be ethical, then from there

one needs to work on making ethical decisions while at work.

Corrections

Keeping a fresh and open mind will help evaluate the situation(s) and drive the project

into the right direction. Making good choices that do not just affect yourself but effect the well-

being of everyone around is a goal to strive for. For myself, I found that going to work and

making the choices to stop my work when the office is crazy busy, to help the girls at the front
desk, is ethical to me. I am making these choices based on the needs of my coworkers as well as

the patients’. Also, having an environment where we all feel we are working together and we can

openly share our concerns, or what is going right, helps us to keep our workload under control.

Transparency is something to be understood. I do not believe that I really understood

what it means to be transparent and how it can help. I found that Kiron Bondale discusses that

“Responsible transparency is about providing the truth, warts and all, but ensuring that sufficient

context gets provided so that our stakeholders’ reactions to the truth are appropriate” (Bondale).

This brought insight to me that being ethical, and making ethical decisions helps to be

responsibly transparent. Making sure people are honestly well informed, and everyone is on the

same page with what is going on around the workplace helps to make projects and success

happen smoothly. My simulation I felt that I was not transparent with everyone. I do not feel I

kept everyone involved with what choices I was making. I felt that I did not inform my team

members as much as they would like, and I went way over budget because it was an unrealistic

goal to set. If I could have communicated with the stakeholders and other individuals within

management, we may have been able to compromise and reroute the workload to better adjust

the project.

Bondale also shares in another blog post that there are negative aspects of being too

transparent in the workplace. “Our stakeholders are expecting us to be trustworthy and

competent which means that while we need to be transparent we also are expected to use our

judgment. Judgment is a key difference between someone who is managing a project and

someone who is merely reporting on its status.” (Bondale). Not maintaining honest and open

communication with those who are meant to be informed jeopardizes any ethical decisions you
may make in the future. Being careful to always include stakeholders and employees on all

decisions, ideas, and project plans is crucial to completing projects efficiently and on time.

Conclusion

Every day we have choices to make. Learning which choice is the wrong one, or the

correct one, is something that takes time, patience, and research. Growing up we are taught what

can be deemed good and what is thought of as bad choices. Using our knowledge of what we

have learned will help guide us through life to make better decisions. Making sure to keep

everyone involved well-informed and up-to-date helps maintain your trust, honesty, and respect.
References

Bondale, K. (2015, September 13). How transparent are you? Retrieved from

https://kbondale.wordpress.com/2015/09/13/how-transparent-are-you/

Bondale, K. (2019, March 16). Are you being (responsibly) transparent? Retrieved from

https://kbondale.wordpress.com/2019/03/17/are-you-being-responsibly-transparent/

Code of Ethics & Professional Conduct. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.pmi.org/about/ethics/code

Ethic. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

Kliem, PMP, Ralph L.. Ethics and Project Management, Auerbach Publications, 2011. ProQuest

Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/asulib-ebooks/detail.action?

docID=777157.