OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Ethical Communities Worksheet

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

The situation that I have proposed was and issue with a current employee at my place of
employment of Linton Dentistry. This practive has been in business for 38 years. This
employee has worked for the company for 25 years and as had hard time with
compliance, change, teamwork and doesn’t have realistic goals for the office as a whole.
I am the office manager and have been there for 5 years and have worked in the dental
field for 13 years, this is my first manager position. I have a hard time managing this
employee to lack of compliance and constant push back.

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

The ethics of the situation influenced the sitaiton when it comes to the differnet ethics
that the company has. The employee has more of a virtue ethics understanding and the
company has a communicaterian ethics approach. According to virtue ethics, there are
certain ideals, such as excellence or dedication to the common good, toward which we
should strive and which allow the full development of our humanity. These ideals are
discovered through thoughtful reflection on what we as human beings have the potential
to become” (Velasquez, Andres, Shanks, Meyer, 1988).

Although these are two very good ethics to have and it is tough when one, virtue ethics, is
based on everyones efforts and how it relates to the common goal of the team the other
focuses on the team and how the team feels about what they are working towards. I think
the different approaches make it difficult for the employee and the rest of the team to find
a common goal/interest and be able to work together in unison.

3) Recommend how you would apply one of the ethical communities for an alternative
course of action regarding your case.

I would apply the utilitarian ethic. “Utilitarianism holds that the most ethical choice is
the one that will produce the greatest good for the greatest number” (Utilitarianism,
2022). I would use this approach because it is based on outcomes and we can form
decisions and future choices based on the outcomes that we get from doing certain things.
I don’t believe that things have to be so black and white, like the difficult employee
believes. I think we can try different approaches to situations and see what works. We
can do what is in the best interest of the team and not because we have done it for 20
years.

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 4) Reflect on what you would do or not do differently given what you have learned
about ethics.

I like the ethic that I choose as I think it would really work with the situation that I am
dealing with. I think it is a great ethic to implement and apply. Using the utilitarian ethic
would allow for me to be able to do what is in the best interest of everyone and not just
certain employees. As a manager, diffuclt decisions need to be made so that it benefits
the whole team and the provides the best outcomes. This is why I believe that the
utilitarian outcome is the best choice.

References

Utilitarianism. Ethics Unwrapped. (2022, May 25). Retrieved February 19, 2023, from
https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/glossary/utilitarianism 

Velasquez, M., Andre, C., J, S., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. (1988, January 1). Ethics and virtue.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Retrieved February 19, 2023, from
https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/ethics-and-virtue/