MORAL LEADERSHIP

Constructing ethical frameworks in a morally challenged AmericaPresented by Mitch Land, PhD, director

Voltaire“Virtue has escaped

our hearts and taken

refuge on our lips”

Histoire de Louis XIV

"No legacy is so rich as honesty."

William Shakespeare

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave,When first we practice to deceive!"

-Sir Walter Scott, Marmion

"Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom."

-Thomas Jefferson

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”

Winston Churchill

Moral Dilemmas Robert Dilenschneider Richard Kosmicki

“Spin is bad for you, it’s bad for your company and it’s bad for your clients.”

Conflicts of Interest

Janet Cooke’s 1980 Pulitzer Prize withdrawn because of composite story

On April 13, 1981, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a story titled "Jimmy's World" about an 8-year-old heroin addict. On April 15 she confessed that there really was no "Jimmy," that he represented a composite of child addicts and that her story was, in fact, fiction. She returned the prize and resigned.

Corporate and Government Spin Johnson presidency using “spin” to

justify Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin

Clinton administration casts doubts on female accusers Redefining sexual relations

Tabloid Journalism

ABC PrimeTime Live uses deception to obtain sensational video images of Food Lion

NBC rigs trucks to explode

CNN reports serin gas accusation against the Pentagon

MEDIA ETHICS

“Why, that’s an oxymoron!”

Defining Ethics

Derived from ethos

Ethos = spirit of a culture

Moral standards of right and wrong

FRAMEWORKS FOR ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING

Utilitarianism

Deontological

Or somewhere in the middle?

THE CASE FOR COMMUNITARIANISM

Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham

1781

John Stuart Mill

1863

Utilitarianism

Greatest Good for the Greatest Number

The End Justifies the Means

Deontological Perspective

Immanuel Kant

1798

DEONTOLOGY

Study of necessity, duty or obligation Moral worth is an intrinsic feature of

human actions, determined by formal rules of conduct

Moral obligation rests solely upon duty, without reference to the consequences.

The Basic Tenets of Utilitarianism Greatest Good for the Greatest

Number – moral relativism – the end justifies the means – interpretation subjective– principles are negotiable and disposable

End Justifies the Means

The Basic Tenets of Utilitarianism It regards "utility as the ultimate appeal on

all ethical questions – COMMON SENSE

End Justifies the Means

Rightness or wrongness is determined by the overall value of the consequences

Subtle Weaknesses in Utilitarianism

• Utilitarianism depends upon an accurate assessment of the consequences– both long term and short term

• Consequences-dependent theory lacks sufficient guidelines for long-term assessment

• Its individualist bias oversimplifies complex relationships of family, neighbors, community

Subtle Weaknesses in Utilitarianism

• Utilitarianism’s singular focus neglects competing principles

• Utilitarianism privileges possible consequences over past responsibilities

• Utilitarianism confuses an aggregate of individual goods with the common good

• Individual liberty has priority over the moral order, and therefore ethics is exterior

Moral Relativism

Hitler’s Final Solution

Separate but Equal: Segregation in America 1600-1964

Milosevic’s Ethnic Cleansing

Problematic of Deontology

If a precept is true for one, it is true for all.

Principles dominate Consequences.

Kant’s Categorical Imperative leaves little room for Consequential Imperative.

Principles

Or

Consequences ?Or somewhere between:

COMMUNITARIANISM

Communitarianism

Individuality exists in a context of social reality—not in isolation

Human identities are constituted within a social conception of the good

Individual rights are NOT the cornerstone of the political order

Communitarianism• The communal, our commonness, communitas

is the context in which the nature of persons is understood

• Morally appropriate action assumes community

Critique of Communitarianism• Utilitarianism also considers the group, collective or

society generally.- Good conduct is that which results in the greatest good for the greatest

number.

• Communitarianism threatens the primacy of the “sacred” individual.

- Mill/Kant see individual as the measure of value against the collective of state and society.

• Communitarianism is a smoke screen for collectivism—a socialist agenda.

Critique of Communitarianism• Communitarianism is a disguise for theological mishmash.

- An attempt to force universal principles derived from theological belief systems upon others.

• Communitarianism would shift the objective of news from unbiased information transmission to an agent of community transformation.

Critique of Communitarianism

• Communitarianism seeks to foster a common philosophy, which would result in deep psychological turmoil and public sadness.

• Such like-mindedness would lead to social destruction, psychological alienation and personal immorality.

Principles

Stewardship

Freedom

Justice

Truth

Humaneness

Values

Stewardship = generous, frugal, good managing

Varied expressions of principles

Truth = integrity, honesty, trustworthy

Humaneness = kind, gentle, caring

Justice = fairness, equality

Freedom = liberty, self-expression

FACTS

VALUES STAKEHOLDERS

PRINCIPLES

The Potter Box

Two-Dimensional Analysis

Or they lie buried beneath social pressures

Even though assumptions often hide

Analysis always builds on assumptions

Three-Dimensional Analysis

Moral reasoning is always built upon a philosophical foundation whether or not the decision maker is aware of it.

3-D Analysis builds upon a philosophical foundation

3-D AnalysisThe base of the pyramid of moral reasoning represents the philosophical foundation.

The pyramid of our moral reasoning is always constructed upon this philosophical base.

From our mental arrangement of the case facts through the prioritizing of the principles and values to the eventual list of stakeholders we move to a point of decision.

FOUNDATION BASED ANALYSIS

Philosophical assumptions

Utilitarianism Communitarianism

FACTS

STAKEHOLDERS

VALUES

PRINCIPLES

FACTS

Bullet the case facts that give rise to the ethical dilemma. Cut through the fat of details to expose the raw nerves of moral crisis.

PRINCIPLES

Just as the surgeon’s scalpel exposes unprotected and unsedated nerve tissue to air

and light results in pain,

The gradual exposure of essential facts results in the angst of conflicting moral

principles. This triangular panel should list in order of priority the principles at stake.

VALUES

Principles and values are closely related.

Principles can be understood as the major nouns that organize the nouns and verbs of values.

Moral values can always be linked to five major principles: truth, justice, liberty, humaneness and stewardship.

VALUES

The principle of truth informs my honest behavior, trustworthy actions, my decisions of integrity and so on.

The principle of humaneness should prompt merciful acts, kind behavior toward my neighbors, and the gentle treatment of children, animals, the weak and so on.

This triangular panel should list in order of priority the principles that emerge from an elaboration of the essential facts.

STAKEHOLDERS

The fourth triangular panel lists the stakeholders in order of

priority.

Analyzing the facts and the competing principles and values will evoke the following questions:

Who has the most to gain and who has the least to gain as we move toward the point of decision. Conversely, who has the most and least to lose?

FOUNDATION

FACTS

PRINCIPLESVALUES

STAKEHOLDERS

POINT OF DECISION

Establish the facts

Texaco involved in litigation over racial discrimination.

Texaco executives are recorded using racial slurs.

Jesse Jackson calls for nationwide boycott.

Peter Bijur addresses Texaco employees.

Facts

Peter Bijur dismisses three executives.

Bijur announces Texaco’s intolerance for racial discrimination.

Bijur announces steps for re-education.

Jesse Jackson calls off the boycott.

Principles

Truth telling Justice Humaneness Freedom Stewardship

Moral Values & Non-moral values Fairness Full Disclosure Honesty Frugality Professionalism

Stakeholders & Loyalties

Texaco Employees Stockholders Texaco CEO Customers The three guilty executives

Which Framework for Bijur?

Utilitarianism Alternatives

– Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance– Aristotle’s Golden Mean– Judeo-Christian Agapism

Communitarianism

Communitarianism Applied

All principles were involved in the Texaco Case.

Principle of Humaneness clashed with other principles

No possibility of “redemption” or “rehabilitation” for Texaco Executives.

Texaco Executives didn’t “Apologize”

Possible Alternative Steps framed in Communitarianism• Reprimand Executives who used racial slurs

• Have Executives publicly apologize and ask forgiveness from offended parties

• Demote Executives

• Require sensitivity training on the part of Executives

ABC PrimeTime Live Vs. Food Lion

Establish Facts

Prioritize Values

Prioritize Stakeholders and Loyalties

Prioritize Principles

Establish the Facts

ABC goes undercover to investigate food-handling abuses

Cameras record alleged abuses PrimeTime Live broadcasts sensational

story Food Lion suffers great financial loss Food Lion sues ABC Jury finds in favor of Food Lion

Moral Values Non-Moral Values

Telling an accurate story (TRUTH)

Protecting the public health (HUMANENESS)

Holding Grocer accountable (STEWARDSHIP)

Punishing wrong-doing (JUSTICE)

Making a profit Satisfying ratings Telling visual story Telling a compelling

story Betting both sides of

an issue Obtaining

authoritative sources

VALUES : MORAL Vs NON-MORAL

• Making a profit• Satisfying ratings

• Telling visual story

• Telling a compelling story

• Getting both sides of an issue

• Obtaining authoritative sources

NON-MORAL

Moral Values

• Telling an accurate story (TRUTH)

• Obtaining the truth with integrity (TRUTH & JUSTICE)

• Protecting the public health (HUMANENESS)

• Holding the grocer accountable (STEWARDSHIP)

• Making a profit

• Satisfying ratings

• Telling visual story

• Telling a compelling story

• Getting both sides of an issue

• Obtaining authoritative sources

• Telling an accurate story (TRUTH)

• Obtaining the truth with integrity (TRUTH & JUSTICE)

• Protecting the public health (HUMANENESS)

• Holding the grocer accountable (STEWARDSHIP)

NON-MORAL VALUES

MORAL VALUES

PRIORITIZE STAKEHOLDERS

Stockholders Advertisers Viewers Producers Management Other Employees

Stockholders Suppliers Customers Management Food & Drug

Administration Legal System

ABC News FOOD LION

Identifying loyalties

Who has the most to lose?

Who has the most to gain?

PRIORITIZE PRINCIPLES Truth Telling

Humaneness

Justice

Stewardship

Philosophical Framework?

Utilitarianism Perspective

Moral Imagination in search of Alternatives -- Communitarianism

Alternative Scenario

Enter Food Lion without lying Consensus decision making on the

outtakes Invite independent examination of food

after it leaves the store Other?