Assessing Perspective on Ethics in Connect

Review your results from the Week 1 and Week 2 Self-Assessments (See details below)

• Self-Assessment: Assessing My Perspective on Ethics in Connect

• Self-Assessment: What is My Big Five Personality Profile?

• Self-Assessment: Assessing an Organization’s Diversity Climate

Consider how the information you’ve gathered can be used to solve a problem, work on a team, and function within a business environment.

Determine how you can use your findings to get along with co-workers that may have different assessment results. Evaluate how you would handle stressful situations, manage change, and stay motivated.

Complete the Week 2 Self-Assessment Reflection in no more than 175- words.

Self-Assessment 1.2: Assessing My Perspective on Ethics

There are many systems that attempt to capture ethical values. This self-assessment measures one possible approach to ethics. You are classified along two dimensions, and then these are used to create four categories of people.

Idealism

Score : 24 pts.

23 – 30 pts.

Feedback: You have high idealism.

Relativism

Score : 20 pts.

14 – 22 pts.

Feedback: You have moderate relativism.

Interpreting the Result

First, let’s define the two dimensions.

Idealism – This is the extent to which you think there is always a clear “right” or “good” action.

Relativism – This is the extent to which you think there are, or are not, absolute moral rules when making ethical judgments.

This then leads to the following four categories:

Situationists – Persons who are high on both idealism and relativism scales. The typical attitude is to “reject moral rules” and advocate that each situation should be analyzed individualistically.

Subjectivists – Persons who are low on idealism, but high on relativism. The typical attitude is to approach moral situations “based on personal values rather than universal moral principles.”

Absolutists – Persons who are high on idealism but low on relativism. The typical attitude is to approach moral questions with the assumption that “the best possible outcome can be achieved by following universal moral rules.”

Exceptionalists – Persons who are low on both idealism and relativism. The typical attitude is to think there are moral absolutes but to be “pragmatically open to exceptions.”

If your score is in the moderate range on one or both scales, you do not fit neatly into these categories. This is not a problem. It just means that your views are a bit more nuanced than those of other people. You can still place yourself in one of the four categories by moving your moderate score to the low or high range based on which is closest.

Action Steps

You will be faced with many ethical problems over the course of your lifetime. Some of these will be relatively easy to address. Others will be very difficult. Sometimes, you will see clearly what you should do, but you find it very difficult to follow through on what you know you should do. Other times, you will have two (or more) ethically ambiguous choices in front of you and you will not know how to choose.

Because you are a college or university student, you have the benefit of having an extended period of time to develop your ethical sensibility. You can do this in several ways. First, you should be in touch with your religious or philosophical perspective. One of the purposes of religion and philosophy is to allow for the development of a deeply thoughtful system of ethics. If you are required to take courses such as humanities, history, religion, and literature, you should not view these courses merely as something to be “gotten out of the way,” but rather you should use them to develop your ethical compass. Ethical problems are as old as humanity. Courses in these disciplines will expose you to some of the great questions in life, and allow you to think deeply about what the answers can and should be.

Second, you can do current reading. The business press is filled with stories of people who are dealing with ethical situations. Sometimes, there are dramatic illustrations of ethical failures, such as the fallacious accounting practices that led to the collapse of Enron or the decision by some Volkswagen employees to write software that would allow their cars to avoid detection of illegal levels of pollutants. However, there are also many less well known or dramatic stories. Read these and think about what you would have done if you were placed in a similar circumstance.

Third, talk with your fellow students, your faculty, and others about ethical situations they have faced and how they were handled. Some of the best learning comes from hearing stories from people who describe their ethical failures and the consequences that resulted from their decisions.

Finally, you should use your time as a student to practice your ethical standards. If, for example, you think people should not cheat on their taxes and they should not lie on their resumés, then you should practice not cheating and lying as a student. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. If you cut corners now, you will likely cut corners in the future. Now is the time to develop good habits.

Survey Caveat

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your approach to ethics may change over time, or you may come to understand what your ethical perspective actually is only later in life. Third, there are many ways to capture ethical sensibilities. If this one is not helpful, you should investigate other resources that will help you navigate the ethical problems you will inevitably face.

Source: Adapted from D. R. Forsyth, “A Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, July 1980, pp. 175–184

Self-Assessment 4.2: Assessing an Organization’s Diversity Climate

The diversity climate of an organization is comprised of three conceptually distinct factors:

Organizational fairness

Organizational inclusion

Diversity promises

The following survey was designed to assess the diversity climate within your current organization.

Feedback:

Feedback is calculated by sum

Feedback score:

Score : 43 pts.

Range-based feedback:

28 – 44 pts.

Feedback: Your organization has a moderate diversity climate.

Interpreting the Result

The three conceptually distinct factors of an organization’s diversity climate comprise the following:

Organizational Fairness – This measures the extent to which employees perceive there is equal treatment in policies and practices for persons regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion and age.

Organizational Inclusion – This measures the extent to which the organization supports activities such as diversity networks, mentoring, and diversity training programs.

Diversity Promises – This measures the extent to which the organization is perceived to have followed through on commitments with respect to the elimination of bias and being receptive to hearing concerns raised by employees who are members of minority groups.If your score is in the low or moderate range, this indicates you do not perceive the organization is committed to having a good diversity climate. If your score is in the high range, it is likely you think your organization is strong in this respect. Research suggests that you are more likely to be unhappy, dissatisfied, and less likely to give the organization your best effort if you work in a low diversity climate. Sometimes, you may need to look for other job opportunities if the climate is inconsistent with your values and needs.

Action Steps

In particular, if you are a minority, you should take advantage of programs that many organizations offer to help improve the standing of underrepresented groups. If the organization offers a mentoring program, you should enroll and participate. Some organizations sponsor networks to enable members of underrepresented groups to more easily connect with each other. And, of course, if you think you are being treated unfairly, you should speak with someone in the human resources department about steps you can take to address the problem.

All employees should be concerned about fit. Generally speaking, you should try to find an organization whose values and perspectives match your own. If you find yourself severely out of step with your colleagues and leadership, perhaps you should look for another organization. On the other hand, there are certainly times when the right thing to do is to take a stand if you see or experience injustice. Wisdom is required to know when to stay and when to move on. There are no firm guidelines or rules.

In addition to these specific actions, the textbook contains a number of ideas all employees can consider. In particular, employees who are not minorities should be sensitive to diversity issues and work to create psychologically safe environments for persons to raise concerns and to have honest discussions.

Survey Caveat

Remember your score on this assessment, while helpful for understanding, should not be over-interpreted. You are not necessarily in the best position to respond to these items. Certainly, your perspective is legitimate and valuable, but you should also recognize that other people, some of whom have more experience and knowledge of the organization, may have different views. Surveys such as this are almost always best when they represent the compilation of the assessment of many people, all of whom have their own views of the organization. You might want to check your perceptions of the organization with other people. The discussions that result may be very helpful to you in understanding how your organization works.

Source: Adapted from E. H. Buttner, K. B. Lowe, and L. Billings-Harris, “An Empirical Test of Diversity Climate Dimensionality and Relative Effects on Employee of Color Outcomes,” Journal of Business Ethics, October, 2012, pp. 247–258.

Self-Assessment 3.1: What Is My Big Five Personality Profile?

Personality measurement can be fun and informative—but it can also be challenging if the results are not as you might expect. There has been a great deal of research and thought given to how best to categorize persons in personality terms. Much of this research and writing has coalesced around the view that the most helpful categorization scheme involves five dimensions of personality. These have come to be known as “The Big Five.”

Extraversion

Score : 8 pts.

8 – 10 pts.

Feedback: You are high in extraversion.

Agreeableness

Score : 8 pts.

8 – 10 pts.

Feedback: You are high in agreeableness.

Conscientiousness

Score : 7 pts.

5 – 7 pts.

Feedback: You are moderate in conscientiousness.

Emotional stability

Score : 9 pts.

8 – 10 pts.

Feedback: You are high in emotional stability.

Openness to experience

Score : 8 pts.

8 – 10 pts.

Feedback: You are high in openness to experience.

Interpreting the Result

Extraversion – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be outgoing, talkative, sociable, and assertive. Research has shown that people in sales (think of a coach who recruits college athletes or a car sales person) tend to be more successful if they are on the high end of the extraversion scale. Likewise, managers tend to be more successful if they behave in extroverted ways. In contrast, persons who score low on extraversion (introverts) tend to like more solitary activities such as doing office support, research and development work, working with data, and so on.

Agreeableness – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be trusting, good-natured, cooperative, and soft-hearted. Surprisingly, while all of us would like to have work colleagues who are agreeable, research shows agreeableness is less connected to general work success than are extroversion and conscientiousness. Of course, this does not mean you should not work at being as agreeable as you can be!

Conscientiousness – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent. Research shows people who score high in conscientiousness tend to be more successful in all types of employment settings than their less conscientious co-workers. It is easy to see why. What employer would want to hire someone who sees themselves not always prepared (item 5) or someone who does not pay attention to details (item 6)? If your score on this dimension is not as high as you would like, you can expect a high payoff from working on becoming stronger in this area.

Emotional stability – Persons who score high on emotional stability tend to be relaxed, secure, and unworried. In contrast, persons who score low tend to experience more highs and lows in terms of their emotional life. Research shows this dimension has less to do with success at work than extraversion and emotional stability.

Openness to experience – Persons who score high on this dimension tend to be intellectual, imaginative, curious, and broadminded. Research shows there is not a strong relationship between scores on this dimension and success at work. However, certain types of jobs are certainly better fits for people who are strong in this area. For example, people who have to work across cultures are likely to be more successful if they are more open to experience because it is easier for them to imagine that people are different from them without having to draw conclusions about whether these differences are good or bad.

Action Steps

There are many, many resources you can use to follow up on these results. Informally, you can talk with your friends and family members to see if your self-assessment is consistent with their assessment of you. There are many on-line resources including longer versions of the Big Five assessment as well as a great deal of information on other types of personality assessments (such as the popular Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). More formally, your campus probably has a career development office. Typically, professionals in those offices are familiar with the connections between personality and the kinds of jobs you might find to be most suitable. Finally, if you find you are struggling to cope with either short-term or long-term emotional issues, we strongly encourage you to seek support from a campus counseling office, a religious professional, or a close confidant who can help you work through the issues you face.

Remember, the personality dimension which has the strongest relationship with job performance is conscientiousness. Employers like employees who are dependable, responsible, achievement-oriented, and persistent. This is something you can work on improving in yourself. For example, if you notice you have a tendency to procrastinate in completion of certain kinds of tasks, you can work on fighting that tendency by working on those tasks first so they are no longer hanging over you. Then, you are in a position to derive greater enjoyment from doing tasks you more naturally want to do. Setting goals and action plans to achieve those goals are proven ways to improve your chances of success in any endeavor. College is a great setting in which to begin to develop strong and positive lifetime habits. Don’t miss the opportunity!

If you introverted (that is, low is extroversion) you have a particular challenge when it comes to management and leadership. Successful managers and leaders are often seen to be outgoing and talkative. This is not a natural tendency for introverts. However, there are plenty of introverts who are quite successful in management and leadership positions. Typically, these folks learn to act energetically even when they may not feel that way, particularly in important business and work meetings. So, if you are introverted, do not write off the possibility of being in management and leadership. You will just need to work at some aspects of the work more than others. However, you may well have analytic and vision casting abilities that will more than compensate for this particular characteristic.

Survey Caveat

Remember your score on this self-assessment, while useful for self-understanding, should not be over-interpreted. First, every person is complex and it is impossible to fully capture your uniqueness in a short self-assessment. Second, you may well find your personality may change over time, or you may come to understand what your personality actually is only later in life. Third, this self-assessment is useful to the extent it helps you to understand both your own personality as well as the fact that other people will get different patterns of results. Good managers understand people are different, unique and complex, and therefore try to get to know their employees as well as possible.

Source: L R Goldberg, J A Johnson, H W Eber, R Hogan,M C Ashton, C R Cloninger, & H C Gough “The International Personality Item Pool and the Future of Public-domain Personality Measures,” Journal of Research in Personality 40 (2006), pp. 84–96.

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