The ELI is sure to facilitate the self-discovery of one’s underlying values which help individuals to identify their preferred approach to solving ethical dilemmas. One’s personal code of ethics is shaped by one’s family members, teachers, norms and regulations of the community, formal and informal education, philosophy, morality and religion. Similarly, each profession and organization has its own ethical codes (values, expectations and set of preferences) which the employees have to follow.
It is also important for individuals to identify the values in conflict through greater self-knowledge. These values in conflict are the result of differences between one’s personal and community values, conflicts as to which personal value should take priority in a given situation, and the disparity between one’s best and worst selves. The ELI will also equip one to identify one’s values in conflict and as such this paper seeks to address my personal ethics statement based on Baird’s ethical decision model.
For Baird, the four basic values that form one’s ethical behavior and determine one’s primary ethical lens are rationality, sensibility, autonomy and equality. Among these, rationality stresses on reason, principles, critical thinking and analysis; sensibility emphasizes empathy and compassion where the individual follows his heart or intuition in ethical decisions; autonomy favors personal rights and responsibilities in ethical behavior whereas equality takes into account the needs of the community in ethical choices (Baird & Niacaris 11).
Analyzing my own ethical values it is evident that rationality stands at the core of my ethical statement. I strongly believe in the power of reason, principles, critical thinking and analysis in making ethical choices. However, regarding the priority of values to be undertaken in various situations I stand divided between autonomy and equality. Even though I am a strong advocate of equality and value the needs of the community I favor my personal rights and responsibilities as well in many instances.
Therefore, I realize that there are certain conflicts of values with regard to my ethical decisions which I need to sort out carefully. It is also worthwhile to analyze the four ethical lenses of Baird to have a thorough understanding regarding my own ethical perspectives. For Baird, one’s value preferences determine one’s ethical lens and therefore it is significant to identify my own core values and the corresponding ethical lens. Baird categorizes the ethical lenses into four: rights and responsibility lens, results lens, relationship lens, and reputation lens.
The Rights and Responsibility Lens emphasizes the core values of autonomy and rationality and it holds that the individual is capable of making his own ethical choices through critical thinking and analysis. On the other hand, the Results Lens emphasizes the core values of autonomy and sensibility and the focus of the individual is on the results or consequences of his actions. As such the ethical perspective has its roots in the teleological tradition which stresses on utilitarianism. The third ethical perspective is the Relationship Lens that emphasizes the core values of equality and rationality, traditionally known as theories of justice and it has its roots in the deontological tradition.
This ethical perspective exhorts one to treat everyone in the community with respect and dignity. On the other hand, the Reputation Lens emphasizes the values of equality and sensibility and the lens focuses on what virtues the community believes should be cultivated by those in positions of responsibility. With regard to my e
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