scholarly journals Leadership in the ‘Wicked’ Problem of Bosnia’s civil war: A case study examining ethical decision making under duress

Leadership ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan SC Watters
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
Wicked Problem ◽  
Grey Zone ◽  
Moral Uncertainty ◽  
Moral Certainty ◽  
Post Hoc

The author, as a UN Commander in Bosnia in the early 1990s, faced what he believed to be an ethically insoluble dilemma entangled in the Wicked Problem of Bosnia’s civil war. Bosnia’s civil war was a Wicked Problem constructed by history, the warring factions and the UN’s policy of neutrality. The moral uncertainty of leading in Bosnia’s Wicked Problem generated a tendency to construct Tame Problems enabling forthright action guided by deontological principles of moral certainty. The reality of the Wicked Problem required leaders to adopt Utilitarian judgements based on projected consequences, as in Bosnia’s grey zone the Deontological certainties did not appear valid. When a Wicked Problem morphed into a crisis or Critical Problem requiring direct action, the morally correct course had to be instinctive aligning with Virtue ethics, the ethical character of the actors. This article is an attempt at reflective learning through post hoc sense making of events portrayed in a case study, the events fractured relationships, changed lives and provided stark lessons.

Military health outreach on Exercise ASKARI SERPENT: a discussion of clinical and ethical challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 165 (5) ◽  
pp. 346-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke John Turner ◽  
D Wilkins ◽  
J I J A Woodhouse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Military Health ◽  
Post Hoc Analysis ◽  
Rural Kenya ◽  
Four Quadrant ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Universal Nature

Exercise ASKARI SERPENT (Ex AS) is an annual British Army medical exercise that sees the deployment of a medical regiment to rural Kenya. The exercise involves the delivery of health outreach clinics and health education to the civilian population alongside Kenyan governmental and non-governmental organisations. This article includes a post hoc analysis of the ethical and clinical challenges that clinicians faced during Ex AS, applying a four-quadrant approach to ethical decision-making. This article intends to stimulate further debate and discussion on how to best prepare clinicians for clinical challenges and ethical decision-making on future exercises and operations. We conclude that our experiences on Ex AS can provide an insight on how to develop predeployment training for clinicians. Furthermore, the universal nature of the challenges faced on Ex AS can be applied to training for future contingency operations.

scholarly journals Education Leaders’ Perceptions of Faculty Ethical Decision-Making: Awareness, Learning, and Change

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Burleigh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
School Environment ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Exploratory Case Study ◽  
Education Leaders ◽  
School Day ◽  
Learning And Change ◽  
Perceptions Of Education

Conversations about ethical decision-making exist in a climate of misinformation within social and political forums. The issue of ethical decision-making in the context of educational leadership within a school environment has not been recently investigated. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to examine the perceptions of education leaders who observed the processes faculty employed when ethical decision-making commenced throughout the school day. Data was collected during interviews with education leaders who answered semi-structured, open-ended questions. The findings led the leaders to self-reflect, redefining their roles as authentic leaders and a gaining a deeper understanding of school culture, thus helping create systemic change.

scholarly journals Contemporary investigations of moral intuition in epistemology and cognitive science

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-89
Author(s):  
D.V. Ivanov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Moral Psychology ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Moral Intuition ◽  
Epistemic State ◽  
Psychological Process ◽  
Moral Uncertainty

The article is devoted to the analysis and comparison of theories of moral intuition, actively discussed in epistemology and cognitive science in the first two decades of this century. At the beginning of the twentieth century intuitionism was a popular position in ethics. However, already in the middle of the last century this position was rejected by philoso­phers. At the beginning of the new century, we can see a return of interest in the study of in­tuition and its role in ethical decision-making. The main disciplines in which there is an in­crease in the number of studies of moral intuition are primarily cognitive science and epistemology. Approaches to the phenomenon of moral intuition in these disciplines are dif­ferent. Cognitive science, moral psychology, is primarily focused on understanding intu­ition as a psychological process characterized by a specific cognitive role. Epistemology is interested in moral intuition as an epistemic state, in what role it plays in justification of our knowledge of moral facts. However, despite the fact that moral intuition is understood dif­ferently in these disciplines, we can nevertheless highlight common points. The paper notes that the revival of interest in moral intuition is associated largely with the development of research in the field of decision theory, namely the development of a theory of ethical deci­sion-making. Another area of research, with which the study of moral intuition is closely re­lated, is the problem of moral uncertainty.

scholarly journals The Film Philadelphia As A Case Study Of Ethical Dilemmas In The Workplace

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Carlos B. Gonzalez ◽  
Agustin F. Zarzosa
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Ethical Decisions ◽  
Professional Careers ◽  
Shed Light

In this paper we present the film Philadelphia as an exemplary text for teaching business ethics. For this purpose, we show students three scenes from the film and guide them as they engage in ethical reasoning. Through the exercise, students should: understand the nature of ethical dilemmas; understand a model for ethical decision-making and apply it to shed light on selected situations presented in the film; and lastly, understand ethical dimensions of discrimination. After engaging with the exercise, students should also develop a clear understanding of the difficulty of reaching ethical decisions in their professional careers. In addition, the exercise serves as an opportunity to discuss issues of HIV and AIDS in contemporary organizations.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document