How Ethical Are You

I found this video on YouTube kind of by accident but I found it pretty interesting. It’s a six minute excerpt of a presentation from the AELC (Australian Experiential Learning Center). In the beginning of the video it goes through how to know if you are experiencing an ethical issue and how you might be feeling if you have got an ethical problem on your hands, such as ‘Are you losing sleep at night because of it?’ It has a lot of simple theories but I found it really made me think about how I personally make a decision that is ethics related. I probably consider some of these things but I would have to say I don’t really think that much into it. For instance it suggests you should ask yourself a series of questions like ‘How would you feel if your decision were to be exposed and if others found out?’ or ‘Is it something that I would feel comfortable telling my mother?’ Another thing that seems like it should be an obvious thing to do would be to put yourself in other peoples’ shoes and consider how it would affect the others involved. Taking a different viewpoint is an important thing to do when making any decision ethical or not because you need to look at it from all angles, consider all options as well as all outcomes. In addition to this, the presenter talks about power and how it can corrupt your moral compass. She explains how when people are in positions of power they frequently seem to think that they are ‘untouchable’ and might make unethical decisions due to that fact. Others are generally too afraid to question them or say no if they are in a lesser position. I found this rang a little too true for me because I know I have experienced people doing something that might not be right in my mind but I haven’t said anything because they are higher up than I am and I feel as though it’s either not my place to argue or I have been too nervous to stand up to them. I think this video is good to make yourself think about ethics in your own life and what you could change to become a more ethical decision maker. I think it was interesting and I would suggest watching the whole clip because it talks about other ethical topics also. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba0UjoovFFs