Ethical Decision-making Framework Research Articles

Drugs of unproven benefit for COVID-19: a pharma perspective on ethical allocation of available therapies.

In the quest to provide treatment for COVID-19 patients, available therapies that have been approved for other indications but have insufficient evidence of safety and efficacy for use against COVID-19 have been considered One of the unintended consequences of this approach is the potential creation of shortages, depriving existing patients who are benefiting from products based on their proven indications Here, a pharmaceutical company outlines their ethical decision-making framework to guide decision-making and ensure equity of access to products

Improving Ethical Decision Making through the Lens of Graduate Project Management Students

The purpose of this paper is to examine the practiced application of the Ethical Decision Making Framework (EDMF) by graduate project management students (as a proxy for practicing project leaders and managers). This research extends management practice by improving one of the tools available to project managers in decision-making. The methodology used a quasi-experimental setting by collecting and analysing student papers that applied the EDMF. This approach identified what the participants did well, what they struggled with, and which questions were most and least used. This resulted in improvements to the EDMF toolset, from both a macro and micro perspective. Macro improvements focused on question structure to reduce complexity and increase understanding and combining specific steps. Micro improvements included adapting the framework beyond project management and adding a broader focus on stakeholders. This study provides a focused approach to ethical decision making by adding to the practitioner toolkit.

Are You Sure You Want to View This Community? Exploring the Ethics of Reddit’s Quarantine Practice

ABSTRACT In the United States, social media organizations are not legally liable for what users do or say on their platforms and are free to regulate expression in any way they see fit. As a result, dark corners of the Internet have emerged to foster communities whose sole purpose is to create and share content that subjugates members of traditionally marginalized groups. The subreddit,/r/TheRedPill, is one such community. This article explores whether hiding this offensive content through digital “quarantine” or removing the community altogether is more ethically justifiable. We draw on theorizing about the ethics of social media content moderation to develop a framework for ethical decision-making based on transparency, corporate social responsibility, and human dignity to guide decisions about content removal. Using/r/TheRedPill as a case study, we argue that the most ethically justified course of action is for Reddit to remove the site entirely from its platform.

Ethical Decision-Making Platform in Autonomous Vehicles With Lexicographic Optimization Based Model Predictive Controller

Ethical decision-making during inevitable crashes, especially when humans involved, has become a big and sensitive roadblock for future mass adoption of autonomous vehicles. Towards addressing this challenge, this paper proposes a predictive control framework for ethical decision-making in autonomous driving using rational ethics. For flexibly implementing of ethical rules, the Lexicographic Optimization-based model predictive controller (LO-MPC) has been designed, in which obstacles and constraints are prioritized. Simulation environment is set up in PreScan, with different edge cases. The results show that the proposed LO-MPC approach has the capability to deal with the ethical decision-making during inevitable crashes by avoiding the obstacles with the assumed priority orders compared with traditional decision-making algorithm.

Experiences and learnings from professional psychology training partners during the COVID-19 pandemic: Impacts, challenges, and opportunities.

The declaration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in March 2020 has impacted all of society and had unprecedented, transformational effects on professional psychology training within just a few months. This review gathers knowledge from the leaders of three of the main training partners in Canada, the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Programs (CCPPP), the Accreditation Panel of the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Association of Canadian Psychology Regulatory Organisations (ACPRO), as well as the Editor of Canadian Psychology. We share our experiences and learnings about the profound effect COVID-19 has had on academic programs, internships, accreditation, and regulatory functions. The review discusses the training pathway from student learner to licensed psychologist; the prominent educational, advocacy, and regulatory bodies associated with psychology training in Canada; pandemic-related challenges to training; an ethical decision-making framework developed for the Canadian context that may help in mitigating these challenges; the resulting guiding and aspirational principles for decision making during the pandemic; and personal examples of the pandemic's impact on our roles and affiliated organisations. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for professional training, the pandemic has also been a catalyst for change within the profession, encouraging expansion of tele-education and telehealth practices. The pandemic has encouraged enhanced communication within the whole training community, consensus-based ethical decision making, and has encouraged a focus on defining our professional priorities. The professional psychology training community has faced and will continue to face multifaceted and complex problems as a result of the pandemic. In the end, however, we hope to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic as a more resilient, reflective, and cohesive professional psychology training community.

Understanding and improving decision-making around referral and admissions to intensive care: a mixed methods study

Background: Intensive care treatment can be life-saving but is invasive and distressing for patients receiving them, and not always successful. Deciding whether or not a patient will benefit from intensive care is a difficult clinical and ethical challenge. Objectives: To explore the decision-making process around referral and admission to ICU and develop an intervention to improve it. Methods: A mixed methods study including: a) Two systematic reviews investigating factors associated with decisions to admit to an intensive care unit (ICU) and experiences of clinicians, patients and families of the process. b) A focused ethnographic study including observation of decisions and interviews with ICU doctors, referring doctors, patients and families in six NHS Trusts in the UK Midlands. 55 decisions regarding 46 patients were observed. 101 doctors were interviewed. c) A Choice Experiment questionnaire survey with paired patient profiles developed using data from the ethnographic study and systematic reviews. UK ICU consultants and Critical Care Outreach Nurses were invited to participate. Participants’ preferences for ICU admission were analysed using a Random Utility Framework and preference heterogeneity using a latent class logit (LCL) model. d) Using the data from systematic reviews, ethnographic study and CE we developed a Decision Support Intervention (DSI) including an ethical framework for decision-making, guidance for referral and supporting referral and decision support forms and patient and family information leaflets. It was tested for implementation feasibility in three NHS Trusts purposively sampled for size of ICU. An eight week implementation period was followed by six weeks data collection. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to evaluate form usage, intervention acceptability, barriers and facilitators to implementation, and impact on decisionmaking. e) A tool to evaluate the ethical quality of decision-making related to ICU admission was developed, based on assessment of patient records. The tool was tested for inter-rater and inter-site reliability in 120 patient records across the three sites in the implementation feasibility study. Results: Influences on decision-making identified in the systematic review and ethnographic study included age, presence of chronic illness, functional status, presence of DNACPR order, referring specialty, referrer seniority, and ICU bed availability. ICU doctors used a gestalt assessment of the patient in making decisions. The CE showed age was the most important factor in consultant and CCOR nurses preferences for admission. The ethnographic study illuminated the complexity of the decision-making process, the importance of inter-professional relationships, and good communication between teams and with patients and families. Doctors find it difficult to articulate and balance benefits and burdens of ICU treatment for a patient. There was low uptake of the DSI although doctors who used it noted that it improved articulation of reasons for decisions and communication with patients. Several challenges were identified in developing an evaluation tool.

Legal and Ethical Aspects of 'Best Interests' Decision-Making for Medical Treatment of Companion Animals in the UK.

Simple SummaryMaking decisions about medical treatment for animal patients involves two key decision-makers, the animal owner and the veterinary surgeon. We aim to show that these decisions should and can be based on the ‘best interests’ of the animal, with both human decision-makers acting as advocates for the animal requiring treatment. We suggest that the role of the animal owner is similar to that of a parent in making decisions for a child, drawing on legal cases to demonstrate the limits of parental (and owner) decision-making. To provide a firmer basis for ‘best interests’ decision-making, we adapt the factors included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and demonstrate how these could be used with a typical clinical situation. Finally, we analyse the decisions from an ethical point of view.Medical decisions for young children are made by those with parental responsibility, with legal involvement only if the decision is potentially detrimental to the child’s welfare. While legally classified as property, some argue that animals are in a similar position to children; treatment decisions are made by their owners, posing a legal challenge only if the proposed treatment has the potential to cause harm or unnecessary suffering, as defined by animal protection legislation. This paper formulates the approach to a ‘best interests’ calculation, utilising the factors included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and relying on exchange of information between the human parties involved. Although this form of decision-making must primarily protect the animal from unnecessary suffering, it recognises that the information provided by the owner is critical in articulating the animal’s non-medical interests, and hence in formulating what is in the animal’s best overall welfare interests. While statute law does not mandate consideration of ‘best interests’ for animals, this approach might reasonably be expected as a professional imperative for veterinary surgeons. Importantly, this version of a ‘best interests’ calculation can be incorporated into existing ethical frameworks for medical decision-making and the humane treatment of animals.

STUDENT PERSPECTIVES OF EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGICAL STRATEGIES FOR TEACHING ETHICS

ABSTRACT This study explores students’ self-reported perceptions of multiple pedagogical methods for teaching business ethics. Five different pedagogical activities were implemented, and 79 students were surveyed at the end of the course and were asked which activities were perceived as helpful for learning and for stimulating thinking about ethics. The results showed that the guest speaker, group discussion, and case study were rated as most helpful, while the video and role-playing activities were rated as the least helpful. The results help business and marketing educators wanting to engage students and help develop an ethical decision-making framework.

Measuring the value of integrating GVV into a standalone accounting ethics course

This paper empirically assesses the efficacy of the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) curricular offering. GVV training purports to increase both a person’s confidence level in dealing with ethical issues and his or her likelihood to try to resolve and actually report an ethical issue when encountered. While the GVV curriculum has been piloted in nearly 1000 schools, companies, and other organizations on all seven continents, very little empirical research has been conducted to assess its efficacy, especially in accounting education. We integrated the GVV offering utilizing an ethical decision-making framework developed by Mintz and Morris (2014), based on Rest (1986) model of ethical action, into a semester-long accounting ethics class. We extend the existing literature in the field by developing an important theoretical link between Rest (1986) four-stage model of moral action and GVV. When using ANOVA to analyze the treatment and control groups separately, we find significant increases in all four stages of Rest’s model for the treatment group. When applying multivariate analysis to the incremental change between the treatment and the control groups, we find significant increases in both students’ confidence and their intent to confront ethical issues. Additionally, we find similar increases in students’ ethical sensitivity (ability to recognize ethical issues), ethical judgment (determining the best course of action), and their intent to try to resolve and report them between our treatment and control groups for certain vignettes. Student comments suggest the GVV material to be more enjoyable, and faculty believe the depth of the analysis utilizing GVV is better. Faculty also suggest that student engagement is higher with GVV. Our findings suggest that integrating GVV into the curriculum of an accounting ethics course is of value and worth pursuing. Given the ease with which the offering can be implemented, our study may encourage accounting academics to include GVV coverage in other accounting courses as well.

Nurses' tension-based ethical decision making in rural acute care settings.

Nurses in acute care are frequently involved in ethical decision making and experience a higher prevalence of ethical conflicts and dilemmas. Nurses in underresourced rural acute care settings also are likely to face unique ethical challenges. However, rarely have the particular contexts of these experiences in rural acute care settings been researched. A culture of silence and fear in small towns has made exploring these issues difficult. To explore registered nurses' experiences of ethical issues and ethical decision making in rural acute care hospitals in northern Ontario, Canada. Guided by an interpretive descriptive approach, data were collected by two nurse researchers using in-depth, individual, and semistructured telephone interviews. Data were managed with NVivo v.11 and analyzed using inductive, comparative, thematic analyses. The participants were eight registered nurses working in two acute care hospitals in northern Ontario. Ethical protocols were followed in accordance with ethics approval from the researchers' university and the hospitals. Results identified four themes that culminated in the development of a quadruple helix ethical decision-making framework of power, trust, care, and fear. The participants described complex ethical conflicts and dilemmas in acute care settings that were influenced by the context of working and living in small rural communities in northern Ontario. Nurses described navigating ethics in practice using a tension-based approach to ethical decision making, needing to carry these issues silently and often having no resolution to ethical challenges. These findings have important implications for nursing education, research, and practice. Nurses need safe spaces, formal ethics support, and improved access to resources. Additional ethics education and training specific to the unique contexts of rural settings are needed.

Ethics Education Effectiveness and Business Decision Making: Perspectives of Management School Graduates

The importance of as a subject in management schools has its roots in the study published by Paul (1987). Time and again the importance of value-based education is realized and perceived to be necessary for conducting ethical practices. The main aim of education is to equip the learner with wisdom of choosing the right over the wrong, and making sensible decisions in his / her personal and professional life. The basis for ethical behavior at work starts with a personal value system of an individual. The perception level of individual effects is / her ethical behavior which forms an ethical attitude. This is to a large extent set in within the personality of an individual by the time he/she peruses management education. Unethical behavior may stem from lack of proper education / ethical orientation at school/college level. The debate remains, whether including business ethics as a subject in management education at postgraduate level, effects/changes their ethical attitude in their personal and professional lives? Does ethical education play a significant role in making ethical decisions in business? Is the ethical attitude dependent on the gender of the person? Does the ethical attitude depend on the level of maturity and work experience of individuals? In this study, an attempt has been made to capture the attitude of management graduates towards ethics, its importance in their personal and professional lives, and the role of education in managerial decision making. The theory of reasoned action has been tested in this study, which links individual attitude toward a behavior to a person’s actual behavior. The basic driver of a person’s intention to behave ethically is the attitude towards ethical behavior. The results show that age and maturity level in management graduates influence ethical behavior. Work experience significantly impacts ethical behavior. Experience does not influence the ethical decision-making framework among management graduates. Overall, the study supports the theory of reasoned action.

Towards development and validation of scale for ethical decision-making model in marketing

PurposeThis paper aims to develop and validate scale for ethical decision-making model in marketing that confirms religious–humanistic approach with special reference to ethical philosophy in Islam. Synthesized model of Ferrell and Gresham contingency framework for ethical decision-making in marketing and Al-Ghazali’s ethical philosophy are considered as theoretical background of this study.Design/methodology/approach“Content validity test” and “factor analysis” are used to refine measurement items and define as well as validate the scale, respectively. A total of 362 samples were collected from Islamic banking practitioners in the United Arab Emirates.FindingsItem scale of the constructs comprised in the conceptual model defined and validated by using content validity test (CVT). Underlying theoretical dimensions of the constructs were extracted through exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and evidence of validation of scale/construct reported through CFA.Research limitations/implicationsThe scope of this paper is limited to development and validation of scale. Future studies are suggested to use the newly validated scale/construct in descriptive model, and examine the hypotheses prescribed in the model. Further, explanations on theoretical background of this paper is limited as the main objective of this paper is to statistically validate the conceptual model adopted.Practical implicationsProper application of validated scale of ethical decision-making model in marketing should enable concerned authorities of marketing department to gauge and understand the ethical aspects of individuals in the organizations. Apparently, apprehension of ethical perception of workforces in organizations should benefit in enhancing competence and minimize the costs from unethical behaviour, and, thus, better governance in whole level of management.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is an initial attempt to develop and validate the scale of ethical decision-making model in marketing that accommodates both religious and humanistic aspects into a single model to examine the decision-making behaviour related to ethical issues of individuals in organizations.

Character Education for the Public Good: The Evolution of Character Capacities in and Beyond College

Higher education carries the potential to transform the troubled state of affairs—from political discord to social injustice—evident in U.S. society. Benefits to the public good can be realized to the extent that college helps students develop a framework for ethical decision making, socially responsible leadership, compassionate engagement with people of other backgrounds and perspectives, and a commitment to building up their communities. How does short-term growth in students’ character strengths translate into long-term commitments to enact those strengths? This article explores the educational strategies that cultivate students’ character development during college and approaches to ensure character gains endure in the years after they graduate.

Worth living or worth dying? The views of the general public about allowing disabled children to die

BackgroundDecisions about withdrawal of life support for infants have given rise to legal battles between physicians and parents creating intense media attention. It is unclear how we should evaluate when...

An Ethics Framework for Big Data in Health and Research

Ethical decision-making frameworks assist in identifying the issues at stake in a particular setting and thinking through, in a methodical manner, the ethical issues that require consideration as well as the values that need to be considered and promoted. Decisions made about the use, sharing, and re-use of big data are complex and laden with values. This paper sets out an Ethics Framework for Big Data in Health and Research developed by a working group convened by the Science, Health and Policy-relevant Ethics in Singapore (SHAPES) Initiative. It presents the aim and rationale for this framework supported by the underlying ethical concerns that relate to all health and research contexts. It also describes a set of substantive and procedural values that can be weighed up in addressing these concerns, and a step-by-step process for identifying, considering, and resolving the ethical issues arising from big data uses in health and research. This Framework is subsequently applied in the papers published in this Special Issue. These papers each address one of six domains where big data is currently employed: openness in big data and data repositories, precision medicine and big data, real-world data to generate evidence about healthcare interventions, AI-assisted decision-making in healthcare, public-private partnerships in healthcare and research, and cross-sectoral big data.

To do or not to do: the real state of real estate

Learning outcomes This case will enable students to develop an understanding of starting a single proprietorship business focusing on the real estate; understand the possible challenges that an entrepreneur faces in the beginning; apply ethical decision-making frame works when faced in ethically conflicting situation; andlook at the career anchoring theory. Case overview/synopsis The case study takes a look at the ways and means of starting a small business depending on the owner managers experience, capabilities and skills including networking which are germane to success. It also highlights the ethical issues that small business proprietors have to face in order to make money and grow. The setting of the case is a town in Sindh province of Pakistan, which setting generally represent the arena where such business (Single Proprietorship) develop and get involved in the economic development of a backward area. Finally, the case study highlights the significant but realistic expose of career anchor theory, which stipulates that people normally start with a job but switch jobs over their working life. Complexity academic level Graduate and undergraduate. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Towards conceptualizing ethical decision-making model in marketing

PurposeThis paper aims to present a synthesized conceptual model for ethical decision-making in marketing that accommodates both humanistic and religious aspects.Design/methodology/approachA religious–humanistic approach is adopted on synthesizing. “Ferrell and Gresham’s (1985) contingency framework for ethical decision-making in marketing” and “Al-Ghazali’s ethical philosophy” are considered to be the theoretical base for the synthesized model.FindingsAl-Ghazali’s ethical philosophy that stands for the religious dimension in this study was found appropriate for incorporating into the Ferrell and Gresham contingency framework for ethical decision-making in marketing. The approach (religious-humanistic) adopted for synthesizing the two aspects into one model was justified accordingly.Research limitations/implicationsA newly synthesized model is only conceptually validated. Statistical validity is required based on the variables included in the conceptual model. Future studies are recommended to attain the model fit.Practical implicationsThe scale and model developed in the study should help the marketing-department authorities to assess and evaluate ethical aspects of existing individuals in the organization and potential candidates under the selection stage for employment. The research output derived by way of using the newly synthesized conceptual model should be able to pave the way for more in-depth research on actual ethical practices of “marketing practitioners” in the organization. To some extent, understanding of ethical standing of employees should help in improving efficiency and reduce costs from unethical behaviour. This should be able to improve governance from the top- to the lower-level management.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, no literature has conceptualized a model that accommodates both materialistic and religious aspects into a single model to explain ethical decision-making of individuals in organizations. This is an initial and a humble attempt to conceptualize a model that incorporates ethical philosophy in Islam, with special reference to Al-Ghazali’s ethical philosophy.

Practically wise ethical decision‐making: An ethnographic application to the UNE‐Millicom merger

AbstractIntegrated approaches in the ethical decision‐making (EDM) and practically wise decision‐making literature are emerging as alternative perspectives to management theories that conceptualize decision‐making in a rationalist and value‐free manner. However, more dialogue between both perspectives and qualitative research that applies them is required. In addition, there is a need for empirical analysis on business engagement in the face of grand challenges in developing countries. This paper proposes an integrated practically wise EDM framework to study how Colombian councilors who, in 2013, voted for or against the merger between the Colombian state‐owned company UNE and the Swedish multinational Millicom interpret this decision and its public impact. Qualitative semi‐structured interviews were conducted with a voluntary sample of 18 of 21 councilors. Supporters of the UNE‐Millicom merger expressed open‐mindedness, seeing the merger as a means to achieve justice. On the contrary, the merger’s opponents expressed circumspection, doubting that Millicom’s intentions really leaned toward justice. We conclude that practical wisdom—embodied by both supporters and detractors—fosters an understanding of EDM beyond what leaders should not do. It also includes a democratic and balanced deliberation on what leaders think they should do to promote the common good.

Ubuntu as a Framework for Ethical Decision Making in Africa: Responding to Epidemics

Public health decisions made by the state involve considerable disagreements on the course of actions, uncertainties, and compromises that arise from moral tensions between the demands of civil liberties and the goals of public health. With such complex decisions, it can be extremely difficult to arrive at and justify the best option. In this article, we propose an ethical decision-making framework based on the philosophy of Ubuntu and argue that in sub-Saharan African settings, this approach provides attractive alternative conventions of moral decision-making and a useful language for understanding moral reasoning and ethics. Through its emphasis on humanity, compassion, and social responsibility, Ubuntu (“I am because we are”) has the potential to facilitate solutions to and avert conflicts between individual rights and public health. The use of Ubuntu shifts the moral reasoning and ethics of decision-making from a field of philosophy shaped by the global north, to the everyday values, decision-making, and consequent practices of people in much of Africa. Using examples of Ebola, pandemic influenza, and tuberculosis, we illustrate how Ubuntu can be applied to tackle conflicting ethical problems in public health and medicine.

Case Study Application of an Ethical Decision-Making Process for a Fragility Hip Fracture Patient.

In Canada, up to 32,000 older adults experience a fragility hip fracture. In Ontario, the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has implemented strategies to reduce surgical wait times and improve outcomes in target areas. These best practice standards advocate for immediate surgical repair, within 48 hours of admission, in order to achieve optimal recovery outcomes. The majority of patients are good candidates for surgical repair; however, for some patients, given the risks of anesthetic and trauma of the operative procedure, surgery may not be the best choice. Patients and families face a difficult and hurried decision, often with no time to voice their concerns, or with little-to-no information on which to guide their choice. Similarly, health-care providers may experience moral distress or hesitancy to articulate other options, such as palliative care. Is every fragility fracture a candidate for surgery, no matter what the outcome? When is it right to discuss other options with the patient? This article examines a case study via an application of a framework for ethical decision-making.