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Ethics

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Ethics

Ethics can be defined as “moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity.” Ethics plays a positive role in shaping our society since it not only influences the society but every person individually. Ethics can serve as a guiding mentor to shape our decisions into morally sound and good ones which would contribute positively to the society and promote individual wellbeing. By following ethical principles one can make sure that each individual is given their due rights and they are not usurped. However, more than often one may face a dilemma if a certain act would be ethical or unethical. The ethical dilemma we are scrutinizing under this situation is of the case study of The Hurricane Katrina.

The case shows that in everyday demonstration of authority (especially in emergency situations), there are a considerable amount of ethical difficulties. Most importantly, you need to put what's best for the citizens and put their needs first always. The ethical dilemmas serve as one of the prime issues of human resources and personnel. The Guardmans are only there to save people from dying and to mitigate whatever losses they can reduce but they are only humans and have only limited autonomy when it comes to saving lives. The dilemma of saving either person or their aged parents or pets now serves as a moral dilemma. For instance, there are a lot of ethical concerns where such guardman castigates the citizens or verbally or physically mishandle them since they are refusing to leave their loved ones behind, and force them to move away from their homes and leave them unprotected from gangs to far away refuge camps. In such cases, the leader puts their own particular wants in front of what's best for the employees. This situation however calls upon the Guardman to adopt the moral decision making ADAPT framework of ethics and orient their strategies accordingly. The need of the time, in such cases, is to dependably act to the greatest advantage of all citizens and attempt to alleviate every single exploitative factor introduced. To guarantee that all the moral situations are successfully managed there is a requirement for an ethical wellness routine is to be fused since it is the most difficult part any individual's ethical compass which is just conceivable through a code of morals. Moreover, all the large amounts of multifaceted design and vulnerabilities should be managed the consolidation of standard and predictable "techniques and aspects" which may yield solid outcomes guaranteeing a moral practice in place.

Key elements in code of ethics - ADAPT

According to me one of the most crucial elements in any code of ethics in any ethical/moral model is the ethical system of Prudence, which combines experience and practicality with basic principles. Prudence advocates striving for ethical perfection, but recognizing that it is often impractical or even imprudent just like in the case of Guardman and locals. Under those circumstances, recognizing that we are not perfect, we should still need to have expectations for appropriate behavior.

"A principle is the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot practice perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice." Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi (1869-1948)

By featuring on the ADAPT framework of moral and ethical decision making the Guardsman first need to pay special attention to the needs of every citizen in such a dilemma and what can they do to address such needs. Since the humanitarian approach calls for saving human life above and before anything, the main focus should be on maximizing the use of current resources to save lives. The guardsman further need to pay special attention to the aspect of Dialogue. By focusing on community dialogue, they can be made aware of their demands and hear their thoughts. Thus, they can ask for some more respources or deisgn alternate courses of action to address public opinion. This is particularly crucial since in an emergency situation, people tend to panic more and if their voices are not heard, the individuals may resort to standing up and creating riots.

The third step calls for addressing the need of moral assumptions that the citizens may have. The guardsman needs to be aware that in lieu of utilitarian perspective which states that “Utilitarianism is a family of consequentialist ethical theories that promotes actions that maximize happiness and well-being for the majority of a population.” So, in cases of severe emergency, saving the most lives they could is more preferable over saving none. So, the utility of their actions must in the same way be based on saving most people possible and not based on moral assumptions that continue to guide some of their behaviors. Lastly, they can also make use of proposals and testing techniques to put forth better strategies or plans to plan use of resources and find ways to save others as well and reduce the pain of the locals.

To sum up, the ADAPT framework of moral and ethical decision making represents the collected wisdom and established standards of the profession. These rules or guidelines for behavior are especially important for training members into the profession requiring dealing in emergency situations. The code, in effect, alerts the lifesaving professionals like the Guardsman to conflicts-of-interests, citizen protections, rights of the expression and so on. The framework recognizes that such professionals typically have an informational advantage over the citizens in particular and the public in general and so the code of ethics provides a kind of safeguard for the public that the profession serves. For example, the bottom line for medical professionals: “Do no harm.”

References

Conway, P., & Gawronski, B. (2013). Deontological and utilitarian inclinations in moral decision making: a process dissociation approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 104(2), 216.