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Portfolio I.H: Creating a Personal Ethical Code
Considering class readings and discussions throughout this semester, create an ethical code for your life. This assignment should be approximately one page in its final form, but should be clear and specific and practical. It should refer to ideas that we have covered, but be able to be implemented in daily life. It can be in essay form, or it can be in point or outline format.
Include both your personal life and how you would act in your working life or your business. What values do you have for every area of your life? What are the ethical guidelines you will follow? When these guidelines are challenged or difficult to follow because of circumstances, would you compromise them? Why or why not? How far would you be willing to go to adhere to them? How is it that you want to live and relate to yourself, to others, to the world, to the universe?
To help you in this process, I have included below some links to ethical codes of companies, as well as some mission statement ideas and formulators. See mission statement guidelines at the bottom of this page. Use these to help you think of your own ethical code. Also use the discussions and readings and activities from the class. You may refer to specific ethical theories we covered or combinations of those, or you may formulate your own perspective on ethics.
Work or Business Ethics
Following are some links to other company ethical codes or suggestions for writing a code of ethics for work that may help:
Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers
WTA on Codes of Ethics
Guidance for Writing a Code of Ethics
More links to Writing a Code of Ethics
Ethical Principles for College and University Teaching
Johnson & Johnson Credo
Ethics at Texas Instruments
ACM Codes of Conduct
Compliance Programs and the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
Josephson Institute on Ethical Decision-Making
Writing a Company Mission Statement
Inc.Com articles on Company Mission Statements
Media Management Review: Creating a Mission Statement
Bring New Life to Your Mission Statement
Personal Ethical Codes, or Mission Statements
Creating a Mission Statement will be, without question, one of the most powerful and significant things you will ever do to take leadership of your life.
-- Stephen R. Covey
Questions to think about as you begin:
When you die, what would you want engraved on your tombstone summarizing your life? Why?
What would you want others to say and think about you after you are gone? Why?
Also, the following websites will give you some food for thought:
Creating Personal Mission Statement
Franklin Covey Mission Statement Formulator
Josephson Institute: Making Ethical Decisions
What are some necessary characteristics of a good ethical code or mission statement?
It should reflect one's values: what is important in life to you? What do you think should be important?
It should reflect one's aspirations and goals in life.
It should reflect one's roles and responsibilities, both present and future.
It should guide one's actions in almost any situation.
It should consider others, the larger community in which the individual exists -- how will one interact with and make allowances for that?
It should reflect reality: i.e.: be realistic. That is, it's nice to want everyone in the world to give you a million dollars but that probably won't happen. It's nice to want world peace but unless you give a persuasive reasons why the world has changed so that can happen, it's not realistic.
It shoud be PERSONAL: That is, what YOU will do in your life, and how YOU will act; NOT what you want others to do and how you want them to act.
It should reflect awareness of cause and effect -- effect on yourself and others and the future.
It should reflect awareness of the ethical moment.
It should reflect an awareness of the ethical traditions discussed in class.
What are some qualities of a good mission statement?
A mission statement should differentiate itself from other mission statements.
It should establish your individuality, if not the your uniqueness. Anyone that claims only what most others claim wastes their time in formulating a Mission Statement. They fall into a generic trap. Don't be generic. "I want to do my best so I will get an A!" Of course you want to get an A. That is not the question. The question is; "What specific tasks will you do to earn that A?"
A mission statement should be relevant to you because you have an investment in life.
A mission statement should be exciting and inspiring.
It should motivate you. A mission should appear feasible and desirable.
Your mission statement should be broad enough to allow flexibility in implementation but not so broad as to permit a lack of focus. Admittedly, this is a fine line--between being so broad as to be meaningless and so specific as to be of little value. However, this measure is one that needs closest examination. Find the appropriate "balance" between broad and specific.
The mission statement should reflect attainable goals. Many mission statements are written as sermons from some lofty mount. They do not state, in realistic, attainable terms the aspirations and goals in real terms. Make sure yours does.
Mix with passion, humanity and an eye on the big picture, and keep refining your mission statement until you have a version that you can actively support. The mission statement should have a primary focus on a single strategic thrust or direction.
It should contain a formulation of your objectives that enables progress toward them to be measured. The mission statement should reflect attainable goals.
Responsibility and or accountability by you should be present in a Mission Statement - otherwise the Mission Statement is more hype than reality.
The mission statement should serve as an energy source and a rallying point for you.
The mission statement should be sincere.
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