Ethics and Your Organization

Involvement in activities at Texas A&M University at Galveston is a great opportunity to learn leadership skills, make lifelong friends, and create lasting memories. The benefits of being involved in student organizations are infinite. As you plan activities for your student organization, you will need to consider many things to insure the safety and enjoyment of the participants. Any human enterprise is about ethics, because it's about humans. Because leadership is created within relationships among persons, there are inherent ethics concerning the obligations of each party in the relationships. Therefore, leadership is always about ethics. Since it is always about ethics, it is not possible to engage in the participation of a student organization or in leadership of a student organization without ethical obligations. This section will discuss in a broad sense issues which may affect you and your student organization.

As leader of an organization, you need to be careful in your decision-making process when it relates to your organization. Remember, being a leader means putting your group before yourself. As a leader, you not only represent yourself, but every one in your organization. The first and most important question you need to ask yourself is "WHY?" Why are you choosing to do or not do something on behalf of the organization? If your answer is something other than "for the best interest of the organization," you are probably making the wrong decision. With that in mind, perform your responsibilities motivated by the good of the whole group and not for your own self-interest. Using this philosophy, you will help yourself and your group meet the goals you set and achieve what you hope to accomplish.

Let's look at a fictional example: you are president of the Sea Aggie Disco Dance Club and you also run a mobile disc jockey business. As president, you are looking for a disc jockey to play at your group's big Midnight Boogie Bash. Instead of getting estimates for two or three disc jockey services, you contract with your company at a rate that is arguably higher than others available in your area. Also, your company does not have as much equipment as the other companies, and which could improve the quality of the program (strobe lights, disco ball, video screen). Looking at the facts from this example, it appears that your decision to hire your own company was motivated by your role in the company and not by your interest in doing the best thing for your organization. This puts you in a position where your members could criticize your decision and you may be liable for reimbursing your organization the difference between what they paid your company and what they would have paid a cheaper company for the same event. In addition, you might be removed from your leadership position by members of your organization. Things can go wrong when you don't make ethical decisions.

FRAMEWORK FOR ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

(Adapted from the Leadershape Institute, Champaign Illinois) The following is a framework in which leaders should make decisions. Understanding how ethical decisions are processed will help you make the best decisions for yourself and your organization.

Begin with the desire to do the right thing
Clarify your options
Consider risks and benefits
Advance ethical values
Make a judgment
Implement to maximize benefits and minimize risks
Monitor and modify Bottom Line Considerations:
Can I live with this decision?
Is my action doing more good than harm?
Am I proud of this decision?
Would I be comfortable if this decision was on Headline News?

Adapted from the University of Florida 2002