Critical Thinking and Ethics:
Ethical Action Plan:
In your career you will need to articulate and act upon an ethical argument. That is, to explain to others why you find some act unethical or as a leader, to chart an ethical course thorough a tricky situation. The assigned case has an ethical dimension to the managerial decision. Put yourself into the position of the manager and explain what ethical action you would take and why you find that action to be the ethical.
The assignment:
Start with a summary paragraph outlining the case and the decision that you have to make. Introduce the parties to the decision, time pressures, important other stakeholders etc.
The second paragraph is the prescriptive paragraph. The conclusion of the second paragraph will be your prescriptive premise. The other sentences in this paragraph explain or justify your choice of a prescriptive premise. If you choose a utilitarian argument, you explain why maximizing happiness is the right goal. If you choose a rights-based argument, then you must justify the right you are claiming. If you choose a virtue based argument, then you must explain your ethical role model. If you use a deontological argument, explain why the rule you want to evoke is perfect and can be applied by all people in all circumstances.
The third paragraph will have the descriptive premise as its conclusion. This can be tricky because you need to discuss only the relevant facts of the case. If you choose a utilitarian argument, you need to enumerate the good and bad that will come from your proposed action. If you choose deontology, you need to show how the actions you will take uphold the rule you established. If you choose rights based or a virtue argument then you need to show how the proposed action is within your claimed right or is what your virtuous role model would do.
The last paragraph puts the entire argument together. It restates your prescriptive premise which was conclusion of the second paragraph. Then it restates your descriptive premise, the conclusion of your third paragraph. Finally it concludes that the action you propose to take is ethical.