Ethics Office - San Diego Unified School District

Working through ethical dilemmas

Many decisions require choosing between right and wrong. Others, however, involve deciding which of two equally legitimate demands should prevail—in other words, weighing “right” versus “right.” It’s right that the high school’s star athlete be benched for bringing alcohol to the dance, but it’s also right that the school field the best possible team for the championship game. It’s right that funds be budgeted for math and reading tutoring, but it’s also right to ensure that funding isn’t cut for music and other arts.

To resolve such dilemmas, it can help to have a framework, or set of questions to ask oneself, preferably in conversation with others. The questions would include*:

What are the facts? What is the problem we're addressing? Have we obtained all the information possible to take informed action?
Who are the key stakeholders? What do they value? What is their hoped-for outcome?
What are the underlying drivers of the situation?
What ethical principles or underlying values do we think should be upheld in this situation?
Who should have input into this decision?
What are the possible alternative action plans? Plans need to minimize harm to stakeholders; uphold the district’s priority values; and constitute a good solution to the situation. Would this action then set a precedent that would apply to all similar situations?
What is the worst case scenario? How would it affect stakeholders? Would it call for rethinking the alternatives?
Can situations like this be prevented? Can the action plan involve a prevention component—i.e., can we address the underlying drivers that caused this to arise?

Analyzing the Dilemmas.To help clearly determine the kind of problem a specific dilemma poses, Rushworth Kidder, founder and president of the Institute for Global Ethics (IGE), suggests thinking in terms of four right-versus-right dilemma paradigms:

Truth versus Loyalty
Short-term versus Long-term
Justice versus Mercy
Self versus Community

The athletic dilemma described above might fit in justice versus mercy. The budgetary dilemma might be framed as short-term versus long-term.

Making a decision. Once you’ve developed alternative action plans, you still have to decide which to choose. At that point, the IGE’s three decision rules can help:

Ends-based. Which alternative offers the greatest good for the greatest number?
Rule-based. Imagine that the choice you make establishes a rule that everyone in the world thereafter facing a similar dilemma would have to follow. What would you decide?
Care-based. This is the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Note: This process for ethical analysis and decision making -- Ethical Fitness ® -- is copyrighted by IGE. It is used by permission. Learn more about it in the first chapter of Kidder’s book, How Good People Make Tough Choices. (pdf)

Also see IGE's examples of right-versus-right dilemmas.

*Derived in part from “The Complete Guide to Ethics Management; An Ethics Toolkit for Managers,” by Carter McNamara

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