Resolving Ethical Dilemmas

Sep 9, 2015

2 min read

I had not read any theories about ethical dilemmas before I started with this course, but as an educator I had dealt with many time and again. Over the years I developed a mental framework of dealing with dilemmas I came across. The framework did work for me. Therefore, I thought of putting my framework of dealing with ethical dilemmas in black and white.

The best way to solve any problem is to break it into small parts and then look at each aspect of it. So this is what I do when deali9ng with dilemmas.

These are the steps I follow

Step 1: Review the issue.

Carefully look at the dilemma you are caught in. Ask yourself questions like:

What is the issue?
Who is involved?
Who all are getting affected?
Are there any rules being broken?
What are the rules?
What do the rules protect?
What is morally right?
What is your intent?
Will your action convey your intent?

Step 2: Identify the stakeholders

You are the actor/agent in a situation where your decision/action will have an impact on certain people/agencies/institutions. Identify them all. I recommend dividing them in three categories- Personal Connections, Professional Connections, and Social Connections.

Step 3: Identify the stakes

Once you have identified the stakeholders, identify the stakes- good or bad (impact of your decision) for each of the stake holders.

Step 4: Weigh the stakes

Once you have identified the positive and negative stakes (impacts) for each stakeholders. Assign them weights such as High Impact/Low impact or High/medium/low impact etc. These weights will depend upon you understanding of the situation, therefore try to gather as much insight as you can and be objective and unbiased.

Step 5: Identify the possible solutions and quantify them

Now identify all the possible right solutions you can think of. Score them using a simple mechanism- for each stakeholder you identified in the previous steps – write down what stakes are affected by this solution and what stakes are saved. Count the frequencies of positive high stakes saved and negative high stakes affected.

Step 6: Choose your solution

Now once you have quantified the stakes into frequencies. Choose your solution. The idea is to choose a solution that maximizes positive stakes and minimizes negative stakes.

For example in the table presented above three solutions have been tried. Stakes have been divided into three categories: stakes saved which means stakes that will be taken care of, stakes affected means stakes that will be negatively affected by the decision and stakes unaffected means stakes that will neither be positively touched nor negatively affected by the decision. In this example if we look at the negative and positive stakes it is evident that solution 1 is the best possible solution in the situation.

This is just one example of the methodology that can be applied to resolve dilemmas. One may think of any methodoligy like this. The basic idea is to quantify the dilemma in measureable units and then select a soultion that is most beneficial to all.

I hope this helps you guys in solving the dilemmas you face.

All the best.