One of the most beneficial exercises in a course exploring ethics is to develop a paper that allows you the opportunity to create connections between your personal view of ethics and the theory under

One of the most beneficial exercises in a course exploring ethics is to develop a paper that allows you the opportunity to create connections between your personal view of ethics and the theory under discussion. The nature of ethical decision making encompasses recognition, analysis and resolution.  We often don’t make a decision because it’s ethical, but rather, because it makes sense from our personal view of the situation.  That is, ethical decisions happen “after the fact” as we begin to see the actual implications of the decision. 

With this in mind, your paper should explore current ethical issues in the workplace that are relevant to your current career or the career that you are preparing to pursue. Your task is to begin to explore the possible issues within your workplace and choose one to focus on throughout the course as you begin to build your paper. Please consider the following as possible approaches for this paper:

· Illustrate the impact of organizational goals and objectives, structure, culture, environment, ethics policies, and incentive systems on ethical behavior within an organization

· Evaluate and revise an ethics program to increase ethical behavior within an organizational environment.

· Create and systematically apply a defensible ethical moral framework to a contemporary ethics issue. To systematically apply the ethical moral framework, you must use the framework consistently as you describe the ethics issue. Explore the issue using the framework you create. HINT: This is done through the application of an ethical theory.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· Employment issues (sexual harassment, diversity, discrimination, etc.)

· Performance appraisal and compensation

· Terminations

· Privacy

· Financial and accounting measures

· Using reward systems to enhance ethical behavior and/or reinforce unethical behavior

· Communicating ethics

· Corporate social responsibility

The topic of your project is a statement about the primary focus of your paper. This provides an overview of what you will explore.  Your thesis, or topic sentence(s), tells the reader what your essay will discuss, explore, explain, argue, etc. This sentence(s) should provide a clear and concise statement about the point of your paper to help narrow the focus from the broader topic.

· Focus your paper on the connection between your topic and ethics theory. 

· You must support your views. While your opinions are important, they are not sufficient for a discussion for this type of paper. The academic connections are crucial.

· Use your full-sentence outline to build the paper. This creates the blueprint for the paper.

· Your paper must include the following three sections:

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o Introduction:  State what you are going to tell me in the body of the paper. This is a synopsis of the point of the paper. The thesis statement resides here.

o Body:  This is the place where you pull your research together and develop your points. The body should include:

o  

§ An overview of the ethics theory you are using.

§ A connection of the theory to your topic.

§ A discussion about the impact of the topic and theory.

o Conclusion:  Emphasize important aspects of your research project. This is your opportunity to highlight key points, answer your question, argue a perspective, and/or make recommendations.

· Don’t forget the importance of using transitions between paragraphs and sections. By reading the last sentence of one paragraph and the first sentence of the next paragraph, your reader should see the connection. HINT: This is a good way to test whether you have effective transitions.

· Your paper should be 5-7 pages in length (not including title and reference pages) and must follow APA 6th edition guidelines, use Time New Roman, 12-point font, double spacing, with one inch margins.