Ethical decision- making is based on the ethical practices individuals. Different ethnicities and genders can impact ethical decisions. The decision -making processes consist of strategies, probabilities, choice and judgment. For a decision to be made, it requires a type of rise in emotions that will reflect the outcome of the decision that then readies the person for new information. We know that most women make decisions based on emotions and show more empathy than men. When people lack empathy and moral identity, they are morally disengaged; and moral disengagement is positively related to unethical decision making. Decision-making can be disadvantageous even when explicit and stable information about outcome contingencies is provided when there is stress involved (Starcke, Wolf, Markowitsch, & Brand, 2008). This raises the question of who deals with stress better men or women? Which ethnicity handles stress better? Does race or gender drive the handling of stress?
Students at San Jose University investigated the effects of gender and age on ethical decision- making. Ethical decision -making was determined by a two- dilemma questionnaire written by Lind (2009). The results indicated gender or age alone had no effect on ethical decision making but when gender and age were combined on the mean score of the two dilemmas combined, the results were nearly significant. The findings showed that gender and age combined could in fact have an effect on ethical decision-making. Age and Gender are important factors in ethical decision making because decisions are made every day and knowing which gender at which age is the most capable of making an ethical decision is important in maintaining an even balance in society and also when delegating an important decision. Knowledge of the two factors combined can increase the likelihood that the most ethical decision in any situation will be made.
Ethical decision-making by age alone can impact the decision. Younger leaders or people will tend to make less ethical decisions than those of older individuals. With age comes wisdom. The younger leader may not intentionally make poor ethical decisions but due to his/her life experiences it occurs. Older leaders have more life experiences and work experiences that will lead to better ethical decisions being made.
It is very unethical to send this type of message to an employee even in jest!
There are significant gender differences in ethical perceptions of business practices, but the differences decline as work experience increases. Men and women may differ in moral orientation, but do not differ in moral reasoning. Ethical decision-making is more likely to differ by social, political, and cultural experiences more than by gender alone. Whether or not men will have a lower level of response to an ethical dilemma than women really depends on the situation of the dilemma. The debate of male and female reasoning about ethical conflict has been an issue for as long as I can remember. Many philosophers support the hypothesis that females are more care-oriented while males are more justice-oriented.
Ethical decisions should be based on what is just and right for the organization and human kind. Race, age, socio-economical status, nor educational level should have an impact on ethical decision-making.
References:
Lind, G. (2009, October 16). Using the Moral Judgment Test for Research and Program Evaluation. Retrieved October 7, 2009, from http://www.uni-konstanz.de/agmoral/material/moral/messen/MJT_scoring-C.htm
Starcke, K., Wolf, O. T., Markowitsch, H. J., & Brand, M. (2008). Anticipatory stress
influences decision making under explicit risk conditions. Behavioral Neuroscience,
122, 1352-1360.
Chui, Ye Fang and Spindel, Brandy. (2009). Effects of Age and Gender. Retrieved April 1, 2013 from http://www.mikedillinger.com/SJSUpapers/ChiuSpindel2009_decisionMaking.pdf
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