The Six Pillars of Character

The Six Pillars of Character

The movie that we watched in class that had Mr.Josephson in it was about business ethics and the 6 pillars of character that provides the foundation for business ethics. The movie showed us to look at certain situations through a different view, it had me questioning myself if I had made the right moral decision in past occasions. In this essay I will briefly summarize the six pillars of character and give a case scenario of business ethics.

The six pillars of character I found all go hand in hand with one another. With out one, you cannot have the other; they all rely on each other. The six pillars of character in order were: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. An important factor about these six characteristics was that the individual both in and out of the workspace should display them. Under the characteristic of trustworthiness was a trait called integrity, which in my opinion deserved to be a characteristic of its own. Integrity in my mind was important because it was something that someone either has or doesn’t, it is also important because it is displayed wherever that individual may be, a true trait of a trustworthy person.

Also discussed in the movie was the Josephson Institute Ethical Decision making model. It was a model in which if an ethical issue was to arise in a workplace, there was 3 things that should be ran through an individual’s mind. First the decision of one individual must also be in the interest and well being of other “stakeholders” or people also involved in the situation. Next came ethical values and principles always come before non-ethical ones, which seemed kind of obvious to me. Last was it was ok to violate an ethical principle if it was necessary to advance another true ethical principle.

Next I will give an example of a an ethical case scenario in the workforce. Although there were many given, I had a particular favorite that indeed involve a difficult moral decision. This is the situation in a nutshell; you are an officer and observe your partner using excesses force to make an arrest. You are faced with the decision to follow this up and report it to higher authority or keep your mouth shut. If you do report it, you risk your partners and maybe the squads trust. But on the other hand, you know it was wrong what your partner did, so what do you do? This was indeed a tough scenario but nevertheless I am confident on the decision I would make. I would decide to tell higher authority about my partners excessive force during an arrest. If it meant losing my peers trust in the squad, so be it. I know if I kept my mouth shut I would never be able to forget about what I had done and would constantly have my conscience nagging at me to do the right thing.

In conclusion this movie taught me how to think and act in certain ethical situations. It also gave a clear illustration of what the six pillars of character were and why they were so important in the workforce. Perhaps in the future even I myself will be able to act morally when faced with a tough ethical decision in the workforce.