MMC 640 Ethics and Decision-Making Final Reflections

Success is often measured by an insurmountable amount of accolades, including, but not limited to medals, championship wins in sports and even best –selling books.  It can also be calculated by what you learn in life.  This course about ethics and decision-making has enhanced my abilities to make calculated resolutions, whether it’s in reference to a critical compromise or a simple outcome.

Ethics is an area that’s often overlooked in a professional environment.  Maybe it’s because everyone adapts to their surroundings and at times, get complacent.  This opens the door for what can be perceived as a disregard for ethics.  It’s always an important matter but an organization’s personnel have the biggest impact.  Sometimes, lack of interpersonal training and group dynamics can cause diverse reactions, allowing room for doubt and poor decision-making.

Throughout this course, I’ve learned to adapt to my surroundings.  The professional environment is only going to be as successful as you want it to be.  If you want a pleasurable outcome, put in the effort, attempt to use the appropriate channels of communication and always include ethics as a part of accommodations and compromises that are made.  Value should be placed on everything that we do in order to produce our desired results.  Making misguided decisions only displays our lack of effort in the attempt to solve any conflict in an efficient manner.  Using the tools from this course will not only enhance my capabilities to make sound, ethical decisions but also act as a positive enabler to the people I associate myself with.

MMC 640: Ethics and Decision-Making Week 8 Blog Entry

As the course proceeded to divulge a plethora of decision-making data, a few things stood out that initially caught my attention.  First, Common Biases (Chapter 2), Fairness and Ethics in Decision Making (Chapter 7) and Improving Decision Making (Chapter 11) seem to be the common denominator in any decision-making process.  Regardless of the leadership and management styles that you choose to employ, these three subjects can be universal and easy to apply.  I feel that they are the core to any successful organization and the people who manage it.

Next, I learned that although you may be in charge, there’s always room to grow.  A lot of people have too much pride that will eventually blind their thought process.  It’s okay to admit when you are wrong or when you need help.  People will always judge you but there’s no need to give them ammunition against you.  Your thought process will reproduce the ideas you intended to conjure up in the results of the decisions that you make on a daily basis.  I feel this is critical in the decision-making process because our lack of or too much emotion can cause us to make bad, possibly unethical choices.

Finally, I always apply the phrase “knowledge is power” to my thought process when making business declarations.  After reviewing all the information in our text and assignments, I realized that the smartest person is not always the most educated person in the room.  It may be as simple as the person who applies the most simple, ethical and common ideas but makes better choices.  I’m constantly reminded about this when I come to work.  There are people who will try to impress people with their rank or positions within their corporations but will end up making a fool of themselves.  After seeing both sides of good and bad leaders, I remind myself to stand for what you believe in and realize that everything will come full circle eventually.  Always remember that “you don’t have to be sick to get better.”

MMC 640 Ethics and Decision-Making Week 4 Blog Entry

Although some people may disagree, I feel the Seven Layers of Integrity can be applied to any profession and be successfully executed within any organization.  Since we are almost halfway done with the Ethics and Decision Making Course, the first four weeks have had a huge impact on the overall decision-making process. 

Week One focused on laws at work and how they impact our performance and ability to accomplish our mission.  It seems like today’s employers and some individuals are willing to break the law in order to make an extra buck.  I’ve learned that these actions will have a domino effect on not only their employees but the economy/community as well.  Which is worse, the laws being broken or code of ethics being violated? 

Breaking the law means you probably violated some form of ethics.  The same could be said for disregarding ethics to breach the law.  Professionalism must be administered and exhibited regardless of the location and type of job.  The more people, coworkers and friends respect you, the more they will do what’s right on a regular basis.  Maybe it will take a few people to stand up and say something during bad business ethics because thy can quickly spiral out of control.  The Enron Scandal is a classic example of what can happen when professionalism, ethics and laws are all disregarded. 

Despite the fact that these are all just bad choices, we all have to be accountable for our actions.  The fallout affects our families as well.  How do you explain to your children and other family members that you broke a lot of rules and were a bad example for your peers?  What do you expect them to say?  Maybe people should think about these questions prior to going through with any decision. 

MMC 640 Ethics and Decision-Making Week 2 Blog Entry

As professionals and future leaders, we are often faced with difficult decisions to make.  Some of these decisions involve individuals in key positions while other involves just a few people.  The fallout is what can often determine if the decisions that were made were appropriate or not.  Ethics also plays an important part of how we do business.  

I think this course will enhance my knowledge about ethics and the decision-making process, while refining my current awareness of this area.  My interpretation of this course is to aid students in determining what to do in critical situations.  Anyone can make a decision but it’s important to remember that the results are what are important.  People will be people but you have to learn how to listen effectively while manipulating the desired results of your peers and those in leadership positions.

I hope to take advantage of learning from the different personalities and leadership traits from my classmates.  We all are from different backgrounds and hold a vast array of occupations.  We all will learn effectively if we are open and willing to provide honest feedback and think outside the box.  What makes this class unique is that there is more than one way to do things and that’s what enhances group dynamics, along with teamwork.  

This course will be as difficult as we want it to be.  The course material is designed to allow us to challenge each other while polishing our thought process.  Understanding the characteristics of professionals will aid all of us to think ahead and disseminate the appropriate decisions and responses to those in our personal lives and place of business.

MMC 540 - 21st Century Technologies Week 10 Blog Entry

Electronic group interactions are unique because individuals can alternate their communication style.  There’s no need to worry about public speaking or other distractions which can make some people nervous in a group or public setting.  Unfortunately, an important key to success is always the interactions in group dynamics.  Everything must now be tailored to fit an electronic version of this.  We were able to take advantage of and use the same tools and knowledge that we’re learning in this course to complete group assignments.  Web 2.0 covers a lot of digital and electronic advantages that we currently use to complete our required work.  We had to use the Internet, email, blogs, skype and group discussion boards in order to work together.  Additionally, Bellevue University also aided in this process with the update of their Blackboard Academic Suite.  These tools definitely made our use of interactive technologies a great environment and huge success.    

MMC 540 - 21st Century Technologies Week 2 Blog Entry

Create an entry for your blog which outlines your thoughts about how to use a blog to reach out to people at a place of employment. Follow the POST method.

What is the POST method (People, objectives, strategy and technology).  “POST is the foundation of groundswell thinking – a systematic framework for assembling your plan” (Li & Bernoff, 2011).  This concept is a great tool that can be applied to any organization, even non-profit organizations.  The key is to think deeply about how technology as a whole will affect your organization but involving all aspects of the process.

People:  This will probably be the most difficult part of the whole process.  There will is a huge gap in age and cultures and I don’t think that everyone is big into blogging.  If my unit wants to engage everyone, they’ll have to do so by introducing this concept and getting them to buy in on it.  There may be some resistance but we’ve crossed similar bridges before and it’s paid off. Objectives:  Our main goals would be to educate everyone about our expectations and explain in detail how to use to product.  The more people know about technology, the more they would be willing to use it.  Those personnel who are proficient on the subject will be leads and will aid in energizing other customers about blogging and other great ideas.  Strategy:  In the military, we all have to work together and we are all each other’s customers.  Therefore, it’s important that we branch out to help aid other units to try and enhance their productivity.  We will need to get feedback from everyone and address those issues that are preventing us from “unfreezing” during the “change process.”  

Technology:  It’s important for everyone to buy in and get familiar with the changes and evolution of technology.  Ignorance is not an excuse.  I think that my organization has taken advantage of the POST method and are constantly striving to enhance mission effectiveness through the use of technology.  Blogging is something that is not familiar to a lot of people but can be a great tool if used in organizations for what it’s intended for. 

Li, C. & Bernoff, J. (2011). Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies (rev. ed.). Boston, MA: Forrester Research, Inc.