This document provides three models for ethical decision making - Ruggiero's model involving studying details, identifying criteria, determining choices and deciding the best action; Nash's model involving 12 questions to define the problem from multiple perspectives and consider intentions, injuries, and disclosure; and Kidder's 9 checkpoint model involving recognizing the moral issue, gathering facts, testing for right vs wrong and right vs right paradigms, applying resolution principles, and reflecting on the decision. It then provides three ethical scenarios for analysis and general resources on ethics.

1. ETHICAL DECISION MAKING MODELS
Ruggiero, "A Strategy for Analyzing Ethical Issues"
Ruggiero, Vincent R. Thinking Critically About Ethical Issues.
7th edition.
THE PROCEDURE
1. Study the details of the case carefully.
a. Look for circumstances that set this case apart
from otherwise similar cases.
b. Identify the key questions.
c. Answer these key questions or speculate about
possible answers.
2. Identify specific criteria that are relevant to the case.
a. Are there any obligations?
b. What ideals are involved?
c. What are the consequences of the case?
d. Considering the answers to these questions,
where should the emphasis lie?
3. Determine all possible choices of action that are
available, or were available.
4. Decide which action is most ethical.
This method is most useful when the DECISION-MAKER ...
o has plenty of time for investigation and analysis [step 3]
o is skilled in case-based, precedent-based or example-
based reasoning [step 1a]
is skilled in causal or consequential reasoning [step 2c]
This method is most useful in a SITUATION ...
that will change little over time
This method is most useful when STAKEHOLDERS ...
share values [step 2b]
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2. Nash, "Twelve Questions for Ethical Decision-makers"
Nash, Laura L. "Ethics Without Sermons." Howard Business Review
59 (1981): 79-90.
THE PROCEDURE
1. Have you defined the problem accurately?
2. How would you define the problem if you stood on the
other side of the fence?
3. How did this situation occur in the first place?
4. To whom and what do you give your loyalties as a
person and as a member of the corporation?
5. What is your intention in making this decision?
6. How does this intention compare with the likely results?
7. Whom could your decision or action injure?
8. Can you engage the affected parties in a discussion of
the problem before you make your decision?
9. Are you confident that your position will be as valid over
a long period of time as it seems now?
10. Could you disclose without qualm your decision or
action to your boss, your CEO, the board of directors,
your family, or society as a whole?
11. What is the symbolic potential of your action if
understood? If misunderstood?
12. Under what circumstances would you allow exceptions
to your stand?
This method is most useful when the DECISION-MAKER ...
o has easy access to stakeholders [step 8]
o has keen insight into human motivation [step 5]
o has plenty of time for investigation and analysis
o is skilled in causal or consequential reasoning [steps 6
and 7]
This method is most useful in a SITUATION ...
o where the decision-maker is also a stakeholder [step 11]
This method is most useful when STAKEHOLDERS ...
o share values [step 4]
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3. Kidder, "Nine Checkpoints for
Ethical Decision-making"
Kidder, Rushworth M. How Good People Make Tough Choices.
New York: William Morrow, 1995.
THE PROCEDURE
1. Recognize that there is a moral issue.
2. Whose issue is it?
a. Is anyone responsible?
b. Is anyone morally obligated to do anything?
3. Gather the relevant facts.
a. What events have unfolded?
b. What finally happened?
c. What else might have happened?
d. Who said what to whom?
e. Who may have suppressed information?
f. Who was culpably ignorant?
g. Who was innocently unaware?
h. What is the future potential?
4. Test for right-versus-wrong issues.
a. Were any laws broken?
b. If the answer is obviously "yes," treat the issue as a legal
instead of a moral issue.
c. If the answer is less obviously "yes," treat it as a moral
issue.
 The stench test: Does this course of action have
about it an indefinable odor of corruption that makes
you (and perhaps others) recoil and look askance?
 The front-page test: Would you feel uncomfortable if
what you are about to do showed up tomorrow
morning on the front pages of the nation's
newspapers?
 The Mom test: If I were my mother, would I do this?
d. If the answer to these questions is yes-yes-no,
discontinue further analysis; the issue is simply a choice
between right and wrong.
5. Test for right-versus-right paradigms. What sort of dilemma is
this?
a. Is it a case of truth versus loyalty?
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4. (KIDDER’S NINE CHECKPOINTS CONTINUED)
b. Is it a case of self versus community?
c. Is it a case of short-term versus long-term?
d. Is it a case of justice versus mercy?
6. Apply the resolution principles.
a. Ends-based thinking: Do what's best for the greatest
number of people.
b. Rule-based thinking: Follow your highest sense of
principle.
c. Care-based thinking: Do what you want others to do to
you.
7. Investigate the "trilemma" options.
a. Is there a third way through this dilemma?
b. Try to find a creative middle ground.
8. Make the decision.
9. Revisit and reflect on the decision.
This method is most useful when the DECISION-MAKER ...
o can tolerate ambiguity, complexity or conflict [step 5]
o has a working knowledge of several ethical theories [step
6]
o has high initial sensitivity to relevant ethical "features"
[step 1]
o has plenty of time for investigation and analysis
o is skilled in causal or consequential reasoning [steps 3c
and 6a]
o is skilled in conflict- or dilemma-resolution methods [steps
6 and 7]
o is skilled in the application of general ethical principles to
specific cases [step 6]
This method is most useful in a SITUATION ...
o that will change little over time
o where the decision-maker is also a stakeholder [step 4c]
This method is most useful when STAKEHOLDERS ...
o share ethical principles [step 6]
o share laws and legal precedents [step 4]
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5. ETHICAL SCENARIOS FOR ANALYSIS
SCENARIO A: Clothing the Camp Counselors
You are a first-year counselor at a camp for needy children, which is
subsidized through contributions from individuals and local
businesses. Yours is the only camp experience that these
disadvantaged kids will ever have. One afternoon, a few hours before
the next batch of children is due to arrive, a truck stops by with a
donated shipment of new shoes, shirts, and shorts for your campers.
Immediately, the other counselors (all of whom have more experience
than you do) begin going through the donated items and selecting
ones for personal use. They encourage you to do the same. When
questioned, they argue that there is plenty to go around for both kids
and counselors, and that “having the first option” is a “fringe benefit”
for the underpaid camp staff. “We’ve always done it this way.”
Would you take any shoes or clothing to wear? Why or why not?
SCENARIO B: Campus Bookstore Protest
You are the bookstore manager on a college campus. Although not
required to make a profit, your store is supposed to at least break
even, generating enough sales to match expenses. Next to
textbooks, clothing items with the college name and logo bring in the
most revenue. These items have a high profit margin and are
particularly popular among alumni who come to campus for games,
Parents’ Day, graduation, and other public events. Recently, students
around the country have begun to protest the sale of licensed school
clothing made by suppliers who manufacture their garments in
deplorable conditions in Third World countries. The clothing line at
your college is manufactured by one of the firms accused of unfair
labor practices.
It is two weeks before Homecoming (which attracts one of the largest
crowds of alumni). A representative from Student Government comes
to your office to announce that, unless you stop selling your current
line of licensed apparel, protestors will picket the bookstore during
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6. Homecoming festivities. In addition, if you don’t stop selling, students
will petition other students to buy their textbooks online or from other
sources. There is no way that you can replace your current clothing
stock in time for Homecoming. Besides, you would lose tens of
thousands of dollars if you did so. Your supervisor is out of town, but
is noted for his “get tough” attitude toward student protests. You,
however, are bothered by the idea of selling products produced in
sweatshops and are sympathetic to student concerns.
What would you do?
SCENARIO C: The Board Makes a Decision
You are an officer of a large national nonprofit with over fifty thousand
members. The nonprofit has taken pride in standing up for its
principles over the 25 years it has been in existence. Recently,
though, because of the economy, members have not been renewing
at the same rate as in the past. This has caused quite a financial
strain on the organization. Recently, the Board of Directors of the
nonprofit agreed to partner with a commercial product manufacturer
for the logo and name of the manufacturer to be used on conjunction
with a promotional campaign for the commercial product. The
partnership will yield significant funds to help maintain the nonprofit’s
work. However, there are many members who feel that this
partnership sullies the name and reputation of the nonprofit. Further,
they were not given any change at all to provide feedback to the
Board about the decision. Neither were you. The Board met in secret
to make its decision and ordered you to sign the related documents to
initiate the campaign. You did so reluctantly, but felt the financial gain
justified the decision. Now large numbers of vocal members are
making their dissatisfaction with the Board’s decision public, and are
threatening to resign from the nonprofit and to mount a publicity
campaign about the Board’s decision, hoping to force the resignation
of the Board and the termination of the decision.
As the officer who signed the documents, what should you do?
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7. GENERAL RESOURCES ON ETHICS
(not intended to be a complete listing)
Books
Kidder, Rushworth. (2009). How good people make tough choices: Resolving the dilemmas of
ethical living. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN: 0061743992
Johnson, Craig. (2011). Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting light or
Shadow. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. ISBN: 1412982227
Ciulla, Joanne. (2004). Ethics: The Heart of Leadership. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. ISBN:
0275982521
Solomon, Robert. (2003). The Joy of Philosophy: Thinking Thin verses the Passionate Life.
Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0195165403
Woodruff, Paul. (2002). Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. ISBN: 0195157958
Marrella, Len. (2001). In Search of Ethics: Conversations with Men and Women of Character.
Sanford, FL: DC Press. ISBN: 0970844409
Morgan, Peter & Reynolds, Glenn. (1997). The Appearance of Impropriety: How the Ethics
Wars Have Undermined American Government, Business, and Society. New York: Free Press.
ISBN: 0743242661
Plante, Thomas G. (2004). Do the Right Thing: Living Ethically in an Unethical World.
Oakland, CA: New Harbinger. ISBN 1572243643
Rachels, James. (2002). The Elements of Moral Philosophy. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN:
007282574
Marks, Joel. (2000). Moral Moments: Very Short Essays on Ethics. Lanham, MD: University
Press of America. ISBN: 0761818022
Solomon, Robert & Murphy, Mark. (1999). What is Justice: Classic and Contemporary
Readings. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0195128109
Ciulla, Joanne, Price, Terry & Murphy, Susan. (2006). The Quest for Moral Leaders: Essays on
Leadership and Ethics. London: Edward Elgar. ISBN: 1845429451
Kellerman, Barbara. (2004). Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press. ISBN: 1591391660
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8. Fluker, Walter E. (2009). Ethical Leadership: The Quest for Character, Civility, and
Community. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press. ISBN: 0800663497
Renz, David O. (Ed.). (2010). The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and
Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 0470392509
Price, Terry L. (2008). Leadership Ethics: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN: 0521699118
Rhode, Deborah L. (Ed.) (2006). Moral Leadership: The Theory and Practice of Power,
Judgment and Policy. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 0787982822
Svara, James. (2006). Ethics Primer for Public Administrators in Government and Nonprofit
Organizations. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett. ISBN: 0763736260
American Institute of CPAs. (2011). The Best of Boards: Sound Governance and Leadership
for Nonprofit Organizations. AICPA ISBN: 0870519654
Gardner, Howard (Ed.) (2007). Responsibility at Work: How Leading Professionals Act (or
Don't Act) Responsibly. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass ISBN: 0787994758
Rest, James R. (Ed.) (1994). Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory. New
York: Praeger Publishers. ISBN: 0275922545
Bazerman, M.H. & Tenbrunsel, A.E. (2011). Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and
What To Do About It. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
ISBN: 978-0-691-14750-5
Journal Article
Rhode, Deborah L. & Packel, Amanda K. (2009). Ethics and Nonprofits. Stanford Social
Innovation Review, Summer 2009. Can be retrieved at
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/ethics_and_nonprofits
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9. Websites
http://www.globalethics.org/
Institute for Global Ethics, founded by Rushworth Kidder
http://www.ethics.org/
Ethics Resource Center
http://www.councilofnonprofits.org/resources/resources-topic/ethics-accountability
National Council of Nonprofits
http://ethics.sandiego.edu/
Ethics Update from the University of San Diego. General resources.
http://managementhelp.org/businessethics/index.htm
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility website
http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2004/how-ethical-is-your-nonprofit-
organization.aspx
Guidestar: How ethical is your nonprofit?
http://www.independentsector.org/governance_ethics_resource_center
Independent Sector Resource Center for Good Governance and Ethical Practice
http://www.independentsector.org/compendium_of_standards
Independent Sector Compendium of Standards, Codes, and Principles of Nonprofit and
Philanthropic Organization
http://www.thenonprofittimes.com/managementtips/category/ethics
The Nonprofit Times Management Tips on Ethics
http://www.npgoodpractice.org/category/guide-categories-and-
concepts/nonprofit/legal-and-regulatory/ethics
Johnson Center at Grand Valley State University Nonprofit Good Practice
http://www.afpnet.org/Ethics/EnforcementDetail.cfm?itemnumber=3262
Association of Fundraising Professionals: The Accountable Nonprofit
http://onestarfoundation.org/wp-
content/uploads/2012/06/NMAT_Code_of_Ethics_April_2012.pdf
Nonprofit Management Alliance of Texas Code of Ethics
http://tano.org/ethics/
Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations
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10. IDENTIFYING VALUES
Values are fundamental beliefs that anchor our lives. They are the characteristics that
matter to us the most, the “non-negotiables” that best describe who we are.
Look over the following list and circle the words or phrases that best illustrate your
values. If you have values that are not on the list, add them. Try to circle no more than
twelve to fifteen descriptors.
Accomplishment Fulfillment Physical vitality
Affirmation Fun Pleasure
Ambition Gentleness Politeness
Authenticity Genuineness Privacy
Beauty Good Taste Productivity
Being in control Goodness Purity
Broadmindedness Growth Quality
Caution Happiness Recognition
Career Hard work Reconciliation
Character Honesty Relaxation
Cheerfulness Honor Reliability
Coaching Humility Respect for people
Collaboration Humor Respect for the environment
Comfort Imagination Responsibility
Community Inner harmony Risk taking
Compassion Independence Salvation
Competence Influence Security
Competition Innovation Self control
Consistency Inquisitiveness Self respect
Creativity Integrity Self expression
Courage Intellectual Sensitivity
Dependability Intimacy Servanthood
Determination Joy Service
Diligence Judgment Sexual intimacy
Diversity Kindness Silence
Duty Learning Social Recognition
Efficiency Listening Solitude
Elegance Logic Spirit
Empowerment Love Spiritual growth
Encouragement Loyalty Stability
Enlightenment Marriage Success
Equality Making money Temperance
Excellence Mentoring Tolerance
Fairness Obedience Tranquility
Faithfulness Orderliness Trust
Family Patience Truth
Forgiveness Peace Winning
Forward-looking Perfection Wisdom
Freedom Performance Worship
Friendship Persistence
Frugality Personal power
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