Managing Ethically - Making Tough Choices

Jack Dikian

ABSTRACT

Feb, 2003

Tough choices, typically are those that pit one right value against another. That’s true in every walk of life – corporate professional, personal, civic, international, educational, religious, and the rest

(Kidder, 1995)

The really tough choices, then, don’t centre upon right versus wrong. They involve right versus right. They are genuine dilemmas precisely because each side is firmly rooted in . . . core values.

(Kidder, 1995)

One of the most frequently discussed tensions in decision making involving people is deciding whether to support decisions which promote the good of the group or community as against the rights of the individual and vice versa.

Other decisions in which choices can be influenced by considerations for either ‘compassion’ or ‘strictly following the rules’. Compassion encompasses looking at the individual circumstance and making a decision that puts care and concern for the individual above all rules and policies, if these should be contrary. Rules or policies provide guidelines for leaders on how to make decisions.

This paper looks at a number of tension situations or cases that reflect the complexity of many tension situations where the determination of which choice to make is not always clear.