Week 6 Writing Assignment: Developing Your Personal Code of Ethics
A personal code of ethics puts into writing those ideas, values, and philosophies that are the essence of your life. This exercise allows you to reflect on your own core values and commitments—to create a snapshot in time of your personal value system.
ASSIGNMENT: Write a reflection paper that demonstrates that you thought through the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of your primary ethical lens.
Paragraph 1: Introduction
Consider the following topics in your introductory paragraph
Do you interact with people differently in your various personal and professional roles?
Reflecting on the information about your core ethical lens, what resonated with you and where did you find differences?
Which people and organizations have been the most important in shaping your ethical values? What specifically about them and their values did you respect?
Paragraph 2:
Consider:
What does the phrase “personal ethics” mean to you?
What values take priority when you have to choose and your values are in conflict?
What commitments serve as the basis for shaping your value priorities?
What principles are important for you to follow?
What ideal goals are important for you to use in your life?
How do your actions, habits, behavior, and character traits affect the relationships in your life?
What virtues are important for you to develop as you build your character?
Paragraph 3:
Consider :
How would you manage a situation where you believed that something was not aligned with your personal ethics?
What commitments serve as the basis for shaping your relationships?
What personal approach do you take to help you answer and deal with ethical questions?
What would you do if you saw a friend behaving in what you thought was an unethical manner?
How do you avoid your ethical blind spots?
How do you assure that you build ethical awareness?
How do you work to assure consistency in your ethical values?
If you asked a friend to describe you, what would they say?
The last paragraph will be your own personal code of ethics, where you describe the values that are the most important to you and the specific behaviors that flow from those values.
Tips for writing your personal code of ethics:
Keep the statement simple and clear. Make sure you use words that you understand and have meaning for you.
Keep you statement positive. Focus on your strengths and aspirations.
Your statement should touch upon who you are (your character) and the values that have a significant positive impact on your life
Include behaviors and character traits that you consider particularly important or ones you want to develop further.
Be creative and come up with your own words so that your statement reflects who you are.
For example:
[Choose two to four values] serve as the foundation for my life. To bring these alive I [cite specific behaviors that show how you live by these values] to live out my core ethical principles.
Or
I choose to live my life applying [choose two to four values] and I express these values by [cite specific behaviors that show how you live by these values] to build a strong ethical character.
Or
I value [choose two to four values] because [cite reasons why these values are important to you]. Accordingly, I will [cite what you can do to live by these values] to build strong, fair relationships.
Or
I live each day with [choose two to four values] so that [state what living these values will give you] so that [state what living these values will give you]. I will do this by [cite specific behaviors you will use to live by these values] to achieve my ethical goals.
After writing your Personal Ethics Statement:
Once you finish writing your statement share it with someone close to you and see if they agree with what you wrote.
Look back at the information about your primary lens; does the statement reflect that lens?
Remember your personal ethics continue to grow and develop over time and are influenced by many circumstances and events. Your Personal Ethics Statement will continue to change and evolve as you gain insights about yourself and as you keep on choosing what you want to be, do, and have during this lifetime.
