Nash, "Twelve Ethics Questions for Business Decision-makers"
Notable for acknowledging that different parties may define the problem differently, for comparing intentions against likely consequences, and for considering the symbolic value of the decision
SOURCE FOR THE PROCEDURE
Nash, Laura L. "Ethics Without Sermons." Howard Business Review 59 (1981): 79-90.
THE PROCEDURE ITSELF
- Have you defined the problem accurately?
- How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence?
- How did this situation occur in the first place?
- To whom and what do you give your loyalties as a person and as a member of the corporation?
- What is your intention in making this decision?
- How does this intention compare with the likely results?
- Whom could your decision or action injure?
- Can you engage the affected parties in a discussion of the problem before you make your decision?
- Are you confident that your position will be as valid over a long period of time as it seems now?
- 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?
- What is the symbolic potential of your action if understood? If misunderstood?
- Under what circumstances would you allow exceptions to your stand?
WALT'S CHECKLIST
The same checklist was applied to all procedures.
- This method is most useful when the DECISION-MAKER ...
- has easy access to stakeholders [step 8]
- has keen insight into human motivation [step 5]
- has plenty of time for investigation and analysis
- is skilled in causal or consequential reasoning [steps 6 and 7]
- This method is most useful in a SITUATION ...
- where the decision-maker is also a stakeholder [step 11]
- This method is most useful when STAKEHOLDERS ...
