The 4-Step Process to Ethical Decision Making

Step 1: Defining What Your Issue Is and Who It Affects
  • specify what the ethical question is
  • stakeholders: who is going to be impacted by your decision
  • NOTE: we are not concerned about how stakeholders are affected at this point
Step 2: Evaluating the Possible Impact of Various Courses of Action
  • evaluate your options using 3 perspectives
  • consequence perspective: how each stakeholder will be affected by an action as well as to comparing the extent that each stakeholder is affected
  • intent perspective: what is the goal of the person making the decison
  • NOTE: intent is considered to be independent from outcome
  • character perspective: would a moral take this action
Step 3: Correlating the 3 Different Perspectives
  • compare the three perspectives to see if they match
  • if the 3 match, then the action is likely to be ethical
  • if one of them does not the correlate, the action is ethically ambiguous and should be reconsidered
Step 4: Acting on Your Decision
  • decisively follow through with the action if you are comfortable with how the perspectives correlate


Van Den Einde, Lelli. "Ethics." Introduction to Structures and Design. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. N. pag. Print.

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