Apply the Ethical Decision Making Method at Small Unit Level

158-C-1230

Conditions: As a leader faced with a situation which requires you to make an ethical decision.

Standards: Resolved the situation ethically by appropriately applying the Ethical Decision Making Method FM-1
FM 6-22
AR 600-100.

Training and Evaluation Guide

Performance Steps:

1. Clearly define the ethical problem.

2. Employ applicable laws and regulations.

3. Reflect on the ethical values and their ramifications.

4. Consider other applicable moral principles.

5. Commit to and implement the best ethical solution.

6. Assess results and modify plan as required.

Performance Evaluation Guide

Evaluation Preparation: Provide soldier with references listed below. Prepare a scenario that requires the soldier to respond accurately, IAW task standards, to the task performance measures listed above. This may be presented orally or in writing.

Brief soldier: Tell soldier that he/she will be required to correctly respond on at least 70 percent of the performance measures to receive a GO the task.

Performance Measures Results
1. Defined the ethical problem. GO / NO GO
2. Identified and accurately applied all relevant laws and regulations. GO / NO GO
3. Identified all appropriate ethical values. GO / NO GO
4. Determined all relevant guiding moral principles from the ethical values chosen. GO / NO GO
5. Identified and accurately applied all other relevant moral principles to the ethical problem. GO / NO GO
6. Chose a course of action which reflected sound judgment and a thorough analysis of steps one through five. GO / NO GO
7. Selected the best method to implement their chosen course of action. GO / NO GO
8. Implemented the course of action in accordance with a plan. GO / NO GO
9. Assessed results and modified the plan as appropriate. GO / NO GO

Evaluation Guidance: The instructor is to evaluate the student performance on the task. Score the soldier GO if 70 percent or more of the performance measures are passed and NO GO if less than 70 percent of the performance measures are passed. If the soldier receives a NOGO on a performance measure, show or tell the soldier what was wrong and how to perform the measure correctly.

Required References:
FM-1
FM 6-22
AR 600-100
DOD 5500.7-R

1. CASE STUDY
“SFC Sharp and the SECRET Papers”
Recently, you received an assignment as the communications and electronics staff NCO of the 99th Infantry Battalion. You are replacing SFC Sharp who is on the promotion list to master sergeant and is departing for his next duty assignment in two weeks.
SFC Sharp’s welcome was impressive and he has done everything imaginable to ensure you’re getting off to a good start. Your Soldiers appear well trained, and your section sergeant, SGT Day, seems to know just about everything. You know you have big shoes to fill when SFC Sharp leaves because everyone seems to like and respect him. You’ve heard people say that he knows more about infantry operations than most infantry platoon sergeants.
SFC Sharp has cleaned out his desk and tells you to make yourself at home. Later this afternoon he is receiving an award for his service to the 99th. His farewell party is this evening at the club.
As you are setting up your things in your new desk, you discover some papers wedged between the wall and the side of the desk. You pull them out and discover that they are pages from a communication security book and marked “SECRET.” You attach a cover sheet to them and go into the security vault to talk to SGT Day.
SGT Day checks the inventory and destruction certificates and discovers that SFC Sharp certified the destruction of the book these pages came from two weeks ago. Both you and SGT Day search the vault and the outer office for any other pages but you don’t find any. SGT Day turns to you and says,
“Sergeant, I don’t know about you, but the way I see this is that our section area is secure every evening. The civilian cleaning team doesn’t even clean our area. Only our people ever come in here. From the look of these pages they’ve been behind that desk for some time. These pages are from an alternate communications security book and were never used. The schedule shows them scheduled for destruction two weeks ago, and as far as I’m concerned SFC Sharp destroyed them two weeks ago.”
The ethical problems start with SFC Sharp not destroying the Secret paperwork as he had signed off that it was. There is a second ethical problem with SGT Day and his willingness to overlook the problem with SFC Sharp.