This course has rooted its foundation stones from the general course objectives which required that I develop the appropriate means of addressing the dilemmas that are brought about by ethical issues that are faced by human resource at the work place. It is from this broad goal of developing my skills in decision making towards ethical issues that I approached the course. It has so far been an excellent experience for me using utilitarianism and deontological reasoning in solving problems using basic normative ethics at the work place. As is expressed in the remaining parts of the paper, the course has been quite enlightenment to many things for me as I prepare for my future career and also improve my cognitive abilities as a student manager. The main purpose of writing this reflective essay is therefore to comprehensively give an overview of the course with an aim of singling out all the achievements and the shortcomings that I have faced in it.
My Improvement in Knowledge, Skills and Abilities throughout the Course
As had already been outlined in the previous paragraph, the course is aimed at ensuring that the students develop or sharpen their skills in solving problems related to morals that may arise at the work place. The course’s work had been organized in a very clear manner to clearly illustrate to the students the various, oral problems that could rise at the work place. Some of the examples are inclusive of discrimination, affirmative action, sexual harassment, informational privacy, drug testing, business and the environment, ethics in advertising and global ethics.
All the six modules that were taught during the course have tremendously worked to the improvement and enrichment of my knowledge base both as a management student and as a future manager. This is a highly regarded security for me in my future career adventures as I would be very comfortable in handling my positions and the challenges that may arise from them with as much professionalism as possible. The introduction of the ethical theory and its basic element was a source of great exposition of the course itself as I was able to foresee the basic elements that I was going to deal with in the course and in my future career.
The utilitarian considerations that were also taught alongside the basic elements of the ethical theory have been very instrumental in building my knowledge base so as to ensure that I record it that when dealing with ethical issues around a work place it is the interest of the majority of the people that is considered so as to ensure that the ethical issues addressed are put to favor or work for the entire work force or the maximum possible population (Gilliand and Steiner, 2007). The nature of privacy really came out as a strong ethical issue to me since the levels of technological advancements that we are waking up to everyday are highly compromising the issue of privacy at the work place. For instance using technology, the manager is able to trace the phone calls made by his employees during the office hours and even view the internet sites that they visit. Whether or not this is right, has left my knowledge base more developed and exposed as pertains ethical issues and management.
Evaluation of the Work I Performed During the Class
Given my higher enthusiasm and hard working nature, I was set from the start of the course to offer my best input for the course since I wanted to adequately grasp more than would be necessary for me not only as a manager in future but also an employee under my future managers. The serious ness attitude that I set for the course ensured that I had to attend all the lectures and have all the notes and the class assignments done. In short, I did not only rely on the course’s notes, but I went ahead and read more for my personal reference.
Coupled with my tutors’ efforts, I am proud to say that the course was marked with high achievement because from it, I have gained not only the cognitive knowledge but the practical approach to issues relating to work place problems that are caused by morals. This can be adequately reflected in my course work where I have performed way beyond ordinary. I performed exceptionally which shows that my course learning has been effective. The only thing that I would do differently to perform better next time is to carry out a practical where I would under the guidance of my tutor visit a work environment and assess it for moral problems then deal with it accordingly by giving my recommendations to the management. This practical approach would work well in ensuring that by the end of the course, I have a feel of the real ethical issues at work apart from the theoretical knowledge gained.
Topics That I Did Not Understand and Improvement Suggestions
From a fair point of view, virtually all the topics in the course were carried out diligently and with the required levels of professionalism. This ensured that I was comfortably satisfied as per the understand ding of the topics was concerned. This good record though was slightly affected by the fifth topic which required that we discuss the various deontological considerations that can be used to explain major work place safety issues. Although it was done to the tutor’s best ability coupled with the student’s efforts, approaching the topic in a practical way would have greatly helped in identifying the current safety problems that still exist at work places despite the technological advancements that are working towards ensuring safety. Visiting various work places and identifying the means of ensuring workers’ safety at the different places would have done a better deal than reading of recorded work place safety measures of which moist of them have been overcome by time (Gilliand and Steiner, 2007).
Ways of Measuring the Future Effects of the Course Material
Before I look at the various methods that I may use in future to determine the level of effects of the materials that I have learnt in this course, I would like to first of all have a brief overview of the major things that I have learnt. They are inclusive of: basic elements of ethical theory, impacts of technology on the business privacy, the nature of discrimination, work place safety, the utilitarian considerations and the deontological considerations to all the aspects mentioned. These are the major areas that I have gained not only knowledge in but I have also had skills and I developed as a result of them. In my future in the course of my career, I would measure the effects through: assessing my own personal safety level in a working environment and determining whether am satisfied or not would adequately tell the extent of the effect of the knowledge I learnt on work place safety. Incase I would be a manager in my career in the future, the way I would carry out an interview and selection process involving a relative of mine and some other strange candidates would speak volumes of the way I was affected by the topic of discrimination at the work place.
Did I achieve the course objectives?
As is indicated in the course syllabus, the objectives that were expected to be realized by me at the end of the syllabus were all fulfilled. As a matter of fact, I am proud to state that I am a student in business administration though the knowledge that I have acquired during the course already makes me feel adequate for a managerial position involving the solving of work place problems arising from ethical issues. As I experienced in the course work and even now, am able to explain the nature of discrimination, the impact of technology on business privacy and explain the major work place safety issues. I therefore feel comfortable when stating that I have fully realized the objectives of the course.
Conclusion
Just as I may have already implied although the paper, this course has been one of my best ever courses and as a matter of fact, it was the most productive course that I can remember having. The results from the course I believe would also show clearly that I did an excellent job in ensuring that my tutor’s hard work was adequately re warded. With only the introduction of a more practical aspect in the course work as I had mentioned would ensure that that the optimal results desired from the course are obtained.
Reference
Gilliand, S & Steiner, D. (2007). Managing social and ethical issues in organizations. N.Y: IAP.
