Moral Development Paper

Moral Intelligence Development Paper (MIDP)

Moral intelligence is the aspect of life, in which a person is able to differentiate between what is wrong, and that what is right together with the undertaken resolutions. I had not known this until I joined MGMT-4500-05 class where I was able to learn important aspects concerning my social life, morals and ethics. I never knew that I could learn this through a class setting. This class gave me the opportunity interact and get enough exposure to my fellow students and my professors (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). More so, it enabled me to realize how people feel, think and react to ethics and feel on their moral values. Through this class, I have appreciated the fact that the smartest way of learning is by observing and learning from other peoples experiences. I have become aware of my moral competencies, emotional intelligence and moral compass together with the corresponding principles, values and beliefs. A moral compass is a tool that defines our principles, values and the most important beliefs in life (Matheou 2010). Understanding this has given me the opportunity to develop a positive direction in my life and enhance my relationship with my close family members like my wife and children plus my workmates not forgetting my fellow students. Now I am a better person than I was three months ago.

I have embraced Universal principles and identified compassion, integrity, responsibility as the top five core principles that make my fundamental block of moral compass.  I believe in wisdom, inner peace, spirituality, open-mindedness and influencing others. These principles are based on my family background in which I come from. I have a strong thinking that all human beings are the same and deserve love and affection, peace and harmony are the solutions for all human problems. Human being cannot win over environment, I feel good about myself to learn that most people can be trusted and the world is never fair or unfair to human beings. My moral standards tell me that I should always stand for what is right (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). I realized this when I analyzed my Moral Competency Inventory (MCI) test. The inventory areas include; willingness to confront others when they involve in wrongdoing, challenging those in authorities when they indulge in unethical behaviors and reporting any illegal behaviors at work pace even if it could have a negative effect on my career then lastly, the ability to stand up for my convictions. In the MCI test, I scored nine out of twenty for standing up for what is right, a lower grade but I am hopeful to make more improvement. This is because in the last ten years I faced the same situation. I used to avoid or adjust to the situation (Matheou 2010). It is a clear indicator that as an immigrant worker I avoided or adjusted because the effects could be extreme, and I could end losing my job and face serious immigration issues from my employer. I always had a misconception that reporting wrongdoing could attract much negative consequences to me. I have learned to bring morals and ethics to work and not from the work (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). I am now a wear of myself and it seems I have been applying ethical egoism that is concerned with self-interest and being out for myself although I am not a whistle blower I do not consider myself being unethical. This statement from Trevino and Nelson confirms,

 “Corporate culture is critical for ethics. It refers to the fact that managers in organizations get to set the rules for everybody else, without the input or participation of those  the stakeholders. They set the tone and if the corporate culture that they create is unethical, well, the employees (or slaves, in this case) can't do anything about it “      

It is much interesting that, people in power fail to encourage employees to talk about what goes on at their work place instead they punish them for telling the truth. This could make the employees to become morally mute. From the lectures, I find that,

“Any clever person will realize that she or he has no moral obligations to others besides those obligations she or he voluntarily assumes because it is in one's own interest to agree to abide by them. Each person should accept moral rules and assume specific obligations only when doing so promotes one's self-interest.”

After the lectures and the class exercises, I realized that it was critical and essential for me to stay true to my moral compass so that I may become what I want and reach my goals. The behavior of being ignorant for standing for the right developed in me a long time ago(ten years ago),  I am very grateful that now I understand that there is always creative ways which we can become whistle blower to call for truth (Trevino & Nelson, 2007).). I understood the concept and meaning of the whistle blower for the first time in this class. Since then I slowly started gaining control over my personality, and I have made tremendous step forward in willingness to stand for my convictions. It is something to do with improving my moral competency. 

According to Lennick and Kiel

“Moral competence represents our ability to act in alignment with what we know is right,        with your “Moral Compass”. “Sometimes, though, it's a struggle to do what we know is             right--when we lack the moral competence to act in alignment with our moral compass           (Lennick and Kiel 2009).”

From my observation, the easiest way to improve moral competency is to include it in my Moral Compass. In addition, keep on monitoring my decisions to see whether they reflect my moral compass or they fail. As needed, I should setup a self- evaluation feedback mechanism to work as a self-correcting control system such a way that further actions and decisions do not deviate much from the core principles, values and beliefs of my Moral Compass. I also need to keep watching my Moral Viruses & Destructive Emotions.

Deciding what is right

This can deflect my moral compass through inaccurate and disabling negative beliefs, which, conflict with the general principles. It may be because of heightened emotion like, anger, fear, pride, greed or jealousy that lead people to act in ways that are inconsistence with their values, believes and goals (Lennick and  Kiel 2009). One of the viruses that I identified is that most people tend to care more about themselves than any other person.  Due to this effect, I have started to re-calibrate and redefine my Moral compass to ensure that I follow my Moral Compass only. Concerning this, I ought to come up with my Moral Competency in my weak areas of MCI that is standing for truth. 

During our classes, I have learned from Doctor Dave Paul that normally there are several ways to convey messages when bosses are on the wrong truck or even when fellow workers are doing wrong. They include establishing awareness of ethic programs if they do not exist, planning the beauty for them to get their own Moral compass and confronting face-to-face with some employees to solve problems.

I scored other areas moderately in the MCI. It implies that my moral alignment is on the right path. For instance, I scored seventeen in the following areas; keeping promises, telling truth and admitting mistakes (Lennick and Kiel 2009). I wish to keep this up in the forthcoming days since I was brought up in a family that upholds telling truth and keeping promises. We teach the same to our children unknowingly just as I learned from my father who kept all his promises. Frequently, he could lose his fortune in the name of keeping a promise.  Most considered what he said as it was already done before the real time comes. Through the values I have learned, I feel to have accomplished my mission if I keep a promise. On the other hand, I feel devastated when I fail to fulfill a promise of any nature (Green, 2009).. This has really made much significance in my life. It has served as a booster and a reminder that contribute to strengthening my weak areas while adding more strength and further strength on my strengths. For example, telling the truth and keeping promise.

I work as a subcontractor for Cisco Systems, the company I have worked for since 2005. It has provided me that opportunity to deal with different managers. I found out that just a handful of them are Morally Intelligent Managers. One of the few managers to emulate is Christos Matheou who works for Cisco Systems as a sub-manager. He serves well as our moral mentor at our place of work (Lennick and Kiel 2009). He normally reminds me to be a whistle blower but I should not break the Golden Rule and to treat others as I would like to be treated. At this point, I can say that all forms of morality are extensions of the Golden Rule in different ways.  I am very grateful to this class since it helped to become wiser and competent ethical agent for the rest of my life.