“Choose the Future Wisely”: Supporting Better Ethics Through Critical Thinking

Abstract

Most people learn and internalize their sense of ethical behavior many years before they assume positions of organizational responsibility. Continued training in ethics helps to develop new understanding and supports ethical behavior. It is also useful to increase the cognitive skills of executives making decisions affecting firms and stakeholders. One key to ethical executive decision making is the further development of critical thinking skills. This article looks at the relationship between critical thinking, organizational uncertainty, and ethical behavior. It also describes an instructional design using a series of business vignettes for executive action with uncertain functional and ethical outcomes.