That final assignment is worth 35% of your final grade. Remember that your focus needs to be either a public (government) or nonprofit organization. Additionally, a few reminders:
A. The organization should not be one that is too large and complex so as to preclude sufficiently addressing an ethical issue. When the organization is too big, given the relative brevity of the paper (only 15 pages), solutions typically become too simplistic, even trite. So, the organization should not be something like the United States military, the US Supreme Court, the Congress, etc.
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B. The organization cannot be related to any of the case studies explored in this course. That is, the organization you select cannot be Pinellas County, something related to the Exxon Valdez disaster, Guantanomo, Claude Ferguson, the Nevada 4, the EPA and the Seattle office issues, etc.
C. A specific ethical dilemma (actual or a real possibility) needs to be included in your focus.
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o There should be only one ethical issue that serves as your specific focus.
o As above, the dilemma can be something with which you know the organization has dealt; or something that you believe presents a genuine ethical challenge.
o This must be specific. Without the specific challenge, it is not possible to specifically apply the Cooper model for decision-making. It is not possible to discuss specific internal and external controls that can be leveraged to address the ethical challenge. Generalizations and analyses offered from the proverbial 30,000 feet viewpoint are important for introductory purposes (first paragraph or two), but these are not the objective of the assignment. Specificity is required for a successful paper.
E. The philosophical foundation you use for ethical decision-making needs to be included. One should not simply state that something is right or wrong. Important is an explanation as to why it is right or wrong. The reasons you identify reveal the bases upon which you, as the leader in the organization (or the consultant who is advising the leadership), determine the choices that should be made. Consider this illustration: Example
“Goodwill” is infamous for its policy of paying people far under minimum wage. They get away with this due to a law created during the Depression of the 1930s. In a period in our history when unemployment was 15-20% (sometimes more), government was trying to stimulate economic activity; and one way was a law (the Fair Labor Standards Act, Section 14 [c]) intended to prompt more people to hire workers. In one investigative study from only a few years ago, the organization was found to be paying disabled workers less than $1/hour”(https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/more-disabled-workers-paid-just-pennies-hour-v19916979).
Now, we can state that this is unethical or immoral. We can rage about lack of conscience on the part of the leadership of Goodwill. All that is fine. However, in this paper it is critical to discuss not only the fact that the pay level is immoral but WHY it is wrong. It never is enough simply to declare something is unethical. Required is the reason for such a declaration.
Assignment
For the Final Project for this course, select any government or nonprofit organization for which there is sufficient information to allow a thorough analysis of ethical or social justice issues. You may select your own organization if it is a government or nonprofit organization, but be aware of the need for scholarly objectivity and the need to protect confidentiality. Ethical researchers never begin any project with a hidden agenda or predetermined conclusion. If you do choose your own organization, do not identify it by name or precise location.
Your Final Project should include the following:
An introduction that describes the government or nonprofit organization, the setting, and any other information about the organization or related background that readers need in order to understand the organization and its ethical and social justice issues; a description of the ethical issues facing the organization and public administrators within the organization
An explanation of the ethical issues related to two or more of the philosophical theories that this course introduces
A summary of the major ethical challenges and conflicts of responsibility presented to individuals in the organization and to the organization as a whole
A summary of the strategies that the organization uses to maintain responsible conduct
An explanation of your recommendations for addressing the issues, including a rationale for your recommendations and an explanation of why they might be effective in addressing the issues, with consideration given to the possible involvement of guerrilla government employees
An analysis of the factors that would affect the implementation of the recommendations by using the ethical decision-making model
A description of the outcomes you would expect if the organization implemented your recommendations
An explanation of how the issues you raised are related to at least two of the four social justice themes (human rights, equality, liberty, and justice)
Your Final Project must demonstrate both breadth and depth of knowledge and critical thinking appropriate to graduate-level scholarship. It must follow APA Publication Manual guidelines and be free of typographical, spelling, and grammatical errors. The project should be 13–15 pages in length (double-spaced), not including the title page, abstract, and at least 8–10 scholarly resources, excluding any organizational brochures or other nonacademic sources.
Support your Final Project with specific references to all resources used in its preparation.
