Whether in school settings or other contexts, dealing with ethical and legal issues can be challenging for counselors. In many instances, the practitioner meets individuals from different backgrounds in terms of age, culture, religion, economy, and education among other factors. Each of these people have problems or needs that may be unique to their origins or not. In order to come up with effective solutions, a counselor needs to interpret the problem using the different world views including those of the clients. The counselor also needs to incorporate the underlying principles, policies or procedures in these interpretations as well as in the generation of the possible courses of actions. In fact, the proposed solutions need to be evaluated …show more content…
For one, Practitioner’s Guide to Ethical Decision Making focuses on the objective facts and offers a more rational and practical approach to dealing with the issues (Remley & Herlihy, 2016). It aims at minimizing subjectivity and dealing with facts. It does not encourage the incorporation of beliefs and opinions of either party in both the identification of the problem and generation of solutions (Remley & Herlihy, 2016).
Unlike, the Practitioner’s Guide to Ethical Decision Making, the Intercultural Model of Ethical Decision Making, is modern and takes the more subjective approach advocated for by modern theorists. It promotes a rather holistic than rational approach. Instead of focusing solely on facts, the Intercultural Model of Ethical Decision Making incorporates the culture, religion and different beliefs in the analysis and resolution of the ethical problem.
In the case of Marty, for example, this latter approach would evaluate how being a native of South America, living in the U.S as an immigrant, and or other aspects of his culture and religion might affect his choices and preferences. Similarly, as a counselor, it would be important to understand the differences in my culture, religion and world views might influence my interpretation of the issue and ultimate choices. What might be wrong in views, could be right in the
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From the case, Marty is facing several challenges. He has difficulties socializing and is incapable of making friends at school. He also prefers not participate in class discussions, which is a major result of the lack of socialization skills. These factors can partly be attributed also to his speech impairment. In fact, Marty may shy off from expressing his ideas because he is barely capable of making other people understand him. Coupled with the lack of confidence, the client is left susceptible to bullying by other children. Bullying, in particular, is a major problem that can be addressed using legal measures. The problem, however, is that Marty does not want the other parties to find out about his experiences. This makes it difficult to address the problem since most of the possible solutions would entail engaging the other parties involved in his life, who have contributed to them, intentionally or
Throughout this paper I will examine three different ethical views and interpret the ways in which one would respond to the scenario at hand. The initial ethical view is composed of cultural relativism. Another view is Kantian ethics. The final view involves utilitarianism. When presenting these views, I will describe each ethical view, and also I will speak abouts how a person who abides by the given ethical view would respond to the situation.
Huey, W. C. (1986). Ethical Concerns in School Counseling. Journal Of Counseling & Development, 64(5), 321.
Workers in the helping professions endure a massive amount of ethical and professional issues. These issues affect the practice of counseling and the relationship with the client. The book Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions by Corey, Corey, and Hallanan gives many themes that one will encounter throughout their career. The book also gives possible solutions to problems and stimulates different ways to think about issues. The authors of this book provide good knowledge and information for anyone in the helping professions.
Gaining consultation from appropriate sources could help the counselor gain knowledge that would support the decision-making process. However, it should also be noted that the counselor must protect the student’s confidentiality, yet, some information would need to be shared with consultants. Thus, the counselor would only provide information relevant to each consultant, standard C.2.e (ASCA 2010; Davis, 2015). Next, the counselor would record the needed information in order to make an ethical decision (Luke, Goodrich, & Gilbride, 2013). The counselor would write down the Japanese family experts information that was provided, write down all the applicable ethical codes, the school policies, and state laws. Next, the counselor would analyze the information from the previous step with the student’s CRW factors and list the CRW factors that support or conflict with the proposed action and associate the decision with ethical standards (Luke, Goodrich, & Gilbride, 2013). For instance, the counselor would list that breaching confidentiality to child welfare services would be ethically supported in this situation by school policy and ACA (2014) ethical standard B.2.a,
The method of ethical decision making which was developed by Dr. Cathryn A. Baird presented two components contained in all ethical decisions which are; The Four ethical Lenses and the 4+1 Decision process. The Four Ethical Lenses issue claims that different ethical theories and the means in which we tend to approach the situations which form part of our ethical traditions are looked at in four different perspectives. From each perspective there are different values on which to decide whether the action taken is either ethical or not and each lens also lays emphasis on determining whether the decision made is of ethical requirement. In the 4+1 Decision Process, people who are responsible for making final decisions in an organization do it using four specific decision making steps and eventually will end up with one extra decision which gives a chance to reflect. The 4+1 decision process allows the decision makers to give solutions when faced with complicated ethical issues (John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, 2000).
Ethical issues in a counseling practice lay the foundation of a therapist in practice. Ethics are at the center of how the counseling process functions and operates in a successful manner for the clients who seek help in such a setting. In order for the counseling profession to be ethical and hold professional recognition, there are many facets that need to be examined and outlined to make sure all counselors and practitioners are functioning at the highest level and withholding their duties required by the counseling profession. The first introduction so to speak of the area of ethics also happens to be one of the first steps in counseling, which is the informed consent. The informed consent provides the basis of what happens or will be happening in a counseling setting and serves to inform the client to their rights, responsibilities, and what to expect. Most importantly, the informed consent is in place for the client’s benefit. It also is important to understand that culture and environment play a role in the treatment of a client and how theories can positively or negatively impact this treatment. Therapists need to understand how to work within the context of a theory while being able to understand the individual in their own environment. Although theories are put into place to serve as a framework, there are also alternative ways to approach counseling, one example being evidence-based practice. Such an approach is very specific, which presents a series of solutions for counseling as a whole, but also brings forth many problems. Every approach or theory introduces ethical concerns that need to be taken into consideration by the entire counseling community and how each can positively and negatively affect clients and the pr...
The topic of this paper focuses on the battles school counselors face as the law and ethical standards collide. School counselors face a number of legal and ethical issues and recognizing a clear decision isn’t always easy. School counselors have to work with a large number of students, parents, and administrators while conforming to ethical codes, state laws, and school board guidelines. This topic is of great relevance to me as I will be going into the school counseling profession. It is also a meaningful topic to me because life-changing decisions are made every day in reference to legal and ethical issues. Researching this topic has shed some light on the difficulty for school counselors to fulfill both legal and ethical requirements. The main reason for this is that laws and ethical codes may sometimes provide differing and contradictory messages regarding the same subject. This can lead to legal ramifications, even while following ethical norms as we will look at in the example case of Woodlock v. Orange Ulster B.O.C.E.S. (2006/2008).
Making good ethical decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that should impact our choice of a course of action. Having a method for ethical decision making is absolutely essential. When practiced regularly, the method becomes so familiar that we work through it automatically without consulting the specific steps.
For many years now, people have always wondered what ethical principle is the right one to follow. These individuals are all seeking the answer to the question that the ethical principles are trying to clarify: What defines moral behavior? The Divine Command Theory and the theories of cultural relativism are two principles of many out there that provide us with explanations on what our ethical decisions are based on and what we consider to be our moral compass in life. Even though these two theories make well-supported arguments on why they are the right principle to follow, it is hard to pinpoint which one should guide our choices because of the wide array of ethical systems. Therefore, what is morally right or wrong differs greatly depending
In philosophy, there are many different views regarding what is thought to constitute ethical behavior. Among them are the cultural relativist, utilitarian, and Kantian. Given a situation where someone must choose to either kill one person out of thirty so that the others could live or let all thirty people die in order to maintain their moral duty, the distinctive philosophical views would lead to varying responses. They contribute opposing ideas on what the right decision is. Generally, these three ethical theories have the power to influence what happens next.
An ethical dilemma is only examined in a situation which has the following conditions; the first condition takes place in a situation, when an individual has to make a decision on which course of action is best. The second condition is there must be more than one course of action to choose from. The third action is no matter what course of action is taken, certain ethical principles are conceded. In other terms, there is no perfect result. When defining what forms an ethical dilemma, it is important to make a division between ethics, morals, values, laws and policies.
Ethics play a vital role in day-to-day living from work to home. The ability to recognize ethical dilemmas and apply ethical theories to resolve ethical dilemmas is essential part of an individual 's psychological, physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. The purpose of this paper is to explore the strengths and weakness of the American Psychological Association (APA) code of ethics, apply and evaluate the eight-step ethical decision-making model, discuss the role of deontology in ethical reasoning, resolution, and multicultural issues in the case study.
Many people have different views of what ethical behavior is. Ethical behavior is defined as “Acting in ways consistent with what society and individuals typically think are good values. Ethical behavior tends to be good for business and involves demonstrating respect for key moral principles that include honesty, fairness, equality, dignity, diversity and individual rights (Ethical behavior, 2016).” In this paper, I explored ethical decision making with examples. In addition, I discuss how ethical decision making benefits from a Christian worldview.
In explaining Cultural Relativism, it is useful to compare and contrast it with Ethical Relativism. Cultural Relativism is a theory about morality focused on the concept that matters of custom and ethics are not universal in nature but rather are culture specific. Each culture evolves its own unique moral code, separate and apart from any other. Ethical Relativism is also a theory of morality with a view of ethics similarly engaged in understanding how morality comes to be culturally defined. However, the formulation is quite different in that from a wide range of human habits, individual opinions drive the culture toward distinguishing normal “good” habits from abnormal “bad” habits. The takeaway is that both theories share the guiding principle that morality is bounded by culture or society.
Everyone in this world has experienced an ethical dilemma in different situations and this may arise between one or more individuals. Ethical dilemma is a situation where people have to make complex decisions and are influenced based on personal interest, social environment or norms, and religious beliefs (“Strategic Leadership”, n.d.). The leaders and managers in the company should set guidelines to ensure employees are aware and have a better chance to solve and make ethical decisions. Employees are also responsible in understanding their ethical obligations in order to maintain a positive work environment. The purpose of this case study is to identify the dilemma and analyze different decisions to find ways on how a person should act