This is an interesting topic especially since I am going through my ethics and compliance training at my organization. The readings have brought up some interesting points between discrimination and preferential treatment. So, discrimination is when a person is intentionally turned down because of gender, race, or other factors even when they are qualified. Preferential treatment is when the person should have been turned down based on qualifications but was given the opportunity because of some similar characteristic (friends of the family, in the same group or organization, etc.). (Banaji, Bazerman, & Chugh, 2003)
Wow, I guess we are all guilty on the second one. I feel this one is a treaty one that businesses have been doing as regular process. I work in the IT field, and it seemed almost impossible to get an interview. I happened to meet some people who worked for the organization that I wanted to apply to, and they referred me to the hiring manager. This seemed like the only way to have an opportunity to demonstrate that I am qualified. I have also seen this with job postings that were going to be filled internally but because regulations required a minimal posting window to the public. How can you change this process and still give internal employees a chance for promotion? More importantly, is this ethical?
To further examine some of my unconscious biases, I did take one of the Implicit Association Tests for gender and career. The test suggested a moderate automatic association for Male with Career and Female with Family. (Project Implicit (harvard.edu)) Looking at my family life, I can easily see why I would think that way unconsciously.
I thought back to my years in the military. Every military organization that I had been in a variety of people and a great mix in gender. That was not the case for some of organizations that were in the combat arms skills (infantry soldiers, tank drivers, etc.) where there were no women or generally no people of color. As you may expect, the first time that individual was in a position that had either of these situations, it took a long time to break unconscious biases.
It was eye-opening to see how and why ethical became a part of educational technology. Many of the early theorists were in positions that allowed them to contribute to the field. From a historical perspective, it made me think about how many people may have been denied the opportunity to contribute to this field because of the social and political environments at that time. (Bradshaw, 2018) It also makes sense to examine the purpose of the information that is being taught to the audience. In this case, I am referring to the use of educational technology with misinformation. With so many learning theories, they could easily be used to relay a desired behavior or certain content to affect a group’s understanding of an issue. Now with more access to technology, people have a chance or choice to see what is out there and provide their own perspective on the topic.
Banaji, M. R., Bazerman, M. H., & Chugh, D. (2003, December). How (un)ethical are you? Harvard Business Review, 81(12), 56-65.
Bradshaw, Amy C. (2018, March 23). Reconsidering the instructional design and technology timeline through a lens of social justice. TechTrends, 62, 336-344.
Ed's Reflections for IU courses 
3 replies on “Week #12A – Professional Ethics and Social Change”
Ed, I loved this quote from this week’s blog post: “Now with more access to technology, people have a chance or choice to see what is out there and provide their own perspective on the topic.” I hadn’t considered technological access to also be a contributing factor in diversity within the field. It absolutely make sense as I have been astounded by the global nature of our own IST program. Without technological advances, the IST program and instructional design efforts would not be able to have such an internatioanl focus. It is amazing how technological advances and access have affected our field in so many ways. I also agree with you regarding preferential treatment in employment hiring practices. I, unfortunately, think we have all seen this practice in our careers.
-Shanna Sanders
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Hi Ed,
Just a quick story from long past in my life. I was working at the front desk manager for a resort hotel in the mountains of southern Utah. A guest called and informed me of a broken bathroom pipe, so I asked the onsite maintenance man to “please go fix it”. I was written up by the General Manager for stepping outside of the bounds of my position. The Maintenance man believed he shouldn’t have to take direction from me because I was younger than him (the previous maintenance man, who had just retired, was 40 years older than me and had no problems with work orders from the front desk). The problem? The new maintenance guy was the GM’s favorite nephew.
Now, I have no problems with nepotism in general. I have a big problem with poor ethical decisions caused by nepotism. I think the same holds with all the other “isms”. I don’t have any problems with people being racist, sexist, etc. I will never judge a person for what goes on in their heads, to me, that is between them and their God, What I do have a problem with is how they behave, how they treat others. Be as racist in your head as you want, but don’t let me catch you treating someone of another race differently. Would it be better if there was no isms? Of course! But that is an impractical goal. It is the same with ethics. I can’t see or control what goes on in your head, but for all my employees, and for all my employers, I expect the highest ethical standards.
This demand has let to the occasional showdown, but by holding myself to the highest standard, my employers have been able to get around many unforeseen problems and new, or newly enforced, regulations where others were not so prepared. I mostly get left alone now to do what needs to be done :).
-Kevin
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Ed,
You are right, we are all guilty of preferential treatment. I agree, this is generally a common practice in industry. I recently hired someone who one of my employees knows well and could give a great recommendation for. To me this was less of a risk than hiring someone I did not know. We have hired many people who do not “know” someone, but I do find it helpful when someone I trust can give a recommendation for a potential employee. I had never asked the question, “is this ethical.” This question has really made me stop and think. I know this is common practice, but is it ethical? I think this is one reason networking is so important.
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