Personal Values Worksheet

Topic 1 Personal Values Worksheet Instructions: Read each ethical dilemma faced by public servants listed below and then explain how you would resolve these dilemmas. Some of the philosophical tools of assessment used to evaluate ethical dilemmas include consequentialism, deontology and utilitarianism Your answers should be 150-200 words for each response. Be sure to use the Topic materials, government Websites, and the GCU Library to locate at least three relevant, scholarly sources in support of your responses. Cite references below in the Reference section. 1) You are a needs assessment officer for a public housing authority. An elderly public housing resident has petitioned the housing authority to have an expensive oxygen tank apparatus installed in his public housing unit because of a severe pulmonary condition. You personally believe that we should respect and care for the elderly, but you must balance that personal value against the responsibility to assess the true need and cost of installing such a device in the resident’s unit. How do you balance your personal value with that of the interest of the resident and the general public interest? Provide an example of an assessment tool to help you reach your conclusion. As a needs assessment officer I would need to take into consideration how important the oxygen tank apparatus is to the health and safety of my residents. If the majority of my patients would benefit from such a device than I should more than likely consider purchasing such an item. My personal values immediately tell me that I should purchase the device so the people under my care are well taken care of. I know that multiple residents could end up having some sort of pulmonary condition and said apparatus could help future patients. An assessment tool that helped me formulate my answer was utilitarianism, which is, “the purpose of morality is to make life better by increasing the amount of good things” (Nathanson, n.d.). By installing the oxygen tank I would be increasing goodness in my community even if it’s currently just for one resident. 2) You are a police officer working in a rural town. During a night patrol, you come into contact with a minor, 13, who is carrying a bottle of beer and appears to be mildly intoxicated. According to your official duties as an officer, you should issue the minor a citation for breaking curfew and for minor in possession (of alcohol). However, your personal values concerning the matter call for leniency. You believe that for minors to grow into young adults, they must engage in some deviancy in order to explore and understand the borders between good and bad behavior. You would prefer to locate the parents or guardians of the minor and deliver the minor to them. How do you balance your personal value with that of the interest of the minor, the parents/guardians, your duties as an officer and the general public interest? Provide an example of an assessment tool to help you reach your conclusion. As a police officer in a rural town I know that word travels fast about any minor misconduct anyone does and I don’t want this kid to be frowned upon by the residents of my town I would think it would be best for both myself and the 13 year old to use my discretion on this event. I would use my place in society to give the child a stern talking to and warn them that if I ever catch them drinking again before becoming of age they would receive more than a warning. As for being out past curfew they would still receive a citation. I would also locate the parents/guardians of the kid and see if they have any priors for abuse, neglect, or anything that would mean harming the kid when finding out what he/she had been up to. If there are no priors I would deliver the child home and tell the parents of what happened. If there are priors I would ensure the kid is sobered up before taking him home. I used consequentialism to create my answer because this theory states, “whether or not something is right by what its consequences are” (Consequentialism - Ethics Unwrapped, 2013). My actions would result in the least amount of consequences and would protect the minor from the harsh actions of a rural community. 3) You are a clerk working for a local municipality, and you have been charged with the duty of annexing an unincorporated portion of land abutting the municipality into the city. The rationale to include the unincorporated land into the city is the residents of that area are receiving some social services of the city (such as fire and police service) without having to pay taxes. While you believe it is important for citizens to pay their fair share of the tax burden, you also understand that some of these residents may have elected to live outside of the city specifically because they did not want to pay city taxes, regardless of whether they were being furnished with any city services. Further, you understand to incorporate that land into the city may drive some residents away due to the increase in tax costs. How can you balance your personal values with your duties as a clerk for the municipality, your duties to the residents of the city, and tangential duties to the nonresidents of the city? Provide an example of an assessment tool to help you reach your conclusion. In this situation I think all people who receive services from places that are funded by taxpayers money should have to pay taxes. Even though they did live outside the cities boundaries, they still receive police and fire department services, which are funded by taxpayers. Despite the fact they may have move intentionally to be exempt from paying taxes, they should not be allowed the same services of those who actually pay those tax funded services. It would be safest and most beneficial for all if everyone paid taxes for police and fire, despite people who do not want to (Bird, 2016). In this case my ideology is based on utilitarianism because if this population of the town is small and they pay the taxes for services from police and fire this would mean they are lowering the cost for something that will make the majority happy and help them feel safe. 4) You are an administrator of a state water authority charged with balancing the competing interests of water consumers. You are piecing together a 40-year water consumption plan that involves agricultural, municipal, industrial, and tribal interest groups. The task of dividing the water amongst these competing stakeholders is difficult, given your divided personal values concerning their interests. For instance, you believe honoring the tribal treaty agreements concerning the water is important, given the historic circumstances of tribal/U.S. governmental relations. You also believe that supporting local commerce through agriculture and industry is incredibly important, as is supporting the general growth the municipal community. How can you balance your personal values with your duties as an administrator for the water authority? Provide an example of an assessment tool to help you reach your conclusion. This is a tough decision to make and it is important to think about your options and previous agreements. There are two sides to this dilemma personal and business. Water is an essential need for human life and it is something everyone should have even and fair access to, a water shortage can be a horrible situation to be in and can cause many health issues. I am once again using utilitarianism for the basis of my response because goodness and health for the majority should be very important. Water is a basic need for any human and taking that away at any level would be morally wrong. People’s health is very important and my personal values lean towards serving my people more than checking off a task from my to-do list. Dispersing water evenly is a benefit for the majority of the people.