Assessment 1: ethical theories and principles

Prepare an 8-10 slide PowerPoint presentation for a group of managers. Explain the relationship between personal integrity and ethical leadership, and between ethical leadership and positive organizational outcomes. Explain the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice and how these principles guide ethical health care leadership practices.

Introduction

As you prepare for your career, it is important to build a foundational understanding of the basic ethical theories directly related to health care management. It is important to infuse ethical knowledge and principles throughout an organization to effectively address challenging situations in all aspects of management, leadership, strategic planning, and decision making.

You should also understand the relationship between personal value systems and ethical management practice. The concept of moral integrity is a basis for professional actions and leads to positive business outcomes. Of course, there are personal ethical challenges that might present barriers in maintaining long-term, consistent success as a moral leader; therefore, the development of a personal moral compass and ethical bottom line can be useful in guiding your career.

Autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice are examples of the ethical principles most commonly used by health care leaders in organizational management planning, problem-solving, and decision making. Effective managers refer directly to these ethical principles for preventing and resolving issues related to all aspects of business.

While these principles appear to be relatively easy to define, the challenge for health care leaders is in their appropriate application. An effective leader develops knowledge, understanding, and skills in ethical leadership through observation, practice, and reflection on experiences and outcomes. The constant, and often profound, changes in our health care system create continuous learning opportunities to develop moral leadership qualities and skills. Each sector of the health care system presents different needs and situations related to each of the ethical principles, although some applications are universal.

Preparation

Suppose the health care organization where you work has determined that most employees are unclear about the differences between ethics and morality, and professional ethics and personal ethics. As a mid-level manager, you have been asked to develop and present a lunch-and-learn session on ethics for other managers within the organization.

Review the resources provided and conduct your own search for scholarly and professional resources on ethical principles and theories. Find at least three authoritative resources you can use to support your work on this assessment.

The format for this assessment is an 8–10 slide PowerPoint presentation. Please use the notes section of each slide to expand the points on the slide. Be sure your presentation is appropriate for the audience and presents the required aspects clearly. Follow APA guidelines for any in-text citations and your references. You must include a title slide and a references slide. You do not need to record yourself giving the presentation.

Instructions

Prepare an 8–10 slide PowerPoint presentation for managers in a health care organization. Include the following:

• Explain the relationship between personal moral integrity and ethical leadership in health care. Be sure you also consider how these concepts differ and the role of health care managers in ensuring that ethics are an integral element in their leadership.
• Explain the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice.
• Explain how these principles guide health care leadership practices.
• Explain the relationship between ethical health care leadership and positive outcomes for the organization.

Additional Requirements

• Include a title slide and references slide.
• Number of slides: 8–10.
• At least three current scholarly or professional resources.
• APA format for citations and references.
• Consider the target audience and feel free to be creative.

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Explain how ethical theories and principles influence health care organizational management practice.
  • Explain the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice.
  • Explain how ethical principles guide health care leadership practices.
  • Explain the relationship between ethical health care leadership and positive outcomes for the organization.
• Competency 3: Examine the role personal moral integrity plays in ethical leadership practice.
  • Explain the relationship between personal moral integrity and ethical leadership.
• Competency 4: Communicate ideas effectively.
  • Correctly format citations and references using current APA style.
  • Write content clearly and logically, with correct use of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics 
• The Business Research Library Guide and Health Care Administration Undergraduate Program Library Guide can help direct your research.
• If you are unfamiliar with working with PowerPoint, please review the Microsoft Office Software tutorials.

• Voices of Integrity.
  • Listen to the interviews with Kristopher Vlosich and Randall Kilgore. 
• Forrestal, E. J., & Cellucci, L. W. (2016). Ethics and professionalism for healthcare managers. Health Administration Press.
• Jeong, C., & Han, H. (2013). Exploring the relationship between virtue ethics and moral identity. Ethics & Behavior, 23(1), 44–56.
• Jansen, L. A. (2013). Between beneficence and justice: The ethics of stewardship in medicine. Journal of Medicine & Philosophy, 38(1), 50–63. 
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). National Center for Ethics in Health Care. http://www.ethics.va.gov/integratedethics.asp
• American College of Healthcare Executives. (2016). Ethics toolkit. http://www.ache.org/abt_ache/ethicstoolkit/ethicsTOC.cfm
• World Health Organization. (2015). Global health ethics: Key issues [PDF]. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/164576/1/9789240694033_eng.pdf
• The Kennedy Institute of Ethics. (2014, December 19). Introduction to bioethics: Bioethics at the bedside [Video]. | Transcript. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3I0SxI2grM&list=PL9Vn7DAzOnmjvMkB7coxPfcVNt7Hhu0Rs&index=1
• The Kennedy Institute of Ethics. (2014, December 19). Introduction to bioethics: Bioethics & justice [Video]. | Transcript. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vxRs_poQwU&index=3&list=PL9Vn7DAzOnmjvMkB7coxPfcVNt7Hhu0Rs
• The Kennedy Institute of Ethics. (2014, October 1). Rebecca Kukla on Autonomy, Georgetown University (1/6). [Video]. | Transcript. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWVLS_xK7Ag
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (n.d.). A brief business case for ethics [PDF]. https://www.ethics.va.gov/docs/integratedethics/A_Brief_Business_Case_for_Ethics_in_Health_Care.pdf 
• Morrison, E. E. (2020). Ethics in health administration: A practical approach for decision makers (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link.