- BUS FPX 4121 Assessment 1 Ethical Theories and Principles
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Hi there! Hello, my name is (Student), and it is a great pleasure to be with you today to chat about the rather fascinating topic of ethical ideas and concepts. This world offers multiple difficult moral problems and ethical issues, and that is why people and professionals need to know the theoretical background of their options and decisions.
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Ethical Theories and Principles
As healthcare has become one of the most innovative spheres in the modern world, it is crucial to understand that such a sphere remains constantly focused on human relations, decision-making, and leadership, so ethical theories and concepts remain valuable additional instruments.
Ethical issues are core components of our every endeavor in the spiritually motivated and altruistic field of healthcare serving (Haddad & Geiger, 2023). Using these models, the nature of intricate situations might be better comprehended, just decisions made, as well as an ethical atmosphere at Mercy Medical Center encouraged (Haddad & Geiger, 2023).
Shall we continue the exploration of these ideas and concepts of ethics outside this class today? We will proceed to dissect their meaning, feasibility, and application in our everyday existence and professional advancements with an emphasis on how they work at Mercy Medical Center (Haddad & Geiger, 2023).
It is through this discussion of this important and indeed rather complex topic that we shall find out how these ethical postures point us in the direction of ethical leadership. Positive results eventually follow ethical leadership, which is evidenced by within our esteemed place of work, Mercy Medical Center (Varkey, 2021).
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Relationship between Personal Moral Integrity and Ethical Leadership
Personal moral integrity and ethical leadership in the healthcare administration As mentioned earlier, the two concepts of personal moral integrity and ethical leadership are rather intertwined and highly applicable. According to the study by Zhang et al. (2018), the term that people will use to convey personal moral integrity refers to the individual’s internal moral system of beliefs, attitudes, principles, standards, and behavior.
On the other hand, ethical leadership can be defined as the type of management specialization of a group or team, to pursue a set of norms and values that are deemed ethical. Lame managers in the healthcare industry must comprehend these two ideas if they will be successful in their businesses (Enwereuzor et al., 2020).
Conduct and character are the core of Ethics in Managers. Thus, in terms of ethical decision-making and ethical behavior, character or moral vulnerability seems to count. This paper seeks to establish an understanding of their decision-making, their conduct, and their pattern of interaction with other employees at the healthcare firm based on the moral framework. Thus, in the case of a strong ethical sense, healthcare administrators are more likely to engage in ethical leadership behavior in a sustained manner (Pakizekho & Barkhordari-Sharifabad, 2022).
On the other side, ethical leadership is the demonstration of one’s ethical standards. Ethical management is leading a leader to make business decisions, disseminate information, and rebuild organizational culture with the help of a definite list of ethical norms.
Ethical leaders on the other hand placed the needs and interests of the community, the employees, and the patients first before their own needs and interests. They set the proper example for their teams by being ethical themselves and being receptive and honest together with being to blame (El-Gazar & Zoromba, 2021).
There is a positive relationship that is reciprocal since ethical leadership and the morality of employees are correlated. An ethical leader is credible and possesses the moral direction that can make the team members follow him or her. The primary concept for the creation and enhancement of a healthcare organization’s ethical culture is ethical leadership, which also supports and encourages the development of personal moral standards (Kaffashpoor & Sadeghian, 2020).
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Differences between Personal Moral Integrity and Ethical Leadership
This paper concludes that there is a positive relationship between ethical leadership and having high personal ethical standards; however, this paper has also identified how there are differences between these two concepts, which are significant for managers within healthcare to consider.
On the other hand, integrity in the personal life is the set values and principles of a person. It guides how a person behaves in a business setting or other aspects of life as a means of making a moral decision. It is the foundation upon which one prepares for the exercise of ethical decisions (Franczukowska et al., 2021).
However, a leader’s ethical obligation does not stop at this, what is expected of a leader of integrity is meeting an ethical standard. It involves leading in a moral way concerning leadership techniques, decision-making, and corporate culture practices. To appreciate the constituents’ interests and lead ethically, there is a need to have a broader perspective of the organization and other stakeholders involved (Quade et al., 2020).
Because healthcare firms’ work setting involves technical chaos and moral dilemmas managers must factor in personal ethical standards besides ethical leadership. The community, patients, and their families expect healthcare facilities to deliver sound and quality treatment that complies with the standard ethical principles.
As auto-organizzatori, i manager delle aziende sanitarie hanno il dovere di prestare un esempio etico ai propri dipendenti e di esigere che la business organization rispetti la codice etico appropriato (Denier et al. , 2019).
This is because consistency in making ethical decisions also entails a fusion between the ethical standards of the leaders and ethical leadership. According to Metwally et al. (2019), an increase in the values leadership fit means that the managers can resist ethically questionable decisions when they face stressful circumstances on the job. This implies that the managers who brought ethical behavior as a theme for their organizations also played a key role in encouraging and enhancing trust within the healthcare institution.
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Explaining the Ethical Principles
The case will be best explained as a person’s decision-making and moral behavior with the help of a set of rules in the sphere of ethics. There is a set of four principles of ethical reasoning and actions that are universal and apply to all fields among them healthcare and they include autonomy, beneficence, non malefficence, and lastly justice. McDermott-Levy et al. (2018) pointed out that there are more principles of ethical theories for understanding and or justifying ethical choices comprehensively, and these principles are basic. Autonomy asserts an individual’s right to self-determination, that is, the right to make decisions that affect a person’s own life and treatment without any forceful inducement or coercion.
It affirms the phenomena of people’s right to be informed on their health and exercise decision on whether to go for treatment or not in the matters of health care delivery systems. Self-directedness focuses on the respect of every uniquely designed value and passion together with the importance of freedom to decide. This has a self-evident value of treating people with dignity and respect (Pugh, 2020). Beneficence as a principle means that regarding other persons the moral need to promote their well-being and do what is right for these people has to be met.
From this concept, the duties of healthcare providers for treatment and treatments with the aim of enhancing patients’ health. However, beneficence goes a step further from mere non-malfeasance as it also demands actions to directly enhance the patient’s status to achieve their optimal welfare. Regarding Cheraghi et al. (2023), the matrix reflects the commitment to performing good things to the patient’s benefit.
Nonmaleficence, formerly expressed as “do not harm,” relates to the basic principle that one should not inflict harm on other people. This concept entails the assertion that whenever the implementation and application of cures and treatments are under consideration, healthcare practitioners must balance the benefits and the possibilities of the undesirable outcomes arising from the implementation of a medical treatment plan.
The principle before doing no wrong in Latin is called Primum non nocere (Florida & Cowls, 2019). Additionally, a just society is one in which the society does not only distribute the pie equally but also fairly. Regarding medical treatment, equity entails that the quality of health care a patient receives should not depend on his or her wealth or any other characteristic. Thus, healthcare disparities are negated and all people may receive proper medical treatment. Justice has a close connection with such values as fairness, equality, and responsibility for society’s members (Nilan, 2023).
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Ethical Principles Relate to Ethical Theories
Ethical theories offer encapsulated guides to helping one understand and act upon issues to do with ethical obligation. All of these concepts can be applied but if you wish to know how then you should be aware of the ethical theories. Take a look at their connection: When it comes to responsibility, the deontological theory of ethics, such as Kantian ethics, pays lots of attention to worth and deeds.
Because deontological ethics is mostly centered on the concepts of responsibility and ethical duties, both of these values are highly compatible with the theory. Legalisms of the bioethics regime require people and healthcare providers to follow categorical imperatives like respect for autonomy and the nonmaleficence principle regardless of the outcomes (Tseng & Wang, 2021).
The fundamental principle in utilitarianism is to achieve the greatest good or the greatest happiness. This is because it entails doing what will help the greatest number of people, which makes beneficence to be related to utilitarianism. This may include, in a healthcare context, selecting actions that generate a positive impact on the specific and the general public as a whole (Kahane et al., 2018).
Virtue ethics is all about enhancing one’s moral standing in society, or more accurately, the individual. Though healthcare practitioners are rarely associated with specific virtues, they may employ the justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and autonomy concepts. As noted by Doukas et al., (2022) evident in the above characteristics is that of an ethical healthcare provider. Justice appears in social contract theories formulated by those philosophers who wish to establish just societies, one of those is John Rawls.
According to the scratch above, what justice requires is the fair distribution of health care considering that everyone including the marginalized society will receive an opportunity to access the limited healthcare opportunities and facilities ( Seabright et al., 2021). This idea holds great agreement with the views stipulated under the social contract theories.
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Ethical principles guiding healthcare leadership practices
Ethical values play a major role in regulating the actions of the healthcare company leadership when it comes to promoting patient safety. The ethical underpinnings that influence decision-making, organizational policy, and the conduct of healthcare executives are these principles:
The four principles for which the bigger ethical values are deontology, utilitarianism, justice, rights, non-maleficence, and beneficence. Leaders in the healthcare field can foster a patient-centered environment by doing what is described above, daily, which will then translate into the leadership values of the various healthcare organizations.
BUS FPX 4121 Assessment 1 Ethical Theories and Principles
Pirotte and Benson (2023) have suggested that the concept of autonomy is the most significant since it emphasizes the patient’s right and capacity to make rational choices about their care. Some great healthcare leaders entail patients and involve them in decision-making by providing them with information that is as original as possible, telling them that there are options in place, and then listening to what the patients have to say. This approach creates a culture that respects patient safety and gives them a voice and listens to the patient’s views, and safety concerns (Pirotte & Benson, 2023).
By the promulgation of health’s beneficent principle which is the concept of doing good and promoting the well-being of individuals, healthcare executives are directed to make choices and implement policies that enhance the safety of patients. The primary goal of those involved in the provision of health care is to perform activities that will be most beneficial to the patients and least harmful (Cheraghi et al., 2023).
This ethical advice also encourages the development and implementation of safety protocols and practicing safety, safety policies derived from research, and consonant quality enhancement activities to enhance patient safety (Cheraghi et al., 2023).
This duty is underlined by the concept of non-maleficent standard or do not harm, which obliges healthcare managers not to harm patients. Management should encourage people to come forward when they realize they have made a mistake and have it argued and resolved, without the risk of any type of punishment. It may be safer for healthcare through the application of interventions that help minimize error and increase openness (Sivaraman, 2019).
Specifically, as an ethical approach justice emphasizes the fact that everyone should be given their dues. To implement this idea there is always a focus on the fact that those less privileged groups are attended to and in the distribution of care such as treatment, all are given fairly. Equality and fairness are also considered part of the healthcare executives’ leadership practices, mainly because patient safety gaps and inequalities must be addressed as well (Akdeniz et al., 2021).
Healthcare leaders act and lead based on the ethics of health care. From the writings of Varkey (2021), the healthcare leaders who embrace justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and autonomy offer the patients care to prioritize their needs and urge them to make rational decisions, ensure they do not harm the patient, and give fair treatment. The introduction of these principles to leadership practices may help healthcare organizations create and sustain a patient safety culture where patients’ welfare and safety are always improved.
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Relationship between Ethical Healthcare Leadership and Positive Outcomes
Essentially, the ethical credibility of a specific healthcare institution is strongly linked to the ethical conduct of the leaders. Other stakeholders that are likely to trust leaders with steady ethical values such as honesty, openness, and responsibility include the patients, other employees, and the whole society. Hence, the reputation of the organization improves as it is perceived to be honest and worthy of clients’ trust in the delivery of healthcare services. An organization’s reputation is beneficial in attracting many patients and talented human resources as well as business associates and partners.
This means that when leaders portray high levels of ethical practices, the office environment becomes one that encourages the employees and rewards them the best way they can. Healthcare managers could enhance attitude, job contentment, and well-being at the workplace by fearing ethical values such as compassion, fairness, and other people’s appreciation of their worth. Social improvements thus have a positive impact on the performance of the organization because people are productive and satisfied with their jobs. This is so because engaged persons usually work harder, and think creatively and passionately about the care of numerous and diverse patients (Cheng et al., 2022).
Thus, the primary ethical responsibility of healthcare executives should be the well-being of the patients. Afework et al. (2023) claimed that leaders who appreciate the ethical concepts that include beneficence and nonmaleficence are dedicated to providing quality healthcare and avoiding risky errors and potential hazards. The elimination of adverse occurrences, medical errors, and general common law and civil liabilities is equally another way the stipulated institution meets its ethical responsibilities to afford patient safety and quality outcomes.
From the positive impacts that are realized such as patient outcomes and satisfaction, the favorable image status is also realized (Afework et al., 2023). It is realized by ethical healthcare executives that resources have to be fairly and equitably distributed. Leaders need to ensure they distribute resources as per the requirements of a diverse patient population while being able to relate to justice and fairness. Business financial solidity and profitability, in the long run, are some of the benefits of this kind of rational resource tender. Ethical leaders avoid situations that lead to financial losses, issues such as embezzlement, or getting involved in costly situations as a result of unprocedural conduct (Barker, 2012).
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Consequences
The foremost effect that is triggered by the absence of ethical values embraced by the healthcare institutions’ leadership is that it results in adverse consequences. A severe result of this is that individuals suffer loss of credibility and, in effect, loss of faith. Employees and thus, organizations suffer and lose as their leaders fail to act ethically. Sick people begin to wonder if the organization is genuine in its care for one’s well-being. This research posits that when leaders fail to walk the ethical talk, they end up without credibility across their workforce.
According to Francyzukowska et al., (2021), the sense of mistrust not only goes to the degree where patients begin questioning the organization’s concern for their health. Ethical misconduct leads to negative occurrences, and these tremendously affect the credibility of a company. Because of such a damaged reputation, it is extremely challenging to attract patients, top-notch professionals, and possibly investors as well (Frącz & Świątecki, 2020; Frącz et al., 2021).
Third, there are legal/regulatory implications that could arise from such unethical leadership actions. Measures might be committed in healthcare, that violate the rules and regulations, but they are still not unethical. Thus, healthcare firms likely run the risk of being fined greatly, sanctioned by the regulators, and end up involved in litigations.
These financial and legal constraints could lead to negative impacts such as the overall stability and efficient working of the organization. It is distressing to note that an organization’s operational issues are possibly compounded when the licenses or accreditation are nullified because of severe ethical violations (DuBois et al., 2018).
Besides, when leaders lack proper measures of embracing ethical operations, results are bleak and may affect patient rights and poor quality of treatment. Self-serving decisions may be cost, effective but they can be lethal to patients. On one hand, it can cause medical mistakes, patient damage, and unfavorable outcomes of the patient’s treatment process. The organization’s reputation is severely damaged, and patients also end up being harmed in these events (Storaker et al. , 2022).
Conclusion
Therefore, by assessing the results of studying ethical theories and principles mentioned above, it is possible to establish their strong impact on healthcare leadership and management. They are justice, beneficence, or doing good to others non-maleficence, or not inflicting harm on others, and finally autonomy which means getting to do what is best for an individual. Some of how we uphold fearless honesty include; Upholding the highest standards of ethical practices and ensuring the creation of a culture that is based on the principles of trust, quality, and that which revolves around patient needs. Read more about our sample BHA FPX 4108 Assessment 2 Analysis of Data and Policies for complete information about this class.
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