Evaluation Essay on Institute for Global Ethics

Introduction

Institute for Global Ethics is a nonprofit organization, which was founded in 1990 by Dr. Rushworth M. Kidder (Nalen, 2001). The institute is an independent, nonprofit educational and research organization, whose main goal is to promote practical action and public discourse around significant ethical issues by identifying a set of ethical values shared by people from different cultures across the world. W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which to-date remains a major partner and financier of the activities of the institute, provided the initial funding towards the formation of the organization (Nalen, 2001). The firm's efforts are dedicated towards the notion of shared moral values, which can, therefore, enable the world to have shared ethical values that are practical and applicable in all societies. Further, it was formed to help other organizations and individuals to put the shared ethical values, and thus make it possible to address tough ethical issues that arise in interactions between individuals and groups.

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The organization has one charter member, Dr. Rushworth M. Kidder, who was a journalist before founding the Institute to advance his message on the need for new ethical approaches for addressing to challenging issues faced by corporations (Nalen, 2001). Kidder, who died in 2012, worked as a columnist with Christian Science Monitor and wrote several books on ethics. Some of the publications by Kidder include "How good people make tough choices " (1995), "Good kids, Tough Choices: How parents can help their children do the right thing" (2010). Further, he had numerous speeches across the United States and the world, on ethics, where he emphasized on five "core values"-honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, and compassion (Nalen, 2001). The Institute for Global Ethics remains his biggest legacy as evident from its continued influence on ethics research in the United States and across the world.

Mission/Charter/Scope of Responsibility

The mission of the Institute for Global Ethics (IGE) is as follows:

"To promote ethical behavior in individuals, institutions, and nations through research, public discourse, and practical action" (Who we are, n.d.)

The organization's scope of responsibility relates to the roles that it undertakes to meet its goals in conformity to the requirements of its mission. In this case, IGE, informed by its missions performs various tasks to cover the needs of individuals, organizations, and nations (Who we are, n.d.). The first activity is research, which it undertakes to offer solutions to ethical issues faced by its clients. IGE sponsors some of the research through its donors, or by the client who may want the services of the institute (Who we are, n.d.). On the other hand, it seeks to promote its views on ethics through public engagement activities such as conferences, meetings, and engagement with governments among other activities. Through such engagement activities, IGE undertook training or works closely with both public and private institutions to implement its ethical recommendations. Further, through research, it offers practical solutions that can be applied to address ethical issues facing an organization.

From its long experience of over 20 years, the organization is keen on developing and providing tools and frameworks that can be applied to individuals, institutions, and nations. Although the organization believes that ethics are guided by values that are shared by all humans across the world, the tools are important in ensuring that each entity (individual, institution, or a nation) finds a solution that fits its ethical needs (Building code of ethics, n.d.). Through the organization's well-established approaches, it can focus on individual's behaviors and attitudes, which then allows coming up with solutions that address ethical issues that the target people or institutions have. Overall, the organization is committed to finding practical solutions to ethical issues that its clients may have.

Customers and Business Model of IGE

Institute for Global Ethics offers ethical training and research, which it offers majorly to corporations, schools, nonprofits, and governments. Each of these entities has unique ethical needs that IGE addresses using its established methodology. For instance, the organization offers ethics training to corporations where it seeks to offer guidelines of how the entities can implement ethical policies that can protect the business and ensure that it provides services ethically to its stakeholders (Fast facts, n.d.). The process involves training individual staff members and executives, as they are essential in facilitating an ethical work environment. Further, IGE reviews and recommends changes or additions to corporations' code of ethics to ensure that they meet the ethical needs and changes that characterize the 21st work environment.

On the other hand, schools have unique needs as places where children are provided with education. In the learning environment, several ethical issues such as the scope of interactions between teachers and students as well as the conduct of students often come into the limelight (Nalen, 2001). Further, the approaches that teachers should use to ensure that students learn about ethics are not always effective or universal. Consequently, IGE, through its methodologies works closely with education authorities and institutions in coming up with approaches and frameworks that can guide ethical education and conduct between teachers as well as between teachers and students. Further, IGE seeks to ensure that such ethical guidelines reflect the multicultural environment that characterizes schools.

For nonprofit organizations, interacting with different communities as well as prioritization of programs poses different ethical challenges that of not addressed can derail their activities. For instance, with the scarce resources that the nonprofits, it is important to find the target populations and projects that have the best positive impact while at the same time without appearing discriminatory for groups that could be left out. Furthermore, remaining honest and transparent is an essential requirement for nonprofits to ensure that donors are assured of justified utilization of resources. Additionally, often, the conduct of nonprofits in overseas locations often comes into question about the behavior of employees and their interactions with local communities. Consequently, IGE comes in handy to offer frameworks and ethical education that can guide nonprofits in their activities in different societies across the world.

Lastly, targets governments across the world to offer them ethical training and create ethics awareness that can ensure that they offer services to the public in a fair manner while at the same time remaining transparent in their allocation and utilization of resources (Building code of ethics, n.d.). For instance, it is important for government decisions to be guided by ethics, and ensure there are fairness and accountability, which are often lacking in many nations. Indeed, high levels of corruption and embezzlement of public funds characterize many countries, and this is an indication of ignorance towards ethical conduct in such entities. Consequently, IGE plays a critical role in offering guidelines that can ensure that government gradually develop a culture of ethics, where those in authority are driven by an ethical duty to act in a manner that best benefits the public.

The IGE's model is nonprofit whereby it depends on donations from individuals and other donor organizations from across the world (Fast facts, n.d.). However, it also obtains money from offering training to its customers as discussed above. Most importantly, it makes money through grant-funded research that it undertakes on behalf of governments and other entities that are interested.

Target Business Ethical Issues

The organization's main goal is to find a "universal code of ethics" that can apply to all societies across the world. Accordingly, while it is widely believed that ethical beliefs and notions may differ from one group to another based on the cultural backgrounds, the Institute for Global Ethics argues that such notion is not true as all people are guided by similar ethical aspirations (Nalen, 2001). In this case, the organization seeks to advance a code of ethics guided by five key values, which include Honesty, Responsibility, Respect, Fairness, and Compassion (Building a code of ethics, n.d.). Accordingly, the above values are shared widely across the world whereby people of different societies value and advocate for them to be treated with honesty, respect, responsibility, fairly, and compassionately.

On addressing ethical issues such as bribery, unfair wages, and invasion of privacy, IGE guidelines based on the five key values identified above. Firstly, in addressing the issues, IGE has undertaken elaborate surveys and studies that seek to identify how different societies view and perceive numerous ethical issues including bribery, invasion of privacy, and unfair wages among others faced by organizations (Nalen, 2001). For example, bribery affects the ethical issue of "honesty" and "fairness." According to IGE, the values of honesty and fairness are shared worldwide, and as such, it is important for an organization to train its employees on the essence of applying them. Further, the training emphasizes the need to avoid bribery, as it is an injustice to other people deserving the opportunity, which ends up with the wrong person or allows wrong actions to continue.

Secondly, on unfair wages, the institute views it as an issue of fairness, which organizations ought to address as it creates a toxic culture and environment where employees are unmotivated, and thus affecting the business' ability to meet its obligations. Further, unfair wages is also a factor of "honesty" which shows that an organization is not paying employees what is justifiably theirs from the efforts and commitment that they extend to the business. With this understanding, IGE offers training to promote a culture of fairness, with the believe that such an understanding is likely to push organizations and nations to be fair, and implement policies that ensure employees are paid what is rightfully theirs according to the efforts and commitment that they offer the business.

Lastly, regarding the invasion of privacy, IGE recommends the adoption of the ethical values of respect, compassion, and honesty. Based on a study that they undertook on ethics in Illinois, IGE argues a society that adopts the above values is in a better position to avoid the ethical issue. Consequently, by promoting the above values through training as well as the implementation of the code of ethics that IGE recommends offers a better opportunity to overcome the issue of invasion of privacy.

The measure of success regarding the above ethical issues can be measured through reduced cases of unfair wages, bribery, and invasion of privacy. However, IGE does not offer specific guidelines or framework for address the above ethical issues, and instead, it assumes that through the promotion of five core ethical values, organizations, nations, and individuals are in a better position to avoid the above problems that face organizations.

In promoting its activities relating to global ethics, the Institute for Global Ethics faces several challenges. Firstly, as a nonprofit organization, IGE cannot spread its services across the United States as well as across the world. With only ten employees, spreading its aspirations across the world is a daunting task for the organization (Staff, n.d.). Additionally, as a nonprofit, it faces financial challenges that can enable it t...