Moral Intelligence Development Paper
Business Government and Society Moral Intelligence Development Paper
Upon completion of the Moral Competency Inventory (Lennick & Kiel, 2007) I discovered that there are several competencies that dominate my moral image. When I thought about one competency to choose so as to describe it is this paper, I decided to pick up the one that is the most important from my point of view. I can but say that it turned out to be really hard, as all the competencies are extremely important in life and should be paid proper attention and developed as soon as possible. After I analyzed my experience and the competencies, in which I discovered considerable progress that happened within the previous several years. It is acting consistently with principles, values and beliefs.
In the past I didn’t know what I know now, but still I felt that it is important to act in the way described above. I knew that I had to develop my own point of view considering all the important aspects of life and, what is even more important, I had to keep to these points of view, no matter what. I think that I developed such position in life owing to my parents first of all, as all the time in my childhood I saw their example, which showed me that it is always important to keep to my principles and beliefs. Thus, I started following this tendency from childhood – I remember that even in the beginning of my school life I was able to show what is important to me and explain my actions in a way that other people had no other variant than to let me follow my way. Of course, it didn’t mean that I didn’t want to find out some new information and broaden my worldview. Instead, I was open to such information and ready to take it as one of my principles, if it didn’t contradict my previous ones.
In my life I remember many examples of acting in accordance with my principles. Now I would like to describe one of them, for which I am proud, as in that case I showed my friend that acting in accordance with one’s beliefs is extremely rewarding and useful for people. Two my friends and I were walking in the park, when I got a message from my cousin who asked me whether I could help him with his Math project. He told how important it was for him and how little time he had to complete it and I agreed to help him. My friends didn’t like it, as we were about to go to the movies, so they asked me, why wouldn’t I just give him one of my projects so as we could just continue having fun. But I told them that in this way I will break my own principles, as I am against cheating in general, I wanted my cousin to understand the material, not just to get a high grade. So, I did as I considered was right – went to him and explained the material. He was very grateful to me, thanked a lot and later helped me with my other project. I know that I did in the right way and my friends also understood that sometimes having fun is not as important as it seems.
At that time I didn’t know exactly that it was a high moral competency – I just felt that it was right. Now that I know much more about the moral competencies, I always consciously analyze all my life situations, make a decision as to what my position in each of them is and keep to this position. It helps me a lot and I am sure that in future I will work on this competency even more to achieve success in life.
As for the examples of this moral competency that I saw in my life, the main is the behavior of my relatives. I saw what results following of principles brought to my uncle. He always told me that it is very important to be honest with people and follow my principles. He said that if he understood it earlier, he would have been even happier. Still, he said that owing to this competency he achieved a lot in life, now being absolutely happy with it.
I think that in the ethical decision making process this strength is the main foundation, on which the decision should rely (Trevino & Nelson, 2007). And now I am sure that all my decision will have my beliefs and values as a basis. Owing to this I will achieve a lot not only in my personal life, but also in professional career. I believe that people who don’t have clear principles cannot be really happy and successful. As I plan to become a successful person, I have no other variant, than to constantly develop this moral competency, making my life better and better.
Analysis of my strengths revealed a lot of interesting information to me, but for me it was even more useful to analyze my weaknesses. After completion of the test, I saw that my most important weakness was standing up for what is right. After some self-analysis I really understood that inability to do it caused a considerable number of problems to me in life. From our course I saw that standing up for what is right is very important, as without it people won’t respect me and it will be hard to show that I am a serious person (Green, 2009). In professional life it is very important to be able to demonstrate this competency, as there are all the chances that I will witness certain unfair actions, even from my boss, and if I can show him/her that I understand what is right and will fight for it if it is necessary, he/she will respect me.
In my life there are several examples that I can remember right away of what problems I experienced from being unable to demonstrate this quality. For instance, once I saw that my friend was unfairly treating his sister – he constantly made fun of her, teasing and offending her feelings. Still, as the situation didn’t involve me directly, I decided not to interfere with it and just watch what will happen. Eventually his teasing led his sister to experience major problems with self-confidence and I was impressed and at the same time very ashamed when once she came up to me and said: “You know, you could have influenced my brother, but you didn’t. Why? Do you hate me that much?” I really didn’t know what to answer, as I understand that I was wrong.
I understood that it was my weakness, as it made me really uncomfortable and the other situations in my life strengthened my understanding of it. In the example described above this weakness was a decisive factor when I took the decision not to interfere in the situation, of which I now regret. Another example was when I found out that my cousin was unfairly treated by his teacher. I thought that it would be right to tell his parents about the situation, but decided not to interfere, as a result of which he received a poor grade, although having a perfect knowledge in the subject.
I perfectly understand that I have to develop this weakness into strength if I want to succeed in my life, as I understand that without respect it is impossible to achieve the necessary results not only in the professional sphere, but also in my personal life (Philips, 2009). When I realized this weakness after test, I had an interview with my uncle considering this weakness and he also told me that I had to get rid of this weakness as soon as possible, as in my professional career it will become a major obstacle. He recommended me to analyze my feelings that I experience in such situations and understand what hinders the right reactions. In future I will certainly do it and will make it my strength, as I don’t want to lose a lot of opportunities because of it.
After the analysis presented above it became possible for me to define my Personal Ethical Code. I am sure that it will be very helpful in my future life. Its statements are provided below:
1. For me it is rather easy to answer the question “Why be moral,” as in my life I have seen multiple examples as to where immoral life can lead people to. So, I have chosen to be moral a long time ago first of all to live happy and decent life, not regretting about my actions and the actions I wouldn’t have dared to take. In future I will work on my moral competencies to reach the highest level of mastering them and be more moral to be even happier.
2. My principles, beliefs and values are all centered around the moral competencies. In particular, I believe that it is important to always tell the truth, to keep to my promises and stand up for what is right, as in this way I will reach the state of integrity and will not regret about my actions. I also believe that I should always take responsibility for my actions, admit my mistakes and failures and actively care about the others. I should also learn how to let go of my mistakes and of the mistakes other people make.
3. The main purpose of my life is to realize my potential to the maximum extent, living my life full of exciting and interesting events and never regretting of my mistakes. As for my concrete life goals, they are as follows: I want to develop my moral competencies so as to live my life decently; I want to become a real professional in my chosen field; I want to have a friendly and large family; I want to realize my potential in all the spheres of life. I am sure that I can achieve my goals owing to my principles, beliefs and values.
4. Integrity, responsibility, compassion and forgiveness play a very important role in my life, as my beliefs and principles are based on them. Now I understand what I have to work on to develop my weaknesses into strengths and I am sure that in the nearest future I will be able to solve my main problems in this sphere, as I realized them and have a plan of concrete actions to change the situation.
5. My Moral Compass can be described in the following way: I am going to be always honest with people, making my principles, beliefs and values clear to my surrounding so that they could understand the basis of my actions. I am going to incorporate the integrity principle in my life completely, standing up for what is right and keeping my promises. I am going to take the full responsibility for my actions, admitting my mistake sand always being ready to let go of them, leaving the valuable experience left after them. I am going to be ready to continue trusting people who make mistakes, caring and serving them when it is necessary.
6. I understand that in my life there will be different situations, in which I will have to demonstrate my moral competencies, and I am sure that if I base my decisions on these principles, I will not regret them. I believe that any difficult ethical dilemma can be perfectly solved if I am sure in what I belief and in the fact that I am right when keeping to the moral principles described above. This Personal Ethical Code will be a major support in my life as well. In case there will be situations when outside support and guidance are needed, I will address my parents or relatives, as I am sure that they will show me the right way out of the difficulties. Still, I think that keeping to the moral principles will be just enough to deal with all the complex situations.
References
Trevino, L.K. & Nelson, K.A. (2007). Managing Business Ethics (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Green, S. (2009). Lecture on "The Ethical Use of Power" given on February 17, 2010.
Lennick, D. & Kiel, F. (2007). Moral Intelligence. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Wharton School Publishing.
Philips, L. (2009). Personal communication from interview on February 23, 2010. An interview was completed with Ms. Lillian Philips on February 23, 2010. I met with Ms. Philips in her office at Eminence Graphics Design (EGD) for just under an hour. Ms. Philips is the Northern California Division Manager for EGD, and I have worked in her division for two years. The interview was very successful in helping me to identify the sources of my struggles with standing up for my moral principles. Because Ms. Philips knows me fairly well, our meeting was relaxed and she took the opportunity to provide very specific suggestions for my future development. At the end of the interview, we agreed to meet again in a month to discuss further development of moral intelligence.
