Overview

In this course, we have examined ethical situations involving companies, groups, and individuals. Although it is helpful to analyze the ethics of others, we must also consider our own ethics.

For this assignment, you will first reflect on the ethics of your own actions as a consumer. Then, you will reflect on corporate consumption and how this relates to a corporation’s code of ethics. Because historical factors influence codes of ethics and how they are applied, you will consider historical factors as you complete this journal reflection.

For the corporation example you select, you will need to cite its code of ethics or code of conduct. This can be found on most organizations’ official websites.

Directions

For this journal reflection, you will do the following:

Personal Consumption:

1. Summarize the ethics of your individual consumer choices from a personal perspective.
2. Identify the ethical principle(s) most relevant for you to consider when consuming resources. (These resources can include water, oil, energy, food, money, and any other natural or unnatural resources.)
3. Describe ethical dilemmas you have encountered when consuming resources.
   1. What were the ethical dilemmas?
   2. What did you do?
4. Explain how you think about the global impacts of any decisions you make regularly.
   1. What decisions are they associated with?
   2. How does thinking about (or not thinking about) the global impacts of your decisions affect your decision-making process?

Corporate Consumption:

1. Describe an example of a corporation making a choice related to sustainability.
   1. What were the ethical implications of the decision?
   2. How do the consumption practices of the corporation factor into its choices?
2. Explain how the corporation’s code of ethics has responded to the global environment over time, including in this example.
   1. How has the code of ethics addressed the global environment in the past?
   2. Has the code of ethics been revised to better address the global environment? If so, how?

You must cite the corporation’s code of ethics and the historical factors that influence it.

What to Submit

Submit your journal reflection as a 1- to 2-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. You must cite the corporation’s code of ethics and the historical factors that influence it. If other sources are used, follow APA citation guidelines when citing sources both throughout and at the end of your paper