Leadership Skills

Ethics: Case Studies

Case studies are realistic or hypothetical situations. We can use case studies to discuss options or perspectives. The main reason to use case studies to discuss ethics is because case studies allow us to talk about situations that do not include us; however, we can discuss them with the hope that the cases will help us understand our own ethics.

Case studies may be real and come from current news or historical events. Case studies may also be fictional and come from movies or literature. The best cases are those that contain enough information for a good discussion. The case must involve decisions and not have an obvious right or wrong outcome.

How to Analyze a Case

First of all, you must read and understand the case. Some questions you want to ask yourself are:

• What is the general situation?
• Who are the major players in the case?
• What are the major players' roles and responsibilities?
• What is the conflict or decision that must be made?
• Is there adequate background information, or must you speculate?
• Are they any constraints on the decisions or players?
• What are the players' options?
• Was there anything that could have been done differently to obtain a better outcome?

For ethical decisions, it is often helpful to use at least two different schools of thought to analyze a case because that might emphasize some things that would otherwise be ignored. Also, using different perspectives helps you understand how another person might see the situation completely differently that you see it.