Ethical Lens Inventory

September 23, 2012

Gen200

Michele Neely

Ethical Lens Inventory

The Ethical Lens Inventory is a tool for students intended to help them understand their own ethical perspectives as well as those of others. In the assessment there are four ethical perspectives and four core values. The ethical perspectives, also known as the preferred ethical lens, include “Rights and Responsibilities Lens”, “Results Lens”, “Relationship Lens”, and “Reputation Lens”. The four core values are rationality, equality, sensibility, and autonomy. The preferred ethical lens depend on our core values, the foundation on which we conduct ourselves. Each ethical lens accentuates underlying core values in a somewhat different way. After completing the Ethical Lens Assessment, the results gave me a better understanding of my values and how my morals and personal ethics coincide with each other.

Core Values

Through the Ethical Lens Inventory I learned that I fall under both the “Rights and Responsibility Lens” and the “Relationship Lens”. According to the Ethical Lens Inventory, those that fall under the Rights and Responsibility lens tend to use a decision-making strategy whenever a problem comes about (Ethical Lens Inventory, 2012). When faced with a problem, I utilize rationality to identify the options I can benefit from the most. I also learned that equality and balance is exemplified in the “Relationship Lens” in which the focus is mostly on fairness and justice for all in the community including ourselves.

Strengths and Weaknesses

The Ethical Lens tool helped me recognize a lot of my strengths and identify the areas I need to work on. The strengths of my Ethical Lenses are equality and rationality. I learned that I prioritize my value of rationality over sensibility. Balance is also a very important factor; I value the social balance achieved through loyalty and consistency. Although there are strengths associated to my preferred ethical lenses, there are also weaknesses. Because I believe that equality is achieved through a consistent process, I sometimes trust the process too much; my focus on that specific process will distract me from the problems associated with my method (Ethical Lens Inventory. 2012). I also tend to dismiss other approaches and ideas once I have my mind made up which might also lead to complications in group environments.  

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