Examination of Acquisition Ethical Dilemmas: Case Studies for Ethics Training

摘要

As a skill, ethical decision making requires cultivation through training andpractice. However, for Department of Defense acquisition employees, ethical training has been more of an orientation to legal requirements and restrictions, than as a guidance for learning how to make ethical decisions. Although legal parameters of acceptable behavior and theoretical discussion of ethics are necessary to provide a foundation for a well-developed system of ethics, they do not provide practical approaches to ethical dilemmas. From narratives collected in interviews, this study identifies common ethical dilemmas faced by Department of Defense acquisition employees and analyzes the decision processes used to resolve the dilemmas. The narratives have been complied into acquisition ethical case studies, which can be used to supplement and tailor current Department of Defense ethics training.