CREATIVE AND ETHICAL
DECISION MAKING
by John Lisenko
• Not an oxymoron
• A look at what constitutes a creative
approach to decision making
• How to help assure that your decisions are
both creative and ethical
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• A review of methods that can be used to ensure
continuous improvement in the way things are
done
• Distinguish ethical issues from other problems in
decision making (legal, technical, etc)
• Recognize and confront ethical “dilemmas” head
on
• Develop some guidelines for navigating through
ethical murky waters.
CREATIVE DECISION MAKING
• The problem is you can’t get out of the box
you’re in unless you think outside of it,
or as Einstein put it
“The significant problems we face today
cannot be solved at the same level of
thinking we were at when we created
them.”
Creative Decision Making
• Clue: “We’ve always done it this way”
means that it may be okay or, more likely
it’s a process that’s a prime candidate for
creative analysis
• All decisions can be approached with an
attitude of openness and creativity provided
the motivation to excel is present.
How do you avoid wasting time
reinventing the wheel?
Processes aimed at optimizing the decisionmaking process:
• Benchmarking
• Re-engineering
• Networking
• APWA self-assessment
Benchmarking
• Find out who is doing something really well
and adapt it to your situation
• Look at what worked well for you in the
past and see if it can be applied to your
current problem
• APWA self assessment
Re-engineering
• Applicable when you have time and
resources to institute a process change
• Requires commitment at all levels and
preferably an enthusiastic “champion.”
Short Cut to Creative Decision
Making
Collaborative decision making, including:
• Employee involvement
• Using “sounding boards” – individuals
whose opinion you trust
CREATIVITY AND ETHICS
• Thinking outside the box can get us into
trouble if we also think outside the law or
arrive at a creative solution that can be
perceived as unethical.
ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN PUBLIC
WORKS DAILY LIFE
• You probably resolve 95% of your ethical
dilemmas unconsciously.
• If you are conscious that you are on the
horns of an ethical dilemma, then you are
on track to behave ethically.
• Whether you will or not depends to some
extent on which of the ethical values takes
priority.
MORE DILEMMAS
• Regulatory permits – do you ask for
permission or ask for forgiveness?
• “Environmental ethics” – what is a public
works professional’s duty to society?
STILL MORE
• Traffic engineering and ethics
– Speed limits and speed bumps
– Road improvements, congestion and safety
WHO ARE THE GOOD GUYS?
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Developers
Contractors
Environmentalists
Engineers
Maintenance Workers
Planners