- JD Solomon
- Mar 21, 2025
It takes months or years of presentations to make a big decision. The relationships of interacting parts and people will change. Some uncertainties will become more certain, while others will emerge. Ethics are the way we make decisions and, therefore, are the one thing that propels us through our journey.
The FINESSE fishbone diagram provides the seven essential elements for effective communication for big decisions. Playing on the theme of a fish, a fish’s tail fin provides it with propulsion. Let's explore the tail fin of the FINESSE fishbone diagram.
Ethics Are the Way We Make Decisions
Ethics offer a set of principles that guide the information we present and the way we present it. Our ethics drive a sense of predictability and trustworthiness from our decision makers in the information and opinions we share.
"Ethics are the way we make decisions." – JD Solomon.
Navigating the concepts of ethics, morals, and laws is tricky. While these concepts often overlap, to say the someone is unethical is usually an exaggeration. It is often more accurately said that someone does not share the same ethics as you or the collective body.
Ethics vs. Morals
Morals are personal beliefs about right and wrong. Our upbringing, culture, religion, and personal experiences shape them. For example, one person might believe it's morally wrong to drink alcohol, while another might not see any issue with it.
On the other hand, ethics are the rules or guidelines set by a group or society to ensure fair and just behavior. Think of ethics as a community's agreed-upon standards. For instance, medical ethics guides licensed physicians on how to treat patients with confidentiality and respect.
Ethics vs. Law
Laws are formal rules created by governments to maintain order and protect citizens. Breaking a law can lead to penalties like fines or imprisonment.
Ethics are more about moral principles guiding individual behavior. While ethical guidelines can influence laws, they aren't legally binding. Violating ethical standards might lead to social disapproval or professional consequences but not legal penalties.
Ethical Conduct May Be Part of the Law
Ethical conduct is part of the legal framework in my home state of North Carolina, where I serve as a public official. The State Government Ethics Act sets standards for state officials to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure transparency.
Part of the Ethics Act requires public officials to undergo ethics training every two years and submit a Statement of Economic Interest (SEI) each year.
This law provides transparency and accountability by identifying potential conflicts of interest between public duties and private interests. It is one example of where society’s expectations of ethical behavior are legally incorporated.
Ethics Laws vs. Professional Ethics Codes
Ethics laws, such as the one from North Carolina, are legally binding and enforced by government bodies and the courts.
By contrast, ethics codes are guidelines set by professional organizations. Violating an ethics code might result in disciplinary actions like suspension or expulsion from the professional body but they are not legally binding.
Three Types of Ethics
Individuals have their own ethics. These ethics may be overlain or re-shaped by professional ethics (ethical codes) or by statute (ethical laws). In all cases, individuals have some way they make decisions and some way they share information with others.
In the absence of a binding set of professional or legal ethics, personal ethics are a blend of three overarching types. Most people are strong in one form, but different forms may be applied in different situations. That’s where the differences and troubles begin.
Right and Wrong
Virtue ethics are based on the foundation that there is an absolute right and wrong.
For example, Aristotle described virtue as courage, temperance, liberality, magnificence, magnanimity, proper, ambition, patience, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, and righteous indignation. Conversely, some of the ways he described framed vice are rashness, vulgarity, vanity, ambition, boastfulness, buffoonery, flattery, and envy.
"Virtue does not come from wealth, but wealth, and every other good thing which men have, comes from virtue." - Socrates.
While we all believe in right or wrong, it is difficult to bring diverse decision makers to a singular allocation of resources if the underlying argument is right versus wrong, good versus bad, or virtuous versus non-virtuous. Complexities and uncertainties produce shades of grey.
No Harm, No Foul
Consequence-based ethics, or consequentialism, refers to moral theories that hold that the consequences of an action serve as the basis for any valid judgment. From a consequentialist standpoint, a right action is one that produces a good outcome or consequence – in other words, "the ends justify the means."
Consequence-based ethics were first developed by two people credited in economics with creating Marginal Utility Theory (MUT). In MUT, comparative differences and incremental pain matter most. In other words, “no harm, no foul.”
"Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness." - John Stuart Mill.
Advocates, seeking to persuade or manipulate human opinion, usually encourage a consequential approach to communications and decision making. After all, “the ends justify the means," so the decision makers need to know only the aspects that bring them to the advocate's desired position.
Advocates usually fall into broad classes like salespeople, attorneys, politicians, and self-enlightened crusaders.
Let The Buyer Beware
Duty-based, or deontological ethics, holds that the consequences of actions do not make them right or wrong. Rather, the motives of the person who carries out the action make the actions right or wrong.
The obligation for making decisions is on the process and sharing of information, which can be honestly managed, and not on outcomes, which are governed by an uncertain future.
“The only thing good about the act is the will, the good will. That will is to do our duty.” - attributed to Immanuel Kant
Deontological ethics is in direct contrast to consequential ethics. Also described as duty-based ethics, they prioritize full disclosure and acting as you would want all people to act toward all other people (Kant’s version of the Golden Rule).
Licensed physicians are legally bound by duty-based ethics. So are licensed professional engineers.
Bone 7: Ethics
The ethics triangle is merely a framework. Most people are not as "pure" as described in the simplified framework. Most individuals and groups adhere predominately to one form and secondarily to one of the others when making decisions.
"Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices." – Benjamin Franklin
Understanding ethics helps us navigate our communication and related decision making more effectively. Ethics govern what information we present and how we make decisions.
What’s All of This Fin Stuff?
FINESSE is grounded in systems thinking and cause-and-effect relationships. The FINESSE fishbone diagram's elements (or bones) are Frame, Illustrate, Noise, Empathy, Structure, Synergy, and Ethics.
While working on the visuals associated with the FINESSE fishbone diagram, we debated whether the skeleton should have fins or just bones. We chose the traditional depiction with just bones, but it created thought around the purpose of the fins.
The tail fin of a fish provides propulsion. Our ethics, like the tail fin of a fish, give us the power to move through uncertainty and complexity toward a big decision.
FIN-ESSE
The seven bones of the FINESSE fishbone diagram are necessary and sufficient for effective communication for big decisions. Like any system, the performance of each bone does not have to be perfect as long as each is addressed and all work together.
The Fins of FINESSE provide some helpful associations. We have looked at the top fin (data and information), the bottom fin (the audience), and the tail fin (propulsion).
Communicating with FINESSE is the not-for-profit community of technical professionals dedicated to being highly effective communicators and facilitators. Visit our Tackle Shop for communication and facilitation resources. Join the community for free.
