The Fine Line between Ethical and Unethical: Ten Strategies for Making Ethical Decisions

This paper and presentation are designed to educate professionals on the “fine line” that exists when making ethical decisions. The focus will weave the ethics-centric discussion through multiple practice areas (exemplars would include forensics, insurance, and litigation). A quick review of “ethics” in general begins the conversation; from right and wrong, to good and bad, and is followed by ten strategies for ethical decision making that are based on the general principles of engineering and business ethics, with a skewed view for forensics and claims professionals. Each of the ten steps opens with a dialogue of their respective ethical function, with a pattern of approach for each item for consistency. Discussions will include when the step was done right or wrong, and such lessons learned. Moreover, case law discussions (with relevant references and case studies) will be discussed including the consequences of the ethnical and unethical decisions that were made in each case. Such perspectives shed light on the underlying theme—the fine line between ethical and unethical.