KNOWLEDGE AREA AND PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Knowledge Area And Principles Of Human Development

Table of contents

Chapter I3

Kolhberg and moral development3

Introduction3

Chapter II7

Literature review7

Theory and Hypothesis7

Chapter III15

Methods Research Context15

Research Design16

Dependent Variable19

Independent Variables21

Control Variables22

Results23

chapter IV26

Discussion26

Kant: The Moral Order26

Imperatives for Action27

The Categorical Imperative29

Alternative Formulae for the Categorical Imperative32

Human Freedom35

Morality and Peace36

Implications For Education37

References43

Appendix52

Knowledge Area And Principles Of Human Development

Chapter I

Kolhberg and moral development

Introduction

Although Kohlberg's (1969) theory of cognitive moral development (CMD) has attracted a great deal of research attention in the past several decades (Trevino, 2004), researchers have been largely guided by the paradigm that individuals possess a propensity to engage in specific modes of moral reasoning across ethical situations (for example, Pre-Convention, Convention, and Post-Convention level moral reasoning). In real-world settings, however, individuals are often faced with ethical dilemmas that are shaped by different situational factors, such as interest considerations accruing to the focal actor, those accruing to the actor's organization, and the absence of such interest considerations.

How do individuals differentiate between and adjust their reactions to these diversely motivated situations? The CMD model does not address this issue adequately. Surprisingly, despite repeated calls by scholars (for example, Trevino, 1986; Kohlberg, 1969) and the fast globalizing business environment of today, little research effort has been made to go beyond Kohlberg's model to examine how different motivations of the focal actor may alter individual ethical judgment in specific instances, let alone how their reactions may differ in cross-cultural contexts.

Understanding how individuals react differentially to ethical situations motivated by different interest considerations in both within- and cross-cultural settings provides us with an alternative and more dynamic view of moral reasoning, complementing the perspective offered by Kohlberg's CMD model. While the CMD model assumes that individuals possess a tractable theme in understanding and reacting to ethical dilemmas and that their primary mode of moral reasoning tends to remain stable once they have stopped progressing to a higher stage, it says little about how individuals would react differently when they are confronted with a situation that invokes a theme of moral reasoning that is not akin to their primary mode of reasoning.

For example, individuals operating at the Post-Convention level of moral reasoning may be less influenced by self- and organizational interest considerations; individuals operating at the Pre-Convention level may be most easily swayed by self-interest-considerations; individuals operating at the Convention level may be more malleable towards organizational interest considerations. These within-and cross-cultural dynamics are not reflected in the current approach to studying the CMD model, which tends to emphasize the attainment of maturity and stability in the primary mode of ethical reasoning within individuals. (This is a matter of relative degree of emphasis. Kohlberg pointed out that individuals would engage in role taking and constructing new points of view over time.) Thus, the present research is the first to break new ground by looking at how the dynamics of ethical reactions may unravel across interest considerations and socio-cultural settings. For a start, we examine these dynamics in three naturally occurring ...