Category: Uncategorised

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The discourse about professional ethics is often limited to relevant codes of behaviour – the do’s and don’ts in a profession. While these are essential, they can reduce our understanding of ethics to keeping a set of rules or being focused on typical problem situations. The approach of virtue ethics broadens our understanding to include the character traits and non-obligatory ideals to which professionals aspire.

The workshop provides an understanding of the field of ethics generally, with a specific focus on recent developments in virtue ethics. Using the life experiences of participants and current literature, the core virtues of a helping professional, the characteristics of a virtuous professional, and principles for the foundation of high ethical functioning will be explored and applied.

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Who would Benefit from the Workshop?

Anyone in any of the helping professions.

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Learning Outcomes:

Participants will have an understanding of the field of ethics, virtue ethics and professional  character and how to nurture this.

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Duration:

One full day.

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Workshop Content and Structure:

1. A general understanding of the field of ethics.
2. Recent developments in virtue ethics.
3. The core virtues of a helping professional.
4. The characteristics of a virtuous professional.
5. Principles for the foundation of high ethical functioning.

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Cost:

R1100 per participant.

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This workshop recognises the reality that significant problems are the norm in running a business or NPO. This could be a situation of internal theft or fraud that reflects a gap in governance or a more serious breach of ethics, or perhaps it’s conflict between staff members that wasn’t handled well. Such situations can constitute a crisis for the organisation and its people.

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Who would Benefit from the Workshop?

Anyone who is or who has been affected by such a situation.

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Learning Outcomes:

Participants will have an understanding of different dimensions of the problem situation, how to engage these in the workplace and how to orientate for the future.

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Duration:

Full day. The time required for a workshop of this nature varies, depending on the scale and intensity of the incident(s) in question, but it is advisable to put a full day aside.

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Workshop Content and Structure:

The 3 conversations. The workshop recognises that the conversations that happen at times like this are really made up of 3 components, and helps participants engage in all of them constructively:

1. The “what happened” conversation. This involves disagreements about what really happened, who said what when, what it meant. Working through this constructively helps people move from assumptions to facts, and from personal stereotypes to understanding the perspectives of others.
2. The “feelings” conversation. Naturally, feelings run at high during times of stress, but they are often downplayed. Recognising them, helping people to own and address them directly, helps clear the air.
3. The “identity” conversation. This is the conversation we each have with ourselves, reflecting on what the situation meant to us, how we responded and why, how it affects our self-esteem and view of the future.

What are the changes we want to see? Times of crisis are often wonderful opportunities for change: we are usually more open to recognising things in ourselves and our structures that need to be changed. Once the personal dimensions of the situation have been processed following the 3-conversations structure, time is spent reflecting on the changes that are required. This may include reflecting on what is required to build a more ethical culture in the workplace, and using the tools of conducting and ethics risk assessment and developing an ethics management plan.

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Cost:

R6600 excluding any customisation.

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Many voices are currently urging us to make our world a better place, for example LeadSA’s call for each person to make a difference, and former president Nelson Mandela’s concern about a ‘spiritual malaise’ reflecting a lack of good spirit, pessimism, or lack of hope and faith that has been taken up by the Moral Regeneration Movement. What could be more important than focusing on character education in schools to address these concerns?

Character education is an ancient idea, going back to the Greek philosophers’ concept of ‘virtue ethics’. Recent years have seen great strides in a fresh understanding of this field, notably in the discipline of positive psychology and the character education movement in the US.

In the space of half a day, the workshop introduces participants to the field of ethics and character education as well as outlining how it can be integrated into existing programmes and curricula, drawing on the wealth of recent research that is available.

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Who would Benefit from the Workshop?

Teachers, administrators and other professionals working within a school environment.

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Learning Outcomes:

Participants will have an understanding of:

• the field of ethics and character education.
• How to integrate ethics and character education into existing programmes and curricula.

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Duration:

3,5 hours

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Workshop Content and Structure:

1. Introduction to the field of ethics and character education.
2. How to integrate ethics and character education into existing programmes and curricula.

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Cost:

R2000 per participant.

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Business ethics is often understood in the context of governance only, making it a board and management issue. I take a different approach, based on the understanding that ethics is about honourable behaviour, about right and wrong. If we approach the question of ‘what does it mean to do business ethically in SA today?’ through this lens, it means ethics is something that every employee, manager and board member should be concerned about.

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Who would Benefit from the Workshop?

Business leaders and managers at all levels.

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Learning Outcomes:

• Participants will have reflected upon their life experiences and have an awareness of their own, family and community principles and values.
• Participants will have an awareness of the field of ethics and relevant codes of conduct.
• Participants will understand a model of ethical decision making and how to apply it.
• Participants will be motivated to explore what it means to do business ethically in SA and internationally.

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Duration:

3,5 hours.

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Workshop Content and Structure:

The allotted time for the module has been broken down into 4 sessions:

1. Making sense of ethics.
2. Tools to make ethical decisions and how to apply them when doing business.
3. Exploring ethical issues in a specific sector.
4. Applying the ethical decision making tools to selected case studies.

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Cost:

R2400 per participant.

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Choose from any of the workshop categories and learn a bit more about how I can help you or your organization.

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