In this paper we suggest an alternative approach to ethics in social work: virtue ethics. We argue that Habermas's theory of communicative action and discourse ethics needs to be supplemented with virtue ethics to provide an account useful to social work. In these times, sensitivity to others is needed for social work to succeed as a profession interested in combating the complacency, self-interest and lack of compassion evident in cutbacks to social welfare programmes and the resultant concerns with outcomes and (...) efficiencies that have all but obliterated care and compassion. We see in Habermas a furthering of Aristotelian and Thomist philosophy, most importantly with respect to his focus on emancipatory knowing?the critically reflective knower who knows self as the person doing the knowing. Habermas's distinction between values (objective), ethics (social) and morals (subjective) makes the province of emancipatory knowing (his epistemological theory) consistent with his moral theory?morality is personal. (shrink)

Human service managers are called on to make a variety of difficult decisions that often involve fundamental conflicts in values. Such conflicts constitute ethical dilemmas. This qualitative exploratory study examines how human service managers (N = 40), from the United States, identify and resolve ethical dilemmas. The dilemmas identified by the managers tended to result in the restriction of missions, programs, services and practice methods. The resolution of these ethical problems often rested on following the very rules that created the (...) dilemmas. Additional strategies included consultations and reliance on abstract principles, specifically those of one's spiritual faith. Missing, however, were systematic or evidence-based procedures for resolving challenges that often threatened the very goals of the human service agencies. The need for more careful training in the area of ethical problem solving that maintains the vision of human services is presented. (shrink)

Social work and other professions struggle with the roles of knowledge and values in the study of society and human lives, and in professional practice. Discussions of this topic range from those who see relatively clear distinctions between these concepts and those for whom the lines between the concepts are blurred. For those who separate theory and knowledge from values and ethics there is further discussion in the literature on which is the appropriate foundation for social work practice. The following (...) discussion examines two arguments: firstly, that these concepts, and the two camps they can be placed into, are distinct and should be kept separate; and secondly, the alternative perspective that the concepts overlap and that the separation into two camps is false. The analysis here outlines these perspectives and suggests reasons why shades of both are necessary to fully understand and participate in the reality of social work as a profession and an academic discipline. (shrink)

The authors discuss findings from a qualitative research project concerning applied ethics that was undertaken at a general family counseling agency in southern Ontario. Interview data suggested that workers need to dialogue about ethical dilemmas, but that such dialogue demands a high level of risk taking that feels unsafe in the organization. This finding led the researchers to examine their own sense of "breaking rules" by suggesting an intersubjective view of ethics that requires a "safe space" for ethical dialogue. The (...) authors critique the individualistic tendency of professional ethics as an effect of power that is tied to the history of professionalism, and discuss the role of bureaucracies in diminishing a central role for ethics in helping services. The authors call for elaboration of critical perspectives on ethics in order to promote the centrality of ethics in the helping professions. (shrink)