Mindfulness and Re-Perceiving for an Ethical Workplace:An Interdisciplinary Approach

Using elements of Psychology and Philosophy, this theoretical paper extends James Rest's Four Component Model of ethical decision-making and moral behaviour comprising of moral awareness, moral judgment, moral intention and moral character. While facing an ethically-charged situation, the original model - though a non-linear model - is widely considered to begin with moral awareness. However, in this paper, the model is revised with the help of mindfulness, reperceiving, and addition of a new component of moral spontaneity; and a proper sequence is assigned to the various five components, beginning with moral intention, followed by moral awareness, moral judgment, moral character; and resulting in moral spontaneity after several repetitions in the first four components. It is argued in this paper that ethics are skills, which can be developed with proper training in mindfulness and reperceiving. The resulting Five Component Model of ethical decision-making is proposed to be a prescriptive model for training and development in ethical decision-making at workplace.