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15 January, 2016 - 09:08
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Exercise: Develop a Rights Table

  1. You will be divided into small groups and each will be assigned a right claim taken from the above list.
  2. Describe the claim (essential capacity of action) made by the right. For example, due process claims the right to a serious organizational grievance procedure that will enable the right-holder to respond to a decision that has an adverse impact on his or her interests. It may also be necessary in some situations to specify the claim's necessary conditions.
  3. Justify the right claim using the rights justification framework. In other words show that the right claim is essential, vulnerable, and feasible.
  4. Be sure to show that the right is essential to autonomy. If it is vulnerable be sure to identify the standard threat. (A standard threat is an existing condition that threatens autonomy.)
  5. Provide an example of a situation in which the right claim becomes operative. For example, an engineer may claim a right to due process in order to appeal what he or she considers an unfair dismissal, transfer, or performance evaluation.
  6. Identify the correlative duty-holder(s) that need to take steps to recognize and respect the right. For example, private and government organizations may be duty-bound to create due process procedures to recognize and respect this right.
  7. Further spell out the right by showing what actions the correlative duties involve. For example, a manager should not violate an employee's due process right by firing him or her without just cause. The organization's human resources department might carry out a training program to help managers avoid depriving employees of this right. The organization could aid the deprived by designing and implementing binding arbitration involving an impartial third party.

Be prepared to debrief on your right claim to the rest of the class. When other groups are debriefing, you are free to challenge them on whether their claim is essential to autonomy, whether they have identified a valid "standard threat," and whether the correlative duties are feasible or deprive others of something essential. Your goal as a class is to have a short but effective list of rights that professionals take with them to the workplace.