Workshop on Ethics and Human Rights: Participant Interviews and Observations

This document provides interviews and observations from participants of a workshop on ethics and human rights. It explores their initial confusion, understanding after the workshop, challenges in implementation, and their overall takeaways. The participants express their concerns about the global adherence to ethical standards and human rights.

Interview 1
Interviewer: What was your feeling about the workshop on Ethics and Human Rights?
Interviewee: Oh, it was really good! Got to know a lot of things apart from what we usually
understand in our day to day life. Some of the things that were initially explained in the
workshop were new to me and it was exciting to learn the concepts in a new light.
Interviewer: What did you find in the workshop which was different to your daily beliefs?
Interviewee: I was initially confused with the relation between ethics and human rights. But
this workshop helped me to clarify those confusion. Ethics, I always felt was an individual
practice and it depends on an individual’s upbringing. But the fact, that the Government or a
corporate body should also apply ethics, was beyond my knowledge
Interviewer: What is your understanding now?
Interviewee: From what I understood, on a large scale, the government and corporate have
equal responsibilities in safeguarding the human rights of the citizens and employees
respectively. Also, if the government and the corporates in the business environment can
create an ethical atmosphere, then human rights are more protected.
Interviewer: Do you think this system of ethics and human rights are followed globally?
Interviewee: No, certainly not. Corruption eats the way through and I think most people in
the authoritative position are also not aware of their own responsibilities. Individuality comes
into play and everything again boils down to the fact, whether the person concerned is ethical
enough or not
Interviewer: What is your take from this workshop?
Interviewee: Personally, I cannot control the whole system, but I should know my rights
within the circumference of ethical standards and protect it.

Interview 2
Interviewer: What is your take away from the workshop on Ethics and Human Rights?
Interviewee: I had a mixed feeling initially, because there were lot of things that were being
discussed, was contrary to the feasibility point of view
Interviewer: Why do you think so?
Interviewee: I, being part of the senior management, have to deal with a lot of things. Now,
do I safeguard the improvement of the organization or the rights of the employees? As an
employee of the organization, I have to see the benefits of the company before anything else.
But then, my confusion was cleared theoretically
Interviewer: What is your understanding now?
Interviewee: Well, basically, I need to know what are the ethical standards and what are the
human rights and then combine them both for the benefit of the company as well as the
employees.
Interviewer: Do you think that is feasible with a little effort from your end?
Interviewee: Initially, it doesn’t seem to be so easy. It is far easily said than done. I have
understood the theoretical point of view, but now I need to see how to implement in the day
to day business.
Interviewer: Do you think this system of ethics and human rights are followed globally?
Interviewee: I don’t think, it is being followed much. It would have been much easier for the
global citizens to adhere to a standard of ethics and human rights, had it been followed and
implemented from top down.
Interviwer: What is your take from the workshop?
Interviewee: Ahhh, I have already mentioned my confusion at the start. Theoretically that
confusion has been cleared but I am still a little apprehensive about the implementation part.
But as far as the workshop goes, it was pretty useful in showing how a balance can be struck
between ethical standards and human rights.

Observation
First and foremost, the whole process of interviewing was exciting. As an interviewer, I
needed to understand the content of the workshop so that I could speak and understand the
interviewees as well. Then the challenge was, what are the questions that I should ask them to
bring out the inner thoughts of the interviewees. However, then I framed the basic questions
and then followed the interview process based on the answers provided by the participants.
While observing the participants during the workshop, it was evident that most of them were
confused and couldn’t understand the connection between ethics and human rights1. There
were several hands raised to understand how the government or the corporate authorities in
an organizational context are responsible for individual ethics. According to my opinion, they
came with an already formed idea of the term “Ethics and Human Rights” which was the
central subject matter of the workshop. Thus it was trying for them to open up and accept a
new concept. The participants were from diverse background but they had one thing in
common. They were all working. Even after the workshop, some participants were
apprehensive about the fact of implementing the theories in their workplace2. Some other
participants were not sure, even after the workshop as to how an individual can balance
between ethics and human rights in public places and organizations, if ideally it should be
implemented from the higher authorities. Again, most of them were pessimistic that it can
never attain a balance since it is not practiced globally and even people in the leading
positions are also not open to accept and implement ethical standards strongly to safe guard
human rights. The people at the management level always find a loophole to circumscribe the
ethical mandate for their own benefit or for the organization and citizens or employees are of
least importance3. The driving force for attending the workshop was mainly due to corporate
requirement. However, most of them enjoyed the contents of the workshop for the sheer
vastness of the subject and also for the clarification of the terms together. Many participants
had misconceptions about the subject and didn’t realize that both the topics of Ethics and
Human Rights are important to be present and be balanced. The participants, however, were
excited to go out into the world and implement their recently gained knowledge in the real
1 Michael Posner, Sarah Labowitz, Dorothee Baumann-Pauly. Human Rights. Ethical Systems.
https://www.ethicalsystems.org/content/human-rights#Top (Accessed 2019-03-20)
2 George G Brenkert. Business Ethics and Human Rights: An Overview. Business and Human Rights Journal.
Vol. 1, no. 2, 2016: pp. 277-306
3 David Harris. Human Rights Law Review. Oxford Academic Journal. Vol. 19, no. 1, 2019

world and see the consequences. The challenges faced by them, even after the workshop was
to understand the ways and means of making it work in the real world4.
Discussion
When the discussion is about learning, no matter whether its a classroom teaching or a
workshop, the confusion always lies between the theoretical knowledge and the practical
application. No matter, how good a person is at studies, does not really mean that he or she
shall excel in the practical field in the future. For example, a really good student in academics
does not ensure, the same student turning out to be a great teacher 5. Hermeneutics does not
support empirical or rational ways of interpretation. It combines both the theory of linguistic
interpretation and modern phenomenological means of understanding the meaning.
According to the study of hermeneutics, the background of the subject should be clarified in
order to approach the issue under practical circumstances. The subject of hermeneutics does
not operate in a closed field and believes in the intellectual practice of enquiry where the
essence of the subject may expand and alter during the application or implementation 6.
Hermeneutics is considered to be one of the best approaches for Qualitative Analysis since it
helps in interpreting the understanding of the participants, for example, of an interview or
group discussion. As compared to the empirical way of looking at things, the interpretive way
of observation is considered to be more effective in professional practice where judgement is
involved. The empirical method is more into experimentation rather than bringing out the
practicalities from observation. Hermeneutics is based on sharing knowledge and
understanding the practical conditions. It is constructed through dialogues and unlike many
other field, language forms an integral part of hermeneutics theory. As an interviewer, I
became part of the knowledge sharing process and moved on to a whole understanding
through interpreting the answers provided by the participants. Thus the whole method of
interviewing , became an emerging process with a push towards a further improvement in the
4 Anthony L. Pillay. Psychology, ethics, human rights, and national security. South African Journal of
Psychology. Vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 424-429
5 Nicholas Davey. Philosophical Hermeneutics and Ontology. The Journal of the British Society for
Phenomenology. Vol. 48, no. 3, 2017: pp. 179-185
6 Elizabeth Smythe. Re-Viewing Literature in Hermeneutic Research. International Journal of Qualitative
Methods. Vol. 11, no. 1, 2012: pp. 12-25

understanding of the researcher or interviewer 7. In this project, the interview with the
participants helped me with a clear understanding of their feelings and gatherings from the
workshop. The interpretation of their answers was easier and effective to get a clear picture of
the scenario of a group of people. The interviewed participants being part of the whole
workshop, the results of interpretation can be applied to the majority of the group to get a feel
of their emotions. In this aspect, hermeneutics have played a major role in the analysis of the
qualitative research 8.
Reference
Michael Posner, Sarah Labowitz, Dorothee Baumann-Pauly. Human Rights. Ethical Systems.
https://www.ethicalsystems.org/content/human-rights#Top (Accessed 2019-03-20)
George G Brenkert. Business Ethics and Human Rights: An Overview. Business and Human
Rights Journal. Vol. 1, no. 2, 2016: pp. 277-306
David Harris. Human Rights Law Review. Oxford Academic Journal. Vol. 19, no. 1, 2019
Anthony L. Pillay. Psychology, ethics, human rights, and national security. South African
Journal of Psychology. Vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 424-429
Nicholas Davey. Philosophical Hermeneutics and Ontology. The Journal of the British
Society for Phenomenology. Vol. 48, no. 3, 2017: pp. 179-185
Elizabeth Smythe. Re-Viewing Literature in Hermeneutic Research. International Journal of
Qualitative Methods. Vol. 11, no. 1, 2012: pp. 12-25
Lorraine M. Thirsk, Alexander M. Clark. Using Qualitative Research for Complex
Interventions: The Contributions of Hermeneutics. International Journal of Qualitative
Methods. Vol. 16, no. 1, 2017.
7 Lorraine M. Thirsk, Alexander M. Clark. Using Qualitative Research for Complex Interventions: The
Contributions of Hermeneutics. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. Vol. 16, no. 1, 2017.
8 Susan Crowther, Pam Ironside, Deb Spence, Liz Smythe. Crafting Stories in Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Research: A Methodological Device. Qualitative Health Research. Vol. 27, no. 6, 2017: pp. 826-835

Susan Crowther, Pam Ironside, Deb Spence, Liz Smythe. Crafting Stories in Hermeneutic
Phenomenology Research: A Methodological Device. Qualitative Health Research. Vol. 27,
no. 6, 2017: pp. 826-835