RSQS Ethical Decision Manual: A Practical Guide for Human and AI-Assisted Ethical Assessment

The RSQS Ethical Decision Manual is a practical guide for evaluating whether decisions satisfy defined ethical standards. It is designed for managers, administrators, educators, policymakers, business leaders, governance practitioners, auditors, regulators, researchers, and members of the public who wish to assess decisions in a transparent, structured, and explainable manner.

This publication serves as the companion volume to the RSQS Tier-0 Constitutional Ethics Acts. While the Constitutional Acts establish the ethical foundations of the framework, this manual demonstrates how those principles can be applied in practice to evaluate real-world decisions, policies, procedures, projects, and organisational actions.

The manual adopts a step-by-step assessment approach. Readers are guided through the process of identifying the decision under review, determining which ethical acts are relevant, assessing evidence, identifying potential ethical concerns, considering alternative actions, and reaching a documented conclusion regarding whether the decision meets the applicable ethical standards.

A key objective of the publication is explainability. The framework is designed so that both human reviewers and automated systems can reach conclusions that are understandable, auditable, and capable of independent review. The manual therefore serves as both a human assessment guide and an explanatory reference for decisions generated or supported by artificial intelligence systems.

Worked examples and hypothetical case studies are included to demonstrate how ethical reasoning can be applied consistently across different domains while remaining understandable to non-specialist audiences. The framework is intended to support ethical governance, policy review, organisational decision making, public administration, educational settings, and emerging AI-assisted decision environments.

This publication does not provide legal advice and does not replace applicable laws, regulations, professional standards, or organisational policies. Instead, it provides a structured ethical assessment methodology that can be applied alongside those frameworks.