Ethics Awareness Inventory

Business - Ethics

Business ETHICS: AWARENESS INVENTORY

Ethics is a set of principles or values that helps us define what courses of action in life are good and distinguishes them from courses of action that are bad. In the workplace environment, certain ethical issues arise that are defined by the rule of law (Daft 2005), but others may require us to apply personal values and ethical standards to determine the right course of action. Different systems of ethical analysis yield distinctly different results because they emphasize different criteria and underlying assumptions of the relative importance of the individual elements comprising ethical issues.

Survey of Ethical Value Systems:

The field of ethics includes several different perspectives, each with its own focus, criteria, advantages, and disadvantages. Virtue ethics emphasizes the character of the individual and addresses the general approach to life as a guide for the ethical analysis of particular circumstances within the framework of that general perspective.

Utilitarianism is an ethical perspective that emphasizes the end result and the good of the many, which conflicts directly with deontological ethical theories that conceive of right and wrong only in terms of the ethics of the means implemented to achieve an end result without equivalent focus on the end results or benefits associated with them (Gerrig & Zimbardo 2005).

Finally, the concept of equity emphasizes the principle of fairness and cultural relativism refers to the point-of-view that concepts of right and wrong are artificial constructs determined by cultural values and social mores that may differ substantially among different societies. Under the strictest application of cultural relativism, virtually no human conduct is susceptible to moral judgment because all concepts of morality and justice derive from societal attitudes and beliefs rather than from any objective principles or values. Conversely, under virtue ethical analysis and utilitarianism, the end result of our actions is far more important than the specific methods of implementing the decisions necessary to achieve the most beneficial results. Virtue ethics permits the widest possible range of ethical choices provided only that their underlying motivation is consistent with equitable moral intentions (Hursthouse 1999).

Personal Ethical Perspective for Responding to Ethical Dilemmas in the Workplace:

My personal ethical perspective is an attempt to blend what I perceive to be as the strengths of several classical ethical theories while avoiding their corresponding weaknesses in specific circumstances. In the most general sense, I subscribe to the virtue ethics position of setting out to "do the right thing" wherever possible. In that regard, I try to adhere to rules where they do not conflict with other legitimate purposes while also recognizing situations where strict application of specific ethical theories leads to contradictory results.

Whereas I try to respect the requirements of formal rules and procedures, I would prefer to violate those rules where their application would lead to an unintended result or undermine the effort to achieve the greatest benefit. In this respect, I would violate the requirements of rule utilitarianism where isolated violations provide a benefit without necessarily resulting in any diminution of the greatest possible good. For example, our office building prohibits coworkers from using their access passes to allow other employees to enter the facility without their own access cards. I recognize that, in the aggregate, the purpose of this rule is designed to preserve the safety of all of us by reducing the likelihood of access by unauthorized personnel. However, in the isolated circumstance where a coworker known to me forgets his credentials at home, I will violate the rule for the purpose of the good of that individual. In general principle, I will violate established rules for the purpose of achieving a moral result but not for the purpose of undermining the very purpose of the rule, such as where a person unknown to me requests my assistance bypassing building security, which request I would have no choice but to deny, albeit apologetically.