Personal Ethics in Workplace

Business - Ethics

PERSONAL ETHICS and the PROFESSIONAL WORKPLACE

Personal Moral Perspective in Relation to Classical Moral Systems:

Human ethical values derive from numerous different perspectives with very different bases of their philosophical origin. Character/virtue ethics emphasize the attributes of the underlying motivation of the individual rather than the ultimate result of choices and actions. Deontological ethics in its absolute form requires strict adherence to rules without regard to whether the effect of those rules accomplishes good or causes harm. Utilitarianism focuses exclusively on the effect of human action and on the greatest relative good wherever the outcome of moral choices is ambiguous. Moral relativism conceives of all moral values as subjective rather than objective and as exclusive functions of societal norms and values.

My personal ethical perspective absolutely rejects moral relativism in principle, precisely because it allows virtually anything that is condoned by society, including actions that violate every other mechanism of moral decision making. According to moral relativism, the Christians who sheltered Jews in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe to prevent their murder were committing immoral acts because they violated the social values of the Nazis and the laws then in place in that society.

Similarly, I reject the absolute deontological perspective for the same reason, as well as because even formal rules that ordinarily achieve moral results are sometimes completely inadequate to address moral issues, such as when strict adherence to them actually contradicts objective aspects of morality. For example, an absolute moral rule against lying ordinarily prevents deceptive and dishonest conduct designed to take unfair advantage of others. However, in certain situations, such as shielding someone from heartbreaking knowledge, deception may serve a moral purpose. Character/virtue ethics are usually consistent with objective moral values, but because they emphasize motivation rather than the effect of human choices and actions, may sometimes lead to contradictory results where motivation is less meaningful than results. Utilitarianism is closest to my own philosophical moral perspective because it values the ultimate effect of moral decisions and because it offers a logical approach to weighing competing interests where moral choices result in some harm in addition to moral good.

Personal Ethical Perspective and Potential Problems in the Workplace:

Because I reject moral absolutism completely, I would anticipate that this might present a conflict in many work environments by virtue of the fact that vocational environments, much like larger human societies, tend to feature institutionalized values.

In man respects, the current subprime mortgage crisis is substantially attributable to unethical, dishonest, and deceptive practices in the mortgage industry.

Because so many mortgage companies and lending institutions pass of the debts represented by their loans to third parties, there is little incentive to ensure that borrowers actually qualify for loans based on their income and credit history the way might where the original lending institution must absorb the cost of eventual default. Throughout the mortgage industry, practices evolved where realtors and mortgage brokers actively encouraged borrowers to misrepresent their financial circumstances to qualify for much more expensive properties than they could actually afford. Brokers who objected to this practice were subject to reprimand and even to dismissal from their positions, precisely because the moral rules within that vocational environment conflicted with objective values, not to mention federal law. Faced with similar circumstances, I would have no choice but to voice my objection, even at the expense of my position.

Similarly, my moral perspective does not permit rigid adherence to formal rules where those rules conflict with objective moral considerations. For example, if a coworker misplaced her ID card, I would not refuse to allow her to use mine to access the building, despite the fact that the rules of our workplace specifically prohibit this practice. In this situation, there is no issue of safety provided the coworker is someone known to me personally (rather than a stranger). Even if the employer has a legitimate interest in maintaining an accurate data base of computerized access and egress information logged by the computer chip in our ID cards, I value the impact on the coworker for having to return home for her card or disrupt her morning complying with formal rules of acquiring a temporary ID card over the interests of employer in maintaining accurate records.