Ethics

https://www.scu.edu/ethics/ethics-resources/ethical-decision-making/what-is-ethics/

Some years ago, sociologist Raymond Baumhart asked business

people, "What does ethics mean to you?" Among their replies were
the following:

"Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong."

"Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs."
"Being ethical is doing what the law requires."
"Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts."
"I don't know what the word means."

These replies might be typical of our own. The meaning of "ethics" is

hard to pin down, and the views many people have about ethics are
shaky.

Like Baumhart's first respondent, many people tend to equate ethics

with their feelings. But being ethical is clearly not a matter of
following one's feelings. A person following his or her feelings may
recoil from doing what is right. In fact, feelings frequently deviate
from what is ethical.

Nor should one identify ethics with religion. Most religions, of course,
advocate high ethical standards. Yet if ethics were confined to
religion, then ethics would apply only to religious people. But ethics
applies as much to the behavior of the atheist as to that of the
devout religious person. Religion can set high ethical standards and
can provide intense motivations for ethical behavior. Ethics,
however, cannot be confined to religion nor is it the same as
religion.

Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often
incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But
laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-
Civil War slavery laws and the old apartheid laws of present-day
South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate
from what is ethical.
Finally, being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society
accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in
fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from
what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi
Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society.

Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that

prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights,
obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.
What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things. First, ethics refers to well-
founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans
ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to
society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to
those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain
from rape, stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical
standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty,
compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards
relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from
injury, and the right to privacy. Such standards are adequate
standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent and
well-founded reasons.

Secondly, ethics refers to the study and development of one's

ethical standards. As mentioned above, feelings, laws, and social
norms can deviate from what is ethical. So it is necessary to
constantly examine one's standards to ensure that they are
reasonable and well-founded. Ethics also means, then, the
continuous effort of studying our own moral beliefs and our moral
conduct, and striving to ensure that we, and the institutions we help
to shape, live up to standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.
Ethics
 Consider an analogy put forward by Andrew Fisher (2011). Imagine that ethics is like
football.

 The normative ethicist is like a referee interested in the rules governing play. What
interests him is the general theories that govern our moral behavior; how do we work
out what is right and what is wrong?
 The metaethicist is like a football commentator. What interests her is how the very
practice of ethics works. For example, the metaethicist might discuss how people use
moral language; or comment on the psychology of immoral people; or ask whether
moral properties exist.
 The Applied Ethicists are like the players. They “get their hands [or feet] dirty”. They
take the general rules of normative ethics and “play” under them. What interests them
is how we should act in specific areas. For example, how should we deal with issues
like meat-eating, euthanasia or stealing? (pp. 1–4)

What is Ethics?
Ethics can be defined as a set of principles that helps in segregating
fair from unfair. In other words, it is a branch of philosophy that deals
with standards for right and wrong behaviour of individuals.
 Table of Content [Show]
Ethics is a moral philosophy that guides individuals to decide what is
wrong or right, good or bad and what comprises desirable behaviour in
a particular set of social circumstances. In other words, it is a formal
study of moral standards and conduct. The word ethics has been
derived from the word ethos, which implies culture.

Ethics Definition
According to Peter F. Drucker, there is only one ethics, one set of
rules of morality, one code: that of individual behaviour in which the
same rules apply to everyone alike.The following are some popular
definitions of ethics given by management experts:
According to Philip Wheel Wright, ethics is the branch of philosophy
which is the systematic study of selective choice, of the standards of
right and wrong and by which it may ultimately be directed.

Branches of Ethics
There are three branches of ethics, which are explained as follows:

Normative Ethics
It is the main branch of ethics that deals with how individuals decide
upon the right and appropriate moral action or deed that they should
take. Eminent philosophers such as Socrates and John Stuart Mill
contributed largely to this branch of ethics.

Normative ethics can further be divided into three categories:

Deontological Ethics
As per this ethical theory, certain actions are right or wrong in their
own and involve absolute ethical standards that are required to be
maintained. Therefore, to make correct moral choices, an individual
requires understanding of his/her moral duties and about the rules that
exist to regulate those duties.

It can be simply understood as when an individual follows his/her duty,

he/she is behaving morally. On the other hand, in case of failing to
follow the duty, he/she is behaving immorally.
However, some philosophers argue that though, certain underlying
notion of right or wrong constrain our actions; in particular
circumstances they might be overridden. For example, there could be
a strong moral constraint against killing someone, however in the time
of war, this constraint could be overridden.

Teleological Ethics
This theory defines that consequences of an action play an important
role in determining what to do and what not to do. Therefore, this
theory determines the rightness of an action in terms of goals or
purposes. In other words, it is the outcome or result that determines
what is right, instead of the input or actions.

In order to make correct moral decisions, an individual needs to

evaluate which action may result into what outcome. If someone
makes choices which result in the correct consequences, then he/she is
acting morally. On the other hand, if the made choices result in the
incorrect consequences, then he/she is acting immorally.

Virtue Ethics
This theory does not give any rule that people should follow. Instead,
this ethic-based theory focuses more on developing good character
traits, such as kindness and generosity among people. According to
this theory, if people have good and strong character traits, they will
make correct decisions in their lives.

Virtue theory also emphasises over the need of learning how to break
bad character habits, such as greed and anger. It is important to get
rid of these bad character traits as they stand in the way of becoming
a good person.

Metaethics
This branch of ethics explores the scope of moral values in the life of
individuals. It answers fundamental philosophical questions about
ethical theory.

Applied Ethics
This branch deals with the study of applying theories in everyday life.
For example, applied ethics asks questions such as “Is it right to have
gender inequality at the workplace?”
Ethical Relativism
Ethical relativism denies the existence of any fixed universal truths on
ethical theories. It rejects the concept that there are any valid moral
principles, theories, standards, or values. Thus, it believes that
everything is subjective.

Ethical relativism is further classified into:

 Conventionalism: A particular set of ethics or moral principles are

valid only within a given culture and for a certain period of time.

 Subjectivism: Every individual decision determines the validity of

moral principles.
The ethical relativism says that the standards of a society define what
morally correct behaviour is. Ethics are set according to the directives
of that society for a particular period of time. Thus, if an individual
follows the standards of that society then he/she is behaving ethically.

However, here it is not necessary that the same ethical standards

would apply on other societies too. Therefore, a behaviour that is
considered ethical in one society might be considered unethical in
another.

Similarly, ethical standards change over time. For example, certain

practices of the 18th century that were considered as ethical at that
time might not be the part of the ethical standards of the 20th century.

Characteristics of Ethics
Ethics are concerned with setting the moral standards and norms of
human behaviour. In an organisation, employees are expected to
possess highly defined ethics. This is a strong ethical base of
employees that ensures high productivity of both the employees and
the organisation.
Thus, it is important for an organisation and its employees to have a
deep insight into the characteristics of ethics:

Truthfulness
Ethics are said to be related to the true thoughts and actions of an
individual or organisation. Maintaining authentic practices is of utmost
importance for any organisation. On the contrary, fraudulent acts done
in the present may bring huge losses to an organisation in the future.

Satyam Scandal is an example of fraudulent practices of a company

that misled the market by misrepresenting its accounts. The profits
and cash balances were inflated wrongly to show the company’s good
health.

Accuracy
It implies that organisational information should be correct on ethical
grounds and without any mistake. In addition, there should be
transparency in every part of the information. This in turn leads to
consistent and quality processes, increased operational efficiency and
high accountability.

Objectivity
Ethics should be clear and objective in nature. For example, ethically,
an individual’s action should always be seen as right or wrong
regardless of the situation or consequences. If an organisation has
objective ethics in place, it would help employees to easily adopt the
organisation’s ethical values without any hindrance.

Accountability
The ethical values of an organisation prompt employees to become
accountable for their actions. This in turn helps the organisation to
carry out its practices ethically.

Nature of Ethics
Ethics lay emphasis on doing the right things. It is an enquiry into the
truth and not into what people believe is not true.
The nature of ethics is explained in the following points:

 The notion of ethics is applicable only to human beings as they

possess the freedom of choice, i.e., alternatives and resources of
free will. They can only make a decision about the degree of ends
they wish to follow and the means to realise the ends.

 Ethics is a vast study of social science wherein methodical

knowledge about moral and ethical behaviour is gained.

 Ethics is associated with human conduct, which is voluntary and not

at all obligatory by circumstances or any other human beings. It can
be implied that at the basic level, ethics deal with moral verdict
regarding the directed human behaviour.

 Ethics is a normative science that involves the incoming of moral

standards that control right and wrong conduct.

Sources of Ethics
Ethics of an individual are formed from almost arbitrary variety of
sources, such as memories related to childhood upbringing;
fundamental life experiences; religious beliefs; discussions with family,
colleagues and friends; and ethical teachings of philosophers.

The following are some sources from which an individual draws ethics:

Religious Beliefs
There are diverse religions across the world. All these religions are in
accordance with certain ethical principles. Practically, all the world’s
religions teach and guide an essentially analogous code of ethics that
highlight or stress on values like respect for others and their rights,
selflessness, etc.

So, in all phases of life, be it business or personal situations, a highly

religious person is expected to act in ethical ways.

Culture
It is the culture that sets guidelines and acts as a deciding factor to
certain behaviour as acceptable and others as undesirable or
objectionable. Culture refers to a set of values, guidelines and
standards transferred across generations and acted upon to produce a
behaviour that falls under acceptable limits.

These rules and codes of conduct play an imperative role in

formulating values as individuals identify their behaviour with the
culture of the group they belong to.

Legal System
Laws are framed by the legal system of a state or country. They act as
a regulator to guide human behaviour within a social framework. These
laws act as ethics for they incorporate ethical standards.

Discussions With Others

Individuals engage in various discussions during the day, such as
telephonic conversations, food time conversations, gossiping, etc.
Usually, these discussions make individuals draw a conclusion and set
it as a source of ethics.

Ethical Philosophers
Philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant and Bentham have given
various ethical theories that influence the ethics of individuals to a
large extent.

Ethics Vs Morality
Ethics and morality are used interchangeably in day-to-day business
practices, but their inherent meanings are different. Both ethics and
morality help an individual to distinguish between right and wrong.

The morals of an individual refer to his/her personal feelings and

principles, while ethics define rules and regulations imposed by the
external environment, such as code of conduct defined by employers,
religious groups, government, etc.
For example, a defence lawyer is responsible for defending his/her
clients as per professional ethical codes, even if the lawyer does not
find the client innocent.

The ethics and morality can be distinguished on various parameters

such as their origin, definition, source of origin, requirement, flexibility,
accessibility and so on.

Table presents this difference.

PARAMETER ETHICS MORALITY

S

Origin Originated from a Greek Originated from Latin

word ethos, which means word mos, which means
character. customs.

Definition Ethics can be defined as the Morality can be defined

codes of conduct that are as a system of principles
acceptable to civilised human that determines the
groups and cultures and are right or wrong conduct
applicable to certain human by an individual.
actions.

Source of Ethics develop from external Morality develops from

origin sources such as social system. internal sources; for
example, from
individual’s own beliefs
and principles.

Requiremen Ethics are imposed by the Morality is driven by

t society. inner self-belief.

Flexibility Ethics have a moderate degree Morality is firm in nature

of flexibility as they are totally but can change only if
dependent on a social system there is a change in the
for applicability. individual’s belief.

Distinction Between Ethics and Morality

Ethics Vs Law
Usually, anything defined legal is considered to be ethical, but it is not
true. For example, breaking promises and lying are considered in most
of the societies to be unethical but would be considered legal if terms
and conditions were documented beforehand.

In management context, there exists a relationship between ethics and

law, in fact, in some situations, they even overlap each other. For
instance, in some situations, something perceived as illegal is also
considered unethical, or something assumed as unethical is considered
legal; or something considered ethical may be illegal otherwise.

Law is defined as a perpetual set of rules that are published, accepted,

enforced and universally applied. It frames mandatory rules for citizens
to behave in a particular manner in the society. The legal and
legislative system of a country frames laws that are established and
enforced by the ruling government.

On the other hand, ethics are defined as the rules of conduct

acceptable to specific human groups and culture and applicable to
certain human actions. Ethics determine ethical codes for how an
individual must interact and behave with others in a society.

Ethics and laws can be differentiated on different parameters such as

their definition, source of origin, guiding principles, etc.

Table differentiates between ethics and law:

PARAMETER ETHICS LAW

S

Definition Ethics are the rules of Law is a set of rules framed

conduct acceptable to a by a government to maintain
particular group or legal balance in a society and
culture. provide security to its citizens.
 PARAMETER ETHICS LAW
S

Source of Ethics originate from the Law originates due to law

origin self-awareness of enforcement by a government
individuals to decide what on citizens.
is right and what is
wrong.

Codification Ethics are the codification Law is the codification of

of morals that an ethics that are developed to
individual should be maintain law and order.
adhering to.

Punishment The violation of ethics is The violation of law is a

not punishable. punishable offence.

Guiding Personal beliefs, values Ethics prevalent in a country

principles and morals of individuals are the guiding principles for
are the guiding principles framing laws there.
for developing ethics.

Distinction Between Ethics and Law

A classic example to explain the difference between ethics and law is

of driving. An individual driving under the permissible speed limit and
in adherence to traffic rules reflects his/her ethical values.

On the other hand, an individual wearing his/her seat belt and lowering
his/ her car speed on noticing traffic police represents his/her fear of
legal action that could be taken for the violation of traffic rules.

Ethical Dilemmas
In the discussion so far, you must have understood that ethics are
defined as the rules of conduct that determine the behaviour of an
individual or a group within a society. An organisation, in spite of
operating ethically, may face a number of complex situations called
ethical dilemmas.

A business professional often comes across ethical dilemmas that arise

out of conflicting interests while making tough choices.

Ethical dilemmas can be defined as complex situations that involve

conflict of moral interests while choosing from available alternatives.
An individual in an ethical dilemma may have a number of questions in
his/her mind.

Some of them are:

 What should I do?

 What is right and what is ethical?
 What will be the consequences of my actions and decisions?
 What kind of damage or benefit will result from the chosen way?
 Would I be individually accountable if something went wrong?
 Who will protect me in case of any legal complications?
In the case of an ethical dilemma, various alternatives are developed
for taking a particular decision. In such a case, there may be confusion
regarding assigning at the best decision. To overcome this
confusion,suggestions are taken from the stakeholders. The alternative
that is accepted by the majority is finally selected.

A business professional can deal with a situation of ethical dilemma by

applying:

 Principled thinking resulting into ethical reasoning

 Moral creativity to argue with stakeholders

 Negotiating skills to articulate with stakeholders claiming unethical

interests

 Self-moral values identification to set the standards of ethical and

unethical

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