What are ethics?

Ethics are standards of right and wrong, good and bad. Ethics are concerned with what one ought to do to
fulfill ones moral duty. There are two aspects to ethics:
- Being able to determine what is right or wrong, good or bad.
- Committing to doing what is right and good.
- The latter aspect means that being ethical is more than understanding what the right thing is to do; it
means that one must do ethical actions one must walk the talk.
Why study ethics?
One reason to study ethics is that ethics is inescapable. If you do not study ethics, chances are you will have
no opportunity to carefully reflect on the values that shape your life, no chance to think about whether the
values in your society are wise or foolish, no chance to expand awareness of the values of other persons.
Ethical framework?
There is no one universally accepted way of deciding whether something is ethically acceptable or not.
Instead there are several different ethical frameworks.
- Right and duties: Rights define what people can expect as their due, so far as it is under the control of
people or human society.
- Maximizing the amount of good: this framework balance the benefits of an action against the risks and
costs. It promotes the common good to help everyone have a fair share of the benefits in society, a
community or a family.
- Making decisions for yourself: this framework considers that people should make their own lives.
Respecting peoples autonomy and decision making abilities enables individuals to make reasoned and
informed choices.
- Leading a virtuous life: this framework supports the moral rightness or wrongness of actions. An
action can be described as right or wrong independently from any consequences of the action.

Accountability: A typical definition is that accountability concerns the processes by which those who
exercise power whether as governments, as elected representatives or as appointed officials, must be able to
show that they have exercised their powers and discharged their duties properly
It is also regarded as a commitment required from public officials individually and collectively to accept
public responsibility for their own action and inaction.
A conflict of interest situation arises when the personal interest of an employee is in conflict with his/her
official position. This means that the private interest of the employee will lead him to discharge his duties
in ways that may not be in the best interest of the organization.