Module 1- Professional Ethics

Introduction to Philosophy

1. Philosophy is from 2 Greek words: Philo and Sophia: Love for wisdom
2. Philos meaning love and Sophia meaning knowledge or wisdom.
3. Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom.
4. The predecessor and complement of science.
5. The foundation of belief structure

Definition of Philosophy:

1. Philosophy as the epistemological study or the theory of knowledge

1. Philosophy is the science and criticism of cognition - Kant
2. “Philosophy is the science of knowledge” - Fichte
2. Philosophy as metaphysical study or as the theory of reality
1. Philosophy aims at the knowledge of the eternal, of the essential nature of
things - Plato
2. Philosophy is the science which investigates the nature of being as it is in
virtue of its own nature - Aristotle
3. Scientific aspect of Philosophy
1. Philosophy is the science of sciences - Comte
2. Philosophy is the sum total of all scientific knowledge - Dr. Paulsen
4. Philosophy is developed through methods such as logic, introspection and
meditation.
5. Such methods help in investigation of most fundamental questions.
6. Methods can be classified into:
1. Metaphysics
2. Epistemology
3. Teleology
4. Ontology
5. Axiology
6. Ethics
7. Aesthetics etc.
7. A well-thought-out and consistent set of assumptions constitute a credible research
philosophy.
8. The research philosophy underpins methodological choices.

Facets of Philosophy:

1. What we know in a philosophical sense is not just restricted to the study of

knowledge but also the study of what the nature of knowledge is and the study of our
value systems.
 2. According to philosophers, knowledge can be described as a paradigm of
knowledge.
3. Knowledge is built with logic and language, and includes a metaphysical,
epistemological and axiological perspectives.

Philosophy is the study of reality(Metaphysics), knowledge(epistemology) and

Value(axiology).

1. Metaphysics explains the nature of reality through study of what is and the nature of
being(Ontology), meaning of life(Teleology), and what the nature and origin of the
cosmos or universe is(Cosmology or Natural Theology).
2. Epistemology explains what the nature of knowledge is and how we come to know
through “Scientific” inquiry based on observations and factual
data,(Phenomenology/Empiricism), logical thinking(Rationalism), background
knowledge and historical or evolutionary perspectives(Historicism) as well as
information about motives(goals, value and consequences) for both stakeholders and
the object of the study(Pragmatism).
3. Axiology explains what is of value and values we should live by through the study of
what is good and evil, right and wrong(Ethics), power and how we should live
together(Sociology or Politology), and what art, beauty and good taste is(Aesthetics).

Nature of Philosophy:

1. The nature of philosophy is about inquiries for meaning.

2. When talking about environment, society, world, people etc. the person is already
Philosophizing
3. One cannot divorce themselves from philosophy.
 4. Philosophy analyses the very foundations of other disciplines.
5. Philosophy analyses and criticises treasured beliefs and traditions
6. It aims to be wise in almost all aspects of human discipline.
7. Philosophers’ study human beings, society, religion, language, God and plants.
8. They seek to answer the questions of the world.
9. Passion for Quest of Wisdom dominates other intentions.

Scope of Philosophy:

1. Ontology: what is reality

2. Epistemology: What and how can I know reality/ knowledge - Interpretivism
3. Theoretical perspective: What approach can I use to get knowledge? - Inductive -
Phenomenology & Case Study
4. Methodology: What Procedure can we use to acquire knowledge?
5. Methods: What tools can we use to acquire knowledge?
6. Sources: What data can we collect - Focus group interview data.

Characteristics of Philosophy

1. Analyzes the foundaations and presuppositions underlying other disciplines

2. Attempts to develop a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the world
3. Studies and critically evaluates out most deeply help beliefs and attitudes; in
particular, those which are often help uncritically.
4. Investigates the principles and rules of language and attempts to clarify the meaning
of vague words and concepts.

Branches of Philosophy

Main branches are:

1. Aciology: Study of the nature of value and valuation

2. Metaphysics: Study of Fundamental nature of reality
3. Epistemology: Study of nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge
4. Ethics Philosophy: Study of right and wrong
5. Aesthetics: Study of beauty and taste
6. Logic Philosophy: Study of nature and types of logic
7. Political Philosophy: Study of government, addressing questions about nature, scope
and legitimacy of public agents and institutions.

Origin and Benefits of Ethics

Origin of Ethics:

1. Codes of conduct have been passed down from generation to generation, and there
is a pattern to the evolution of such codes.
2. Acceptable behaviour is promoted and elevated as a social value
3. Unacceptable behavious is rejected and condemned.
 4. In ancient India, there was no moral problem with the custome of sati-immolating the
wife on the husbands funeral pyre.
5. Society has evolved humanely and has condemned the act as unacceptable and
morally reprehensible.
6. Object of social codes of conduct is to maintain, promote, and elevate harmonious
relationships.
7. “Honour you parents” is one such code. Maintains a peaceful relationship between
parents and children and promotes respect in the family.

Importance of Business Ethics

Carter McNamara has given the following list that describes various types of benefits from
managing ethics in the workplace:

1. Attention to business ethics has substantially improved

1. Unethical practices related to Children, Workers, price fixing, influence
applied through intimidation and harrassment has demanded that businesses
place high value on fairness and equal rights.
2. Anti-Trust laws were instituted.
3. Government agencies were established.
4. Unions were organized
5. Laws and regulations were established.
6. Gradual improvement in society
2. Ethics programs help maintain a moral course in turbulent times.
1. No clear moral compass in times of change
2. Ethics in the workplace sensitizes leaders and staff to how they want to act
consistently.
3. Ethics programs cultivate strong teamwork and productivity
1. Ethics programs align employee behaviours with that top priority ethical
values preferred by leaders of the organization.
2. Ongoing attention to values in the workplace build openness, integrity and
community, critical ingredients of strong teams in the workplace.
3. Employees feel strong alignment between their values and those of the
organization.
4. They react with strong motivation and performance.
4. Ethics programs support employee growth and meaning.
1. Attention to ethics in the workplace helps employees face reality, both good
and bad - in the organization and themselves.
2. Employees feel full confidence they can admit and deal with whatever comes
their way.
5. Ethics programs are an insurance policy - they help ensure that policies are legal
1. Attention to ethics ensures highly ethical policies and procedures in the
workplace.
2. Far better to incur the cost of mechanisms to ensure ethical practices now
than to incur costs of litigation later.
3. A major intent of well-designed personnel policies is to ensure ethical
treatment of employees as the gap between stated corporate culture and
actual practice has significant legal and ethical implications.
 6. Ethics programs help avoid criminal acts and can lower fines
1. Ethics programs tend to detect ethical issues and violations early on so they
can be reported or addressed.
2. In some cases, when an organization is aware of an actual or potential
violation and does not report it to the appropriate authorities, this can be
considered a criminal act.
7. Ethics programs help manage values associated with quality management, strategic
planning and diversity management.
1. Ethics programs identify preferred values and ensures organizational
behaviors are aligned with those value.
2. Includes recording the values, developing policies and procedures to align
behaviours with preferred values, and then training all personnel about the
policies and procedures.
3. This overall effort is very useful for several other programs in the workplace
that require behaviours to aligned with values, including quality management,
strategic planning and diversity management.
8. Ethics programs promote a strong public image
1. Managing ethics should not be done primarily for reasons of public relations.
2. Even then, it does have the potential to portray a strong positive image to the
public.
3. People see those organizations as valuing people more than profit, as striving
to operate with the utmost of integrity and honor.
4. Aligning behaviour with calues is critical to effective marketing and public
relations programs.
9. Overall benefits of ethics programs
1. Managing ethical values in the workplace:
1. legitimizes managerial actions,
2. strengthens the coherence and balance of the organization’s culture,
3. improves trust in relationships between individuals and groups,
4. supports greater consistency in standards and qualities of products,
5. cultivates greater sensitivity to the impact of enterprise’s values and
messages.
10. Formal attention to ethics in the workplace is the right thing to do:
1. It is the most important aspect and the most correct aspect that ethics are in
practice in the workplace.
2. It’s the right thing to do.

Benefits of Ethics

1. Ethics in practice just makes sense

2. Just having it carefully drafted and redrafted in books may not serve the purpose.
3. All of us want businesses to be fair, clean and beneficial to the society.
4. Organizations need to abide by ethics or rule of law, engage themselves in fair
practices and competition; all of which will benefit the consumer, the society and
organization.
5. Primarily it is the individual, the consumer, the employee or the human social unit of
the society who benefits from ethics.
6. Ethics is important because of the following:
 1. Satisfying basic human needs:
1. Fair honest and ethical is a basic human need.
2. Everyone want to be so themselves and work for an organization that
is fair and ethical
2. Creating Credibility:
1. Organizations that are believed to be driven by moral values are
respected in the society even by those who may have no info about
the working and the businesses or an organization.
3. Uniting people and leadership:
1. An organization driven by values is revered by its employees also.
2. They are the common thread that brings the employees and the
decision makers in a common platform.
3. This goes a long way in aligning behaviours within the organization
towards achievement of one common goal or mission
4. Long term gains:
1. Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long
run, though in the short run they may seem to lose money.
2. Tata group, one of the largest business conglomerates in India was
seen on the verge of decline at the beginning of the 1990’s, which
soon turned out to be otherwise.
5. Securing the society:
1. Ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society.
2. Law machinery is often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to
save society and the environment.
3. Technology is growing so fast that by the time law catches up, we’ll
have newer tech that replaces the older one.
4. Lawyers and public litigations may not help a great deal but ethics
can.

Ethics: Definition, Moral Philosophy, Nature of Moral

Judgements and Reactions

Ethics

1. Derived from the Greek word “Ethos” which means customs, usages or habits.
2. Ethics is the philosophical study of morality.
3. Systematic study of human actions from the point of view of their rightfulness or
wrongfulness, as means for the attainment of the ultimate happiness.
4. Paulsen defines ethics as a science of customs or morals.
5. According to Mackenzie, Ethics is the study of what is good or right in conduct.

Moral Philosophy

1. Ethics is also called Moral Philosophy

 2. Moral Philosophy is the rational study of the meaning and justification of moral
claims.
3. A moral claim evaluates the rightness or wrongness of an action or a person’s
character.
4. For example, “lying is wrong” claims the act of lying is wrong.

Area of Moral Philosophy

Moral philosophy is usually divided into 3 distinct subject areas:

1. Metaethics
2. Normative ethics
3. Applied ethics

Moral Judgements and Reactions:

1. A judgement of right and wrong, good and bad is commonly termed as moral
judgement.
2. It is judgement of an individual which he passes to estimate the rightness or
wrongness of his action.
3. “a moral judgement is the mental act of discerning and pronouncing a particular
action to have the quality or predicate of rightness and obligatoriness or its opposite
of which a general idea or standard is already before the mind.”

Nature of Moral Judgements and reactions are as:

1. Moral judgements and reactions are normative

2. Moral judgements and reactions are axiological, not factual
3. Moral judgement and reactions are “on” an activity, not about.
4. Moral judgements are inferential.
5. Moral judgements and reactions are objective in nature
6. Moral judgements and reactions are intuitive
7. Moral judgements and reactions are universal

Theories of Ethics(Utilitarian, Right Theory & Casuist

Theory)

Some Major Ethical Theories:

1. Consequential Theory
2. Utilitarian Theory
3. Right Theory
4. Casuist Theory

Consequential Theory
 1. The rightness/wrongness of an action is determined by its consequences.
2. Consequences of one’s conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgement about the
rightness or wrongness of that conduct.
3. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act is one that will produce a
good outcome, or consequence.
4. “The ends justify the means” - If a goal is morally important enough, any method of
achieving it is acceptable.

Utilitarian Theory(Jeremy Benthem)

1. It is based on the result of the actions and not on the intention or means
2. It believes on the fact if end is good the means are good.
3. It assumes greatest good is for greatest numbers.
4. The right action leads to most happiness of greatest number of people
5. An act is justified if it brings happiness and satisfaction to large numbers.
6. Utilitarian theory is dependent on the evaluation of action on the basis of benefits and
costs.

Deontology:

1. The rightness/wrongness of an action is determined by inherent features of the action

itself, or by an inherently valid rule.
2. Deontological ethics or deontology is the normative ethical position that judges the
morality on the action’s adherence to rule or rules.
3. It is described as “duty” or “obligation” or “rule-based ethics”, because rules “Bind you
to your duty”.
4. Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted to consequentialism and virtue ethics.
5. Deontological ethics is also contrasted to pragmatic ethics.
6. In this terminology action is more important than the consequences. Humans decide
right and wrong.

Theory of Rights:

1. An ethical theory based on the rights given to a person.

2. It judges an action on the basis of right of a person.
3. It is based on the concept of natural and conventional rights and concept of positive
and negative rights.
4. The rights established by a society are protected and given the highest priority.
5. Rights are considered to be ethically correct and valid since a large population
endorses them.
6. Individuals may also bestow rights upon others if they have the ability and resources
to do so.
7. A person may say that her friend may borrow her laptop for the afternoon.
8. The friend who was given the ability to borrow the laptop now has a right to the
laptop in the afternoon

Casuist theory of Ethics:

 1. the term casuistry is derived from Casus, Latin for “case” and refers to the study of
individual “Cases of conscience”
2. The casuist method is a much larger enterprise that just a description of cases of
conscience and the process of moral reasoning.
3. Casuistry, or case based reasoning, does not focus on rules and theories but rather
on practical decision-making in particular cases based on precedent.
4. First the particular features of a case would be identified, and then a comparison
would be made with other similar cases and prior experiences, attempting to
determine not only the similarities but also the differences
5. Judgement of actions are justified on case to case basis
6. If an action is justified in one scenario, then it can be justified in other scenarios as
well.

Freedom in Ethical Discourse

Introduction to the Concept of Freedom

But, no matter how free man is, everywhere seems to be in chains

● Jean-Jacques Rousseau
1. Freedom is as old as the existence of man.
2. General term used in everyday activity mostly to express how free one is in his or her
actions.
3. Freedom in ethical discourse cuts across critical and rational discourses in
philosophy, of ethics, alongside many other disciplines.

Concept of Freedom in Philosophy

1. Freedom is referred to as “self-evident truth” and it is upon the axiomatic assumption

that laws are laid down in human communities
2. Decisions taken and judgement are passed
3. In the history of Philosophy and social thought, freedom has a specific use as a
moral and a social concept.
4. Generally, it refers to circumstances that arise in the relations of the world today.
5. Freedom is likened to in relation with Right.
6. In the course of this discourse, the concept of freedom will be clarified and its
essence make known as coherent as possible.

Definition of Freedom

Various meanings of the term ”freedom” centers around 3 major themes as we can see
below:

1. Possibility of the subject to act as man will to satisfy his tendencies, aspiration,
etc.(freedom of actions as opposed to constraint, servitude, etc. civil and political
liberties, etc.)
 2. The power of self-determination without any necessitation in willing. If only from the
pressure of nature slightly distinct from the ego(Freedom of willing, freewill as
opposed to necessity).
3. Fulfilment of reasoning subject by the internal domination of reason, of superior
motivations over feeling, and over inferior motivations(rational freedom).

Freedom is the faculty which man enjoys in determining himself to an action and to bring its
cause, after having taken consciousness of the considerations that such an action carries for
life. Man is a free being within and without, beneath and above.

Freedom implies the dignity, excellence, and nobility of the human person, without which life
for the individual is altered and for the society, a total chaos and the general state of anarchy.

Man’s freedom is not only a quality describing an aspect of his life but the dynamics of his
being, a power giving direction and meaning to the very value that man holds the most
desirable life.

Definition of Freedom according to Aristotle

1. According to Aristotle, the democratic freedom treasured by the exponents of ancient

Greek democracy has 2 marks, one personal and one political.
1. Freedom is to live as one wishes
2. Freedom is to and be ruled in turn
2. Though Aristotle is a critic of such freedom, it has been claimed that he has no notion
of his own to set against it.
3. By his aristocratic conception:
1. A person is free to the extent that he is able to live a life of politics and
philosophy,
2. And a Polis(the state) is free to the extent that its institutions promote such a
life for each and every citizen by removing the impediments to its realization
such as unfavorable political institutions, lack of moral and intellectual
education, and insufficient material resources.

Definition of Freedom according to Plato:

1. Plato’s term eleutheria may be translated as freedom because it signifies the same
triadic relation as the English term - Freedom of an agent from impediments to a
goal.
2. Generally recognized that Plato rejects the democratic idea of personal freedom,
3. it is often overlooked that he offers in its place an alternative conception of freedom
originating in the moral psychology of Socrates and reflecting a popular view of
freedom as opposed to slavery.
4. In the Republic, Plato describes aristocratic freedom as the rule of reason over the
soul unimpeded by desires.
5. In the Laws, Aristocratic freedom entail “willing enslavement to the laws,” which
represents a due measure between extreme slavery and extreme freedom.
6. Though different from the modern liberal concept of liberty, Plato’s conception leads
to important innovations.
7. Plato’s ideal off aristocratic freedom was shared and developed further by Aristotle.
Types of Freedom

There are 2 types of Freedom:

1. Exercise Freedom
1. Freedom of exercise is that between contradictory alternatives
2. It is the freedom of an agent to act or not to act.
3. Man has this sort of freedom as a voluntary agent always, and here, freedom
relates to the interior act of willing or not willing by the moral agent.
4. The voluntary act and the free act, for all practical purposes, are identical.
2. Specification Freedom
1. On the other hand, freedom of specification presupposes freedom of exercise
and looks further to some objects specifying that act to be done by the agent.
2. It is the choice of this alternative rather than that.
3. More precisely, the choice of this means in relation to a desired end.
4. The free act as a choice, therefore it is concerned with means properly, not
with ends as ends.
5. To will an end as an end is not a matter of choice but a matter of simple
willing.
6. And act of will which centers precisely on the means is the act of choice.
7. When reference is made to human freedom in a moral context, it is usually
this freedom of specification that is meant.

Exercise Freedom is about the ability of a person to decide whether to act or not. This type
of freedom is related to the internal process of making decisions. It's about choosing to will
or not will something as a moral agent.

Specification Freedom, on the other hand, presupposes Exercise Freedom. It goes a step
further by considering the specific actions that a person will undertake. This type of freedom
involves choosing one alternative over another, precisely focusing on the means to achieve
a desired goal. In other words, it's about the choices we make on how to reach a specific
goal.

Kinds of Freedom:

1. Physical Freedom
1. Man’s freedom from external constraint
2. Freedom from all kinds and forms of oppressive force against man’s choice
and voluntariness.
3. This physical freedom is the immunity from physical constriction.
2. Moral Freedom:
1. This is the absence of constriction through oppressive force of moral order
such as reward, punishments, laws and threats.
2. It’s the power to choose and to determine oneself.
3. Man’s freedom is the freedom of choice of moral goodness, to choose the
good, and to avoid evil.
4. Meanwhile, the fear of the aftermaths of man’s action makes him act in an
opposite direction.
 5. He acts for good to receive rewards and praise, but if he acts contrary to the
good, he receives punishments.
3. Psychological Freedom
1. It’s a man’s capacity to choose to do anything when all the necessary
conditions for acting are present.
2. It is the sovereign control over the situation by which the will holds in its
hands the power to make the choice fall in favour of one of the various
alternatives possibilities.
4. Political Freedom
1. Political freedom is the absence of any form of political pressure of man.
2. It is the freedom of the citizen of the state to exercise their political rights
uninhabited.
3. These include the basics of political rights, the right to vote, the right to hold
office, the right to participate in making political decisions, the right to
associate with others of like views and to criticize the government.
5. Social Freedom
1. Freedom from Social determinism
2. It is the freedom of socialization and the absorption of the growth of the
functions of groups, associations, and institutions having religious, social,
economic, cultural, professional and political ends which operate for the good
of the states.

Mundin says that freedom is “an unequivocal sign of man’s physical and spiritual dimension.”

The essence of Freedom

1. Proof of the existence of freedom is necessary, in the sense of its validity beyong
experience or any philosophical and scientific claims against its existence.

2. The essence of freedom elucidates the need of man having or obtaining freedom.

3. It explains the importance of freedom to man.

4. Firstly, Freedom enable man to choose on which activities or actions to follow.

○This act of choice is one of the attributes of a human being.

○This is because one of the reasons for man’s rationality is to be able to dictate
the good and the bad and having the right or freedom to make a choice.
○ This explains man as not being a total determined being.
5. Secondly freedom allows the human conformability.

○ This is because in freedom one becomes comfortable and should be held

responsible for his actions

○ Hence the advent of the moral agent.

 ○ The comfortability here is that the moral agent is no more on determinism of
something or mandatory doing something.

○ Here the human person exercises an act of choosing to do or not to do and at

his or her own convenient time.

○ Thirdly, freedom enables us to participate in the human activities and on this,

we exercise over fundamental human right especially in the political aspect of
freedom

1. It also enables us to associate, socialize and interact with other

creatures in the human environment.
2. It also puts into our consciousness, the right to choose the religion of
our choice and participate in its activities.
○ Fourthly, freedom widens our knowledge in knowing some of our rights and
what is not our right in the society at large.

1. Freedom can be seen as a form of education for human beings.

2. It is through it that we gained the opportunity of searching and
researching for what will help in the skyrocketing of human beings and
their environment.

Summary of Module 1: Professional

Ethics

○ Ethics programs ensure ethical practices and prevent legal issues.

○ Ethics help detect issues early on, avoid criminal acts and can lower fines.
○ They manage values associated with quality management, strategic planning
and diversity management.
○ Ethics programs promote a strong public image and help align behavior with
values.

Benefits of Ethics

○ Ethics in practice are crucial for fair, clean, and beneficial businesses for
society.
○ They satisfy basic human needs, create credibility, unite people and
leadership, secure long-term gains, and secure society.
Ethics: Definition, Moral Philosophy, Nature of Moral
Judgements and Reactions

○ Ethics is the study of what is good or right in conduct.

○ Moral philosophy is the study of the meaning and justification of moral claims.
○ Moral judgements discern the rightness or wrongfulness of an action.

Theories of Ethics (Utilitarian, Right Theory & Casuist

Theory)

○ Consequential Theory: Rightness/Wrongness determined by consequences.

○ Utilitarian Theory: If the end is good, the means are good.
○ Right Theory: Judges an action based on a person's rights.
○ Casuist Theory: Actions justified on a case-to-case basis.

Freedom in Ethical Discourse

○ Freedom is crucial in ethical discourse and is related to one's right to act or

not to act.

Types of Freedom:

○ Exercise Freedom: Ability to decide whether to act or not.

○ Specification Freedom: Choosing one alternative over another to achieve a
desired goal.

Kinds of Freedom:

○ Physical Freedom: Freedom from external constraint.

○ Moral Freedom: The power to choose and to determine oneself.
○ Psychological Freedom: Capacity to choose to do anything when all
conditions for acting are present.
○ Political Freedom: Freedom of the citizen of the state to exercise their political
rights.
○ Social Freedom: Freedom from social determinism.
The Essence of Freedom

○ Freedom enables man to choose actions to follow, allows comfortability,

enables participation in human activities, and widens our knowledge in
knowing our rights.

Module 2 - Professional Ethics

Ethical Dilemma’s

Definition and Nature of Ethical Dilemma

Definition:

It’s a decision-making situation where one or all available options or choices requires the
decision maker to compromise on the ethical standards, values or practices.

Nature:

Dilemmas may arise out of various sources of behaviour or attitude, as for instance, it may
arise out of failure of personal character, conflict of personal values and organizational goals,
pressure from management, organizational goals versus social values, etc.

For Example:

A business dilemma exists when an organizational decision maker faces a choice between
two or more options that will have various impacts on:

1. The organizations profitability and competitiveness

2. It’s stakeholders.

Elements of Ethical Dilemma:

1. The decision maker must face a situation where a choice needs to be picked up.
2. The decision maker must have more than one alternative available
3. The decision maker might be able to see that all choices force compromise on ethical
values(personal or professional)

Impact of Ethical Dilemma:

1. Life or death situation

2. Ethical Dilemma in personal relationships, health
 3. Used as negotiation tactics
4. Societal Harm

Types of Ethical Dilemmas:

1. Epistemic Dilemma:
1. A situation where moral standards conflict and the decision maker cannot
readily determine priorities of ethical principles over each other.
2. Self-imposed dilemma:
1. A situation due to own errors in judgement.
2. It can be promises to clients or commitments to society that goes beyond the
decision maker capacity to be fulfilled.
3. Obligation dilemma:
1. A situation where the decision maker has many choices and more than one of
them is obligatory.
4. Corollary:
1. In comparison, the prohibition dilemma occurs when all available choices are
prohibited.

Ethical dilemma of Whistleblowers

Definition: The reporting by employees or former employees of illegal, irregular, dangerous

or unethical practices by employers. - International Labour Organization

Whistle blowers:

1. Cynthia Cooper: WorldCom $3.* Bn, Phony bookkeeping.

2. Sherron Watkins - Enron
3. Ms Manning leaked 700,000 videos, diplomatic cables, battlefield to WikiLeaks.

Ethical Dilemmas of whistleblowing:

1. Managers disapproval of Whistle-blowing

2. Co-workers’ disapproval of whistle-blowing
3. Affecting the employee personally
4. Loyalty to the company
5. Evidence against the wrongdoer.

Ethical Dilemma Decision Making

Ethical Dilemma decision making is an approach to solve ethical dilemmas

1. Step 1: Analyze the consequences for each alternatives or choices available

1. Who are the beneficiaries for each choice?(Short-term and Long-term)
2. Who are going to be harmed for each choice?(short-term and long-term)
2. Step 2: Analyze the actions
1. Measure best action with respect to moral standards and principles.
3. Step 3: Make a decision.
Challenges in Ethical Decision Making

Ethical Decision Making

It is a decision taken with respect to ethical dilemmas or problem in business

Ethical models/Approaches to take ethical decisions:

1. Rights Theories
2. Justice Theories
3. Utilitarian Theories
4. The Virtue Approach
5. The common good approach

Stages in Ethical Decision Making

1. Stage 1: Recognize moral issues

2. Stage 2: Make some kind of moral judgement about that issue(pause and think)
3. Stage 3: Establish moral intent(goals)
4. Stage 4: Engage in moral behaviour(get your facts right)

A 10-step process model for ethical decision-making:

1. Stop, think and identify the situation or problem

2. Construct a description
3. Whose problem is it?
4. Review in terms of the Ethical Framework
5. Consider legal, moral principles and values
6. Identify the support that is available
7. Identify courses of action
8. Select course of action
9. Evaluate the outcome(with supervision when appropriate)
10. Regularly check the personal impact of these events.

Framework for ethical decision making

1. Recognize an ethical issue

1. Could this decision or situation be damaging to someone or to some group?
2. Does this decision involve a choice between a good and bad alternative, or
perhaps between 2 goods or between 2 bads?
3. Is this issue about more than what is legal or what is most efficient? If so,
how?
2. Get the facts:
1. What are the relevant facts of the case? What facts are not known? Can I
learn more about the situation? Do I know enough to make a decision?
2. What individuals and groups have an important stake in the outcome?
3. Are some concerns more important? Why?
 3. Make a decision and Test it
1. Considering all these approaches, which option best addresses the situation?
2. If I told someone I respect- or told a TV audience - which option I have chose,
what would they say?
4. Act and Reflect on the Outcome

Factors influencing ethical Decision making

1. Individual factors:
1. Age and Gender
2. Nationality and Cultural characteristics
3. Education and employment
4. Personal Values
5. Trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, morality, integrity etc.
6. Psychological factors
1. How people think: Cognitive moral development(perception and
learning): at different level of thinking.
2. Locus of control: control over their lives.
2. Situational Factors:
1. Issue related factors
2. Moral Intensity
3. Magnitude of consequences
4. Social consensus
5. Probability of effect
6. Temporal immediacy
7. Proximity
8. Concentration of effect.
3. Moral Farming
1. Harmony
2. Efficiency
3. Image of power and effectiveness.
4. Context-Related Factors:
1. Organizational context in which employee will be wrong(Workplace ethics,
CSR, Corporate Governance)
2. System and reward
3. Authority
4. Bureaucracy
5. Work roles
6. Organizational norms and culture
7. National and Cultural context.

Kohlberg’s model of Cognitive Moral Development

6 different stages of why people make different decisions for same Ethical Problem.

1. Stage of Punishment and obedience

2. Stage of Individual Purpose
3. Stage of interpersonal expectations, relationships and conformity
 4. Stage of social system and conscience maintenance
5. Stage of prior rights, social contract and utility
6. Stage of universal ethical principles

ChatGPT Explanation:

Lawrence Kohlberg's model of moral development is a theory that outlines stages of moral
reasoning that individuals go through as they mature. The model consists of three main
levels, each with two stages:

Preconventional Level:

Stage 1: Obedience and punishment orientation

Stage 2: Individualism and exchange

Conventional Level:

Stage 3: Interpersonal relationships and conformity

Stage 4: Maintaining social order and authority

Postconventional Level:

Stage 5: Social contract and individual rights

Stage 6: Universal principles and ethical conscience

In summary, individuals progress through these stages, with higher stages reflecting more
complex and abstract moral reasoning. Kohlberg's model emphasizes the role of moral
dilemmas in shaping moral development and highlights the evolution from self-centered
concerns to a more principled and universal ethical framework.

Redressal of Grievances

Terms

1. Dissatisfaction:
1. Anything that disturbs an employee, whether or not the unrest is expressed in
words.
2. Complaint:
1. A spoken or written dissatisfaction brought to the attention of the supervisor
or the Shop Steward(In charge)
3. Grievance:
1. A complaint that has been formally presented to a management
Representative or to a Union Official.

Grievance: Definitions
 1. A grievance is a complaint of one or more workers with respect to wages and
allowances, conditions or work, and interpretation of service, condition covering such
areas as overtime, leave, transfer, promotion, seniority, job assignment and
termination of service. -International Labour Organization
2. A grievance is a formal dispute between an employee and management on the
conditions of employment.
3. Grievances are complaints that have been formally registered in accordance with the
grievance procedure.
4. A grievance is any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with one’s
employment situation that is brought to the attention of management.

Features of Grievances:

1. Discontent or dissatisfaction
2. Dissatisfaction must arise out of employment and not due to personal reasons.
3. The discontentment can arise out of real or imaginary reasons.
4. The discontentment may be voiced or unvoiced but it must be expressed in some
form
5. Broadly speaking a grievance is noticeable and traceable to real or perceived
non-fulfillment of one’s expectations.

Forms of Grievances:

1. Factual
2. Imaginary
3. Disguised

Reasons of Grievances:

1. Economic
2. Supervision
3. Work group
4. Work environment
5. Miscellaneous

Human Aspect that can create grievances:

1. Work environment: Light, space, heat

2. Use of equipment: tools/ poor maintenance.
3. Supervisory practices
4. Personality clashes
5. Managers’ Behaviour
6. Problems with Pay/ allowances.
7. Perceived inequalities in treatment: Pay, appeals against performance related
awards.
8. Organizations change

Types of Grievances:
 1. Individual Grievance:
1. Complaint that an action by management has violated the rights of an
individual as set out in the collective agreement or law or by some unfair
practice.
2. Examples: Discipline, demotion, classification disputes, denial of benefits etc.
2. Group Grievance:
1. Complaint by a small group of individuals
2. For example, a department or a shift that has been affected the same way
and at the same time by an action taken by management.
3. Group grievances are often treated as policy grievances.
4. For example, management assigns a steady day-shift employee to work on
an off shift without regard to seniority.
3. Policy Grievance:
1. Complaint by the union that an action of management(or its failure or refusal
to act) is a violation of the agreement that could affect all who are covered by
the agreement.

Benefits of Grievance Handling Procedures

1. It encourages employees to raise concerns without fear of reprisal

2. It provides a fair & speedy means of dealing with grievances.
3. It prevents minor disagreements developing into more serious disputes.
4. It saves employer’s time and money as solutions are found for workplace problems.
5. It helps build in organisational climate based on openness and trust

Objectives of Grievance Handling

1. To enable employee to air his/her grievance

2. To clarify the nature of grievance
3. To investigate the reasons of dissatisfaction
4. To obtain where possible a speedy resolution to the problem.
5. To take appropriate actions and ensure that the promises are kept
6. To inform the employee their right to voice the grievance and take it to the next stage
of the procedure.

Key features of Grievance Redressal Procedure:

1. Fairness
2. Procedural Steps
3. Promptness
4. Facilities of representation

Modes of Grievance

1. Observation
2. Grievance procedure
3. Gripe Boxes
4. Open door policy
5. Exit interview
 6. Opinion Survey

Reasons for Grievances

1. Economic
1. Wage Fixation, wage computation, overtime, bonus
2. Employees feel they are getting less than what they ought to get
2. Working Environment:
1. Poor working conditions, defective equipment and machinery, tools, materials
3. Work Group
1. Strained relations or incompatibity with peers.
2. Feeling of neglect, obstruction and victimisation
4. Work organisation

Effect of Grievance:

1. Loss of interest in work and consequent lack of moral and commitment

2. Poor quality of production
3. Low productivity
4. Increase in wastage and costs
5. Increase in employee turnover
6. Increase in the incidence of accidents
7. Indiscipline
8. Unrest

Module 3 - Quick Notes

4 Fundamental principles of ethics:

1. Beneficence
2. Non-Maleficence
3. Autonomy
4. Justice

7 principles of ethics:

1. Non-maleficence
2. Beneficence
3. Respect for Autonomy
4. Justice
5. Proportionality
6. Health Maximisation
7. Efficiency
A code of ethics document is a guide of principles and may outline the mission and values of
the business or organization, how professionals are supposed to approach problems.

Types of Code of Ethics:

1. Value-based: Value denotes the degree of important of some thing or action with the
aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live(Normative
ethics). Values reflect a person’s sense of right and wrong.

2. Compliance Based: Company establishes rules of conduct, and there are penalties
put in place for anyone who disobeys those rules. Employees adhere to the rules in
order to avoid repercussions which makes fear the driving factor.

3. Value-Based Code of Ethics:

○Focus: Emphasizes guiding principles and core values that reflect the
organization's culture and moral philosophy.
○ Approach: Encourages ethical behavior by fostering a positive organizational
culture and promoting shared values. It relies on internalizing ethical
principles rather than strict rules and regulations.
4. Compliance-Based Code of Ethics:

○ Focus: Centers on rules, policies, and legal requirements to ensure

adherence to external standards and regulations.
○ Approach: Seeks to avoid legal issues and regulatory violations by
establishing specific rules and procedures. Emphasizes consequences for
non-compliance and often involves monitoring and enforcement mechanisms.

Aspects of Professional Obligation

1. Master your skill

2. Collaborate and cooperate
3. Honesty and confidentiality
4. Positive attitude
5. Communication skills
6. Leadership qualities

Regulatory Bodies implement and enforce laws. Regulations are formal rules based upon
laws enacted by a legislature that govern specific or economic activities.

Role of regulatory professions:

1. Develop and maintain integrity be keeping commitments

2. Giving credit for others work
3. Maintain confidentiality of information and never disclosing information concerning
the business or technical affairs of others without their consent
4. Seeking advice from others when uncertain
 5. Maintain the highest standards of professional conduct as they exercise their
professional duties of upholding and clarifying the laws and regulations of the
authorities.
6. Exhibit honesty in all of their activities free from deceit or deception.

Privacy refers to the right of individuals to limit access by others to aspects of their person.

Important because:

1. Allows individuals to maintain autonomy and develop their individuality

2. Physical privacy allows people to act and to express themselves alone or with a
group of chosen others, without shame or fear of public censure.

Confidentiality: Process of protecting an individual’s privacy.

pertains to treatment of information disclosed by an individual in a relationship of trust. The

expectation is that it will not be divulged to others without permission.

Benefits of maintaining confidentiality:

1. Establishes trust between the researcher and participant.

2. Reduces worry on the part of the individual
3. Maintains participants dignity
4. Participant feels respected
5. Gives participant control and promotes autonomy.

HIPAA: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996

Components of Informed Consent:

 1. An explanation of medical conditions that warrant the test, procedure, or treatment
2. Explanation of the purpose and benefit of the proposed test, procedure, or treatment
3. Explanation or description of the proposed test, procedure, or treatment, including
possible complications or adverse events
4. A description of alternative treatments, procedures, or tests, if any, and their benefits
and risks
5. A discussion of the consequences of accepting the test, procedure, or treatment.

Debriefing: Conversational sessions that revolve around the sharing and examining of
information after a specific event has taken place.

Types of debriefing:

1. Psychological
2. Military
3. Peer debriefing

Debriefing Statements:

1. Study title and the names of the principal investigators

2. The goal of the study or why the study was developed
1. Any prediction or hypotheses of the study
2. What researchers expect to learn from the study;
3. Research questions being studied
3. Withdrawal procedures or information on the opportunity to withdraw
4. If available, results for the study thus far.
5. Information on whether or how the participant can or will be informed of the results of
the study
6. Additional resources(Like contact information and references)

A debriefing statement is given (or read) to the research participants at the conclusion of
their participation in the study. Counterpart to the informed consent stage that occurs when
participants are recruited for research, including communication research. Central consent
component of study designs involving the deception of human participants.

A key principle is that participants leave in the same state as they began

Module 4 - Quick Notes

Green practices are the practices of creating structure and using processes that are
environmental responsible and resource-efficient throughout the life-cycle of a development,
including building, from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation
and deconstruction.

Green practices include:

 1. Sustainable Purchasing
2. Electronics stewardship
3. Transportation
4. Pollinator protexction
5. Waster Diversion
6. Pollution Prevention

Examples of green Practices:

1. Green roofs
2. Transportation emissions reduction
3. solar power
4. Low Power POD
5. Recycling programs
6. Selling green products
7. Carbon footprint labeling
8. Building evo-friendly new stores.

Fast-changing business organizations are best described by VUCA, a term coined by US

Army War College.

VUCA:

1. Volatility - Change is violent and uncontrollable

2. Uncertainty - Future is unpredictable, making it hard to prepare for
3. Complexity - Things can often feel chaotic and confused.
4. Ambiguity - We lack clarity because it’s hard to know the root cause of a problem.

In a VUCA environment, rules can change mid-game, organizations as units and managers
as individuals are battling to stay afloat and aligned.

Turbulence: Rapid Change

How to turn VUCA to your advantage:

1. Turn volatility into vision

2. Meet uncertainty with understanding: what are competitors doing?
3. React to complexity with clarity.
4. Fight ambiguity with agility

Agile

1. Agile people are suited to a VUCA world

9 behaviours that contribute to learning agility:

1. Flexibility
2. Speed
3. Experimenting
4. Performance Risk Taking
 5. Interpersonal Risk Taking
6. Collaborating
7. Information Gathering
8. Feedback seeking
9. Reflecting

3 pillars of sustainability:

1. Environmental
2. Social
3. Economic

Green Transport Plan:

A plan devised by a company or organisation to reduce the environmental

impact of the transport demands generated by itself and its employees

CSR is a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable - to

itself, its stakeholders, and the public. It is the voluntary actions that business can take, iver
and above compliance with minimum legal requirements, to address both its own
competitive interests and the interests of wider society.

Companies Act, 2013 made CSR Mandatory in 2014.

Section 135(1) of the Act prescribes thresholds to identify companies which are required to
constitute a CSR committee. Those in the immediately preceding financial year of which:

1. Net Worth of Rs. 500 Crorw or more

2. Turnover is Rs 1000 Crore or more
3. Net profit amounts to Rs 5 Crore or more

As per the Companies(Amendment) Act, 2019, CSR is applicable to companies before

completion of 3 financial years.

Social Responsibility has a strategic Importance for 2 reasons:

1. A healthy business can only succeed in a healthy society Thus it’s best for
companies to produce only goods and services which strengthen the health of
society.
2. If the company wants to succeed in the long run it needs to have acceptance - or
licence to operate - from social actors affected by the company’s operations.

Inclusive development is a development that includes marginalized people, sectors and

countries in social, political and economic processes for increased human well-being, social
and environmental sustainability, and empowerment.

Inclusive development considers whether development progress is sufficiently widespread

for the majority of a population to benefit.
It occurs when average achievements on income and non-income dimensions of wellbeing
improve and inequalities in these achievements fall.

1. It reduces poverty.
2. Access to essential health services in health and education by the poor.
3. Includes providing equality of opportunity, empowering people through education and
skill development.
4. Also encompasses a growth process that is environment friendly growth
5. Aims for good governance
6. Helps in creation of a gender sensitive society

Inclusive growth is economic growth that is distributed fairly across society and creates
opportunities for all.

Elements of Inclusive Growth:

1. Technological Advancement
2. Economic Growth
3. Social Development

Inclusive Development Index(IDI): Annual Economic Index introduced by the World

Economic Forum(WEF).

India was ranked 62nd among emerging economies on an Inclusive Development Index.

Factors Considered in the IDI:

1. Growth and Development

1. GDP
2. Labour Productivity
3. Employment
4. Health Life Expectancy
2. Inclusion
1. Median Household Income
2. Income Gini
3. Poverty Rate
4. Wealth Gini
3. Intergenerational Equity and Sustainability
1. Adjusted Net Savings
2. Dependency Ratio
3. Public Debt(as a share of GDP)
4. Carbon Intensity of GDP