Ethics and Morality

• Ethics refers to standards of conduct,

standards that indicate how one should
behave based on moral duties and
virtues, which themselves are derived
from principles of right and wrong.
 Moral Relativism
Values are determined by the
society we grow up in, and there
are no universal values. Moral
values are simply customs or
conventions that vary from culture
to culture.
 Ethical Issues
• We greatly encounter moral and ethical issues, in our day to day
life. Perhaps, these two defines a personality, attitude, and
behavior of a person.
• Studying ethics can help you arrive at clearer positions and
arguments on real life issues — and can help you apply them,
too. In fact, thinking more about ethical theory may even change
your mind about issues in today’s world.
 Ethical Issues in Business
• Fundamental Issues

The most fundamental or essential ethical issues that businesses

must face are integrity and trust. A basic understanding of integrity
includes the idea of conducting your business affairs with honesty
and a commitment to treating every customer fairly. When
customers think a company is exhibiting an unwavering commitment
to ethical business practices, a high level of trust can develop
between the business and the people it seeks to serve. A
relationship of trust between you and your customers may be a key
factor in your company's success.
• Decision-Making Issues

A useful method for exploring ethical dilemmas and identifying

ethical courses of action includes collecting the facts, evaluating any
alternative actions, making a decision, testing the decision for
fairness and reflecting on the outcome. Ethical decision-making
processes should center on protecting employee and customer
rights, making sure all business operations are fair and just,
protecting the common good, and making sure the individual values
and beliefs of workers are protected.
 Social Media
• Whether you like it or not, social media is an important business
marketing tool, and it's likely an integral part of employees' lives.
The evolving nature of social media means that it's becoming
harder to distinguish between personal and professional in a
social media setting.
• To ward off any potential ethical issues, a small-business owner
should create a clear set of social media policies for employees.
Policies can cover both how and if workers can use any social
media programs while in the office, as well as what they are
allowed to say about the workplace on public-facing social media
pages.
 Technology and Privacy Concerns

• Today's technology security abilities mean that employers can

easily monitor their workers' use of technology, such as emails
and website history. However, a business owner might run into
the ethical issue of how much privacy an employee can expect
when on a company device, whether computer, tablet or phone.
As with social media usage, employees should have a clear
understanding of how much, if any, privacy they have when using
a company-owned device. They should be alerted if the company
leadership plans to read email or if their internet usage will be
tracked.
 Employee Favoritism

• While it's not unreasonable for the owner of an organization to

have employees that they enjoy working with more than others,
there can be ethical issues if the person in a position of
leadership shows favoritism to an employee without any merit
behind it. Giving in to playing favorites can cause a business to
lose valuable employees. However, keep in mind that favoritism
is different from forms of sexual harassment, which is not an
ethical issue – it's just illegal.
 Bad Leadership Behavior

• Sometimes, it's not the employee who exhibits unethical

behavior, but the owner or head of the company. Putting rules in
place for employees but not following them yourself is an
example of an ethical issue in the workplace. To keep your
employees motivated and satisfied with their workplace, a leader
should practice what he preaches and keep his own behavior
ethical.
 Moral Consistency
To what extent do you think the following individuals are
morally inconsistent?

A. an anti-abortionist who supports the death penalty

B. a vegetarian who buys leather shoes
C. a socialist who educates his children at a private
school
D. A politician who advocates family values and has
an affair
E. An environmental activist who drives an SUV
F. Someone who thinks stealing is wrong but makes
illegal copies of computer software or music.
 Self Interest
Human beings are always and everywhere selfish. Even
if there are objective moral values, we are incapable of
living up to them.

ｷ Definitional argument – we are selfish when we do

what we want to do, and we always do what we
want to do.
ｷ Evolutionary argument – humans are naturally
selfish - programmed (biologically) to survive.
ｷ Hidden benefits argument – selfish benefits to
helping others.
ｷ Fear of punishment argument – what if I get
caught? (Ring of Gyges).
 While it may be that some values are relative
and that people are often selfish, we do not
have to conclude that all values are relative
or that people are always selfish. An ethical
theory attempts to provide a set of
fundamental moral principles in harmony
with our moral intuitions.

A behavior cannot be either good or evil, but a person can have

good or bad character traits.
 Reflection
Respect is one way of expressing our love and gratitude towards
others. If we want others to give us respect, it is important that
we respect them too. It does not mean that one needs to accept
everything that others say. Sometimes you might not agree with
their beliefs and views. It is important to know that even though it
is alright to disagree it needs to be expressed politely. The
younger generations often have disagreements with their elders
and it is these differences that bring changes in human society.
However we should always remember that expressing your
views is your right, but doing it respectfully is your duty.