Introduction to Ethics

Chapter 5 By: Marrian Kaye Piorato

Ethics defined broadly as a set of moral
principles or values that govern the
actions and decisions of an individual or
group.
Personal ethics vary from individual to
individual at any point in time, most
people within are able to agree about
what is considered ethical and unethical
behavior. Introduction
A society passes laws that define what its
citizens consider to be the more extreme What is Ethics?
forms of unethical behavior.

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Examples
Prescribed Sets of Moral Principles or Values

• Laws and regulation

• Church doctrine
• Code of business ethics for professional groups
such as CPA’s
• Codes of conduct within individual
organizations.

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So how do we know whether we are acting
ethically?

Who decides what standards of conduct

are appropriate?

Is any type of behavior “ethical” as long as

it does not violate a law or a rule of one’s
profession?

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Characteristics andValues
Associated with Ethical
Behavior
List of Ethical Principles

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 List of ethical principles incorporates the characteristics and values that
most people associate with ethical behavior.

Integrity
• Be principled, honorable, upright, courageous and act
on convictions; do not be twofaced or unscrupulous,
or adopt an end-justifies-the means philosophy that
ignores principle.
Honesty
• Be truthful, sincere, forthright, straightforward,
frank, candid; do not cheat, steal, lie, deceive or act
deviously.

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 List of ethical principles incorporates the characteristics and values that
most people associate with ethical behavior.

Trustworthiness and Promise Keeping Loyalty (Fidelity) and Confidentiality

• Be worthy of trust, keep promises, full commitments,
abide by the spirit as well as the letter of an
agreement; do not interpret agreements in an
unreasonably technical or legalistic manner in order
to rationalize noncompliance or create excuses and
justification for breaking commitments.
• Be faithful and loyal to family, friends, employers,
client and country; do not use or disclose information
learned in confidence; in a professional context,
safeguard the influences and conflicts of interest.

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 List of ethical principles incorporates the characteristics and values that
most people associate with ethical behavior.

Fairness and Openness Caring for Others

• Be fair and open-minded, be willing to admit error • Be caring, kind, and compassionate; share, be giving,
and, where appropriate, change positions and beliefs, be of service to others; help those in need and avoid
demonstrate a commitment to justice, the equal harming others.
treatment of individuals, and tolerance for
acceptance of diversity; do not overreach or take
advantage of another's mistakes or diversities.

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 List of ethical principles incorporates the characteristics and values that
most people associate with ethical behavior.

Respect for Others Responsible Citizenship

• Demonstrate respect for human dignity, privacy, and
the right to self- determination of all people; be
courteous, prompt, and decent; provide others with
the information they need to make informed
decisions about their own lives; do not patronize,
embarrass, or demean.
• Obey just laws; if all law unjust, openly protest it;
exercise all democratic rights and privileged
responsibly by participation (voting and expressing
informed views), social consciousness, and public
service; when in a position of leadership or authority,
openly respect and honor democratic processes of
decision making, avoid unnecessary secrecy or
concealment of information, and assure that others
have all the information they need to make intelligent
choices and exercise their rights.

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 List of ethical principles incorporates the characteristics and values that
most people associate with ethical behavior.
Pursuit of Excellence
• Pursue excellence in all matters; in meeting your
personal and professional responsibilities, be diligent,
reliable, industrious and committed; perform all tasks
to the best of your ability, develop and maintain a
high degree of competence, be well informed and
well prepared; do not be content with mediocrity; do
not "win at any cost".
Accountability
• Be accountable, accept responsibility for decisions,
for the foreseeable consequences of actions and
inactions, and for setting an example of others.
Parents, teachers, employers, many professionals and
public officials have a special obligation to lead by
example, to safeguard and advance the integrity and
reputation of their families, companies, professions
and the government itself; an ethically sensitive
individual avoids even the appearance of impropriety,
and takes whatever actions are necessary to correct
or prevent inappropriate conduct of others.
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Ethical behavior is necessary for a
society to function in an orderly
manner. It can be argued that ethics
is the glue that holds a society
together. What would happen if for
example we could not depend on
the people we deal with to be
honest. If parents, teachers,
employees, siblings, co-workers and
friends all consistently lied, it would `````````````````````````````````~

be almost impossible for effective Why is ethical

communication to occur. behavior necessary?
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Most people define unethical behavior as
conduct that differs from the way they
believe would have been appropriate
given the circumstances. Each of us
decides for ourselves what we consider
unethical behavior, both for ourselves and
other. It is important to understand what
causes people to act in a manner that we
decide is unethical.
`````````````````````````````````~
There are two primary reasons why
people act unethically: Why do people act
• the person's ethical standards are unethically?
different from those of society as a
whole, or
• the person chooses to act selfishly.

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 Categories of Ethical
Principles
Principles of Personal Ethics include among others

• Basic justice, fairness

• Respect for the right of others
• Concern for the right of others
• Concern for the well-being on welfare
of others
• Benevolence, trustworthiness, honesty
• Compliance with the law
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 Categories of Ethical
Principles
Professional Ethics include among others

• Integrity, impartiality, objectivity

• Professional competence
• Confidentiality
• Professional behavior
• Avoidance of potential or apparent
conflict of interest

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 Categories of Ethical
Principles
Business Ethics include among others

• Fair competition
• Global as well as domestic justice
• Social responsibility
• Concern for environment

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To understand the importance of a
Code of Ethics to professionals, one
must understand the nature of a
profession as opposed to other
vacation.
All the recognized professions have
several common characteristics. The
most important of these characteristics
are: `````````````````````````````````~
• a responsibility to serve the public The Need for
• a complex body of knowledge
Professional Ethics
• standards of admission to the
profession
• a need for public confidence

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This Code is adopted by the Professional
Regulation Commission (PRC) and the
42 Professional Regulatory Boards to
cover an environment of good
governance in which all Filipino
professionals shall perform their tasks.
While each profession may adopt and
enforce its own code of good
governance and code of ethics, it is
generally recognized that there is a `````````````````````````````````~
general commonality among the Code of Good Governance
various codes. This Code which covers
the common principles underlying the for the Profession in the
codes of various professions could be Philippines
used by all professionals who face
critical ethical questions in their work.

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Professionals are required not only
to have an ethical commitment, a
personal resolve to act ethically,
but also have both ethical
awareness and ethical competency.
Ethical awareness refers to the
ability to discern between right and `````````````````````````````````~
wrong, while ethical competency General Principle of
pertains to the ability to engage in
sound moral reasoning and Professional Conduct
consider carefully the implications
of alternative actions.

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 Specific Principle of
Professional Conduct
• Service to others
• Integrity and objectivity
• Professional competence
• Solidarity and teamwork
• Social and civil responsibility
• Global competitiveness
• Equality of all professions
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ThankYou

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