INTRODUCTION TO

ETHICS
Ethics – set of moral principles or values that govern
the actions or decisions of an individual or group.

Ethics covers the following dilemmas:

• how to live a good life
• our rights and responsibilities
• the language of right and wrong
• moral decisions - what is good and bad?
Examples of prescribed sets of moral principles or
values at the implementation level
• laws and regulations
• church doctrine
• code of ethics for professional groups
• code of conduct within individual organizations
Exercise 1
• Site an example of an instance that is considered
unethical in a particular society but is not specifically
prohibited.
• Is any type of behavior “ethical” as long as it does not
violate a law or a rule of one’s profession?
Characteristics and Values Associated with ethical behavior

The following list of ethical principles incorporate the

characteristics and values that most people associate with ethical
behavior

• INTEGRITY – Be principled, honorable, upright, courageous and

act on convictions; do not be two-faced or unscrupulous, or
adopt an end-justifies-the means philosophy that ignored
principles.
• HONESTY – Be truthful, sincere, forthright, straightforward,
frank, candid; do not cheat, steal, lie, deceive or act
deviously.

• TRUSTWORTHINESS AND PROMISE KEEPING – 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 unreasonable technical or legalistic
manner in order to rationalize noncompliance or create
excuses and justification for breaking commitments.
• LOYALTY (FIDELITY) AND CONFIDENTIALITY – 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.
• FAIRNESS AND OPENNESS – Be fair and open minded, be willing to
admit error and, where appropriate, change position and beliefs,
demonstrate a commitment to justice, the equal treatment of
individuals, and tolerate for acceptance of diversity; do not
overreach or take advantage of another’s mistake or diversities.
• CARING FOR OTHERS – Be caring, kind and compassionate; share,
be giving, be of service to others; help those in need and avoid
harming others.
 
• RESPECT FOR OTHERS – 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
embarrass or demean.
• RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP – 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.
• 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.
WHY PEOPLE ACT UNETHICALLY?

2 Primary reasons why people act unethically

• The person’s ethical standards are different from
those of society as a whole, or
• The person chooses to act selfishly
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
Professional Ethics include among others
• Integrity, impartiality, objectivity
• Professional competence
• Confidentiality
• Professional behavior
• Avoidance of potential or apparent conflict of interest
Business Ethics include among others
• Fair competition
• Global as well as domestic justice
• Social responsibility
• Concern for environment
BUSINESS ETHICS
Business Ethics
- Refers to standards of moral conduct, behavior and
judgement in business.
- It involves making the moral and right decisions while
engaging in such business activities as manufacturing and
selling a product and providing a service to customers.
- It is an area of corporate responsibility where businesses are
legally bound and socially obligated to conduct business in
an ethical manner.
Purposes of Business Ethics
Main Purpose
- To help business and would-be business to determine what business practices
are right and what are wrong.

Special Purposes
1. To make businessmen realize that they cannot employ double standards to
the actions of other people and their own actions.
2. To show businessmen that common practices which they thought to be right
because they see other businessmen doing it, are really wrong.
3. To serve as a standard or ideal upon which business conduct should be based.
Main Characteristics of Business Ethics
• Business ethics are based on social values, as the generally
accepted norms of good or bad and ‘right’ and ‘wrong’
practices. 
• It is based on the social customs, traditions, standards, and
attributes. 
• Business ethics may determine the ways and means for better
and optimum business performance. 
• Business ethics provide basic guidelines and parameters
towards most appropriate perfections in business scenario. 
• Business ethics is concerned basically the study of human
behavior and conducts. 
• Business ethics is a philosophy to determine the standards and
norms to make mutual interactions and behavior between
individual and group in organization. 
• Business ethics offers to establish the norms and directional
approaches for making an appropriate code of conducts in
business.
• Business ethics are based on the concepts, thoughts and
standards
• Business ethics may be an ‘Art’ as well as ‘Science’ also. 
• Business ethics basically inspire the values, standards and
norms of professionalism in business for the well-being of
customers. 
• Business ethics is to motivate and is consistently related with
the concept of service motives for the customers’ view point.
• Business ethics shows the better and perspective ways and
means for most excellences in customization. 
• Business ethics aims to emphasize more on social
responsibility of business towards society.
Principles and Guidelines Based on Ethical Conducts
• Principle of Conscience
• Principle of Wish-less Work 
• Principle of Esprit
• Principle of Publicity 
• Principle of Purity
• Principle of Humanity 
• Principle of Universal Values
• Principle of Commitment 
• Principle of Rationality 
• Principle of Communicability 
• Principle of non-Cooperation in Evils 
• Principle of Cooperation with Other 
• Principle of Satisfaction 
• Principle of Coordinate Ends and Means 
• Principle of Due Process 
• Principle of Liking in Expectations 
• Principle of Transparency