Professional ethics and value

1. 1 | Ethical Decision Making
ETHICAL DECISION
MAKING
Presented by:
Mahak Bansal, Sumit Singh, Shubhangi, Ankita Kumari, Anchal
Kumari

2. 2 | Ethical Decision Making
What is Ethics?
Ethics is based on well-founded
standards of right and wrong that
prescribe what humans ought to do,
usually in terms of rights, obligations,
benefits to society, fairness, or specific
virtues.
At its simplest, ethics is a system of
moral principles. They affect how
people make decisions and lead their
lives.

3. 3 | Ethical Decision Making
Ethical Dilemma
An ethical dilemma is a conflict between
two options in which, regardless of what
a person does, some ethical principles
will be violated.

4. 4 | Ethical Decision Making
Three conditions must be present for a situation to be considered
an ethical dilemma:
1. The first condition occurs when an individual, referred to as an
agent, is faced with deciding which course of action is best.
2. The second condition for an ethical dilemma is that there must be
different courses of action to choose from.
3. Third, in an ethical dilemma, no matter what course of action is
taken, some ethical principle is compromised.

5. 5 | Ethical Decision Making
Your supervisor (Mr. A) enters your office and asks you for a check for
$150.00 for expenses he tells you he incurred entertaining a client last
night. He submits receipts from a restaurant and lounge. At lunch, your
supervisor’s girlfriend stops by to pick him up for lunch, and you overhear
her telling the receptionist what a great time she had at dinner and dancing
with Mr. A the night before. What do you do?

6. 6 | Ethical Decision Making
Sources of Ethical problems
1. Failure of personal Character
2. Conflict of personal values and organizational goals: Intense Competition
and making a profit.
3. Organizational v/s social values
4. Personal beliefs v/s organizational practices: multi-racial and multi-religious
employees
5. Production and sale of hazardous but popular products: example, sale of
cigarettes
6. Other ethical challenges: price-fixing, unfair shares, discriminating wage
structure, etc.

7. 7 | Ethical Decision Making
What does ethical decision-
making mean?
Though there are many ethical opinions
that most people share, ethics will differ
from person to person.
To make ethical decisions, we must
consider our personal beliefs while also
considering our community’s moral
standards.

8. 8 | Ethical Decision Making
Why is ethical decision-making
important?
From what we choose to wear in the
morning to what we decide to eat for
dinner at night, we are constantly making
decisions.
Through everyday decisions that seem
inconsequential and repetitive, they set the
foundation for what we will do and how
we will do it.
In business and our personal lives, it is
important to make decisions that are a
representation of who we are and what we
want to accomplish.

9. 9 | Ethical Decision Making
Why should you make ethical
decisions?
There are many reasons why you would want to make ethical decisions for
your business and these decisions can directly impact the success of your
business. Below are some great reasons why it is important to reflect on
both your personal and community ethics when making business decisions.
1. Your reputation matters.
2. It can bring you business.
3. You feel good about it.

10. 10| Ethical Decision Making
How does ethical decision-
making affect success?
Doing the right thing for yourself
is part of ethical decision making.
Though this may sound selfish it
doesn’t have to be. How you define
success is an important part of
becoming successful. Sometimes
our business decisions can affect
the lives of others. If we are driven
by monetary success we may need
to consider at what cost that comes
to others.

11. 11| Ethical Decision Making
Paying fair wages while still
taking a profit for yourself could
be considered an ethical decision
for many business owners and
entrepreneurs.
Others may find that
operating their business of an
environmentally sustainable
philosophy brings them a sense
of accomplishment.

12. 12| Ethical Decision Making
Factors Affecting Decision
Making

13. 13| Ethical Decision Making
Individual Factors
1. Age and Gender
2. Nationality and Cultural Characteristics
3. Education and Employment
4. Personal Values
5. Psychological Factors including cognitive moral
development
5. Locus of Control - External vs. Internal Control

14. 14| Ethical Decision Making
Situational Factors
1. Moral Framing
2. Magnitude of Consequences
3. Social Consensus
4. Probability of Effect
5. Concentration of effect
MISSIO N
VA LU E
VISION

15. 15| Ethical Decision Making
Contextual Factors
1. System and Reward
2. Authority
3. Bureaucracy
4. Work Role
5. Organisational Cultural and
Social Norms

16. 16| Ethical Decision Making
Framework for
Ethical Decision
Making
A 7- step Process

17. 17| Ethical Decision Making

18. 18| Ethical Decision Making
Barriers to Ethical
Decision Making
1. Lack of knowledge of Ethical Standards
2. Financial Incentives
3. Perfectionism
4. Fear of Criticism/Scrutiny by Others
5. High Affiliative Needs
6. Personal and/or Professional Immaturity
7. Counsellor Substance Abuse
8. Lack of Personal Values Clarification
9. Limitations of Codes of Ethics and
Conduct
10. Lack of a Decision Making Model

19. 19| Ethical Decision Making
Ethical decision making
for business
Your reputation matters – your customers and
community like to see that you are more than
just a money maker. People will want to buy
from you or use your services if they believe
you are a good and ethical person.
If you are an entrepreneur, then you are likely
the face of or the person responsible for your
business. There are many reasons why you
would want to make ethical decisions for your
business and these decisions can directly
impact the success of your business.

20. 20| Ethical Decision Making
Business decisions can affect the lives
of others. If you are driven by monetary
success you may need to consider at
what cost that comes to others. The
ultimate goal is to create a culture within
which making ethical business decisions
is the norm.

21. 21| Ethical Decision Making
Mr. B runs a company, where Mr. C, the now ex-employee whose situation
was very peculiar, had worked in Mr. B’s office for six years. In most people’s
opinion, an honest day’s work is not something you would expect from her even
if she sat the whole day on her work desk. Mr. C’s supervisors counselled her
regularly. Mr. B gave her days off without cutting off her vacation or sick leave
so that she could receive drug rehabilitation on several different occasions. He
even went as far as defending her work to her immediate supervisors. Mr. B had
had an affair with Mr. C that lasted for the first five and a half years of Mr. C’s
employment. Mr. C had decided to leave the agency as Mr. B refused to leave
his wife to marry her. Mr. B was filled with guilt but he loved his wife too much
to do this. When the employee (Mr. C) gave her resignation, she discreetly told
Mr. B that if he gave her a bad recommendation, she would make sure his wife
learned about the affair down to its smallest detail. Now Mr. B was left to decide
as to what kind of an employee this person was and if he would recommend
that Mr. A hire her.
Case Study

22. 22| Ethical Decision Making
EASY
RIGHT
What should Mr. A do?

23. 23| Ethical Decision Making
Notwithstanding the complexity of rational
decision-making, loading a problem with
ethical considerations makes it even more
challenging. Arriving at an ethical decision
requires the decision-maker to bring ethical
values into the decision calculus along with
all other components of the problem to be
solved. It’s beyond the capacity of the human
mind to make a thorough analysis of all
possible alternative solutions to any problem,
especially when beset by an agglomeration
of other pressures on the job.
It is requisite on the decision maker to decide
which values are more important and to see
that they are maximized without unduly
minimizing other positive values, and then
move forward with the decision.

24. 24| Ethical Decision Making
Thank You!