2. Basic of Ethics
Ethics: What should I do?
Ethics, or moral philosophy, ask basic questions about the good life,
about what is better and worse, about whether there is any objective
right and wrong, and about how we know it if there is.
3. Ethics: What Does It Really Mean???
• Derived from Greek word ‘Ethicos’ meaning Character or Manners
• Science of character of a person expressed as right or wrong conduct
or action.
• Set of moral principles prescribing code, explains what is good and
right, or bad and wrong.
4. Theory of Ethics…
A systematic exposition of a particular view about what is the
nature and basis of good or right.
An ethical theory provides reasons or norms for judging acts to be
right or wrong and attempts to give a justification.
moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting
of an activity.
the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.
5. Why be Ethical?
• Ethical questions are an inescapable part of being human.
• Think and act according to ethical judgments all the time.
• Drive of actions are unknown– underpinning habits that lead us to act
for good or ill without serious thought.
• Ethical reflection helps us make responsible judgments that reflect
what we care about most.
6. • DESCRIPTIVE: Factual, describes what IS
• NORMATIVE: Evaluative, describes what SHOULD BE
• Ethics can be termed as the science of character of a person
expressed as right or wrong conduct or action
7. For example: What is right and
wrong?
• A 12-year-old girl was taken in marriage in the village of Bihar, India. Is
that good or bad? Why?
• Should the death penalty apply for a man or woman engaged in
consensual homosexual acts or lesbian acts?
• Is it good for a husband to donate his sperm to his infertile wife, so that
she can be artificially inseminated and perhaps bear their child?
• You should act in your own best interest.
8. Meaning of Ethics
Character of
man
Conduct of
person Series of
Action
Good or Bad; Right or
wrong; moral or
immoral
Decided by Leads to
Taken together/
Consider as
Moral Standard
Known as moral
judgment
requires
By which we
can judge
again
9. • Think about a significant decision that you have made that had
aneffect (either for good or bad) on the lives of other people.
• This could be a decision about changing a job, moving home,
responding to a dilemma, helping somebody who was in difficulty,
etc.
• How did you arrive at your decision?
• Was your decision based explicitly on ideas of what was right and
wrong? Try to examine and record precisely the
justifications for your decision. Can you identify any
underlying principles or rules which you used to reach your
decision?
10. Examples of such underlying principles or rules
might include:
• 'I should do the best thing for my career in the long run.'
• 'It is OK to tell someone a lie if it prevents someone from
being hurt by the truth.'
• 'I should always help someone in difficulty.'
11. Ethics and Morality
• Ethics is connection with the activities of organizations and with
professional codes of conduct:
medical and business ethics, which are often formalized in terms of
exhaustive sets of rules or guidelines stating how employees are expected
to behave in their workplaces (such as in respect of a duty of care or
confidentiality that health-care workers owe to their patients; or the
medical ethical principles of beneficence, non-maleficence, respect for
autonomy, and justice).
• Morality, on the other hand, is more often used in connection with the ways in
which individuals conduct their personal, private lives, often in relation to
personal financial probity, lawful conduct and acceptable standards of
interpersonal behavior (including truthfulness, honesty, and sexual propriety).
12. Value
• Values - enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct or end state
of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or
converse mode of conduct or end state of existence.
• Instrumental - values that represent the acceptable behaviors to be
used in achieving some end state.
• Terminal - values that represent the goals to be achieved, or the end
states of existence.
13. Work
• Achievement (career advancement)
• Concern for others (compassionate behavior)
• Honesty (provision of accurate information)
• Fairness (impartiality)
14. Handling Cultural Differences
• Learn about others’ values
• Avoid prejudging
• Operate legitimately within others ethical points of view
• Avoid rationalizing
• Refuse to violate fundamental values
• Be open and above board
15. • Ethical Behavior - acting in ways consistent with one’s personal values
and the commonly held values of the organization and society.
16. Qualities Required for Ethical Decision-
making
The competence to identify ethical issues and evaluate
the consequences of alternative courses of action
The self-confidence to seek out different opinions about
the issue and decide what is right in terms of a situation
Tough-mindedness--the willingness to make decisions
when all that needs to be known cannot be known and when
the ethical issue has no established, unambiguous solution
17. Individual/Organizational Model of
Ethical Behavior
Individual Influences
Value systems
Locus of control
Machiavellianism
Cognitive moral development
Organizational Influences
Codes of conduct
Norms
Modeling
Rewards and punishments
Ethical
Behavior
18. Values, Ethics & Ethical Behavior
Value Systems - systems of beliefs that affect what the individual
defines as right, good, and fair
Ethics - reflects the way values are acted out
Ethical behavior - actions consistent with one’s values
20. Ethics
• Universalism States that
individuals should uphold
certain values, like honesty,
regardless of the results. The
important values are the ones
society needs to function. (Rule
based or deontological, an
inherent ‘right’ apart from any
consequences.)
• Utilitarianism States that the
greatest good for society should
be the overriding concern of
decision makers.
(Consequential, or teleological)
emphasizes the results of
behavior.)
21. Continued…
• Justice Theories – State moral
standards are based upon the
primacy of a single value, which
is justice. Everyone should act
to ensure a more equitable
distribution of benefits, for this
promotes self-respect, essential
for social cooperation.
• The Four Way Test
• 1. Is it the TRUTH?
• 2. Is if FAIR to all concerned?
• 3. Will it build GOODWILL and
better friendships?
• 4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all
concerned?
