Professional Ethics Need of Professional Ethics Characteristics Challenges in Decision Making Employment Rights Conflict of Interest Employment Relationship at Workplace

1. PROFESSIONAL ETHICS &
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
MODULE II
By Dr. Nancy Girdhar
Ethical Issues & Practices at Workplaces

2. Books and References
Text:
• John R Boatright, “Ethics and the Conduct of Business”, Pearson Education,
New Delhi, 2003
• Edmund G Seebauer and Robert L Barry, “Fundametals of Ethics for
Scientists and Engineers”, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001
References:
• Laura P. Hartman and Joe Desjardins, “Business Ethics: Decision Making for
Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility” Mc Graw Hill education, India Pvt.
Ltd. New Delhi 2013.
• A Global Standard for Professional Ethics: Cross-Border Business Concerns By
Allen, Catherine; Bunting, Robert Journal of Accountancy, Vol. 205, No. 5, May
2008

3. • Professional Ethics
• Need of Professional Ethics
• Characteristics
• Challenges in Decision Making
• Employment Rights
• Conflict of Interest
• Employment Relationship at Workplace
Content

4. Introduction
Professional ethics examines the moral and ethical
issues that arise in a corporate environment.

5. • It has been found that a majority of professionals
face ethical problems in their professional life, as
compared to non-professionals.
• E.g., Doctor, Policeman
• It’s difficult to understand the way a person is
expected to act under complex situations.
What is Professional Ethics?

6. • Legal is that concerns with law or its workings.
• Ethics is used to define norms and Morals of an
individual.
• Legal act is applicable to all people in a state or country
whereas ethics is society specific.
• Legal and Ethical are spatio-temporal i.e. change with
time and space. Example- slavery was justified in
history.
Legal Vs Ethical ?

7. • Responsible and Reliable employee practices
• Stays Productive
• Responsible for his actions
• Punctual
• Focused
• Should have Problem Solving and Decision Making
approach
Ethics for Employees

8. • Encouraging cultivation and practice of good ethics.
• Fair assessments to their employees.
• Sharing power and responsibility.
• Transparency
• Training to enhance knowledge of employees.
Ethics for Employees cont..

11. • Ethics is a collection of values
and behavior which people
feel are moral.
Work Ethics

12. 1. Attendance

13. 2. Character
 Be Honest
 Demonstrate trustworthiness
and responsible behavior
 Take initiatives
 Self discipline

14. 3. Team Work
 Respect the rights of
others.
 Respects confidentiality
 Displays a customer
service behavior

15. 4. Appearance
 Present a neat, clean
appearance
 Wear clothing suitable
to the job, task or
environment

16. 5. Attitude
 Demonstrate positive
attitude
 Appear self confident
 Have realistic expectations
of self

17. 6. Productivity
 Positive attitude
 Utilize time constructively
 Always follows directions and
procedures

18. 7. Organizational Skills
 Time management
skills
 Ask for help

19. 8. Communication

20. 9. Cooperation
 Demonstrate problem
solving capabilities
 Maintain appropriate
relationship with peer
and supervisor

21. 10. Respect
Here are ways to show respect for
someone's feelings:
 asking them how they feel
 validating their feelings
 empathizing with them
 seeking understanding of their
feelings
 Taking their feelings into
consideration

22. • Professional Rights
• Right to form and express professional judgment
• Right to refuse to participate in unethical activities
• Right to fair recognition and to receive remuneration
for professional services:
• Right to warn public about the dangers
• Right to talk publicly about the job
• Right to engage in the activities of professional societies
Employments Rights

23. • Basic Human Rights
• Right to pursue legitimate personal interest
• Right to make a living
• Right to privacy
• Right to property
• Right of non-discrimination
• No sexual harassment
Employments Rights cont..

24. • Institutional Rights
• Right to receive specified salary
• Right to receive annual increments and profit sharing
etc.
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Patents
• Copyrights
• Non-Contractual Rights
• Right to Privacy
• Right to Choose Outside Activities
• Right to Equal opportunities
• No Discrimination
• No Sexual Harassment
Employments Rights cont..

25. Conflict of Interest arises when we loose the
objectivity while decision making.
Conflict of Interest
Conflict arises when the outside interest influences
or threatens the professional judgements in
serving the employer or client.
It is the result of weaker judgements & services.

26. An engineer is paid based on per cent of cost of the
design.
Ex: Conflict of Interest
So, he makes the design expensive in order to get
larger commission.

27. • Identify the central ethical problem
• Identify affected parties and their interests
• Search for possible solutions for the dilemma
• Evaluate each solution using the interests of
those involved, accorded suitable priority
• Select and justify the solution that best resolves
the dilemma
Ethical Decision Making
Steps for Ethical Decision Making

28. Ethics for Employees
Scenario 1
A colleague confides a secret of
another colleague. Should he/she
spills the beans or not?

29. Think !
• Rajat and Meera are colleagues working in the same company.
They are also in the same team and are working on the same
project. One day, Meera confides in Rajat that she is going to quit
the company after two months.
• Rajat tried to persuade her not to take such kind of decision in
haste, but from Meera’s determination, he realized soon that she
has already made up her mind. She requests him to not share this
with anybody else as she hasn’t mentioned it to anyone but him,
and Rajat promised he won’t.
• After a week, Rajat was having an “off the record” conversation
with his manager in the parking lot, where he came to know that
the management is planning to offer a promotion to either Meera
or Rajat; however, the decision is slightly leaning in favor of Meera.
If Meera is out of the way, Rajat becomes the automatic choice for
the job and he knows that she is going to quit.

30. Think !
• Should Rajat keep quiet or tell the manager?
On one hand, he had promised her to keep
quiet, although under different circumstances.
On the other hand, she is leaving the company
anyway, so telling would only ease up the
process. What would you have done?

31. Ethics for Employees
Scenario 2
A person applying for a job and he
exaggerated about his experience!

32. Think !
• Rishi was employed for a year as an accountant with Agri Chemicals Pvt.
Ltd., a fertilizer-manufacturing plant. After that, he applied for a job with
QWERTY Solutions, a reputed company in Bengaluru. The requirement of
the desired candidate profile is mentioned as “experience of 2-5 years
in Accounting.”
• Rishi didn’t want to lose the opportunity of working with a renowned
company and hence he falsely mentioned ‘3 years of working
experience’ on his resume. He got selected and quickly created a
reputation of being a good performer. He was even “The Promising
Employee of the Month” twice in the first six months.
• One day, one of Rishi’s colleagues decided to collect some background
information about him, out of pure jealousy. He went to Agri Chemicals
and discovered the truth. Needless to say, he came back and spilled
the beans.
• Rishi’s supervisor was very disturbed on hearing this, as he had a very
good impression about Rishi , and was actually deciding to promote him
so that he can share a few of the managerial responsibilities.

33. Think !
• When Rishi exaggerated his experience on his
resume, do you think he must have feared that he
would eventually be caught? What would you have
done, if you were in a similar situation?
• What would you have done if you had known
the truth about Rishi instead of his colleague?
Explain your view.
• If you were applying for a job and come across
a similar scenario, would you be tempted to do
the same as Rishi did? Explain your view.

34. • Professional Ethics is a way to provide an answer
to those difficult questions through extensive
training, sharing real-life examples, and following
the practices that makes a profession ethical.
Professional Ethics Need

35. THANK YOU!