A634.2.4.RB – Theories of Ethics
Theories of Ethics
Claire et al. (n.d.) defined ethics as the standards of right and
wrong that are defined as what humans are
obliged to do when it comes to the
obligations, rights, and benefits to
fairness and/or specific virtues. They
further stated that it also refers to the
development of one’s ethical standards, i.e.,
feelings, social norms, or attributes. The way I see it, ethics is our moral beliefs that conform to the way we live
and the way we create our world through the choices we make every day and most specifically, it is the
epicenter of our existence.
Different studies conducted by
psychologists indicated that an
individual’s ethical behavior is impacted by an individual’s moral judgment and perception (Andre and Velasquez,
n.d.). Tiatorio (n.d.) stated that
ethical conduct in its purest form is a balance between self-interest
and group responsibility, predominantly a
behavior learned to stand in
contradiction to an instinct.
Telling the Truth
Shamir and
Eilam (2005) claimed that knowing our true or real self may include some
instance of self-delusion which meant that there might be of us who believed
that we have been endowed with exceptional qualities and who are acting purely
on such belief. It is regrettable
to think that for us to be successful, we have to manipulate or deceive others. Authentic
individuals know who they are, and perhaps the egotistical side of them catches
them at times. There may be times also that they justify the actions they
take as morally sound that whatever decisions they make do not matter.
As LaFollette (2007) told us, the majority of us have one
way, or another said a “white lie.” We lie
to others like our spouses, children, co-workers to protect their feelings getting
hurt or avoid unnecessary conflict. For
example, if I lie to my husband about buying new pairs of shoes which are not part
of our budget, I would say that the truth would just cause us unnecessary conflict
or argument.
I used to shop for clothes and shoes without telling my husband only
because I went over my monthly budget.
So I thought, whatever my husband
doesn’t know won’t hurt and will not cause argument. At first, I would tell my husband that I
bought a new pair of shoes but hide the fact that I also bought a dress that
would match the shoes. When I wear the
new clothing that I purchased a month or
two months after, my husband used to say, “honey, you looked beautiful in that dress. Is that new?”. I would then say, “Of course not. With a full closet of clothes that I have,
you must not have just remembered this one”.
At first, I usually panicked and rushed my way out to the office. I felt so sorry that I literally had to lie
to my husband.
Then, it became a habit until, he finally said, “honey,
you don’t have to hide the clothes that you buy. You work so hard, and you deserve everything
that you need and want”. My only
response was full of apology. Every time
I come home with a shopping bag(s), my husband is with all his heart excited to
see how the new clothes would look on me.
Although I don’t always get an “okay” reaction, still, you can sense
that honesty exists in our home. As Velazques et al. (n.d) stated, ethics does
not just pertain to the morality of a specific behavior, but it is also about
our goodness and our recognition of the real meaning of living a good life.
Sexual Harassment
One of my classmate,
John, has an employee who had a problem with a member of his female team who was also John’s
supervisor. Rupert would call John’s female supervisor inappropriate
names on several occasions. He tried to build allegiance with others with
his comments in regards to her background, how he thinks she got the leadership
position, and her performance and knowledge. Rupert would continuously do
this until finally, John told Rupert to stop
his inappropriate behavior and that it may construe
as sexual harassment.
John reported the
incident to the company’s Employee Relation representative. Unfortunately, the appropriate disciplinary action did not take place and to make the matter
worse, Rupert was promoted to a higher position in
a different department. John tried to apply the best ethical decision of reporting
the incidents as well as doing the right thing in keeping a hostile free environment,
trying to rebuild a team with the cohesion
of agency values. John believed that it will take a while to restore a team
that has trust for one another as a result of the removed aggressor.
As an HR
practitioner, I would recommend to John’s leaders to be mindful and practice
self-awareness of their workplace behavior setting up good examples. Becoming a
real leader is growing to be a strong individual with a strong foundation of
principles, values, and ethics to have the ability to support and nurture others
that are weaker than them. Leaders need
to educate their staff that for every bad behavior or decisions they make comes
with consequences. Unfortunately, with Rupert’s
situation, something went wrong. Rupert received
a reward rather than disciplinary action for this unethical behavior.
Death Penalty
The 5th commandment of God
states “thou shalt not kill.” Simply
defined, it means that it is immoral or unethical to take another’s life or an
immortal sin for Christians. There are some
states in the US that support’s killing as a capital punishment for severe
brutal acts such as murder and rape. It
is not considered unethical or immoral to some but to other’s killing is
killing, and it is immoral no matter what.
To a consequentialist, if the implementation
of the death penalty across the board within the United States of America can and
will save innocent lives, then, legalizing the death penalty in the US can be justified
considerably ethical. To a deontologist,
on the other hand, institutionalizing the killing of a guilty individual for murdering
an innocent child or another human being is as much as unethical and immoral as
to killing an innocent child.
Conclusion
Morality predominantly
pertains to the manner we behave that affects the people around us. Therefore, when we give moral reasoning, we
must consider due weight to the interest of others (LaFollette, 2007, p. 54)
and we must consistently and actively try
to avoid bias that may cloud our judgment.
Our worth and value as human beings are equally worthy with the same level
of dignity, humanity, and sense of fairness.
Ethics is that of our moral beliefs that conform to the way we live
and the way we create our world through the choices we make every day. We
are the best of who we are when we ethically live our lives in excellence,
compassion, accountability, and with empathy
to others. Ethics is the peace of mind that
we experience every time we are making
decisions that are right for us and to others at the same time.
References
Andre, C. & Velasquez, M. (n.d.). Can
ethics be taught? Retrieved
Claire, A., & Velasquez, M. (n.d.). Can
ethics be taught? Retrieved
LaFollette, H. (2007). The practice of ethics.
Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Putnam, M. S. (n.d.). Reflections on the golden rule. Retrieved from
http://www.globalethicsuniversity.com/articles/thegoldenrule.htm
Shamir, B. & Eilam, G.
(2005). “What’s your story? A life-stories approach to authentic
leadership development”. The Leadership Quarterly 16
(2005) 395-417. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew
University, Jerusalem. School of Business Administration, Ono Academic College,
Israel.
Tiatorio, A. (n.d.). What is Ethics? Retrieved
from http://www.ethicsineducation.com/intro.htm (Links to an external
site.)Links to an external site.
Velasquez,
M., Andre, C., Shanks, A., S.J., and Meyer, M.
(n.d.). What is ethics? Retrieved from
http://ibccatl.weebly.com/uploads/9/2/2/4/9224085/what_is_ethics.pdf.
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