Example Of Ethical System Case Study

Ethics refers to norms or principles that govern the conduct of behavior. Ethics guides a person to maintain an acceptable behavior in the society. Ethics is also broad and can apply on a person or organizational level (Hartman, 2002). This paper intends to explore the concept of ethics by first examining my personal ethical system. The paper will further explore the primary principles and sources that form the basis for my ethical system. The paper will also explain the effects of my ethical principles in a workplace and why ethics is essential in an organization. Lastly, this paper will examine the paper will reflect on the role of ethics in on a personal, organizational and societal level.
Firstly a person acquires ethical values at an early stage in life (Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, 2015). Ideally, when a person is born, he/she does not have any knowledge of ethics or values. Parents acknowledge the lack of these ethics and hence will provide for anything and give their attention till the child starts to grow up. Childhood marks the beginning of a life-long journey on knowing the acceptable behaviors in the society (Hartman, 2002). However, during this stage parents play a role of developing their children’s values through exposing them to various life situations helps in the development of good decision-making skills.
Besides that, I believe personal values define my character since they are unique. Personally, I hold many values. For instance, I believe people are responsible for their deeds. I also believe in a family unity and hence always struggle to maintain cordial relations with my family members. Moreover, I cherish honesty because it is the source for trust. Besides that, I believe people learn from their mistakes and hence should be given a second chance in every situation.
I believe the sources to the development of my values come from different areas. For instance, when I was young we regularly had watched a movie together and, my parents on the need for my siblings and me to remain united. My parents emphasized for unity and cooperation. If there was any problem he recommended for dialogue. Besides that, my interaction with various people especially in school has helped shaped my values. For instance, I have learned to tolerate other people’s views and give my honest opinion in anything. As stated earlier, I believe people should not be judged from their first mistakes and hence should always be given a second chance. I believe I gained this value from observing how my teachers treat fellow students. My teachers do not always judge the performance of student through a first test but after a series of tests. I believe the continuous evaluation of a person’s performance on regular tests gives a person the space to correct their mistakes. Teachers make conclusive evaluations of a student after reviewing their performance in tests that are spread all over the semester.
Besides that, I think I value a duty-based ethical system. This is where a person holds a moral duty to act or behave in way that is clear and leaves the society or external parties to determine if the behavior is acceptable or wrong. I believe I hold this ethical system because I always adhere to laws or regulations. I believe observance of regulations helps minimize friction that will hurt other people. For instance, when driving me always observe the traffic rules. Apart from traffic, I always struggle to adhere to other governmental laws or policies because I know if I violate them I may hurt another person or find myself on the wrong side of the law.
I believe my ethical principles play an essential role in how I operate at a workplace. Ideally, the ethical principles help establish cordial working relations with other people. The principles minimize collisions with other co-workers because I give them space and accommodate their views. Apart from establishing good working relations, my ethical principles help in fostering good communication with clients. I believe the ethical principles have helped in boosting customer confidence and loyalty because I always struggle to give necessary support to them. My ethical principles also have helped foster cooperation and helped in solving workplace disputes especially among workers. For instance, I use the principles in bringing together the warring workers and guide them in reaching a common ground where they can find a solution to their conflicts. Therefore, the ethical principles have not only helped in enhancing cooperation but also, motivating workers to work together for the realization of the workplace goals.
I believe ethics is essential in any business entity. Normally, an organization acts as a family with the workers being members of the family (Hartman, 2002). The interactions among the families should be in an organized manner. Ethics helps in the arrangement of an organization’s conduct especially the workers behavior so that they can enhance their productivity. Moreover, it helps an organization maintain cordial relations with other external stakeholders such as investors, and public. Besides that, the current business world requires firm to act in a way that improves the social status of the people. Firms nowadays cannot realize business growth if they do not engage in business practices that seem to improve welfare in the society. Firms have realized that ethics plays a great role in enhancing business growth. Ethics helps business to operate in a way that is acceptable to a majority people in the society. Ethics also helps firms establish strong brands that attract potential customers.
Organizations have also realized that gaining a good social status depends on the values they hold (DePaul University, 2015). For instance, firms that value quality provision of services attract more customers and hence realize more revenues. Moreover, firms that value sound customer service experiences establish solid customer bases that help in boosting their sales growth. Ethics also prevents organizations from engaging in practices that put the lives of people in the society at risk. For instance, firms nowadays know the importance of properly disposing of their industrial waste that may pose a danger to the people. Therefore, ethics is an essential component in an organization.
Apart from an organizational perspective, ethics plays an essential role in shaping the conduct of people in the society. It ensures people desist from engaging in acts that are unacceptable in the society. For instance, ethics makes people realize the value of maintaining peace hence minimizing the chances for eruptions of wars. Besides that, ethics guided people into respective governing authority and other institutions. Specifically, ethics guides people to observe and respect governmental laws and regulations. Besides that, ethics ensures the society operate in a way that upholds equality. Therefore, ethics is a broad aspect that affects different stakeholders including, people, organizations and even the society.

References

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. (2015). Association for Practical and Professional Ethics :: Home. Retrieved from http://www.indiana.edu/~appe/
Hartman, L. P. (2002). Perspectives in business ethics. Boston: McGraw-Hill.