ETHICS

Ethics

Ethics

Introduction

In today's rapidly changing business environment most of the businesses are facing challenges related to the development of corporate ethical culture. There is no doubt about the fact that 'ethics' has received widespread attention from various circles working on the identification of personal characteristics and behaviours associated with organizational ethics (Boone & Kurtz, 2011). In general, Ethics can be defined as “The discipline dealing with what is good and bad with moral duty and obligation” (Webster, 2011). It is also a fact that 'Ethics' is generally applicable to every aspect of life that teaches individuals how to react and deal with any particular situation and people connected to it.

Personal ethics, in this regard, is usually seen as philosophy that guides an individual to take correct course of action with its moral implications. In other words, personal ethics is a reflection of the constructive characteristics of an individual. It is also important to know that personal ethics also have positive or negative impacts not only on the individual but also people associated with that individual such as his or her employer, colleagues and friends. In addition, the ethical concentration is also varying in nature and differs from individual to individual.

Similarly, the importance of Ethics cannot be denied from organisational perspectives as most of the organisations follow well-defined Code of Ethics. The main purpose of this code of ethics in organisations is to guide employees to take better decisions in relation to their every day activities (Boone & Kurtz, 2011). In fact, the code can be defined as a framework of company's value, standards and behaviours that ensures employees compliance with the ethical standards. This paper aims to describe the characteristics and behaviours of an ethical person and his or her decision making at workplace.

Discussion

Characteristics and Behaviours of Ethical Person

Every business desires to have ethical characteristics and behaviour in their employees. No doubt, human resource department plays a significant role in identifying the ethical concentrations in individuals and make their best efforts to select a person with high ethics (Heugens & Scherer, 2010). However, it is not guaranteed that the hired individual will comply with the company's code of ethics. In other words, it depends on the individual who could demonstrate positive as well as negative characteristics at workplace that may affect not only other employees but also the organisation.

It is also a fact that most of the individuals want to be recognised as an ethical person rather than a person with bad ethical characteristics as they do not want others to insult their character (Heugens & Scherer, 2010). It is important to discuss about Mike Harper who works as a manager in a high-tech firm. Mike is highly recognised as an ethical person just because of the characteristics and positive behaviour with other in the company. Mike always demonstrates high level of honesty at every stage of his work. For example, whenever he makes any mistakes he does not hide the information behind his mistake and accept it with open ...