HUMAN SERVICES AND ETHICS

Human Services and Ethics

Abstract

Ethics in any discipline help people to organize their behavior in a way approved by the society. Thus, it is mandatory for the people to follow a specific code of ethics in order to perform every activity in an organize way. This study attempts to find out the significance of ethics in human service. The study initially discusses the basic area code of ethics cover, and discuss it various types in order to understand the importance of ethics. The study to prove the effectiveness of ethics, discusses various researchers and theorists perspectives. From the detailed discussion on ethics it has been found, that ethics is crucial in human services, and must be followed by the professional in order to create and maintain a prosperous society.

Human Services and Ethics

Introduction

Aldo Leopold said that a person can only be ethical to anything if the person could feel, understand, touch, love or else have faith in that thing. Ethics in every walk of life is crucial; as it limits individuals/organization to follow the define set of practice, which will create a harmonic environment in the society. An ethical code is usually adopted by professionals, organizations and people in an attempt to assist in making decisions and to direct proper behaviors. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word ethics refers to “a principle of right or wrong conduct,” or “a system of morals and values,” and regulations according to which, the behavior of professionals are governed. In this sense, to be ethical is to act according to the recognized principles of wrong and right, which govern the behavior of an occupation.

In this connection, ethics is the act of applying moral principles in the performance of our work and lives, which are easier, said than done. Along with the challenge of doing the right thing, comes the difficulty of moral reasoning, knowing the right course of action. Moral reasoning is complicated because principles may conflict. Resnik (1998), referring to ethics in the sciences, has suggested eight moral principles:

Nonmaleficence: do not cause any harm either yourself or to others

Benevolence: show goodwill towards people and yourself

Liberty: This permit rational people to make informed choices with autonomy

Impartiality: dealing every person with justice and impartiality

Usefulness: maximizing the proportion of benefits to harm for everyone

Faithfulness: Always keep commitments and promises

Truthfulness: Never deceive, lie, or mislead anyone

Confidentiality: Always respect the confidentiality of everyone (Melito, 2003)

A code of values, an ethical construct that begins with these shared beliefs, can serve as a foundation for an ethical life; yet, ethical dilemmas arise when moral principles come into conflict. Ethics then becomes the hard work of sorting out from among competing ethical constructs how these principles apply in this particular instance and how to resolve the conflict among these principles that may occur. It is often about difficult choices in a complex and contradictory world. What happens when justice is in conflict with mercy or when freedom conflicts with order? Most understand the distinction between wrong and right ...