Graduating School and Ethical Standards in Professional Situations - Essay Example

If you work in a police station where people are corrupt, being ethically purse might help you if you rely on your corrupt boss to promote you. A third source is what you bring to the table, and how you have been raised. You contribute your ethics and values to the group with which you work. Perhaps at the police station, you can set a very high standard as a role model and encourage people to follow your example.

In my life, I have thought long and hard about why we need ethics. Ethics bind people together. They let the cream rise to the top. In today's world ethical relativism dominates so it is important to have codes that are carefully written down and that are exhaustive and detailed. What is ethical relativism? This is a position that believes that no universal standard exists to assess the truth of the world around us. Relativists often see morals as applying only within certain cultures. These people would say that female genital mutilation is okay because it is a cultural practice and important to a particular culture.

They believe there is no standard on which to base your opinion and they live their life under the precept: To each his own. This is pretty useless for politicians who are supposed to lead and find a basic consensus between people so that everyone can work together. If we just let everyone do what they want our civilization would collapse pretty quickly. Some relativists believe that there is no such thing as truth and that almost anything is permitted by anyone anywhere. In moral relativism there are no absolute, concrete rights and wrongs—there are just things people do and a whole bunch of different opinions about ethics.

An example from my own life about ethics occurred at work. I work inHumann Resources for a non-profit. I am the sole Benefits Coordinator for my organization. Once I had an employee overpay for medical insurance when they were out on FMLA. It was only $5 and I asked my co-worker how to issue a refund. My co-worker stated that going through the refund process would take a significant amount of paperwork and time. She told me I should just forget about it. The employee would have never found out, but I did issue the refund and did not report my co-worker. This was only a small example of an ethical decision, but it is a good illustration of a slippery slope. All ethical breakdowns begin somewhere. At first, you do a tiny thing that is wrong, but soon afterward you are taking larger and larger liberties within the ethical framework. Ethics are a zero-sum game. You can afford to ethically relax your standards. Read More