Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making - Research Paper Example

Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making Abstract Moral values develop and retain the basic bedrock of society. For me, it is essential to understand those values which determine and influence on the moral practices and discourage immoral and amoral acts as well. Consequently, understanding of those systems, the approaches of heroes, their commitment to ethical and moral values, the practical demonstration of ethical values that are relevant to personal moral integrity and social moral integrity as well, must be fully contemplated. Right and Wrong Determination I believe that moral values, legal system and related policies mainly provide basis for determining ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ decision; and this has been my life’s central thinking for ascertaining right and wrong aspect in any situation. In the moral values, religion, parental nourishment and other social and cultural values, norms, beliefs, ethos and other practices that directly or indirectly represent a common social practice acceptable to all members of society. Most importantly, these values and social and personal acts and practices have been part and parcel of society since the start of industrial age in which different local and customary values started to receive attention and acceptance from society as a whole. Similarly, provisions of a legal system also enable me to ascertain a particular action is right or wrong. As the law has numerous provisions and requirements for the personal or commercial acts, it is highly important to appropriately know and understand the relevant provisions of legal system before establishing whether the act is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. For me, these are the fundamental values that determine right or wrong status of any issue that takes place either in personal and professional life. It is the impact and influence of these rules that enables me to decide how to observe certain personal and professional issues and how to make a value-based judgment on such issues. Four Examples of Ethical Behaviors and their Nature (Given below) For me, examples of honesty (personal), equality (personal), diversity (Professional) and fairness (Professional) represent attachment to the moral values and ethics as well. For example, once I bought grocery items and the salesman mistakenly gave me more money than the required one after paying the billed amount. As soon as I realized that the salesman has paid more than the billed amount and I returned the additional amount to the salesperson. In this way, I maintained my integrity and displayed the example of an honest and ethical person. Because the additional amount that was being given to me was not my right to receive and it was my ethical responsibility to show some ethical values by returning back the additional money to the salesman. Equality should not only be valued but it should be demonstrated through personal acts. Once I attended a cultural gathering in which people from middle and upper class were invited. In this gathering, separate treatment and reception was given to the guests; special services and chairs were arranged for the upper class and different treatment was shown to the middle class members. During a ceremony in that gathering, I was asked to sit on a chair while other middle class guests were asked to sit a different kind of arrangement which was arranged on the floor; and the message was portrayed that due to limited seating arrangement, guests were requested to sit on the floor. However, I did not sit on the chair but asked the event manager that I would prefer to sit on the floor. As my ethical values prefer equality, I did not compromise on it. Workplace diversity is a professional demonstration of social value system. In society, people from different ethnic, religious, cultural and other backgrounds live together and they do not normally make any distinction when they make friends and do not ask for identity proof before making friendship. Based on this analysis, I prefer to make friends from different cultures and social and economic backgrounds because it provides me an opportunity to explore other cultures and this unique experience symbolizes my preference to diversity even in the social, personal and professional life. Fairness is also a professional behavior. It is a social and professional behavior that is normally observed when an elder talks with younger family members. I have two younger brothers and both are very dear to me. I do not discriminate but show my equal respect and care for my both brothers and this care is depicted when I give gifts of equal amount to both. Professional/Ethical Hero Sensitivity, appropriate boundaries, respect for privacy, ethical commitment and ethical courage are the fundamentally inbuilt to the principled approach. In the principled approach, ethical consideration is not limited to the decision relating to personal decision making but it is also relevant and important for those areas where the sensitivities of other persons are also involved. As human personality has a social dimension, consequently, it is highly important to develop such value system in which those values should be developed and respected which one way or other affect other humans. Ethical heroes or leadership creates ethical culture (Ferrell et al., 2013, p.311). Characteristics of role of model include principled-based approach, honest, benevolent and spiritual. These fours characteristics are strong indicator of silent features of hero. Broadly speaking, each aspect has unique dimension and impact on the overall outlook of hero. For example, as mentioned in the article, hero is known by his achievements in life. And these achievements receive social recognition and admiration from individuals and society as well. In this regard, it is important to highlight that such achievements require a strong commitment to moral and personal values that provide energy and strength to hero’s aspiration and this aspiration is regularly fed by the level of motivation and confidence provided by the beliefs that are inbuilt part of hero’s commitment to integrity. Subsequently, highly recognized value of honesty is also important in which it is highly essential that the hero must not leave any stone unturned to complete any personal or social objective through putting maximum effort and energy until the job is not achieved. In this process, it is inbuilt impact of honesty that encourages the hero to continue working hard. In this regard, it is important to mention that the major influence and benefit of honesty largely remains internal in which the internal beliefs and value systems are nurtured through the process of strong commitment to moral and ethical values. Additionally, the role of spiritually is also important for developing and retaining commitment to the values of ethics. In this process, interaction between person and God and the values that are natural in the human nature and society is central to the relationship between the person and God as well. As a result, the strong commitment to the moral and ethical values also receives strength and encouragement from spiritually in which the person always expects that God will always expect that the person should not compromise on the values that are highly integral to the relationship between God and the person. Additionally, the relationship between the person and God must not always remain within them but the positive effect of this relationship must also be felt by other humans and creations as well. In this regard, it is important to highlight that all major values in the ethics and value system fundamentally receive support from the spirituality and consequently, the strength and level of spiritually always influence on the inter-personal and intra-personal relationship as well. Influence on the Personal Value System Moral judgment and moral action is important for education facilitators (Wright, 1995). Previously, the ethical values, such as honesty, fairness, equality and diversity were my main activities that received major significance while interacting with other persons. I also believed that such ethical values are temporal and are only developed by humans for interacting and communicating more responsibly and equitably as well. However, after going through the article and understanding the dynamics of spirituality, it became clear to me that the role of spirituality is like watering to a new plant and this process of providing water should always be continued throughout life. In this example, water and plant are represented as spirituality and ethical value system respectively. If the ethical value system is essential and needed to be intact throughout life, then it would be only possible through the support of spirituality. Ethical Decision-Making Style My personal experience with moral values has been very common. For example, my mentor has been always of the opinion that the true happiness does not come from behaving selfishly and it does not come by making others’ realize that they are inferior but the true secret of enjoying eternal happiness comes through by facilitating others or helping others achieve something. Later on, it became clear that the mentor was absolutely right and has identified a true source of happiness. For example, once one of my friends needed some money to purchase books and the need for books was very genuine but the friend did not have sufficient money to buy the desired books. On the same day, I was scheduled for a picnic trip with my friends and for this trip I saved some money. When my friend came to me and told me the necessity of books and asked me to help him out. For me, it was very difficult to make this decision because if I give money to my needy friend, my entire scheduled trip would be postponed. After a few minutes, I decided to give money to the friend and he purchased the books. After few days, he informed me that without his money in that crucial and difficult time, it would have not been possible for him to successfully pass the examination. At that time, I felt the true sense of happiness. Examples from Autobiography Part for Discussion Honesty is the basic social moral value that plays a key role for developing and understanding ethical boundaries with other persons. In this regard, it is important to mention that a person must not only be honest but that honesty must also be displayed. For example, if a person comes for advice on a career choice, it is important to know all relevant factors and future ramifications before going to provide a decent piece of advice. While developing advice, it is highly significant that the advisor must reflect honesty and honest approach must be displayed from the given advice. If any advice is given, it is the responsibility of the advisor to inform the future consequences of choosing any career option. Professional and Ethical Development For me, two beneficial areas are honesty and diversity recognition. Understanding and relevance of both areas is very important because both demonstrate affiliation and attachment with the ethical value system. For example, if I claim that I have strong commitment to honesty and diversity recognition, that claim may not be sufficient enough to prove the authenticity. Instead I should practically demonstrate both values through actions and behaviors; consequently, this will convince others to trust the approach. Suggestions for further development in spirituality are highly essential. The area of spirituality is very complex because it has no direct link with people or any other material approach but it requires a direct and strong link with God and values attached with the relationship between God and the person. References Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. 10th edn. Connecticut: Cenagage Learning. Wright, M. (1995). Can moral judgment and ethical behavior be learned?. Management Decision, Vol.33. No.10. pp.17-28. Read More