Ethical and Moral Issues

Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

MGT/216

Steve Fletcher

We are all raised knowing the difference between right and wrong. We know how to treat others as we would like to be treated. We are taught life lessons by those we look up to; our parents, our teachers, our siblings, and our religious leaders. We live our lives knowing that cheating, lying, and stealing are wrong and unjustifiable, and that helping others is right. We pass that information onto those around us such as our spouses and children. There is a time as an adult when we all need to choose a company to work for and often use what we are taught as a guide.

Morals are the sets of rules we are raised with. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, morals are taught by those we respect and look up to and show us the difference between right and wrong, just and unjust, and fair and unfair. Our text describes morality as consisting “of rules of human behavior and specifies that certain actions are wrong or immoral and that others are right or moral (De George, 2010, Chapter 1, p. 6)”. “Ethics is a systematic attempt to make sense of our individual and social moral experience, in such a way as to determine the rules that ought to govern human conduct, the values worth pursuing, and the character traits deserving development in life (De George 2010 Chapter 1, p. 13)”.

Moral issues deal with what a society believes is right or wrong and what is legal or illegal. If I had children and decided to obtain a credit card using my child’s information not only is it dishonest, but it is also illegal. Each of us is raised with a different religious background and a different set of values, but we often have the same view of what is immoral. Ethical issues deal with what may or may not be fair in the workplace, the trust employees and customers have in the company, respect for others, and what is honest or dishonest. I deal with an ethical issue daily at work. I work for one of the largest...