Professional Values and Ethics

How to behave toward oneself and toward other individuals is a matter of making choices: whether to be friendly or unfriendly; whether to tell the truth or lie; whether to be generous or greedy; whether to study to pass an exam or to spend valuable study time watching television and cheat to pass it. These and all other questions about how people act toward themselves and one another make up a field of study called ethics. Another name for ethics is morality. Because both words suggest customary ways of behavior, they are somewhat misleading. It had to do with what should or should not be done.

Divide practical wisdom into two parts: moral philosophy and political philosophy. They are defined together as a “true reasoned state of capacity to act with regard to the things that are good or bad for man” (Drucker, 1996). One statement of the problem is business organizations as well as members of society in general, are plagued by the fact that there are liars, cheats, and thieves among society. Liars, cheats, and thieves are not new nor are they likely to disappear. People will do anything and go to whatever extent to arrive at what they want. This is why there is a lack of ethics.

Definition of terms: Ethics derives from the Greek ethos, meaning “character,” the pattern of behavior or personality found in an individual or group; moral constitution, moral strength, self-discipline, and fortitude (Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia). The other is from the Latin mores, meaning “custom” (Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia). Business Ethics refers to what is right or wrong, or good or bad, human behavior. The concept of business ethics is “being able to look at your face in the mirror” (Drucker, 1996). Ethics is a code of conduct and values accepted by a society as right and proper. Code of ethics is simply a compilation of the rules meant to govern the conduct of members of a particular organization or profession. Moral philosophy and political...