Module 1 What Is Ethics PDF

**INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS** This chapter will introduce students to what ethics is? The themes will include discussions on the key concepts and distinctions in ethics, the importance of ethics, sources of ethics and approaches to ethical behaviour. **Learning Outcomes** Upon completion of this cha...

**INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS** This chapter will introduce students to what ethics is? The themes will include discussions on the key concepts and distinctions in ethics, the importance of ethics, sources of ethics and approaches to ethical behaviour. **Learning Outcomes** Upon completion of this chapter, learners should be able to; a. Demonstrate an understanding of Ethics. b. Discuss the importance of Ethics. c. Understand the approaches to ethical behavior. - **Meaning of Ethics** - **Key Concepts and Distinctions: Ethics, Morality and Values** We greatly encounter '**moral'** and **'ethical'** issues in our day to day life. While they are sometimes used interchangeably, these two concepts are different. The word** Morals** is derived from a Greek word "Mos" which means custom. On the other hand, if we talk about **Ethics**, it is also derived from a Greek word "Ethikos/ "Ethos" which means character; an individual's character and a community's culture. Put simply, morals are the customs established by group of individuals whereas ethics defines the character of an individual. **Ethics** and **morals** relate to "right" and "wrong" conduct. **Ethics** refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. **Morals** refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong; good moral and bad morals. Morality are principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour. **Ethics is thus a system of *moral* *principles* and *values* that derive behavior. Being ethical means to be straightforward and honest in all personal, professional and business relationships**. These two thus define a personality, attitude, and behavior of a person. **Values** are convictions of what is right, desirable and appropriate. The **moral principles and beliefs or accepted standards of a person or social group. Basic and fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate attitudes or actions. There are personal values and organization/ company values which guide personal behavior or the organizational culture.** 1. **Why Ethics -- Importance of Ethics** Primarily it is the individual, the customer, the client, the employee or the human social unit of the society who benefits from ethics. Everyone, everywhere benefits from ethics in one way or another. In addition, ethics is important because of the following: i. **Satisfying Basic Human Needs:** Being fair, honest and ethical is one the basic human needs. Every person desire to be such himself/ herself and to work for a company that is fair and ethical in its practices. ii. **Creating Credibility:** A company that is believed to be driven by moral values is respected in the society even by those who may have no information about the working and the businesses of the company. A perception which is formed about a company whether positive or negative is held far and wide even by those who do not even know what business the company is into. iii. **Uniting People and Leadership:** A company driven by values is revered by its employees and clients also. They are the common thread that brings the employees and/ or clients and the decision makers on a common platform. This goes a long way in aligning behaviors within the company towards achievement of one common goal or mission. iv. **Improving Decision Making:** A man's destiny is the sum total of all the decisions that he/she takes in course of his life. The same holds true for companies/ organizations. Decisions are driven by values. For example, a company that does not value competition will be fierce in its operations aiming to wipe out its competitors and establish a monopoly in the market. v. **Long Term Gains:** Companies and Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long run, though in the short run they may seem to lose money or not to be making any profits. Furthermore, ethical business practice ensures customer satisfaction, promotes professionalism, ensures consistent quality customer service, promotes positive public image and integrity, Creates responsive, competent and accountable customer service delivery. vi. **Securing the Society:** Often ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society. The law machinery is often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to save the society and the environment. Technology, for example is growing at such a fast pace that the by the time law comes up with a regulation we have a newer technology with new threats replacing the older one. Lawyers and public interest litigations may not help a great deal but ethics can. Ethics tries to create a sense of right and wrong in the companies and organizations and often when the law fails, it is the ethics that may stop companies from hurting citizens. 2. **Sources of Ethics** Generally, the important sources of ethics include the following, which exert influences to varying degrees on humans and ultimately get reflected in the ethics of the company/ organization; i. **Religion** Religion is a set of beliefs containing the cause, nature and purpose of the universe as well as containing the moral code governing the moral conduct of human beings. It is the most important source of ethics, as religious teachings often prescribe what is right and wrong and society subscribes to such norms. Most religions' aim is to uphold and teach good behaviour to people. The beliefs and way of worship may differ but fundamentally, all the religions converge at making individuals better people with socially acceptable norms and behaviour. ii. **Culture/ Traditions/ Customs** Refers to ideas, customs, traditions and social behavior of a particular people. Culture is a pattern of practices, behaviors and values that are transferred/ handed over from one generation to another, those that are considered as ideal or within the acceptable limits; which become part of the societal standards. Culture shapes the judgment of whether an act is right or wrong. It teaches a person of what is morally acceptable from him/ her at an early age and thus people grow to be ethically upright individuals. No wonder therefore that it is the culture that predominantly determines what is wrong and what is right. **It is the culture, the customs or the traditions that defines certain behavior as acceptable and others as unacceptable**. iii. **Government laws** Sometimes, certain standards are imposed on the society through laws, which over time are accepted by society and forms part of its ethical system. Laws are procedures and code of conduct that are laid down by the legal system of the state. They are meant to guide human behavior within the social fabric and has penalties for anyone who goes against it. The major problem with the law is that all the ethical expectations cannot be covered by the law and specially with ever changing outer environment the law keeps on changing but often fails to keep pace; and people often follow the law out of fear of being punished. iv. **Family** A social unit of two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption and have a shared commitment to the mutual relationship. The family especially the parents/ guardians are responsible for proper upbringing of the children which includes the inculcation of the strong sense of a right or wrong into the child. This is done by frequently lecturing the child or giving punishment in case of a bad behaviour. The goal of any family is to raise children who will become morally upright individuals within the society. A child is first educated about ethical norms in family. Family is thus the fundamental unit of the society and they establish certain standards for a functioning society. v. **Human conscience** Conscience helps a man to differentiate between good and bad, and certain standards for society are acceptable for all conscientious men and women. vi. **Role Models and Philosophers** They inspire people and help in societies discovering or assimilating new virtues. 3. **Approaches to Ethical Behavior and Standards** i. **The Utilitarian Approach** ***'Deliver the greatest good to the greatest number of people'.*** Some ethicists emphasize that the ethical action is the one that provides the best or does the least harm, or, to put it another way, produces the greatest balance of good over harm. The ethical corporate action, then, is the one that produces the greatest good and does the least harm for all who are affected -- clients, customers, employees, shareholders, the community, and the environment. The utilitarian approach deals with consequences; it tries both to increase the good done and to reduce the harm done. ii. **The Rights Approach** ***'Everybody has rights that must be respected'.*** Other philosophers and ethicists suggest that the ethical action is the one that best protects and respects the moral rights of those affected. This approach starts from the belief that humans have a dignity based on their human nature per se or on their ability to choose freely what they do with their lives. On the basis of such dignity, they have a right to be treated as ends and not merely as means to other ends. The list of moral rights, including the rights to make one\'s own choices about what kind of life to lead, to be told the truth, not to be injured, to a degree of privacy, and so on, is widely debated; some now even argue that nonhumans have rights too. Also, it is often said that rights imply duties \-- in particular, the duty to respect others\' rights. iii. **The Fairness or Justice Approach** ***'Treat all people fairly and equally.'*** ***'Apply rules and procedures objectively and equally.' -- Procedural justice*** ***'Ensure equality of opportunity in the distribution of resources to all people.' -- Distributive justice.*** The emphasis is on the idea that all equals should be treated equally. Today we use this idea to say that ethical actions treat all human beings equally or if unequally, then fairly, based on some standard that is defensible. We pay people more based on their harder work or the greater amount that they contribute to an organization, and say that is fair. iv. **The Common Good Approach** ***'A society comprises of individuals whose own good is inextricably linked to the good of the community.'*** This approach holds that life in community is a good in itself and our actions should contribute to that life. This approach suggests that the interlocking relationships of society are the basis of ethical reasoning and that respect and compassion for all others, especially the vulnerable, are requirements of such reasoning. This approach also calls attention to the common conditions that are important to the welfare of everyone. This may be a system of laws, effective law enforcement departments, health care, a public educational system, or even public recreation areas. v. **The Virtue Approach** ***'Treating our character as a lifelong project, one that has the capacity to truly change who we are.'*** A very ancient approach to ethics is that ethical actions ought to be consistent with certain ideal virtues that provide for the full development of our humanity. These virtues are dispositions and habits that enable us to act according to the highest potential of our character and on behalf of values like truth and beauty. Honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, tolerance, love, fidelity, integrity, fairness, self-control, and prudence are all examples of virtues. Virtue ethics asks of any action, \"What kind of person will I become if I do this?\" or \"Is this action consistent with my acting at my best?\" 4. **Summary** This chapter made it clear that the link between ethics, morality and values plays a crucial role in shaping one's character and behavior. The meaning and importance of ethics and the approaches which have been discussed emphasize that every person is expected to portray good moral character in both their personal and professional lives. 5. **Knowledge Test Questions** i. What is Ethics? ii. Explain the difference between ethics and morality. iii. What are the philosophical theories on which ethics approaches are based? iv. What are two difference and two similarities between personal and professional ethics? 2. **Ethical Decision-Making Process** i. **Gather the facts** ### ### **Define the ethical issue** iii. **Identify the stakeholders** ### **Identify the effects and consequences** ### **Consider integrity and character** ### **Get creative with potential actions** ### **Decide on the right ethical action** 3. Summary **Ethical decisions inspire trust and with it comes all the above discussed ethical core values.** An MRA officer, plays a very crucial role in facilitating the collection of taxes on behalf of the government through the tax administration; as such, ethical decisions in all their operations are a critical requirement; it is a *"Must Have".* We must conduct himself/ herself properly, with the highest level of integrity; thus, beyond reproach in all their dealings with clients (taxpayers) and public officials. They must not conceal facts and/or connive with clients and / or officials to suppress facts essential in the proper collection of government revenues, or induce importers or his employees and/or colleagues/ officials to commit frauds; upon or abet in the commission of frauds upon the revenue. 3. **ETHICAL DILEMMAS** 1. **Introduction** Upon completion of this chapter, learners should be able to; a. Define what an ethical dilemma is. b. Explain how to identify ethical dilemmas. c. Discuss how to resolve ethical dilemmas. 2. **What is an Ethical (Moral) Dilemma?** 3. **Identifying Ethical Dilemmas** i. The agent must be faced with a choice or the need to make a decision. ii. The agent must have more than one course of action available. iii. The agent recognizes that all available courses of action require them to compromise on some personally held ethical standard or value. i. Truth vs. Loyalty = honesty/integrity vs. commitment, promise-keeping ii. Individual vs. Community = "Us/ Me" vs. "them" iii. Short-term vs. Long term = now vs. then and consequences for each iv. Justice vs. Mercy = fairness/equity vs. love and compassion 4. **Resolving Ethical Dilemmas** 1. **The RIGHT Decision Method** - To consider analyzing what the code of ethics, the professional guidelines and your duties say about the issue at hand and; - **Talk it Out** -- A collective analysis of the situation can shed light on whether a dilemma really exists and the moral implications of each available option. - Have you conferred with clients and colleagues as appropriate, about the potential risks and consequences of alternative course of action? - Can you support or justify your action plan with the values/ principles on which the plan is based? 5. **Summary** 6. **Quick Test for resolving Ethical Dilemmas** i. Would the action taken be well received if it was on the front page of a newspaper? While this should be a consideration, keep in mind that often the right decision may be the least popular in public opinion. ii. If the decision is job-related, would the agency or company you work for still hire you if it knew you would make this decision? If the answer is yes, then this should give weight to the decision you are about to make. iii. If the decision is not job-related, would the agency you would like to work for still hire you if it knew all the facts surrounding the dilemma and the decision you would make? If the answer is yes, then this should give weight to the decision you are about to make.