Business Ethics

Business Ethics

Morals define personal character. Ethics is standards and codes of behavior expected by a group of individuals. Morals are the characteristics instilled in us by our parents, society, etc. Ethics is the social system that sometimes guides our beliefs and values. It is possible to be ethical but immoral and vice versa. For example, some people feel that abortions are immoral but medical practices have found the procedure ethical. A person working in an environment that should keep an individual's information confidential release that information if it causes harm to another person would be an unethical business practice but felt it their moral duty to do so. Although, we think that we should live with the assumption that morals take precedence over ethics, in most organizations that is not true. Many organizations feel that their code of ethics should be followed to the letter no matter what the moral situation may be. For instance, in the environment where I work, there are a great deal of illegal hispanics that we come in counter with. Morally, it would seem that it would be our duty to report them to INS. However, our ethical policy does not allow us to do this as it will cause more harm to the other people involved.

Ethics is standards and codes of behavior expected by a group of individuals. Ethics is the social system that sometimes guides our beliefs and values. In my opinion, personal ethics are tied closely to morals. Personal ethics are the guidelines of which an individual uses to govern this or her life. Business ethics are the guidelines used to govern the manner a business are conducted. The main difference between business and personal ethics is that business ethics tend to change from business to business. Personal ethics hardly every change because it is based on an individual's beliefs and morals.

In my work experience, I have found that the management seems to have