In a simple word, ethics is an individual’s personal beliefs about whether a behavior, action, or decision is right or wrong. The gray area between what is legal and what is patently illegal is the domain of ethical dispute.
For getting an answer about what is wrong and what is right, a few questions must be answered. Below we provide some questions by answering though questions you will find the concept of business ethics. These questions are as follows:
- Is it ethical to take home pens and pencils from the office?
- Is it okay to make a short, personal long-distance call on the company phone, use the company mail for a few personal items, or take the company car on a trip to the mall?
- Is it unethical to pay an expense from a company account?
- Should a family member be hired even if there was a more qualified person available?
- Should an employee withhold information from a local reporter who is investing in whether or not the company is dumping hazardous waste into a local river?
Concept of business ethics
These are the examples of ethical dilemmas that individuals face which have no absolute right or wrong answers. There are no agreed ethical standards that guide all behavior in organizations because ethical behavior depends on what society considers the norm for such behavior and on whom in judging the behavior.
And since ethics is such an individual quality, individual interpretations of what is and is not ethical serve to keep the gray area in constant ebb and flow.
Values and ethics are intimately related to each other. Values are learned early in life from parents and family, peers, teachers, and significant others and are either reinforced or altered by subsequent experience.
Values consist of those enduring beliefs that specify that a certain mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially desirable.
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