Ethics

The word ethics has originated from the greek word ‘ethos’ meaning character or manners.
Meaning
Ethics is a branch of social science .It deals with moral principles and social values .It helps us to
classify what is good and what is bad .So, ethics separates good and bad, right and wrong, fair
and unfair, moral and immoral and proper and improper human actions. In short ethics means a
code of conduct .
Importance of Ethics:
(i) Satisfying basic human needs .
Being fair, honest, and ethical is one of the basic human needs .Every individual desires to be as
such as for himself and to work in an environment that is fair and ethical in its practices.
(ii) Creating Credibility.
An organization that is believed to be driven by moral values is respected in the society. The
perception is held far and wide even by those who do not even know what business the
organization is into.
E.g Infosys is perceived as an organization for good corporate governance and social
responsibilities initiatives.
(iii) Uniting people and leadership.
An organization driven by values is respected by its employees also. This goes a long way in
aligning behaviors within the organization 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 organizations. Decisions are driven by values.
(v) Long term gains.
Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long run, though in the short run
they may seem to be a loss.
(vi) Securing the society.
Often, ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society, the law machinery is often found acting
as a mute spectator. Lawyers and public interest litigations may not help a great deal but ethics
can.
Ethical Principles
1.Honesty
All personnel must be committed to telling the truth in all forms of communication and in all
actions. This includes never purposely telling partial truths, selectively omitting information,
making misrepresentations or overstatements.
2.Fairness
Fairness requires treating all individuals equally and courteously, never exercising power
arbitrarily and never exploiting weaknesses or mistakes for personal or corporate benefit.
3.Leadership.
Ethical leadership is when leaders demonstrate appropriate conduct in accordance with
recognized principles and values, both inside and outside the outside.
4.Integrity
Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence
to strong moral and ethical principles and values.
5.compassion.
Compassion inspires and sustains our work. Fostering a business environment with empathy and
compassion requires a commitment of being kind and caring towards all personnel.
6.Respect.
Respect is demonstrated by a full commitment to the human rights, autonomy, interests and
privacy of all personnel. It means recognizing that everyone deserves equal respect and support .
7.Responsibility.
The ability to recognize, interpret and act upon multiple principles and values according to the
standards within a given field or context.
8.Loyalty.
Loyalty means consistent in your treatment, behavior and regard for another.
9.Transparency.
The implications of transparency is that all of an organization’s actions should be scrupulous
enough to bear public scrutiny
10.Accountability.
Accountability means the state of being responsible or answerable for a system, its behavior and
its potential impact.
 ETHICAL CONCEPTS AND THEORIES
Ethical Concepts.
Ethics examines the rational justification for our moral judgment, it studies what is morally right
or wrong, just or unjust. Honesty, integrity ,justice ,equality and respect are some of the basic
ethical concepts.
Business ethics are meant to ensure a certain level of trust between consumers and corporations,
guaranteeing the public fair and equal treatment.

Ethical Theories
Ethical theory is the systematic effort to understand moral concepts and justify moral principles
and theories. Ethical theories are thus formal statements about what we ought to do when faced
with an ethical dilemma.
Ethical theories are attempts to provide a clear, unified accounts of whatever ethical obligations
are.
There are 7 major ethical theories, each of these are as follows:
(i) Deontology.
The theory of deontology states that when we have to make ethical decisions our first thought are
on our duties and obligations. According to this theory, what we believe our duties are, will drive
how we act in different situations.

The biggest hole in the theory of deontology is that there is no standard for what a person’s
duties and obligations are.

Example: If you have made a promise, you must keep it. i.e., for example, you might borrow
money on the promise to pay it back, but you don’t intent to pay it back. So making false
promises is considered wrong.

(ii) Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that determines right from wrong by focusing on outcomes.
According to the theory of utilitarianism, people choose their actions based on how the decisions
will benefit the most people. You make a decision that will be best and everyone is involved.

There are two sides to this theory- Act utilitarianism and Rule utilitarianism.
Act utilitarianism says, you will make decisions based on helping others, whereas Rule
utilitarianism says, you will act out of fairness.

Example: When face with multiple simultaneous patience in the emergency department it is
important to have a way of reaching a decision quickly about which patient to attend first.
. (iii) Virtue
The Virtue ethical Theory holds that ethical value of an individual is determined by his character.
In other words individuals are good if they have certain virtues rather than following specific
rules or laws.

Example: An employee should be dedicated in his work as well as compassionate to his

(iv) Relativism
Relativism is a the theory that deems your moral obligations and believes to be based on the
individual environment. It determines morals and ethics according to the society that is being
observed. Relativism argues that every society and culture believes differently and thus each
culture must be evaluated according to its particular cultural patterns and influences.

Example: some people live a vegan lifestyle because they consider it wrong to eat animals since
animals are sentient creatures that are capable of experiencing pleasure and pain

(v) Rights
In the rights ethical theory the rights set forth by a society are protected and given the highest
priority. Rights are considered to be ethically correct and valid since a large or ruling population
endorses them. A rights theory would provide a moral framework for law.

Example; the right to marry, the right to own property

(vi) Consequentialism
Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its
consequences are.
An action that brings about more benefit than harm is good ,while an action that causes more
harm than benefit is not.

Example: Most people would agree that lying is wrong. But if telling a lie would help save a
person’s life, consequentialism says it’s the right thing to do.

(vii) Non-Consequentialism
Non-Consequentialism is a type of ethical theory that denies, that the rightness or wrongness of
our conduct is determined solely by the goodness or badness of the consequences of our acts or
the rules to which those acts confirm.
Example: Smokers who have bad lungs because they smoke, receive the same care as non-
smokers with bad lungs.