Importance of Ethics in the Workplace

Importance of Ethics in the Workplace

Enron, Tyco, Krispy Kreme, and even Martha Stewart have had their share of ethical dilemmas and troubles. With the seemingly downward spiral of ethics in the United States, many people have begun to re-evaluate the definition and limitations of ethics, especially within the workplace. Stories of ethical problems and ethics surround people in everyday situations. Here, we will examine two case studies one of which is a story of wrongful conduct and the other is a story of serving best interest. In today's society, everyone is entitled to a rags-to-riches story and wealth beyond their wildest dreams, but is it worth the cost of overlooking and ignoring the importance of ethics?

Two popular unethical practices in today’s workplace involve fraud and deceit. According to the Miniature Guide to Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning, “The proper role of ethical reasoning is to highlight acts of two kinds: Those which enhance the well-being of others—that warrant our praise—and those that harm or diminish the well-being of others—and thus warrant our criticism.” It goes on to say, "For any action to be unethical, it must inherently deny another person or creature some inalienable right.” It refers to fraud and deceit as being unethical in-and-of themselves and defines each; "Fraud: The intentional deception that causes someone to give up property or some right." "Deceit: Representing something as true which one knows to be false in order to gain a selfish end harmful to another." (Paul & Elder 2003)

Monica’s first job after transferring to Charleston, South Carolina was with a mortgage company. After four separate interviews over a period of four weeks, she believed this company was a reputable company to work for considering its extensive interviewing process. Monica started training as a loan processor not long after she started with the company. The training experience was very in-depth but mostly “hands-on”. As she trained with each of the six processors with the company, she quickly realized that each person had a different procedure he or she followed for processing mortgage loans. After three months of training, Monica began to pick up the procedures and began working on her own, processing loans for a team of twenty loan officers and two team managers.

For the first three months, as Monica was...

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...ally. Kit took the responsibility of protecting the company and its employees. He and his colleague strongly impacted the future of the company by standing up for their right to be in a secure and productive environment. Monica knew what she was asked to do was unethical and made the decision to not include herself in the company’s unethical practices. Kit and Monica actually practiced ethics in their workplaces.

Works Cited

Barnett, Rebecca. (2003, Mar/Apr). Ethics in the Workplace: It Begins with Charter. Women in Business, 55(2), p34(2), (Item No. 9228644 )

Dr. Richard Paul and Dr. Linda Elder. (2003).The Miniature Guide to Understanding the Foundations of Ethical Reasoning. ISBN 0-944583-17-2. (Item No. 585m)

Rosche, John. (2002, Dec). Workplace Ethics: It Starts with You (Professional Development). Contract Management, 42(12), p6(2) [Electronic Collection No. A95355763]. [RN No. A95355763]

Sarnoff, Nancy (2005, Apr 17). Housing Boom Leads to Rising Mortgage Scams. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington

Wiltsie, Karen. (2003, Jan 1). Others Voices: Concern for Ethics Needs to Start at Top.

Crain's Detroit Business, 19(48), p9(1), (Item No.11617947)