Ethical Behavior

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The definition of ethical behavior or ethics as a whole is one that eludes many people. There have been many philosophers that have tried to create a set of guidelines that create a code or baseline to a decision. Immanuel Kant is one such person who has created some of the bases that all theories have been based. Kant’s principals or the categorical imperative is the base for the “Golden Rule”; which is taught to young children. Do on to others, as you would have others do on to you. To quote Kant, “Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.”

Ethical behavior is the way that a person should act using a set of rules or standards that have been formed within a community of people. These communities may be those of a religion or those of a geographic region. There are several different sets of ethical codes that are created. Something that is ethical in one community is not in another. Deciding what action is the ethical choice is one of the hardest choices of any decision. An example that brings ethics into play is deciding weather or not to bribe an elected official to get a governmental contract. Without looking at existing law, some might say that it is unethical to create an unfair advantage for one company over another. Rationalizing a decision as ethical may be hard. In this situation employees or lobbyists for the corporation may claim that it would be unethical to not do absolutely everything in their power to bring business to the company. By not doing so it would hurt the employees, stockowners, and investors. Is it ethical to hurt the financial well being of so many people? Looking from the point of view of all of the other companies looking to get a piece of this government contra...

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...o consider. What seems a simple decision at the time may, in the end, turn out to be a very important action that defines how ethical or unethical a project or set of actions turn out to be. In the situations posed earlier there are many dilemmas that pop up. The actions that are taken in these circumstances define the integrity of the people and communities that make the decisions.

Works Cited

Brass, D., Butterfield, K., & Skaggs, B. (1998). Relationships and Unethical Behavior: A Social Network Perspective. The Academy of Management Review, 23(1), 14-31. Retrieved March 20, 2010, from http://gatton.uky.edu/faculty/brass/spain/unethical.pdf

Immanuel Kant Quotes. (n.d.). . Retrieved March 20, 2010, from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/i/immanuelka152161.html

Singer, P., (1993). A Companion to Ethics. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press.

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