According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, ethics is defined as “moral principles that govern a person’s or group’s behavior.” Therefore, in an ideal world, ethics should play the ultimate role when making a decision. If ethics are the principles which guides one’s behavior then, ideally, all decisions should be made entirely based on ethics. Unfortunately, such is not always the case.
A few problems arise when one tries to make an ethical decision, especially as a leader. First, ethics may mean different things to different people. For example, my religious and spiritual beliefs are the foundation for what I deem ethical. However, for someone else, ethics might be based on laws or their own personal understanding of what is right or wrong. Generally, I do believe there are some behaviors that all can agree upon as being ethical or unethical. For example, most people understand that stealing from someone or murder is wrong. However, it is difficult, at times, to have similar ethical expectations of others as one does of themselves because of these differences in the understanding of ethics. Additionally, there are times when it might be easier for a leader to make an unethical decision for an immediate gain or to appease the wants of others. Examples of these include leaders who embezzle money or use other schemes to make money quickly or unlawfully.
For most leaders, making ethical decisions tends to be the goal. I firmly believe that more often than not, leaders do make ethical decisions for the betterment of their organization or business. There are cases when making an unethical decision might be easier, but the true character of a leader is tested when they are confronted with such a decision. Making the easier ...
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...ply share with others what I believe and value. I also communicate my personal ethics through my actions. If my decisions are made according to my ethical beliefs, then others should be able to recognize, through my behavior, what my personal morals are.
Overall, being an ethical decision maker is important to me. As a leader, I understand that I play a part in establishing what is considered right and wrong, based on my actions and decisions. My hope is to always be an example, and being ethical is the foundation of setting a good example for others. The old adage, “actions speak louder than words” rings true in relation to ethics. I aim to show people what my moral principles are based on my actions. At times, it can get difficult because I might let emotions cloud my judgment, but after all, doing the right thing for the sake of others is most important to me.
Ethical decision-making is the responsibility of everyone, regardless of position or level within an organization. Interestingly, the importance of stressing employee awareness, improving decisions, and coming to an ethical resolution are the greatest benefits to most companies in today’s world (Weber, 2015).
My ethics and values are developed from my religious beliefs, my associations with professionals, and self experiences. My religion installs values such as honesty, courtesy, and determination, which determine how I treat other people. My association with professionals helps me to embrace values, such as determination, personal integrity, accountability, and excellence, which are fundamental in designing my academic and professional paths. The experiences I have encountered in life have taught me to observe and embrace many ethical values, including ambition, integrity, and responsibility, which enable me to associate well with my family and other members of the society.
To apply this system of moral values effectively, one must understand the structural levels at which ethical dilemmas occur, who is involved in the dilemmas, and how a particular decision will affect them. In addition, one must consider how to formulate possible courses of action. Failing in any of these three areas may lead to an ineffective decision, resulting in more pain than cure.” Ken Blanchard states, “Many leaders don’t operate ethically because they don’t understand leadership; these executives may have MBA’s from Ivey League schools or have attended leadership training; they may routinely read the best-selling management books, however, they don’t understand what it means to be a leader.” They don’t model a way of ethical behaviors.
The behaviors addressed in this article are essential in the aspect of ethical decision making in management area.
Ethics are moral principles that can be used to help guide peoples decisions. We are all different and therefore our beliefs and opinions differ. There are many ethical theories, and according to Panza and Potthast (n.d.) the following are some that are widely used. Virtue ethics is one theory which states that personality is the most important thing. Living an ethical life, acting right, requires that one develops and demonstrates the quality of courage, compassion, wisdom, and temperance. It also requires that greed, jealousy, and selfishness is avoided. Utilitarianism states that the amount of happiness and suffering created by a person’s actions is what matters the most. As a result, acting rightly includes maximizing the amount of happiness and minimizing the amount of suffering around you. At times you may need to break some of the traditional moral rules to achieve such an outcome. Kantianism is another theory which highlights the principles behind actions rather than an actions results. It states that it requires to be motivated by good principles that treats everyone with respect. If you’re motivated by good principles, you overcome your animal instinct and act ethically. Another ethical theory is the Contract theory, which suggest that ethics should be thought of as terms of agreements between people. It suggests that doing the right thing means obeying agreements set by members rather than those of society. For this theory ethics isn’t necessarily about character, consequences, or principles. The last theory I’m going to mention is Care ethics. Care ethics focuses on ethical attention on relationships before other factors. As a result, acting rightly involves building, strengthening, and maintaining strong relationship...
Currently, leadership is generally understood as a person with insight and wisdom of guidance, which expected to be efficient in management responsibilities like planning organizing, and monitoring performance (Kandola, 2004, p. 144). In addition, making ethical decision is important to individuals who value and take seriously institutional...
Every individual has certain values and ethics that he/she stands by. Values give us a sense of what is important while ethics gives us a sense of what is right and wrong. Together, these qualities help guide us through our everyday life: what actions to take and what decision to make. Sticking to ethical standards allows you to stay clear of trouble; therefore, strengthening people’s trust in you. In return, this leads to gaining people’s respect and cooperation, which may result in leadership responsibilities. Therefore, we believe that personal values and ethics will affect a person’s career success. However, there are times where individuals will make unethical choices--some situations might question your resolve. This can be caused by
[1] Ethics is defined as “the code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviour of a person or a group with respect to what is right or wrong” (Samson and Daft, 2005, p.158)
Organizations are constantly tested with various moral and ethical problems and dilemmas. Organizational leaders are the key to establishing an ethical climate in the workplace. By understanding and improving their own moral reasoning, and the biases that affect moral judgment, they enable themselves to make better decisions. This has a catalytic effect that positively increases organizational climate, ultimately improving all organizational behavior.
Personal ethics play a crucial role in the life of everyone around us and it represents specific features and characteristics that have been formed through our family and society. Our personal ethics are influenced by cultural, beliefs, morals, and spiritual values. These decisions can have positive or negative impacts on society. In our daily lives, each and every person is responsible for making decisions that can influence those around us, such as people we work with, our family, and even those we go to school with. The focus of this paper is to identify my personal ethical values, indicate the primary influences, values that guided my decision, and the progress of my ethical goals.
I have most of my life consider myself to be an ethical person. I try to empathize with others, be kind and respectful and definitely not be deceitful. I was raised in a family with morals, values. I come from a Christian home, but not overly religious. I was raised by parents who always stressed for us to be respectful and honest people. We were taught the rights and the wrongs of life. We were taught not only to conduct ourselves in this manner at home, but to also carry these beliefs into the work world and world in general. But, I am aware that I am human and have made mistakes in my life that have questioned my ethics. Then again, there have been many experiences, personal and work related to where I struggled.
Ethical leadership is having an understanding of who you are, what your core values are, having the courage to live them all, in your personal life as well as your work life. Ethical leadership involves leading in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others. Ethical decision making and leadership are the basis of ethical organizations. Leadership is a relationship between leaders and followers. The foundation of this relationship is trust. The leaders themselves must be ethical in their decisions and actions in order to influence others to behave accordingly. Ethical leadership is to know one’s core values and having the courage to live them through one’s life. Ethics and leaders go hand in hand; ethics is the heart of leadership.
Ethics is all about the right or wrong behavior in appropriate circumstances. It depends on certain assumption, such the right behavior of self-rule and the right behavior to life. Ethics are divided into two:
Ethics are moral principles or values that govern the conduct of an individual or a group.It is not a burden to bear, but a prudent and effective guide which furthers life and success. Ethics are important not only in business but in academics and society as well because it is an essential part of the foundation on which a civilized society is built.
The first one is on my professional duties which follow rules and professional codes. The second one is applying ethical behavior in my day-to-day personal life. As I mentioned earlier, I tend to follow the theory of utilitarianism in order to do positive things in my day-to-day life. In general, I believe that ethics must be a rule for all human beings throughout their entire life. Finally, I believe ethical behavior is a teachable theory and education can change society’s understanding about the importance of ethical behavior and morality. Therefore, unethical behavior has negative consciences to someone’s life and to the community as