Ethical and Moral Issues in Business
Ethics and morals are often used interchangeably, but they are not quite the same. Ethics can be applied personally or in the business world, and the processes in these two situations can be different. This essay will explore the difference between ethical and moral issues, and personal and business ethics. Examples will also be given to demonstrate these issues in the business world.
Ethics and Morals
Every person has different life experiences, and these life experiences work together to create individual personalities. The core values of a person are defined as his or her morals. But ethics and morals are often interchanged because they are so closely related. In actuality, ethics applies morals. Ethics tend to be more standardized in relation to social acceptance. Trevino and Nelson define ethics as “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group” (Trevino & Nelson, 2007, Ch. 1). Morals act as a basis for ethical decisions.
Personal morals will differ among people. For example, one person believes that eating meat is not morally right, but another person believes that eating meat is just a normal part of life and therefore morally acceptable. These are simply differences in moral values. This can be an important factor in business when hiring a new employee. Employers will want to make sure that a potential employee has a moral set that will be workable with the business’s ethics. Ethics are tied closely to social norms. An example of an ethical issue is cheating. It is well established that cheating is frowned upon in society. In business, many times there can be temptation to cheat financial figures, but ethically cheating is wrong.
Personal and Business Ethics
Ethics apply to personal life as well as the business life. In personal ethics, decisions are our own. There are only