Premium Essay

Workplace Ethics

In:

Submitted By Janeholly
Words 1046
Pages 5
Workplace Ethics: Unprofessional Conduct
BUS 309 Business Ethics
Professor: Keith Graves
August 23, 2013

Today, there seems to a big misconception of what professionalism means in and out the workplace. Many people go to work just to earn a living and that is fine however, when you hold a position of stature or prestige there are certain elements you must value to the profession as a teacher. “Professional teacher” refers to the status of a person who is paid to teach. They are supposed to represent the best in the profession (Tichenor, J & M., 2005)”. Teachers are theoretically able to analyze the needs of the students for whom they are responsible. The word “professionalism” does not mean to just wear a suit and tie, or dress neatly; it means to conduct oneself with principles, honestly and have accountability for one’s actions. Opposite from what people believe ethics and morals is not about religion, societal beliefs or behaviors; it simply deals with individuals’ character and morals in which governs their conduct. Ethics is a set of principles, whose sole purpose is to identify the rules that govern people’s behavior. Workplace ethics and behavior is vital to any profession and organization especially, now that we have learned about all these scandals on misappropriation of funds of top executives and government officials such as Eron, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., and Ivy Berovich. The actions these people did were not only unlawful but highly unethical. They misplaced their perception of ethical conduct and replaced it with greed having no regards as to how it reflects on others like their peers and employees as an organization as did Mrs. Pettit. Basic workplace ethics preclude any pressure of coercion to

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ethic at Workplace

...INTRODUCTION The term ethics comes from the Greek word “ethos” which mean character or attitude and personality. Some philosopher defined that ethics as one of the research towards morality and some said that ethic is also the behavior principles that control the individuals or profession as a standard in making decision or action. For the technocrat group, ethics is linked with study on standard of morale issue. Ethics played an important role in a person life because ethics really show the person morale whether its good or bad. Ethics have many theories that explained the principles that can be used in designing the good personalities in oneself. One of the important theory is the Consequentialist Theory, The Consequentialist Theory is divided into many theories such as the egoism and utilitarianism ethics. We should learn about ethics in our daily lifes and anywhere we are. 2.0. THE VALUES IN ETHICS RESOURCES There are four (4) resources in the value of ethics. The resources are religion, philosophy, the culture experience and also law.. 3.1. Religion Religion is the main and oldest resources in the values of ethics. Religion played an important role in building the ethics value in oneself and as well as the organization. For the individual that are Muslim, they are tied with the ethics value that is stated in the holy Quran which was left behind by the prophet Muhammad which was written in the hadith. Whereas other religion they are also tied to their ethics value based...

Words: 3510 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Ethics in the Workplace

...Ethics in the Workplace Results of a recent national study provide solid data that leaders who want to establish a practice of positive workplace ethics within their organizations should develop written ethics standards, provide ethics training, and ensure resources are available for employees in need of ethics advice. By Joshua Joseph, Lee Wan Veer, and Ann McFadden Ethics Association executives typically want the answers to two key questions about ethics in their association offices: “How do workplace ethics apply to the practical goals of my organization and the work of my employees?” and “Can you show me reliable data that support your assertions?” In this article, we address those questions as we present findings from the Ethics Resource Center’s 2000 National Business Ethics Survey (2000 NBES) - a rigorous telephone survey of 1,500 U.S. employees - and discuss what these findings mean for association executives. One caveat first - we focus on issues relevant to an association’s internal staff and to ethics programs designed for them, not for association members whose relationships with their organization are often very different from those of staff. In the 2000 NBES, we gathered information on three key elements of an ethics program: written ethics standards, ethics training,and means for employees to get ethics advice (e.g., a telephone help line or ethics office). Ethics Trends Studies show that formal ethics programs are becoming increasingly common...

Words: 2310 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Workplace Ethics

...Discuss an organizational example of the use of ethical standards in management communications. The example may be from your own workplace or from a business situation with which you are familiar.  Support your answer by indicating why you believe it is an example of communicating in an ethical manner; use references to validate your analysis.  Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings by commenting on the examples they have given. Workplace ethics are codes of conduct that promote the creation of an ethical culture within a certain business (O’Rourke, 2010). At my workplace we have what is called the “Honor Code”. Simply put this codes states that “no member of the community shall take unfair advantage of any other member of the community”. This code has been put in place to encourage an environment of cooperation and collaboration rather than competition that could easily take hold in such a competitive environment. This code is communicated to all members of the academic community frequently and is reinforced by the freedoms allowed based on the belief that all members of the community are following this code. For example, students have 24 hour access to all buildings on campus, they are also allowed to collaborate on homework assignments and exams and all exams are take home exams with a self administered time limit. Members of the community follow this code and they also know that the university itself follows this code and so the system does actually...

Words: 369 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Ethics in the Workplace

...BOFF108 – Ethics in the Workplace – Chapter 3 Homework Danville Area Community College Please read the chapter and complete the items below with blanks next to them. This sheet should be completed before the start of class, and you should come prepared to discuss these items in class. Items with only bullet points do not need to be completed before class. Bullet points are included so you can take notes on an example based on class discussions. Example: Will is in a Tough Spot at the Electric Company Main Point: Will works at the electric company with management fight for new contracts. The employees are upset over work wages, and stealing equipment. Will is stuck between doing the right or wrong thing. Key Detail #1: Will works for an electric company. Who is fighting for new contracts? Key Detail #2: Workers are upset about work wages, and stealing due to the situation of the company. Key Detail #3: Will informs his supervisor of the problems, but his supervisor ask him to stay quiet about it, and it’ll work itself out. Will doesn’t know what to do. Is it ethical, yes or no? No Why or why not? : Will should say something to upper management. For moral development, (right from wrong). The right thing to do is tell the truth. Being honest & loyal to his company he works for. And the fairness or equity of the company also known as Justice. He would only jeopardize his job, and put himself in a bad situation, if he lied about it. Also the company is losing money...

Words: 874 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Workplace Ethics

...In an organization, workplace ethics should be a core value. Aside from doing the right thing, conducting ethically has great rewards and returns. Being ethical is essential to fixing problems and improving processes. It is needed to establish baseline measures and increase efficiencies. Most importantly, it is essential to having strong working relationships with people. Workplace ethics is integral in fostering increased productivity and teamwork among employees. It helps in aligning the values of the business with workers, which enhances community, integrity and openness among employees. Ethics enable employees to feel a strong alignment between their values and those of the business. Workplace ethics leads to happy and satisfied employees who enjoy coming to work rather than treating it as a mere source of burden. Employees also develop a feeling of loyalty and attachment towards the organization. Strong ethical culture in workplace is also important in safeguarding business assets. Employees who abide by workplace ethics would be able to protect and respect business assets. For example, they would avoid making personal long distance calls using the business’s lines. Ethical conduct in the workplace encourages a culture of making decisions based on ethics. It also enhances accountability and transparency when undertaking business decisions. During turbulent times, a strong ethical culture can guides you in managing such conflicts by making the right moves. It can help...

Words: 314 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Workplace Ethics

...In conceptualizing the idea of ethics in a workplace, it is important to understand and evaluate the outcomes or implications of any given action. Whether this decision lies in your control, or you are simply an observant of your colleagues’ actions, it is critical to your well-being and credibility that you choose the positive moral action. Let's examine what corporations are doing to address the ballooning issue, other possible consequences on ignoring professional ethics in a workplace, and what corporations can do to ensure they provide and maintain an ethical and legal business environment. Survey Method and Results According to a recent survey of more than 2,300 workers by KPMG LLP, illegal or unethical behavior in the workplace has soared. More than three fourths of those surveyed said they had observed unethical behavior, including deceptive sales practices, unsafe working conditions, mishandling proprietary or confidential information, discrimination, and sexual harassment (Allesandra Losciale, Newsday). Issue Vocalized Due to ever changing demands on business performance from internal and external forces, corporations need to recognize the growing problem with ethics. It comes in many forms, from lying to your boss, to forging financial documents for company or personal gain. Lot of these unethical decisions have been the downfall of companies, and have led to imprisonment of executives. We as a business community need to familiarize ourselves with potential issues...

Words: 458 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Ethics in the Workplace

...Ethics in the Workplace Ethics can be very difficult to define. Most people believe ethics are personal, religious, or societal beliefs or behaviors. In the workplace most people believe that what is legal is ethical. The problem is none of these things defines ethics. Ethics refers to what is right or wrong and standards of conduct. I read something that said the golden rule defines what ethics is “do onto others as you would have done onto you”. In today’s business world ethics are more important than ever. With scandals like Enron and Martha Stewart people have lost their confidence in the business world, but more than that people need to feel that as technology speeds ahead that ethics will play a role in the future. Technology runs our lives. We can’t live without the internet, our cell phones, or other mobile devices, but as these technologies make our lives and jobs easier, there is also more opportunity for people to use these technologies unethically. Companies, outsiders, and employees all have a role in workplace ethics. Companies have to be ethical in many different situations. They need to make sure they are conducting business ethically, make sure they are protecting employee and customer information, and they need to make sure they are ethical to their employees. In the Enron situation top executives ordered files to be destroyed after they knew an investigation had begun. This was not only unethical but against the law. Companies also need to insure that...

Words: 713 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Ethics in the Workplace

...Are Ethics in the Workplace Disappearing? By CATHERINE VALENTI Feb. 21, 2012 Enron executives allegedly made millions selling company shares while urging employees to buy the soon-to-be-worthless stock, and set up private partnerships that cloaked huge losses as they touted their successes to investors. While investigators struggle to determine who knew what when in the Enron debacle, the giant energy firm's implosion promises to be a virtual case study in corporate ethics. Was the downfall the fault of a few executives who knowingly misled others, the outcome of a distorted corporate culture, or mere incompetence? Bad Actors, Peer Pressure The history of business in the United States is littered with tales of fraud, deceit and corruption, not only by the hands of a greedy few at the top, but also with the help of employees willing to go along with the charade. Unethical behavior at the office can sometimes stem from a few "bad apples" among the bunch, people like Nick Leeson, the young stockbroker whose huge losses from illegal trades led to the downfall of the venerable Barings Bank. But experts note that ethical breaches are often the result of the corporate culture or pressure from management, pressure that can emerge when a company finds itself unable to live up to financial forecasts or expectations and tries to bend the rules to achieve them, says Linda Treviño, professor of organizational behavior at Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration...

Words: 1038 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Workplace Ethics

...Assignment 2: Workplace Ethics Danielle Davis Professor Kenneth A. Pino BUS 309: Business Ethics Abstract Regardless of your occupation, employees have the right to privacy. Case 9.1: Unprofessional Conduct shows how Pettit privacy was violated. Pettit was a teacher of many years and never had a bad evaluation of her work. What she did outside of work was labeled unprofessional by the Board of Education and they chose to fire her because they believed she was unfit to teach. I disagree with them completely and they did violate her privacy. Business Ethics is defined as “the study of what constitutes right and wrong (or good and bad) human conduct in a business context” (Shaw, 2014, p. 4). Based off this definition, I believed that Pettit should not have been fired. I also believe that the Board of Education definitely violated her right to privacy and they were not justified in firing her. Pettit was a dedicated teacher for many years and she did not involve her personal life in the workplace. Because of her sexual preferences, she was judged and fired from her job. The Board of Education should not have fired Pettit is due to the fact that they had no evidence to prove that she was not doing her job correctly and her privacy was violated. Pettit was an elementary school teacher who taught children with disabilities. The case study said that “Mrs. Pettit was one of those dedicated teachers”……and “she had been working with mentally challenged children for over thirteen...

Words: 1016 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Importance of Ethics in the Workplace

...The Importance of Ethics in the Workplace Ethics, defined by Webster’s Dictionary, is “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad or right and wrong or with moral duty and obligation” (Merriam-Webster, 2002). There are no hard and fast rules that govern ethics, just agreed standards of moral duty and obligation. There are also civil, criminal and family laws, etc., that describe right and wrong for everyone. However, there are occupations where you do not violate the law but violate ethical standards. For example, as an attorney you can violate the ethical standards set by the State Bar Association; one might not be jailed for the offense but one will only be reprimanded. Workplace ethics can have a negative or positive outcome. Matt Larson used good ethics with a positive outcome; he went to great lengths to assist a member of the credit union where he worked. Queiana Hill used good work ethics in her workplace, hoping for a positive outcome; however, the ethics of her supervisor were most definitely negative. Given the two following examples, a Code of Ethics is standard in most businesses and generally used as a guidepost with or without an absolute outcome (University of Phoenix Material, n.d.). Good ethics in the workplace can often be the result of the personal ethics of the individual employee. An employee’s concern for their work or those they help can wield a multitude of results based on how they handle the situation. Matt Larson’s example is a good interpretation...

Words: 1850 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Computers and Ethics in the Workplace

...Computers and Ethics in the Workplace Executive Summary This paper discusses issues with ethics that have derived in the workplace as a result of the use of business computers. The definition of computer ethics is simple; they are a set of moral principles that intend to help with the regulation of the use of computers. Some common problems with computer ethics consist of privacy concerns, intellectual property rights, and the way computers have an effect on people. In other words, computer ethics refers to the ways people take ethical traditions and test, stretch, apply, negotiate and break in the realm of computer technology. As technology continues to evolve, there are a great deal of ethical issues and principles of behavior concerning privacy and accurateness for managerial leaders to deal with. In finding the issues of ethics that the Technology Age has brought to the workplace, organizations must be hands-on when it is time to highlight ethical use of technology by employees. Making sure that employees are knowledgeable on the proper policies the organization has on computer ethics. Promoting good computer ethics is a great way for companies to keep morale high and unnecessary issues from arising in the workplace. Introduction As technology like computers progresses, they will continue to contain a larger impact on people in today’s society. For that reason, computer ethics supports the how some debate on just how much influence computers need to have in human communication...

Words: 311 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Managing Ethics in the Workplace

...Managing Ethics in the Workplace Trinidad,Loudine T. BSE-4C Marketing Prof. Rose Marie Ramos Managing Ethics in the Workplace Managing workplace ethics promotes shared values that result in better cohesion of the workforce, and play a crucial role in the success of any organization Workplace ethics are the application of morality, or concepts such as good and bad, right and wrong, justice and virtue to all activities of the business. It closely relates to corporate social responsibility, but is much wider in scope. The scope of business ethics lies in two dimensions: 1. Workplace behavior ethics, or the illegal and questionable practices of individual managers, such as wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts and agreements for personal gain, conflict of interests, and the like. 2. Business ethics issues, such as ethical dilemmas when making decisions, dealing with stakeholders, and the like. The primary requirement for managing ethics in the workplace is an understanding that workplace ethics is a continuous and on-going process ingrained to management practices, and not a deliverable defined project. It influences the way the organization functions, and remains independent of profits or product range. • Ethics Policy Irrespective of the dimension of business ethics, the basic requirement for managing ethics in the workplace is to have a strong ethics policy in place that makes the company’s ethics policy transparent...

Words: 4295 - Pages: 18

Free Essay

Ethics in the Modern Workplace

...Workplace deviance has long been a concept that was definable, quantifiable, and evaluatable. Representing an organization’s loss due theft of property, deliberate employee misconduct, or inadvertent employee waste, workplace deviance stemmed from generally overt practices that could be weighted for their significance and addressed accordingly. Although this valuation may often be subjective, it could still be made tangible to a manager in ways that suited their (and their organization’s) ethical norm. In today’s workplace, it is not easy to run a successful and profitable company and maintain ethical behavior at all times. There are too many variables involved in running a business that it can sometimes be tough to determine between right and wrong. We will discuss some of the most common and potentially troubling changes in technology that have resulted in electronic surveillance, email monitoring, restricting access to programs and or websites, and social media trafficking. Due to technological advances, workplace deviance is becoming more and more of a concern for today’s employers. In years past, employers did encounter workplace deviance, but it was of a lesser degree. Chuck Williams, author of our management book, describes workplace deviance as, “unethical behavior that violates organizational norms about right and wrong.” Workplace deviance can have both tangible and intangible effects on a company’s assets. With the dawn of the Information...

Words: 2353 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Ethics in the Workplace or Organization

...My presentation is on Ethics. First of all we should know what is ethics?? Ethics is the inner guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs that people use to analyze or interpret a situation and then decide what is the “right” and or appropriate way to behave. (Contemporary Management, 3rd edition, Jones and Geroge) Ethics is knowing the difference between the what you have a right to do and what right thing you have to do. It is a general practice throughout the world. It is not just the part of the business world. If follow the certain ethics, we will have better chance of survival. And if we do not follow the rules of ethics even than we will end up somewhere higher, but we will not have the good will, reputation or for sure we will not in the good books of a lot of people. It does not tell you to follow the society, but to research what really is right. Ethics refers to standards of right and wrong that is people are supposed to do, like moral obligations, fairness, benefits to society, honesty, loyalty, virtues, back off or hold back somebody to fraud, rape, stealing, bullying. A business is not just about money making at all costs.  There are considerations to be made outside traditional money making and ethical and moral considerations..  Every organization has a written codes of ethics Codes of ethics: A written set of guidelines issued by an organization to its workers and management to help them conduct their actions in accordance with its primary values...

Words: 1188 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Ethics in the Workplace: Is Business Ethics an Oxymoron?

...Ethics in the workplace: Is business Ethics an Oxymoron? If the main purpose of a company is to maximize returns to its shareholders, then should deviating from this path be considered unethical? Ethics has several different rolls with in the workplace and an organization. While the most essential rules of conduct are handed down from the state, having an ethical way of doing business provides long term sustainable returns by reducing risk-taking and in many instances actually increasing business. In essence a corporation is never a single autonomous entity but a hive of people, each with the ability to act in either morally upright or corrupt fashion. A culture of morally duplicitous behavior attracts others who share the same conduct. A company is therefore defending itself and its future wellbeing by investing time and effort in the present. The best understanding of the full scope of ethical dilemmas in the workplace is best analyzed by first determining the ethically judged. While many organizations have codes of ethics, it is also true that individual employees also must maintain their own ethical agenda. It is therefore impetrative to analyze all parties involved and work to discover their motives. The values in being perceived as ethically minded are numerous, research shows that those judged more ethical are also perceived to be better candidates for senior leadership within an organization. It is also clear however that ethics is far from a flawless science. Ultimately...

Words: 1112 - Pages: 5