PLH 323
Oct 11, 2006
Facilitator:
Student:
Personal Ethics
Personal ethics are a blend of behavior from an individual which govern right and wrong ' decisions. This term is hard to explain in black and white clarity. Each person 's ethics begins and evolves when they are young. Family influence, school, and surroundings (such as friends and neighborhood) all help mold personal ethics.
Ethics are about making decisions between what is right or wrong, fair or unfair. This can be a decision which may be good for the community, but not good from a business standpoint (such as a decrease in profits).
Ethical decisions may be clouded from local political ' views or swayed towards personal gain. This, of course, would be a poor ethical choice. Anyone making decisions solely based on politics or for personal gain should not be in a decision making position.
I have had several experiences where a co-worker has called in sick, and I find out they were only playing hooky ', after they tell me about their day off '. How did I feel about this? It was really a matter between our supervisor and that individual, not my concern. After all, it 's not illegal or physically hurting anyone. My personal ethics are, generally, if it doesn 't involve me or someone in my family, it 's probably not my business. If I am in a position of management and need to make an ethical decision, there are far too many variables to discuss here. I would look at all sides, the company policy, laws, what 's fair, and what the best ' outcome can be. Ethics are not about taking personal sides.
This Playing hooky ' theme soon caught on with a few other workers, I remember one Saturday morning five employees called in sick '. Our team, of course, was short handed that day. This soon led to a modification to the sick call policy, and swift disciplinary action to those which violated that policy.
In all ethical decision, I feel honesty is the
References: Trevino, L. & Nelson, K. (2004) MANAGING BUSINESS ETHICS, Straight Talk About How To Do It Right, (3rd Ed) Hoboken, N.J., Wiley.