Cultural values and Personal Ethics Essay

Ethics can be described as the codes of conduct that guide on how one should behave regarding moral duties and virtues. These moral principles, guide a person in determining what is wrong or right. Personal ethics on the other hand can be termed as morality. This is because personal ethics reflect the expectations of people of all works in the society (www. bethedream. net/ethics. htm). Ethics has got two aspects; the ability to determine right from wrong, propriety from impropriety and good from evil and the second perspective concerns the commitment to perform an action that is proper, right and good. The principles of personal ethics include; trust, worthiness, preventing harm, refusing to take unfair advantage, respect for the autonomy of others and basic justice (www. bethedream. net/ethics. htm). a) Personal Ethics Statement Values are the things that a person learns from an early age, from our parents and the immediate surrounding. Morals on the other hand are beliefs on how a person should behave at any one time in any given situation. Ethics is how a person actually behaves when faced with a difficult situation that requires testing of the moral fiber (www. ethics. ubc. ca/papers/invited/colero. html). The following is my personal ethics statement that identifies my personal ethics, values, morals and beliefs: I will give my all and my best to all I; will also serve mankind with the utmost extreme use of my body, spirit and mind, in the creation of peace and harmony among people through community service programs and performing other humanitarian programs. b) How these values were formed I acquired these values from my parents and my religion. My parents are generous people with open minds and they are very understanding. During my adolescent period they helped me through it and even encouraged me to explore the world but with great caution. I have great respect for them for they taught me about trust, generosity, empathy and that, honesty is the best policy. This has made me apply this knowledge to date. My religion also played a great role in instilling these virtues in me. It encouraged me to love all people and other creatures of the earth and always share and help those in need. c) The theories that seem to express my personal belief system. The major theories that have influenced modern thinking include: Utilitarianism which believes in the greatest good, Rawlsian Ethics concerning justice and fairness, Aristotelian ethics that believes in duties and rights and the Kantian Ethics. All of the above mentioned theories of ethics have played a great role in expressing my personal belief system. Utilitarian theory of ethics argues that the result of an action determines if that action is moral or immoral and a beneficial action is moral or right whereas an action that results to harmful impacts is wrong or immoral. This theory calls for the greatest good for everyone; and this greatest good is happiness and reduced unhappiness (www. ei-anla. org/academic/pdf/Ethics-Major-Ethical-Theories. pdf). Kantian ethics on the other hand suggest that an action that is morally right is that one which is carried out for the sense of duty since one undertakes it because they feel doing it is the right thing and right move. This arises from the logical reasoning of human beings. It calls for the treatment of all human being with moral worthiness. Rawlsian Ethics is an ethical standard that involves the protection of individual rights by preventing any injustice to the individual. It calls for fairly treating people equally without any discrimination. Lastly, the Aristotelian ethics argues that the task of ethics involves giving us knowledge regarding the right type of a person, or a good person. These theories are a congruent to my personal belief system (www. ei-anla. org/academic/pdf/Ethics-Major-Ethical-Theories. pdf). d) Written and unwritten codes of ethics Codes of ethics can be defined as the efforts which are systematic in nature and are used in defining the right conduct. They also provide guidance and help the installation of confidence in various aspects of life from the government and all organizations. The main guidance is reflected in the decision making process especially where values seem to conflict. Codes may be unwritten or written. Written codes of ethics provide a measure of accountability hence enforceable. Written codes of ethics can be made known by an organization, profession or jurisdiction (Shaw 2004). On the other hand, the unwritten codes that exist and that help us in our lives are more effective than the written ones. Unwritten codes of ethics include roles such as honesty security, loyalty among others. These unwritten codes of ethics mostly arise from family and cultural tradition and can also be found in workplace. These written and unwritten codes of ethics are found in the society and they help in establishing personal belief systems (Shaw 2004). e) How my personal ethics were developed I got my personal ethics from my parents. Both of them are business people and since my childhood they have always tried to give me all the good things in life and made sure that I do not lack anything. My values include generosity and empathy. I have learned these attributes from my parents who always do not miss out on helping the needy and those other people who are suffering. I also acquired these values from the various ethical theories that I learnt from class and life events that I once experienced. I particularly remember this one event when I sported a poor man by the road side and he actually confessed to me that he had not had any meal for the past two days. The man looked rugged and totally out of place from the way he dressed and his health was not good. He also confessed that he did not have any immediate relations. I helped him with the little money I had and from that day, I felt I needed to do more for poor people out there and the others who are suffering without any help. f) Determining whether the ethics of an organization or profession are congruent with my personal ethics and its importance Every organization has got its own rules and obligations that it abides to. These are the business codes of ethics that determine the running and management of these organizations. Business ethics can be described as the ethical principles and rules that exist in a commercial context. It also includes the various problems arising in a business entity and the obligations applying to these persons engaged in business (Shaw 2004). Business ethics and personal ethics do conflict most of the time and therefore it is important that individuals know how to handle these two. In determining whether the ethics of an organization or profession are congruent with my personal ethics, my first step will be to observe whether these organizational ethics are such that they will eventually make me to abandon my values so that I can remain in my employment position. If these values exist, it means that because these codes of ethics will eat away my personal values. Therefore I would rather leave work to remain with an undisturbed soul and peace of mind. Individual and group ethics are similar in that they both govern on the behavior of people and they both follow the same ethical principles in the work place. However, individual and group ethics do differ a lot. This can be seen in their processes and effects such as decision making processes (Shaw 2004). g) Roles played by individual and group ethics in managerial decision-making Individual and group ethics do play a number of roles in decision making. The ethics in most organizations are influenced by the group ethics as compared to the individual ethics. This is because these group ethics could have a more profound effect on the behavior of an organization. Group ethics also play a greater role in the case of poor performance in an organization since there are various comparative reasoning that occur from individuals (Shaw 2004). Individual ethics on the other hand play the role of guiding and guarding an individual’s moral values. In decision making process of an organization, individual ethics play the roles of moral creativity from the individual change of policies among other things (Shaw 2004). References. A Framework for Universal Principles of Ethics. Accessed on 10 July 2007 from www. ethics. ubc. ca/papers/invited/colero. html Major Ethical Theories. Accessed on 10 July 2007 from www. ei-anla. org/academic/pdf/Ethics-Major-Ethical-Theories. pdf Personal Ethics and Life. Accessed on 10 July 2007 from www. bethedream. net/ethics. htm. Shaw, H. , (2004). Business Ethics. Thomson Wadsworth. ISBN 053461972x