Ethics In The Workplace

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Ethics in the Workplace

"Ethics are personal and, at the same time, a very public display of your attitudes and beliefs. It is because of ethical beliefs that we humans may act differently in different in situations" (University of Phoenix, 2007). Poor ethical choices in the workplace can truly hurt people. Poor ethics can damage their career, happiness, and quality of living. Not only can these actions hurt the individual who has made the bad choices, but also most often it hurts the innocent. This essay will provide two actual case studies; one of positive ethical principles and the other of poor ethical principles.

Ethics are the driving force behind good business. Every ethical choice made by a professional can and will have a much different outcome than any unethical choice. Bad ethics can ruin many aspects of a business and as (Gaye-Anderson, 2007) states how quite easily the lives and professional reputation of the employees can even be severally damaged (para. 3). Everything from morale to motivation can be severely affected by poor ethical choices. Customers will take their business elsewhere. Employees will abandon ship. Other, competing businesses reap the benefits of the bad moral choices. Ultimately, the entire business can be brought down by one poor ethical choice.

Good employees see others not following ethical guidelines and it causes them to lose faith in their coworkers. Bad employees see the same thing then believe they can get away with it. Both scenarios can cause horrible things to happen very quickly. It is even worse when employees see management take the wrong path. Managers are the ones that should be setting the example. That is like a five-year-old watching his or her parents take illegal dr...

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...ter, (2007, February). Building an ethical culture. Associations Now, vol. 3, Retrieved May 26, 2007, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=6&sid=68201a70-4f78-496b-8a74-485b87b4e78e%40sessionmgr7

Gaye-Anderson, K. (2007, March). Doing the right thing. Black Enterprise, vol. 37, Retrieved May28, 2007, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=102&sid=9d9a4eec-37e8-4b51-882f-05f2fe0b0653%40sessionmgr107

Thompson, K. (2007). A corporate training view of ethics education. Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, vol. 13, Retrieved May 26, 2007, from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=1&hid=108&sid=ceaedb4d-4c62-46ae-8050-9e14bc92f06f%40sessionmgr104

University of Phoenix. (2007). Introduction to ethics for the university of phoenix

students. Retrieved May 28, 2007, from https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp

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