Ethical Standards In Business

When I was in college, been awhile, the key phrases which were continually bantered around my business law class was "Good Corporate Neighbor" and "Responsible Corporate Neighbor." At that time in history the American people and government had finally realized the devastation uncontrolled pollution was having on our environment.

The media utilized a visual barrage vividly showing sewers pumping millions of gallons of raw sewage or toxic industrial waste into the waterways we drank from and played in, as well as the tops of dozens of smoke stacks belching black toxic fumes and particles into the air we breathed, a very effective campaign.

Did many of these companies knowingly dump these pollutions into the environment without regard to the devastation they were creating, yes of course there were.

Ethical Standards In Business

There were also many companies operating in what I call, a Gray Zone in which they knew it was harmful, but lacked the technology to prevent it, such as the development of scrubbers, or weren't going to spend the capital needed to fix the problem.

The public outcry and government action resulted in, possibly the fastest and one of the most successful resolution of a serious problem, in the history of big business. These are the types of results the sincere implementation of ethical practices by the business community can achieve.

Defining exactly what constitutes good business ethics are, at times difficult, but the obvious implementation of unethical business practices is quite easy to define and see, unless there's a concerted effort by the perpetrator to conceal it.

For instance, the utilization of every conceivable cost cutting effort and productivity increase in order to produce products cheaper, enabling the undercutting of the competitions' price, is standard business practices which must be maximized in order to remain in business.

However, if a business knows the integrity of a particular part in their product is suspect and could result in property damage or personal injuries, yet continues to produce the product due to profit motivation, this is clearly unethical practices.

A company's ethical standards should be created and implemented with the same seriousness afforded the company's Mission Statement.

Ethics in business should not really be difficult to define, as it really isn't any different than our normal conscious which guides us through our normal life. Sometimes we forget a "business" is not some living, breathing and uncontrollable monster, it's the end results of the people operating it.

An average intelligent business person, when approached with a deal Too good to be true, would immediately have red flags, bells and whistles or both resounding inside his head.

The response to an unethical decision should be every bit as alarming and quick to resonate inside his moral fiber.

Ethical Standards In Business
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Jim Bain - Leader and Writer for the UAW Union, former minor league ball player with 45 years experience playing and coaching baseball. Visit his baseball information packed website: http://www.Learn-Youth-Baseball-Coaching.com

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Define Your Position: Values, Ethics & Leadership

Some call it wearing one’s heart on the sleeve; others call it wearing their emotions. If the discussion is of values and ethics, leaders must wear them openly, constantly encouraging, mentoring, and coaching others to operate within values-based and ethical standards the leader expresses. Values and ethics exist in a philosophical arena and often mistaken as the same. Values explain that who you are is what you were when. Ethics demonstrates values through behavior. This paper takes the position that values exist on a higher plane than ethics.

Dr. Gyertson6 shares an insight on value and ethic sources. He says throughout human development, there are socio-cultural influences in family and tribe. In the time of prehistory, these values meant survival and extended family. Exploring present value development offers a very different view of family and tribe. Family is nuclear now and connection to extended family is often limited to the July Family Picnic. Tribe, community, is multifaceted people have small neighborhood tribes, work tribes, social tribes, and others. They move among tribes and behave differently in different settings. While core values remain, behaviors shifts when moving among groups. Interacting in work groups is an example. Consider a group of university administrators working to satisfy the needs and desires of applicants and students. Administrators work to put applicants and students at ease as they enter classes. Faculty works with students lecturing, and facilitating to grow students knowledge. The student is the same person yet is interacting with the different elements of the university.

Value deals with the worth, utility, moral virtue, aesthetics, and, may be singular or a collective of each. Values are at the core of what a person believes. In June 2006, article in USA Today, Colorado Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings tells the reporter that players for the ball club hear the value of character and good living from the top of the organization all the way down. In the locker room, one does not see pornographic pictures or magazines. There are sports magazines, racing and car magazines, and prominently seen throughout the locker room are bibles. This ball club believes in Christian values and Christian ethical behavior. A fan tells of not hearing the usual trash talking or player showboating among members of the Rockies. The leadership in the Rockies organization provides evidence of expected behavior in the clubhouse, on the playing field, and among players of other teams. The Rockies are not the "winningest" team in major league baseball; however, they display the near the highest behavioral ethics.

Define Your Position: Values, Ethics & Leadership

Ethics comes from the Greek ethikos, meaning arising from habit. Ethics is a study of living, a study in which we discover things as being right or wrong or true and false based on how we know things. Therefore, ethics is the outward manifestation, the acting out of a belief.

Values versus ethics

Values and ethics do not exist separately from each other. However, they may develop differently over time. A child’s values grow from the values of parents. A child’s ethical behavior develops from observing what parents do. Trust in parents’ grows as a child sees their parents obeying their beliefs (values) through their ethics (what they do) consistently. It is a leader’s responsibility to an organization, workers, and her- and him-self to do no less. Followers of a leader will loose trust quickly if they observe attitudes and behaviors that do not match expressed ethical standards and values.

Values must identify or embody who a leader is. Values are the bases upon which leaders make judgments on what is important. Ethics identifies a leader’s moral compass, the leader’s understanding of good and right. Ethics are a set of moral principles.

Leaders must commit to personal values and organizational values seeking a fit between both. Moreover, leaders must manifest values in a way that leaves the observer fully aware of the leader’s commitment.

A leader studies the community in which an organization exists to know what the community values. Another consideration is the ethical behavior that leaves a leader questioning whether the community acts as it believes. These observations of what a community believes and how it behaves tells a leader the scope of normative order within a community. However, organizational leaders must operate on a higher plane.

A consideration for leader examination when establishing a code of ethics is that ethics and values do not fit a neat categorization into specialty areas. Melissa Ingwersen1 of JPMorgan Chase Bank supports the foundation of ethics at home and school before applying them to business. She says JPMorgan Chase does not want to compromise it banks or bankers by doing business with questionable clients. Therefore, JPMorgan Chase selects clients carefully attempting to maintain their reputation and the reputation of their clients.

What does the above example tell us about values and ethics in an organization? For Chase Bank, the value is honesty, integrity, and character building of clients by selecting clients who have similar values as the bank. Chase Bank does not compromise their core values for the sake of gaining business. Another view of this provided by Brenda Joyner, et al2, is a sense of corporate social responsibility (CSR). CSR includes such elements as economic, legal, discretionary activities and ethics. She says these exist within what are the values of the public.

Working standard - values and ethics

Stated above, ethics is the outward display of values. In some organizations, leaders are content to accept the ethic of responsibility to shareholders. Although this was the generally accepted behavior in economic boom years, most long-life businesses recognize that the bottom line is not an ethically symbolic way to engage.

Joyner, et al, relate the work of Paine (1994). In this, they attempt to put a value on following the letter of the law versus following spirit of the law. While obeying the letter of the law is legally and ethically correct, seeking the higher value to obey the spirit of the law propels a leader to higher trust, reducing cynicism, ultimately adding value to the ethical standard. The ethical standard is a leader and organization’s integrity strategy and values are the core beliefs driving the strategy.

Ray Coye3, writing in 1986 saw the need to differentiate values and ethics. In his view, there are no values for an organization separated from the collective values of leaders and members. He provides a definition of values as, “… serv(ing) as the authorities in the name of which choices are made and action taken.” In greater depth, this 1986 definition is one based on the prevailing attitude toward values and ethics considered correct – at that time (Coye, 1986)

• A value is chosen freely after consideration of alternatives and consequences

• Publicly affirmed, cherished, and prized

• Pattern of action that is consistent and repeated

Conclusion

Values exist at the core of our nature; they are our core belief system. Ethics, our behavior, reveal our values within an operating environment. If we say we cherish (value) our children but behave abusively, value and ethical behavior are incongruent. Within a leadership role, the same is true of our attitude toward workers. Recent history of organizational failure adds to common knowledge of how personal greed over the expressed organizational values ruin business and, worse, the faith workers have in the business and leaders.

Not all organizations are the Colorado Rockies Baseball Club, but trends start one person and one organization at a time. Be a trend setter.

Works Cited
1. Nightengale, B. (2006, June 1). Basball’s Rockies seek revival on two levels. USA Today. Retrieved September 20, 2006 from [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl/rockies/2006-05-30-rockies-cover_x.htm].
2. Cook, J. R. Interview: Melissa Ingwersen, Central OH President, JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA. Ethical Leadership, Council for Ethics in Economics (1,1)
3. Joyner, B. E., Payne, D. & Raiborn, C. A. (2002, April). Building values, business ethics and corporate social responsibility into the developing organization. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship(7,1), pg. 113.
4. Coye, R. (1986, February) Individual Values and Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics (5,1), pg. 45.
5. Watson, S. (2006). Personal Values in Business: How successful businesses underpin their success with clear values. Retrieved September 20, 2006 from [http://www.summitconsultants.co.uk/news-detail.asp?fldNewsArticles_ID=126].
6. Gyertson, D. J. (2006). Ethical Frameworks. Presentation at Regent University DSL Residency September 13 to 22, 2006

Define Your Position: Values, Ethics & Leadership
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Traditional Biker Codes - Rules and Ethics to Ride By

Humans live in a structured society. That means that almost anything we do follows strict patterns, policies and regulations. This can be at our employment, in traffic, or even as a family. We need those systems to protect our rights and freedom, and to prevent chaos and destruction. Motorcycles owners are no exception and they too have to live by specific guidelines. Some of these laws have been legally proclaimed, while others are traditionally passed on from biker to biker and cannot be tracked on paper.

Government regulated rules, such as traffic and safety, can be located in pamphlets, brochures, books, and on the Internet, yet verifying information on unwritten biker laws is a different story. Motorcyclists just tend to know them, and if they don't, they soon will find out which secret brotherhood code they broke.

Riding is a way of life and as a biker you have to respect the rules at all times, even if you feel like showing off. Never come up behind another rider in the same lane at high speed and remember the first one stopped at a red light should also be the first one to leave when it turns green. This also means that show-off racing in traffic is also out of the question.

Traditional Biker Codes - Rules and Ethics to Ride By

Bikers value solidarity and a brother (or sister) in distress receives help, regardless if it is a technical question posted on the Internet, or an unknown biker stranded at the side of the road. Notwithstanding motorcycle brand or type, a true biker will stop and provide roadside assistance to any stranded comrade, even a want to-be on a cheap Harley Davidson imitation. If help cannot be provided, a phone call can make a world of difference.

Motorcyclists are interested in other bikers and their prize possession. They can talk endlessly about their rides, safety rules, general laws, liabilities, bike maintenance, accessories and whatever else is associated with their motorcycles. Despite their openness during conversations and debates, as a rule, bikers do not like their motorcycles being touched by others. In this case, the rule:"Look, but don't touch" really does apply, and if good-natured warnings are not obeyed, someone may end up having a really bad day.

Largely symbolic in nature, the lingering image of the biker as lone wolf hitting the highway still lives on in the mind of many brotherhood members. Mature bikers will therefore respectfully acknowledge another motorcyclist's presence on the road by using a distinctive hand wave. Of course, do not be surprised if, at times, there is no tribute or response, as the biker in the oncoming lane may not be able to free a hand without endangering himself, or he/she may be snobbish and feel you are driving an inferior bike. That is human nature and there is nothing you can do about.

Generally, bikers will respect one another as long as common sense is used. Don't crowd each other on the road, or parking lot and most of all do not saddle someone else's bike or fender fluff. Stick to these rules and you will be having the time of your life!

Traditional Biker Codes - Rules and Ethics to Ride By
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By: Irida Sangemino was born in Belgium and is currently living in Chandler, AZ. She is a multi-lingual copywriter/journalist/editor with various interests (including finding ways to live life to the fullest and biking). irida@wydebeam.com

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Business Ethics & Social Responsibility

The purpose of business is to generate maximum returns for its owners and shareholders. So therefore should the business pursue all activities that enhance profitability and increase the value of the business for the owners and / or shareholders?

I also believe that a business should behave ethically in achieving the above purpose. It is not right just to operate within the letter of the law. Businesses should also try and serve their local community and help its employees lead better lives. They should examine every decision they make based on profitability, long term business value and social responsibility.

By having real policies in place that take care of your employees and the local community it might be argued that long term this will enhance your business brand and over time lead to higher profitability.

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility

By constantly training members of staff and wherever possible promoting from within the organisation will lead to employees that feel empowered to work harder and make better decisions. Having regards to the true well being of your employees will lead to a healthier and therefore happier workforce.

By reducing waste and promoting recycling at every opportunity, overheads will be reduced and in the longer term lead to better shareholder value. It is staggering how much resources including energy are wasted by larger companies. Having a regular energy audit and investing long term to reduce demand can only serve to make the business more efficient.

Many businesses try to serve their community by supporting local charities and sponsoring local people to better their lives. There are many ways to do this including education, sports and the environment. In the short term there will be very few perceivable benefits in terms of profitability but these actions will serve to enhance the business brand and increase profitability over the longer term.

Greed is no longer good and focusing purely on profits is unacceptable to your existing and potential customers. By embracing business ethics and social responsibility the business can benefit from increased goodwill.

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility
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The P90X Workout - How I Changed From a Couch Potato to a Ripped Dude in 90 Days With the P90X

In case you haven't been following any of my other articles on this whole fitness gig, let me recap briefly. After my girlfriend came right out with it and called me an out-of-shape slob to my face (yeah, it wasn't pleasant), plus a few other choice names I'd rather not mention here in polite company, I decided to get off my butt and off my couch and jump right into the P90X workout. Why that specific plan? My best friend had been doing it for roughly 60 days and he was getting pretty good results, I have to tell you. Sure, the guy's a real showoff and goes round flexing his brand new muscles in everyone's face, and strips off his shirt at the drop of a hat and sucks in his gut and pushes out his chest so we can all admire his new ripped set of six-packs. Yeah, it's pretty painful, I know. Guys like that usually make me wanna throw up, but he's my friend so I'm prepared to make allowances, know what I mean?

Anyway, after I had this wake-up call - courtesy of my girlfriend, on account of her calling me a slob to my face an' all - I decided to sign up for the P90X workout. I mean, if it was working so well for my buddy, it could work for me too, right? Okay. Sure. I get it. You're just a little more than curious about how the P90X workout works. I mean, from slob to ripped abs in 90 days - that's a big ask, isn't it?

Okay. Let's get one thing straight right away. P90X is not for sissies. So, if you're going to cry like a child every time you have sore muscles after a workout forget it. Don't bother to go any further. Save yourself the trouble and head on back to the couch with your sack of junk food and your belly full of beer. Just don't blame anyone but yourself when your wife/girlfriend/friends/colleagues call you a slob to your face. And don't go getting all teary-eyed with a quivering lip every time you catch that horrible glimpse of your beer gut and love handles in the steamed up shower mirror

The P90X Workout - How I Changed From a Couch Potato to a Ripped Dude in 90 Days With the P90X

But if you've got the guts to do this thing, if you're serious about manning up and getting into shape, the first thing you've got to remember is this: no pain, no gain. Forget those scammy sites online that promise you six-pack abs and a set of ripped muscles that would make Mr Universe cringe with envy - all while doing no work and maybe just popping a few pills or a bunch of "magic" supplements. It's not going to happen. We're not talking Harry Potter here. Let's get down to reality. I'm being serious.

With P90x you are going to have to work out for about an hour per day, and clean up your eating habits, but by the end you will have more muscle, more endurance, and even better flexibility and balance. 

Working on your body is hard work; don't let anyone kid you otherwise. Anyone who says it's easy and can be done with a few pills and minimum sweat is scamming you big time. This P90X workout is definitely hard work - but that's why it works so well. But you are going to have to work out for about an hour per day, and clean up your eating habits. By the end you will have more muscle, more endurance, and even better flexibility and balance. Your significant other will go weak at the knees and get turned on every time they looks at you. Where's the hardship in that, dude? It kinda makes it all worthwhile doesn't it? Sure it does! Trust me.

The P90X Workout - How I Changed From a Couch Potato to a Ripped Dude in 90 Days With the P90X
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If you're a couch potato like I used to be, take it from me, dude, you need to seriously take control of your body and health with the P90X Workout. I'm not going to preach at you or anything, but while you're still able-bodied, why don't you make the best of what you've got and start turning some heads in your direction? It's a pretty cool feeling, I can tell you. Learn more about P90x and the FREE bonus workouts they are giving out for a limited time at: http://www.X-Fat.com

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My Wife Is Always Mad At Me - Crucial Things That You Need to Know In Order to Have a Happy Marriage

Are you in a marriage where you're always feeling like my wife is always mad at me?

Well you're certainly not alone.

I actually was in your exact situation but figured out how to deal with the problem and now my marriage is better than ever. Here's what helped my marriage.

My Wife Is Always Mad At Me - Crucial Things That You Need to Know In Order to Have a Happy Marriage

What to Do When You Have to Constantly Say to Your Self "Man, My Wife Is Always Mad at Me"

It's a tough position to be in I know. You feel bad and almost like a failure of a husband because you feel like you can't do anything right. No matter what you do your wife seems mad at you, and it just feels horrible.

But things can be turned around. There is a fix and you can not only return your marriage to where it once was, but actually make it better than ever. Of course some people in this position will simply quit and file for divorce, but that's not the answer to this problem.

First of all we have to figure out why your wife is always mad at you. She may not be very transparent about this actually. A lot of times a wife won't talk about her problems, and actually figure that you'll just know what the problem is. But you and I both know that it's not easy to figure out right?

So you may have to read in between the lines a bit. You may have to do some investigating. Could have been something you said. Could have been something you didn't say. Could have been something you did, or didn't do.

The best way of course is to simply ASK...and then shut up and LISTEN!

Listening is the key! But don't just listen to your wife's words. Listen beyond the words. Listen for clues in her words that explain how she's feeling. That's the key to truly finding out how to solve your problem of "my wife is always mad at me".

Second of all you have to do something else that's going to seem a little bit counterproductive. You're going to have to stop worrying about your wife so much, and start worrying about YOU!

This part is going to take EMPATHY on your part. Meaning that you're going to have to think about your actions and figure out how they've been affecting your wife. Things that you may have been doing out of habit may be having a negative affect, and they may be going unnoticed by even you.

I did this exact thing. I realized that I wasn't spending enough time with my wife. I would come home from work, go sit in front of the TV, eat my dinner in front of the TV, and then when she went to bed I'd stay up and watch TV. So she was actually feeling neglected.

I didn't learn this from my wife, I learned this by doing some assessing of my own behavior and realizing on my own how that must have been making my wife feel.

No wonder I was saying my wife is always mad at me! She was! And that wasn't the end of troubles and problems.

I had also quit doing the things that I used to do "just because" when we first got married. I used to send her flowers to work now and then. Or I would take her out to dinner just because. Little things that showed that I appreciated her weren't being done anymore, and it was actually affecting my marriage negatively. Maybe I should have never started those things LOL. Just kidding...

The thing is that YOU are going to have to figure out what YOU are doing wrong, and then change it. It's really as simple as that. You can change only one thing about your relationship and that's YOU.

If you're saying my wife is always mad at me, then you've got the power to fix it if you're willing to work on YOU a bit.

My Wife Is Always Mad At Me - Crucial Things That You Need to Know In Order to Have a Happy Marriage
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Are you in a marriage where your wife is always mad?

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Recruitment Ethics: Ethics In Hiring, Staffing and Recruitment

Ethics in the field of hiring, staffing and recruitment is based on a combination of things and depends on who is actually involved in the hiring process.

Certainly the job searcher, hiring manager and recruiter are just three possible people involved in a hiring decision.

As a recruiter, I try my best to gauge the truthfulness of comments by both job searchers and hiring managers and they presumably are gauging my truthfulness as well.

Recruitment Ethics: Ethics In Hiring, Staffing and Recruitment

Commonly, job searchers often lie about various aspects of their resume ie. their salary, why they left their last job, their job responsibilities, their educational achievements, etc.

Hiring managers might lie about why they are looking to hire a new person ie. they might lie about why the previous person left the job they are trying to fill (if the last person who held the job was fired for something embarrassing like having an office affair or something like that, do you think the hiring manager will tell you the truth about why the person was fired? Me neither). Similarly a hiring manager probably won't tell you that the previous person quit the job because they were bored or because they thought their manager was a jerk either.

A recruiter needs to find the truth and often needs to read between the lines of comments that are made to them by either the job searcher or the hiring manger.

Similarly some recruiters aren't always capable of telling the truth 100% of the time either. Recruiters often have a reputation not much better than a used car saleman - no offense to used car salesmen - and sometimes it's not difficult to see why.

Whether you're a job searcher looking for a job, a hiring manager looking to fill a job, or a recruiter looking for a job searcher to fill a job, the truth tends to come out one way or the other.

As a recruiter, I have a hard time working with people I can't trust and I'm usually a pretty good judge of character. I tell the truth when working with job searchers and hiring managers alike and I expect them to do the same.

There are plenty of job searchers and hiring managers - and recruiters - out there and life is just too short to waste time with people who aren't trustworthy.

Recruitment Ethics: Ethics In Hiring, Staffing and Recruitment
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What Is the Difference Between Morality and Ethics?

What is the question?

Both ethics and morality assist is in answering the question: What should I do?

We are faced with this question all the time. Too often we make important decisions without giving enough time or process to reaching the best answer. Why not? Often we simply don't know how to make such decisions. Sometimes we ignore them and hope they will go away, sometimes we follow the advice of others, sometimes we just guess.

What Is the Difference Between Morality and Ethics?

If we wish to be responsible for our own future and our own decisions we should spend a little time thinking and trying to make a good decision, a better decision than simply choosing the easiest answer.

So, ethics and morality assist us in answering the question: What should I do?

Do they provide the same answer? No.

Which is the better approach and why?

What is the difference between morality and ethics?

Many of us confuse ethics and morality, many people use them interchangeably. But they are very, very different, related but different. The difference is crucial when making important decisions, even deciding whether you are facing a moral dilemma or an ethical dilemma. Important when discussing such popular topics as religion, sexuality, good and bad, right or wrong. So, take a few minutes now to better understand the difference between morality and ethics.

Please, don't refer to the dictionary. Dictionaries attempt to capture popular usage and much of popular usage of ethics and morality is very blurred. Here I can show you how to use each word precisely, and make these words as sharp tools to cut through some pretty complicated ideas.

Morality

Morality is a set of rules or guidelines by which we behave. Simple? Yes, very simple but the implications are very important.

Morals answer problems we face in life. Morals are written down; they're defined answers to defined problems. Examples that come to mind are: Stealing is immoral. Adultery is immoral. Killing another person is immoral. Abortion is immoral. Homosexuality is immoral. Burning the Christian Bible is immoral.

Now you must appreciate that someone must decide upon these rules or guidelines. In the case of the Bible's Ten Commandments that were handed down from the Mount thousands of years ago, these rules were spoken and written by the Christian God and then possibly transcribed and interpreted by Moses. As a general rule, morality is determined by others and followed by people who share certain values.

The Ten Commandments were a set of ten rules which defined the behaviour of a group of people many years ago. The rules were effective in that they devolved the Ten Commandments into practical laws and a social structure which defined a people. They provided stability and provided the basis for an ongoing identity and development.

The fact that morality provides stability is a very important and powerful aspect of morality. When the environment changes, when the old leaders and mentors die, morality enables their values, their rules to continue. So people have stability. A change in leadership does not mean everyone must start again. People feel and are more secure when things are stable. Change and uncertainty are somewhat scary. Morality provides a basis for a comforting stability.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife" is my recall of (part of) one of the Ten Commandments. Most people would agree that it is not good to try to seduce your neighbour's wife (which may be the result if you desire her enough). Even today it would result in some pretty nasty outcomes if everyone went around seducing each other's wife right, left and centre. It could damage the society substantially. So that is a pretty useful rule to apply within most societies then and today.

In summary, morality is a set of common values that provide stability for societies and differentiate between societies.

Ethics

Ethics is an approach, a method of making decisions. Ethics is about deciding to the best of our ability, without fear or favour. It is about being aware of the many aspects of each issue and trying to include them into the decision making process. It is about being aware of the outcome of our decisions, good and bad.

Ethics is about making a well-considered decision and having the moral courage to accept the responsibility of our decision.

Ethics is more a way of approaching decisions, ethics is not a set of values but a way of developing values for a certain situation as it is understood.

Do you see how it differs from morality? Morality is a set of values that are applied, ethics is a way to solve something at we understand it. Ethics can develop morals and as the situation changes ethics can evolve morals.

Let us just return to ethics for now and I shall say more about the strengths and weaknesses of each in more detail further on.

Ethics is a way of reaching an answer in any situation. The aim is to reach the best answer. But all problems are complicated. The more we learn about a problem, the more complicated it becomes.

Let us take a simple example. Common morality states "Thou shall not kill another person." A drug-crazed killer has shot a dozen students in a classroom and is systematically shooting more students, one every ten seconds. You are situated behind him ten meters away. You have a gun and a clear shot at him. Do you shoot and kill him?

Morality says no.

Ethics tells us we should consider the potential outcome of our decision, how it will affect others and how it affects the world we live in. Ethics tells us to make a decision based upon what we think is right for everything and everyone.

My own take is:

Don't decide for your own benefit, decide for the benefit of others. Do the right thing, the nicest thing. Be aware of the consequences. In part they are our responsibility.Do we kill him? There is no perfect right or wrong answer here We each must make our own decision and live with the outcomes. If we have done so, then the decision was ethical.

Based upon my understanding of the situation, I would shoot to kill because it is in the best interest of the remaining students. It may have a bad outcome for me, but I am less important than the students. I would judge more good would result from my killing him.

This is making an ethical decision.

However, maybe there is something I didn't know. Maybe it was a movie being shot and I for whatever reason, was unaware that everyone was acting. Sounds pretty stupid, but such things happen.

The Problems of Morality and Ethics

Morality provides answers. Morality provides solutions. Morals are right, absolute and certain. We can be confident that if we decide based upon morality, it is a solution and correct based upon the morality. Morals are convenient and easy. Few questions are required, thinking is limited, and we follow the rules. This is a great strength and a weakness. Morality provides good answers to many day to day decisions.

There are so many decisions we need to make each day, we cannot spend hours on each of them. This is where morality is strong. We can follow our morals with a fair degree of confidence because in the past they have provided a good outcome. Morals are convenient and easy.

But things change. How do the Ten Commandments handle the internet? Genetic engineering? Pollution? Nuclear power? Global warming? The Ten Commandments do not have an answer for these questions because the questions did not exist or were not asked at that time.

Clearly decision making must evolve to adapt to current circumstances. But morality is characterised by stability, by absolute rules. What about ethics? Ethics is the domain of changed circumstance. Ethics is fluid and adaptable.

Ethics can show us how to evolve our morals, how to make decisions in new situations.

Ethics is better for the tricky decisions, morality is more efficient for the regular problems we face day to day. But be aware, do not get complacent, morality does not question and we often need to understand and question the reasons behind even simple looking problems before making a decision. Take care using morality, ask yourself is the answer obvious or do I need to understand a little more?

Let us use a simple example. The morality "Thou shall not kill another person" seems straightforward.

Hitler was exterminating the Jews in 1939. Was it ethical to declare war on Germany? Is war moral? See above... which is right, correct or best?

Take a more complex example within the context of war. Imagine aircraft pilots shooting civilians because they looked like so called dangerous insurgents. Such decisions were made ethically in their view, they were making a decision for the best interest of other parties at some risk to themselves. In hindsight they may have been wrong, but the decision can well be called ethical. It could equally be called moral because the pilots were following the rules.

Morality is applying predetermined values (usually developed by others) and designed for different problems, different dilemmas at a different time and then not accepting the responsibility of that decision. "I did it because the rule said so." This in my view is taking the easy option, abrogating responsibility in many cases.

Ethics is applying your values to a problem now and making the best decision possible based upon the available information. Such decisions become your decision and you are responsible for the decision and outcome in part. Ethics is characterised by doubt, unanswered questions and knowing that we can only make our best decisions and that such decisions are not the best for everyone. Every decision has costs and costs are not shared equally. So ethics does not answer the question what is right or wrong, but what is possibly better or worse based upon what is known.

Moral decisions provide certainty, an amount of righteousness. But of course because each society has different morality, each society will make differing moral decisions in some cases. Sometimes this is enough to generate major conflicts despite seemingly almost insignificant differences. The fact that religion is a major factor in conflict demonstrates this. The morality of each religion is different and absolute. Absolute differences are irreconcilable, and generate intolerance.

Ethical decisions provide uncertainty and doubt. Even if societies have differing values, taking an ethical approach permits different solutions and an acceptance that perhaps my decision is not the best for all. This engenders an accepting culture, one which takes a more "live and let live" approach. Doubt is good in that is encourages tolerance.

Ethicists are wracked with doubt. Moralists are absolute in their convictions. Find a smug politician and you have found a moral politician. Find a tormented politician and you have found a more ethical politician.

I will close with another example of where today's society has a moral value which is at odds with ethical decision making.

Euthanasia. Under the same moral code that states we shall not kill, society today demands we maintain the life of aged damaged people who no longer have any desire to live. Our morality demands we keep their hearts beating, their lungs pumping, using all that modern medicine can offer. Ethics asks the question why we should maintain the life in this failing body propped up by technology. What is the good that comes from locking out the grim reaper a little longer? No one wishes to suffer and finally die ever so slowly, causing grief to their loved ones. Yet society forces this morality onto us all.

I ask you the question who gains from this? Look deep into your heart and think for a moment, think ethically. I suspect that some people gain by saying "We did all we could to keep him alive." This is a way of justifying an unethical decision. A way of avoiding criticism and blame. Being ethical is accepting the consequences for making the best decisions.

Remember morality is about abrogating responsibility? The dying person makes their decision and wishes to die. For our own selfish reasons, not for their benefit, someone else decides they must continue to suffer and others must suffer so they can be moral.

Euthanasia is ethical in the vast majority of cases, but it is immoral in most societies today. Politicians are largely being unethical by allowing this to continue. They are acting in their self interest - their ego removes their ethical component from their actions.

So, I hope you now understand the difference between morals and ethics. It won't change the world tomorrow, nor should it, but if perhaps you can just take a little more time to consider important decisions in ethical terms in future then your world will be a better, more tolerant place.

If you want to practice straight away, ask yourself what are the ethical questions associated with smoking, with parenting and junk food, computer games or boxing. What about walking across the road safely on a Don't Walk sign, forcing children to attend classes where they are disruptive in class, smoking a cigarette, working for an alcohol or uranium mining company. What are the ethics of working for a lobby group, being a politician or a vegetarian?

And recall again, there is no absolutely right or wrong answer. There are better or worse answers, yes. But not right or wrong. The best you can do is better understand the issues, the consequences, and who and what is affected before deciding. You cannot make a truly ethically decision until you are on the spot. And each ethical decision will not be perfect nor please everyone, nor will it be valid forever, the answer may change tomorrow, but such decisions will be yours and the best you can make at the time with the information you have.

Remember:

Don't decide for your own benefit, decide for the benefit of others. Do the right thing, the nicest thing. Be aware of the consequences. In part they are our responsibility.Being ethical is tough, very tough. But I know of no better way to make mydecisions. Do you know a better way to make your decisions?

What Is the Difference Between Morality and Ethics?
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written by Gordon E Newman

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