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Ethics and Moral Compass in the Workplace

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The term ethics would be best described as a set of moral norms or even a moral compass possessed by an individual which can be used be as guidelines of what is right and wrong when making decisions. An unethical behaviour was described by as behaviour which opposed the aforementioned moral norms. Fassin (2005, pg.265) talks about how the integrity of businesses nowadays have been declining steadily over the past few years. The real question here: What is the main factor which actually contributes to this decline? Are people forced to get involved in such behaviour due to the pressure from their work environment? Or is it simply caused by the choice of the individual who chooses to act in accordance to an unethical manner? The only clear realisation is that unethical decisions DO result from an individual’s choice rather than being resulting from their own work environment. Whether a decision made in an organisation, profession or a business made is ethical or unethical, it would rely mainly on the values embedded within the individual. Values in this context would refer to the principles or degree of standards upheld by an individual when dealing with an issue regarding ethics. It can be in the form of honesty, honouring commitments, loyalty, integrity, originality, responsibility, etc. Levitt-Rosenthal (2013, pg. 28) emphasized on the importance of values as it would act as a base for culture which would in turn affects its performance in their organisation. Shafer, Fukuwaka, Lee (2007, pg. 272) had provided the importance of personal values when it comes to decision making in an organisation which highlights its importance in ethical decision making. Jin, Drozdenko, & DeLoughy (2012, pg. 26) report on how individuals with lesser social value mindsets were seen to make more unethical decisions in the financial market. This fact can be applied to any profession, organisation or business. Basically, what is taken from that if the individual lacks personal values, the incentive to perform in an unethical manner is very high. For example, consider a business using false advertisement (highlighting qualities of the product which is possible untrue or highly exaggerated) to boost the sales of his product in the market. We can conclude that the advertiser is trying to get his target market to buy his product without properly disclosing true information about it. Another example would be the manager of a fast food restaurant paying his workers less than what they should be receiving. This would be failure in honouring the contract signed prior to their employment. The call for unethical d

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