Ethics Personal Statement – FA14 BA 342
Taylor Held
Introduction:
Ethics can be defined many ways. The standard “cookie-cutter” definition of ethics
typically uses words like “morals” and “principles.” I’ve been told that ethics is a word for
choosing between right and wrong. I think this struggle between the two, what is “right” and
what is “wrong,” is something that affects people all over the world all the time. Whether in
my personal life, in my career, or in society in general, I face and see people facing ethical
decisions everyday.
Personal:
Growing up, I have always looked up to my father. As many other children think of
their parents, I think my dad is the best dad in the world. His motto, and what my siblings
and I have been raised on, is to “always do the right thing, even when it’s easier or more
convenient to choose another way.” To me, this statement is what ethics embodies. I think
ethics is the choice between doing the “right thing” and doing the “wrong thing.” In saying
this, I understand that everyone defines right and wrong differently. Personally, I think when
it comes to making certain decisions, there is always quite a bit of grey area that lies in
between what is originally seen as right and as wrong. For example, as a child I was taught
that lying was bad. Lying was something that led to my mom receiving a phone call from my
fourth grade teacher explaining that I forged (and spelled wrong) her signature on a bad test
grade. As I have gotten older, I see the grey area appear when lying may be for the best. I
believe that lying to a professor or my parents is unethical because those are the people I
view as mentors to seek out help from and I wouldn’t want to betray their trust, but
sometimes I find a struggle when it comes to my friends or people that I think the truth
would cause hurt to. I personally don’t think it’s unethical to tell my friend that I am staying
in when I am really going to a mutual friends apartment that she was not invited to because
the only thing that will lead to is my friend becoming upset. I have also struggled with the
ethics surrounding my role as social chair of my sorority. Many times I have been instructed
to make up a story to social chairs of places we were scheduled to go that prevents us from
being allowed to go rather than telling them honestly that we were offered something else.
At first I felt really bad about this until it was explained to me that this is necessary in order
to keep good relationships with the house we cancel on. Just because it became easier,
doesn’t mean it suddenly became ethical. These little tests of the philosophy I was raised on
fall heavy on me because I know that although at the time it may seem like a little fault in
judgment, all these little acts add up. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” This is
the phrase I think of every time I try to convince myself why choosing an unethical path is
ok. I try to remind myself that its my actions, not my intentions, that influence people’s
perception on the type of person I am which makes choosing to led an ethical life an
important standard I try to live up to.
Career:
Although I see a lot of grey area concerning ethics in my personal life I think the
corporate world is much more black and white. In my own experiences in the corporate
world I have seen many ways of dealing with unethical behavior. In many cases companies
have employees sign contracts that lay out their code of conduct in which they require their
employees to hold up. After one of my co-workers was caught forging his timecard, his
employment was immediately terminated. This only led to him having about twenty extra
dollars on his weekly paycheck but it went against the contract he signed when he started
the job and the consequences were clearly defined. Although some of his friends though it
was a bit dramatic to be fired over, this action was necessary. It showed all the other
employees that no matter how small you consider the bad thing you are doing, it is still
wrong and the required penalties will be imposed. The only grey area that I’ve experienced
in the corporate world is where decisions that employees make in their personal life that
lead to trouble with their employment. I saw that grey area appear this summer at my
internship. One of my fellow interns had her offer receded after she posted some pictures on
social media of her partaking in underage drinking. The girl was so confused as to why the
company made a decision based on pictures of her out with her friends not something that
had to do with the company at all. The rest of the interns and I later learned that the way we
behave outside of work reflects on the company because it shows others the type of people
that the company puts their trust in. I believe this high ethical standard is important because
hiring people who hold themselves to high ethical ideals in their personal life leads to a
higher chance of practicing those ethical ideal in their work life.
Society:
While I believe the corporate world is mostly black and white and in my own
personal world there’s a little bit of grey area, I think the line between right and wrong
becomes completely blurred in our society. A lot of people in today’s world are not held
accountable for their actions. I think many times those who stick to the rules and aren’t
willing to break them in order to get ahead our viewed as “weak” or “lame.” Many times in
society we look to make excuses for why someone is doing “wrong things.” In high school,
being an athlete got me special privileges. I was able get special “help” when preparing for a
quiz or take my time to finish a past due paper because I was on a top-ranked national crew
team. I personally do not like to ever be late but I remember if I was freaking out about how I
was going to turn my assignment in on time, girls would look at me like I had four heads and
tell me to take advantage of the special perks. Recently, I have viewed many articles
concerning sexual harassment and rapes occurring on college campuses. The ones that stick
out to me are when the perpetrator only received a stern talk or something of that nature.
There are many cases where people will make exceptions for an athlete saying the
aggression of the sport the play drove them to commit the harassment and that it’s the
sports fault. The lack of person responsibly leads to the complete disorganization of ethics in
the global world.
Conclusion:
We are tried everyday implement ethics in our lives. Through personal experience we
are held up to our own standards on how each person defines the word ethics. In the
corporate world, companies define their own codes and institutions hold perpetrator is
punished. In society, ethics is somewhat of a foreign concept where certain groups benefit
the their unethical ways. All together, I believe that although as a small child I wasn’t
interested in the topic of ethics, I now know that ethical and unethical situations are things I
will deal with for the rest of my life.