Chapter
1
Welcome to Ethics
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1
Slide 2
Welcome to Ethics

The fundamental question in ethics is, How
should people behave?
 In many situations, people act (or choose not
to act) to avoid negative consequences.
 But what about decisions in which no choice
is illegal, and no choice will lead to any
particular problems for the decision maker?
 If a person has a genuine free choice, what
principles should guide his or her actions?
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1
Slide 3
Objectives
 Identify
common ethical principles and
sources of ethical beliefs.
 Distinguish among etiquette, law, and
ethics.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 4
CHAPTER 1
Key Terms and Concepts
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ethical principles
relativism
legalism
authority
culture
morality
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intuition
reason
standard of etiquette
standard of law
standard of ethics
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 5
What Is Ethics All About?

Ethical principles are general statements of
how people should or should not act.
 These principles are often the reasons
behind a person’s actions, thoughts, and
beliefs.
 Some ethical principles are frequently
described as universal, meaning that rational
people thinking logically would have to agree
that everyone should follow them.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 6
The Golden Rule
 A popular
universal ethical principle is
known as the golden rule—you should
treat others as you would want to be
treated.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 7
Common Ethical Principles
 People
should:
 Respect
the rights of others.
 Keep their promises.
 Be honest.
 Take responsibility for their actions.
 Act in the best interests of others.
 Help others in need when possible.
 Be fair.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 8
Do Right and Wrong Exist?
 Some
people argue that they are mere
social inventions created to control
people’s behavior.
 Others assert that they are little more than
emotional reactions or social agreements.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 9
Criticisms of Ethics
 Relativism
is the belief that because
ethical values vary so widely, there can be
no universal ethical principles that apply to
everyone.
 Legalism is the belief that because there
are laws and policies to cover issues of
right and wrong, ethics is irrelevant.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 10
Sources of Ethical Beliefs
 Ethical
beliefs come from a variety of
sources.
 Lessons
taught at home, in school, or in
religious training
 Individual life experiences
 Messages that society sends through
television, music, magazines, and books
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 11
Sources of Ethical Beliefs
Continued from previous slide
 Most
people tend to identify one or more
of the following sources:
 Authority
 Culture
 Intuition
 Reason
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 12
Authority
 According
to the authority approach, an
action is right or wrong because someone
important said so.
 This way of thinking is often seen in
religious ethics, but other moral authorities
in history have included political leaders
(for example, monarchs).
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 13
Culture

Culture refers to the idea that the morality of an
action depends on the beliefs of one’s culture or
nation.
 Morality refers to that part of human behavior that
can be evaluated in terms of right and wrong.
 This approach says that cultures and nations, like
individuals, have different values and principles
based on their different experiences and histories.
 A belief that works well for one culture may be
harmful for another.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 14
Intuition
 Intuition
is the idea that principles of right
and wrong have been built into a person’s
conscience and that he or she will know
what is right by listening to that “little
voice” within.
 This reliance on intuition is very common.
 People often seem to know instinctively
whether actions are right or wrong.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 15
Reason

Reason refers to the idea that consistent, logical
thinking should be the primary tool used in making
ethical decisions.
 With the appeal to reason, an action is not wrong
just because an authority says so, just because it
is unpopular within a culture, or just because
someone’s inner voice warns against it.
 Instead, this approach suggests that a person
look open-mindedly at the arguments on both
sides of an issue and then use reason to carefully
choose the stronger arguments.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 16
Standards
 A standard,
or norm, is an accepted level
of behavior to which people are expected
to conform.
 All
standards involve some kind of
expectation.
 The level may be set low (a minimum
standard), in the middle (an average
standard), or very high (a standard of
excellence).
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 17
Standards of Behavior
 People’s
actions can be evaluated
according to many standards.
 Three of the most common standards of
behavior:
 Standards
of etiquette
 Standards of law
 Standards of ethics
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 18
Etiquette
 The
standard of etiquette refers to
expectations concerning manners or
social graces.
 Societies and cultures have their own
rules of etiquette that their members are
expected to meet.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 19
Etiquette
Continued from previous slide
 Most
people understand their social
etiquette standards and try to live up to
them.
 Many
rules are not written down.
 Violations can result in embarrassment.
 Etiquette
also reduces social friction and
makes it easier for people to live together
as a community.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Difference Between the
Standards of Etiquette and Ethics
Slide 20
 That
difference is seriousness.
 The issues covered by the standard of
etiquette are not as serious as those that
pertain to ethics.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 21
Law
 The
standard of law has to do with rules
of behavior imposed on people by
governments.
 Like ethics, this legal standard can be
serious, too.
 Many
laws deal with life-and-death issues,
including rules forbidding murder, drunken
driving, drug use, and child abuse.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Difference Between Legal
and Ethical Standards
CHAPTER 1
Slide 22
 People
must follow legal standards or face
specific negative consequences.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
CHAPTER 1
Slide 23
Ethics
 The
standard of ethics refers to social
expectations of people’s moral behavior.
 The
ethical principles and rules making up this
standard are made valid by the reasons and
arguments supporting them.
 For ethical statements to be valid, they must
make logical sense.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Difference Between Legal
and Ethical Standards
CHAPTER 1
Slide 24
 Legal
standards (based on authority) may
change as authorities change.
 Ethical standards (based on reason)
change only when new information causes
people’s thinking about the standards to
change.
ETHICS in the WORKPLACE
© 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.