Please take out a sheet of paper and answer the following questions: – What do you think ethics are? – Where do you think ethics come from?

Ethics in the Workplace

Almost every individual—excluding perhaps those insane persons who have no sense of right and wrong, but certainly including everyone from religious leaders to gangsters and serial killers—has a set of ethics.

What are Ethics? plural noun 1.(used with a singular or plural verb) a system of moral principles:the ethics of a culture. 2.The rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.:medical ethics; Christian ethics. 3.Moral principles, as of an individual:His ethics forbade betrayal of a confidence. 4.(usually used with a singular verb) that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. Source: Dictionary.com

Ethics are a set of moral principles that help us decide what is right and what is wrong.

Where Do Ethics Come From? Religious Beliefs Childhood Upbringing Later Life Experiences Code of Ethics Decisions with Others Ethics Philosophers Ethics Dilemmas

Religious Beliefs The Bible Western Government and laws based on Ten Commandments The Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” The Koran

Childhood Upbringing Learn from our parents – What they say – What they do Largely a source of fundamental attitudes of what is right and what is wrong

Later Life Experiences Interactions with police School experiences Work Experiences

Code of Ethics Businesses and organizations have rule of conduct Honesty Protection of others Unfair competition

Discussions with Others Happen casually We talk about our own and others actions People are often labeled based on their actions – Wonderful, Mean, Greedy, Generous What label to you want?

Ethics Philosophers Pëtr Kroptkin, a Russian philosopher stated, “What separates the civilized from the uncivilized in history is a system and code to live by.” Bentham – Doing the greatest good for the greatest number of people Kant – Taking action only if everyone could take the same action without bringing about more harm than good and without creating logical impossibilities

If humans were to act without concern for ethics, we would act solely to serve ourselves. With ethics, modern society can operate in cooperative manner, allowing those with more resources to assist those without.

Ethics Dilemmas Real or imagined situations that pit two or more ethical principles, rules, or objectives against one another. Which is more important or more right? Examples?