1. Ethics: Personal & Professional
Information gathered by Lucy Campanis
Revised by Mikki Meadows
EIU School of Family & Consumer Sciences

2. Terminology
Morality
Ethics
Moral Issue
Moral Agent
Ethical Decision

3. Principles of Personal Ethics
Concern for the well-being of others
Respect for the autonomy of others
Trustworthiness and honesty
Benevolence

4. Willing compliance with the law
With the exception of civil disobedience
Basic justice
Refusing to take unfair advantage
Preventing harm

5. Principles of Professional Ethics
Impartiality; objectivity
Openness; full disclosure
Due diligence/duty of care
Fidelity to professional responsibilities
Avoiding potential or apparent conflict of interest

6. Principles of Global Ethics
Global justice (as reflected in international laws)
Environmental stewardship
Interdependence and responsibility for the “whole’
Reverence for place

7. Questions for Solving Ethical Problems
What benefits and what harms will each course of action produce and which alternative will lead to the best overall consequence?
What moral rights do the affected parties have, and which course of action best respects those rights?

8. Which course of action treats everyone the same, except where there is amorally justifiable reason not to, and does not show favoritism or discrimination?
Which course of action advances the common good?
Which course of action develops moral virtues

9. Discussion Questions
Describe an ethical dilemma you experienced or observed:
What were the issues involved?
What did you (or the individual concerned0 consider in making a decision about how to handle this dilemma?
What was the decision?
Was the decision appropriate? Why? Why not?

11. Ethics Culture Within the Workplace
A National Benchmark Study on Business Ethics

12. Aspects of the Study The Walker Information National Study
large and medium-sized firms
United States
The study reflects opinions of employees in industries such as:
Manufacturing
Public administration
Retail
Health care
Finance
Real estate

13. Findings of the Study
Business cultures in the US range across the spectrum
A focus on compliance and ethics to ignoring both altogether
Many employees are aware of violations
Don’t feel comfortable reporting
Sexual harassment tops the list of violations

14. When workers have higher opinions of their employer’s ethics, they are more committed
People rate their own ethical conduct better than others’ conduct
The higher the level of management, the more favorable the perception of ethics
Senior leaders are better at communicating ethics than “walking the talk”

15. Senior leaders may obey laws and support the community better than they handle internal issues and commitments
Employees rate the integrity of the organization higher when they have program resources
Public employees were by far the most likely of all industry groups to know of an ethical or legal violation in their organization