Professional Documents
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Overview
My experience in the business world has shown a variety of
ethical decision making practices. The beauty industry has a somewhat
skewed view of ethics as it appeals to the vanity and esteem of
consumers around the world. The health care industry must provide
health care to its customers yet maintain the business with the goals of
making a profit. Yale University is known for its research in the fields of
science and medical technology. All these companies practice ethics,
but view ethical behavior in a different way. This paper will explore the
definition and principles of ethics and discuss the impact of ethics on
the decision making process in the work place.
Definition
Pearson Custom Publishing (Pearson, 1998-2002) defines ethics
as the “standards of conduct and moral judgment.” Markula Center for
Applied Ethics (1995-1998) defines ethics as those standards that
compel one to refrain from committing crimes against another person
such as stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. It is also the
standards that encourage honesty, integrity, compassion and loyalty.
Ethics is not a religious principle, nor is it based on “feelings” about a
particular problem. It cannot be defined as a legal practice because
laws are created to protect rights, not manage ethical principles.
While the definition may seem clear, ethics as a practice is
somewhat ambiguous since interpretation plays a big part in how
people perceive right from wrong. The Markala Center for Applied
Ethics (1995-1998) states that in order to understand the meaning of
ethics we must find answers the following questions, “According to
Conclusion
Utilizing the principles of ethics in the decision making process
will help to ensure that decisions made are fair and respect the rights
of those parties involved. Unfortunately, ethical decision making is only
as morally sound as the person making the decision. If the person
References
Coalition of Americans for Research Ethics, (n.d.), On human embryos
and stem cell research: An appeal for legally and ethically responsible
science and public policy. Retrieved from the World Wide Web: May 18,
2002 http://www.stemcellresearch.org/statement/statement.htm
Colero, L., (n.d.) A framework for universal principles of ethics.
Retrieved from the World Wide Web. May 18, 2002
http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/papers/invited/colero.html
Pearson Custom Publishing, (1999-2002) Ethics. Retrieved from the
World Wide Web: May 15, 2002
http://www.pearsoncustom.com/link/humanities/philosophy/crithink/eth
ics.html
Markula Center for Applied Ethics, (1995-1998) A framework for ethical
decision making. Retrieved from the World Wide Web. May 15, 2002.
http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Centers/Ethics/practicing/deci3sion/framework
.html