MODULE 2

WORK ETHICS-NATURE AND SCOPE

MEANING OF WORK ETHICS
All professional ethics involve work ethics but all works ethics may not involve
professional ethics. However, the concepts are interdependent in nature. Work ethics
relates to certain norms and a set of values that a worker considers as essential in his view
while doing a work. All this then becomes the basis of work culture. Work is also a means of
achieving personal realisation. Thus, laziness is morally wrong and it is equally wrong to eke
out a living based on the work done by others. However, there must be a philosophy behind
work, apart from it being a source of livelihood. This philosophy is called work ethics.
Professional Ethics
A profession is a social calling that ensures a vocation which provides one with the
means to earn one’s livelihood. The main characteristics of a profession are given below.
 Professional ethics is based on certain ethical values and norms which a professional
is supposed to follow.
 A profession is a specialized calling that needs skill, commitment, special knowledge,
dedication and dignity.
 A professional person has to take an oath on his expected social duties and ideal
behaviour at the time of entering into a profession as a doctor, engineer, cleric, and
so on. The oath is the acknowledgement and the promise to observe certain ethical
standards for these public services and do the duties in the spirit of service and
sacrifice.
 A profession is above and beyond any monetary gain or temptation. It has a mission
to serve the society. The purpose of a profession is to serve and not to exploit others
in the name of fees. The fees should be as low as possible.
 A profession is meant to provide some public services and has some special
responsibilities.
 Professional Ethics for Physicians
Health is proverbially regarded as wealth. Like food, health is our basic requirement.
Since human capital resides in human bodies, body capital is an important part of human
capital.
Principles of Medical Ethics
One of the earliest exponents of medical ethics is Hippocrates, who founded a school
of medicine at Kos. The graduates of the school had to take oath at the time of receiving of
their degrees. These oaths consisted of several important ethical principles for physicians.
Hippocratic Oath
In the first part, the oath consists of a declaration that the physicians will have
respect for parents and teachers and will provide all help, when needed. The oath says that
they will abide by the Physicians’ laws and none another. The second part of the oath has
the following five ethical principles:
 The Physicians will treat the sick according to their abilities and judgement and will
not do any harm or wrong to the sick people.
 They will not administer poison to any one even if asked to do so.
 They will not cause abortion.
 They will keep themselves free from fornication.
 They will maintain secrecy regarding their patients and their diseases.
 Professional Ethics for Engineers
Engineering services are essential for the industrial development of a country.
Engineers make infrastructure, technological outfits, communication network, factories and
equipment and the like. Since engineering is a crucial profession, there should be a code of
ethics for engineers. There are two types of code of ethics: one for the general engineers
and the other for the corporate members. The code of ethics for engineers in India is
formulated by the Institution of Engineers.

Code of Ethics for Engineers

The corporate members of the Indian Engineers are committed to serve the community
and promote and practice the profession of engineering in such a way as would contribute
to common good and national welfare. At all times while working, engineers are to keep in
mind the five concerns as under:
1. Concern for the application of an ethical standard.
2. Concern for social justice, social order and human rights.
3. Concern for environmental protection.
4. Concern for public safety and tranquility.
5. Concern for sustainable development.
All engineers supposed to follow the general ethical principles of honesty, justice and
fairness, truth in all dealings, individual respect, trustworthiness, reliability, human welfare,
safeguarding of human life and property, working with competence and accountability and
social responsibility.
NATURE OF BUSINESS ETHICS
There are generally two recognized perspectives of business ethics: the naturalist
approach and normative approach. The naturalist approach to business ethics takes into
account the natural laws, natural region and nomological principles embedded in the
natural system. The normative approach is couched in empirical terms. Business Ethics is
essentially a normative science where one talks about various ethical norms, and standard
practices as prevalent in a particular country.
Following are the five dimensions of the nature of Business Ethics;
1. Business Ethics as a subject is analytical: Its purpose is to analyse things as they
are. The nature of this type of study is known as positive study.
2. Business ethics is diagnostic in nature: After examining the various aspects of
business dealings, operations and management techniques, it is possible to know
the ethical or non-ethical pathology of the business.
3. Business ethics is evaluative in nature: It makes an evaluation of business dealings,
over firm behaviour and performance and comes to judge whether a particular
business concern is ethical or not.
4. Business ethics is prescriptive in nature: It makes various prescriptions to eradicate
the unethical behaviour of the firm so that it can be ethical.
5. Business ethics sets the moral standard in business: as its guiding principle to be
followed in all its dealings with the public, employees, suppliers and consumers.
SCOPE OF BUSINESS ETHICS
Business ethics works at different levels;
 Individual level (Personal level)
 Organizational level (May or may not be business organizations)
  Association level (May be with various types of institutions and domestic
associations)
 Societal level (Customers, Banks and Government)
 Internal policy making (Making business strategies)
 Global level (Business intractions)
In all these five levels, some ethical issues are conspicuously present and such issues
come within the domain of business ethics. The following areas where ethical issues are
directly or indirectly involved with a business concern:
1. Ethical responsibilities of business
2. Unethical practices in HRM, finance, marketing and informational technology
3. Ethical responsibilities towards employees, consumers, suppliers, and other
stakeholders
4. Ethical issues in corporate governance
5. International business ethics
6. Professional ethics

ETHICAL DECISION- MAKING

MEANING
Ethical decision-making refers to the process of evaluating and choosing among
alternatives in a manner consistent with ethical principles. In making ethical decisions, it is
necessary to perceive and eliminate unethical options and select the best ethical
alternatives.
There are basically 3 types of business concerns:
 Morality – based management
 Immoral management
 Amoral management
Some business concerns are based on morality. It follows the policy of honesty,
openness, equal and fair treatment towards the employees, suppliers, consumers, and
shareholders. The strategy of this type of company is morally managed. For such a company,
it is not difficult to make ethical decisions.
There may be some other concerns which are immoral in nature. This is evident in their
action, pricing, dealing, distribution, mechanism, marketing strategy etc. this type of
company practices lying, cheating, irresponsibility, unfair and fraudulent behaviour. It is very
difficult for companies to make ethical decision. There may be another type of business
which may be called amoral. This type of concern is neither moral nor immoral. They are
less concerned about morality and ethics. It does not care about ethical or non-ethical
business decision-making

CHARACTER TRAITS OF DECISION-MAKER

Michael Josephson has identified 6 personality traits that are favourable to ethical
decision making. Effectiveness in ethical decision making will be complete if all these 6
attributes are taken in totality.
1) Caring personality
Most important attribute of a person is his caring attitude. Caring is the starting
point of all ethics. Without care & love no principle can be developed by a person. If a
business man have caring & sharing attitude, he will make ethical decisions for the purpose
of running his business. This is so because ethical decisions will benefit some people who
may be needy & poor.
2) Respect
Respect involves caring, non-injury, giving attention to somebody’s need, decency,
dignity & honour. If you pay respect to somebody, he will, in turn pay respect to you.
Respect implies negative ego-centric behaviour, which is the basic pre-condition of ethical
positioning. Respect is one of the pillars of ethical decision making.
3) Responsibility
From care & respect comes the sense of responsibility. Responsibilities are basic
duties that one needs to perform for sustaining care & respect. In ethical decision making,
the decision maker takes the responsibility of such a decision. He is accountable for the
impact of that decision whether it turns to be good or bad.
4) Trustworthiness
To be trustworthy is to have an additional responsibility. A person became
trustworthy only when he possesses some special virtues & character traits like integrity,
honesty, sincerity & truthfulness. Trustworthiness is also related to loyalty & reliability. In
the case of managerial decision making, the superior authorities delegate some power to
the manager to make ethical decisions because they believe that the manager is
trustworthy & he will not do anything wrong.
5) Fairness
Fairness involves justice equal treatment of people under equal situations,
impartiality, non- discrimination, openness & transparency. A fair decision is the decision
that is taken without fear & favour & without pride & prejudice
6) Citizenship
Citizenship is the recognition of a person as a legal inhabitant of a particular country.
Social responsibility is the important responsibility of a good citizen. A good corporate
citizen has to perform many social responsibilities including social welfare, environmental
protection, conservation of resources & sustainable development of the country. Ethical
decision making in business includes all these areas of responsibility.
ETHICAL MODELS FOR MAKING BUSINESS DECISIONS
There are seven fundamental ethical models or principles that can be used for
ethical decision making. They are -:
1) Consequence based model
2) Duty based model
3) Right based model
4) Justice based model
5) Virtue based model
6) Common good model
7) Care based model

Here we are going to explain only 3 models:

1) Duty based model
 According to this principle, all persons should be treated with respect. It says that a
person or a firm has certain universal duties to protect others whose welfare or
needs are at risk. It is perfectly an ethical decision to help these individuals and
provide to them their legitimate basic needs. Thus, it is a firm’s right ethical decision
to protect its employees against coercion, force, abuse or any type of harm in the
office.
2) Justice based model
 Justice is an ethical action that treats every one fairly and consistently in accordance
with some legal or ethical standard.
 Since all people are not equal in every respect, justice demands that equity demands
that equity should be the correct principle and not absolute equality. Thus for a
person in the middle- income group, the rate of tax is lower than that on a rich
person.
 The concept of justice include:- distributive justice, procedural justice, retributive
justice and compensatory justice.
3) Virtue based model
 Any decision or action is justified if it is encourages certain virtues, like honesty,
integrity, sincerity, self control, fairness, trust, truthfulness and so forth
 Virtue is a type of character trait that make a person wise and helpful for the
optimum development of his personality in such a way that he cannot only develop
himself but can also contribute towards the social and humanitarian development.
 An ethical decision needs to be consistent with certain ideals of virtue. The decision
maker must exhibit, exercise, develop or encourage a morally virtuous character.
CONSTRAINTS IN ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING
1) The ethical organisational culture may be completely absent or the company may not be
serious at all about ethical decision –making. This generally happens when the company is
amoral.
2) The manager may not have any ethical orientation: his upbringing and family history may
be contrary to ethical culture.
3) The business may be focused only towards the principle of profit maximization and
nothing else.
4) The shareholders and investors may oppose the ethical culture of the company
5) There may be different types of conflicts at different organizational levels such as
employer-employee level, employee-employee level, investor-management level and so on.
If conflicts not resolved properly, ethical decision-making may be delayed or discontinued.
ETHICAL DILEMMA
An ethical dilemma is a situation that involves at least an ethical issue where a clear
decision or a choice becomes problematic claims or interests. In an ethical dilemma, the
choice has to be made between two desirable/undesirable situations. In the case of an
ethical dilemma, usually there may be two or more than two options or choices. The
decision rules are not clear-cut and may be of conflicting values. For ethical dilemma, the
solution is not unique or universal.
CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF ETHICAL DILEMMAS
If one analyses the causes of ethical dilemma, it becomes clear that in the case of dilemmas;
 Social cost and private gains are different.
 No linkage is established between the two alternative courses of actions.
 Competitive behavior gains predominance in many cases.
 There may be an inconsistency between goals.
 Cross-cultural value differentials do exist.
 There are some pressures from somewhere.
 A problem of right choice is the main issue.
 Very often, the exact impact of the two alternatives may not be known or
determined.
TYPES OF ETHICAL DILEMMAS
 Ethical dilemma between one ethically right and one ethically wrong
alternative.
 Ethical dilemma between two ethically wrong alternatives.
 Ethical dilemma between two ethically right alternatives.
CAUSES AND SOURSES OF ETHICAL DILEMMAS
 Individual (individual values may be in conflict with social or family culture)
 Family (Family values may be in clash with values in the business)
 Organization /work place (Organizational culture may be in conflict with personal
values)
 Society (Social norms may be in conflict with individual norms)
 Cross-cultural level (The culture of one country may be in conflict with the cultural
practices of another country)
RESOLUTION OF ETHICAL DILEMMAS
1. Study the Nature of the Ethical dilemmas
2. Analyze the consequence of each Contemplated Solution

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

INTRODUCTION
“Environmental ethics is theory and practice about appropriate concern for, values
in and duties regarding the natural world.”……Like Oliver, in Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver
Twist, who always wanted more and more, all the industrializing countries, now, want more
out of the environmental resources and natural capital although they are prevented from
using them to an unsustainable degree. In recent years, analysts and policy makers have
become concerned about the appropriate use of our environmental resources.
The environment is under constant attack and is being assaulted by those factors
and the forces which accompany a rapid rate of industrialization and the escalating rate of
human poverty. Both poverty and population growth do have a direct interactions with
environmental resources. To some extent they are the primary causes behind
environmental damage and degradation. There are abundant of ethical issues are involved
in the management of human environment.
MAJOR ETHICAL PROBLEMS WHICH IS AFFECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
Poverty is arising due to the lack of basic resources. In order to reduce poverty, more
natural resources will be depleted which in future will aggregate poverty. One of the major
reasons for the growth and sustenance of poverty is degrading of natural resources or the
environment. Too much use of natural resources will lead to generate environmental fall
out.
As we know that, the natural resources have the power to regenerate themselves. But
it takes time. If they are constantly assaulted without giving the necessary time to
regenerate, the depletion becomes inevitable. Overuse and wrong usage of resource are the
contributory factors for the damages and depletion of our natural resources.
If we consider an example of Philippines, the major problem is regarding to the eco-
balance. Where, profitable agricultural production is destroying the ecological balance. For
increasing the Palm Oil production, the plant and animal diversity has been seriously
damaged and carbon emissions have not been reduced.
 The period of globalization has witnessed a structural change in the agrarian
development of many countries. The commodifications of land in many countries including
India, Pakistan and some African countries have been contributing to the degradation of
environment. There the developed countries should find out some viable alternatives to
land degradation and soil erosion problems. It is not impossible to enhance the resource use
efficiency and transform traditional agriculture and should keep intact the ecological
balance. Population growth and poverty are responsible for both land and forest
degradation. The programs for afforestation and regeneration have never been a success in
some countries.
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: SOME BASIC ISSUES
There are so many factors affecting the global environment.
 Global climate change
 Ozone layer depletion
 Acid rains
 Noise pollution
 Pollution of international waters
 Desertification of land
 Deforestation
 Soil erosion, radioactive pollution
 Loss of valuable species
 Loss of biodiversity
In order to minimize or reduce these issues, there are some treaties have been developed to
take the following actions:
1. To conserve the biological diversity and to fairly and equitably share the benefits
genetic resources.
2. To control and reduce the harmful effects of desertification and deforestation.
3. To protect and enhance wetlands
4. To conserve and rationally use the marine living resources.
5. To protect the endangered species of flora and fauna from over-exploitation
6. To conserve and effectively manage migratory species
7. To protect the ozone layer, and phase out the ozone depleting substances
8. To stabilize the emission of greenhouse gases
9. To prevent the dumping of hazardous waste
10. To regulate the quantity/quality aspects of international waters

IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION ON HUMAN HEALTH

 Climate change and other agents of pollutions

The indirect impact of climate change on human health will be through its damaging
effect on the production of food and fibre. The climate change is also going to reduce the
food. Because of excessive concentration of population and industrial activities, enormous
amount of domestic and industrial waste is discharged into rivers, which creates water
pollution. The deposit of chemicals may also pollute the air. Water may also be polluted by
cadmium, which causes impairment of the central nervous system.

 Air pollution
 Air pollution may be caused by the combustion of fuels, incineration and the fumes
from different types of transportation. Nearly 70 per cent of air pollution is caused by the
exhausts from automobiles which have become a part of modern life. The clean air is
contaminated by carbon dioxide, sulphur compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen
compounds hydrocarbons and particulate matters. Different types of compounds become
highly toxic when they are mixed in the air. Air pollution largely affects the industrial sector
of both the developed and the developing countries.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
1. As most of the poor people depend on forests for the environmental resources for their
livelihood, it is morally unjust to destroy or damage these resources. As discussed earlier,
poverty is also responsible for environmental degradation. However, once the level of
poverty is reduced through economic development, there is a possibility of less
environmental damage.
2. It is the basic human right to enjoy a clean and healthy environment. Environment
pollution deprives human beings of such natural rights and hence it is unethical.
3. Environment pollution endangers the health of poor people who reside in vulnerable
areas. EP imposes a higher burden on the poor people because sickness leads to a loss of
income and productivity and man days.
4. Pollution increases the cost of production (if the social cost is included) and reduces the
output. Both are socially undesirable, particularly for the poor people.
5. More often than not, environmental pollution occurs due to the over-use of natural
resource, which is made possible by an increasing domination over nature. Too much
domination over nature is unjust and unethical in the sense that it is exploited for personal
or selfish ends.
6. Damage to environment is unethical and unjust for the future generations who have
equal rights to enjoy the benefits and gifts of nature. Human racity is responsible for the
degradation of the environmental resources. The depletion of these resources is unjust and
unethical for the posterity.
7. Environmental pollution leads to the loss of life or extinction of certain species of animals,
fish and plants and the loss of ecological balance. Non-human creatures have also the right
to live in a natural environment along with human beings. The harm caused to them is
unethical and unjust.
8. Environmental pollution leads to hedonic injustice by distorting the prices of land, houses
and other habitats. Prices of houses and lands in the polluted areas go down abnormally and
the owners suffer unjustly without any fault of theirs.
To solve these issues, there must consider
 The social cost and social benefit from environmental exploitation should be equal
 A tradeoff is necessary between environmental goals and industrial growth
CONCLUSION
The major reason behind all environmental problems are the misbehaviour or the
misuse of natural resources by human beings. The basic causes of environmental
degradation are: human greed and rapacity, large and growing population and capitalist
industrialization.
REFERENCE
B N Ghosh, Business ethics and corporate governance