Overview
Ethics must be reflected in everyday behavioral traits. Ethics awareness is a primary constituent of a Defense Ethics Plan. The process of communication and the available technologies facilitate a healthy ethical environment for all those interacting in a given setting. This paper will focus on ethics and its application in a work environment. But first, it looks at ethical awareness inventory. The ethics awareness inventory poses some queries in which individuals are expected to express answers that they most agree with and the ones they least agree with depending on various categories. The Ethics Awareness Inventory assessed has categories that apply to character traits and virtue, obligations, standards of ethics, personal morals, and society. In this paper, I discuss all ethical perceptions which include virtues and character, obligation, outcomes, and equity. After this I will also delve into the ethical concern I have experienced at the workplace.
Virtue and Character
The ethical perception of virtue and character is premised on positive principles of morals. An individual who fixes in this condition possesses a strong totality of belief in integrity. Besides, each individual’s actions are reflected in his or her behavior. Individuals who premise their ethical perceptions on agreement look for verifications of virtue in other individuals which may encompass honor, munificence, and justice. Such individuals may believe that virtue is not merely an abstract principle. Each individual can come up with ethical resolutions under strenuous conditions by demonstrating brilliant character. It has been stated that people who do not have a strong character do not have the required ability to come up with ethical resolutions. However, it is worth noting that numerous individuals are short of the values people in this ethical perception give value concerning challenges such as social inequality; these challenges have adverse effects on society (Snyder and Lopez, 2009).
Several individuals within this perspective value integrity within the setting of an organization; such people sincerely believe that ethical actions are dependent on each person’s capability to come with moralistic decisions. However, the expression is misused by individuals who do not value sincerity.
Obligation
The obligation is where my moral perception is premised on. Ethical resolutions are established based on responsibility and allegiance. In my case, under this perspective, I tend to center my attention on intent as opposed to results. The most important standards of this perspective comprise recognition of human dignity, respect for others, and self and personal freedom. The most outstanding feature of the obligation perspective is that it emphasizes the treatment of every person as a human being instead of treating him or her as a means to an end. The implication of this is that a person who fits in this perspective should relate with others the same way he or she may expect others to relate to or treat him.
This perception ensures that every person achieves his or her best and the sensitivity to the plight of those who do not receive fair treatment makes us not consider the society in its totality. It is important to note that individuals give great value to personal freedom given that individuals make decisions that are safe and legal. Moreover, individuals should be allowed to make decisions they find relevant to their situation. In making such decisions, individuals should not make impulsive resolutions but focus on taking a sufficient amount of time to find a vivid and ethical resolution. Rather than results, individuals pay great attention to freedom of expression and the opportunity to grow. People make unethical resolutions in circumstances where they are not able to grow from the decisions they made in the past. Individuals categorized under this perception are found to be good team players since they are focused on ensuring what is best for an organization or company even if they do not agree with decisions made.
Result
The results of this perspective are consistent with my personal views on what constitutes ethics. People who categorize themselves under the result perception assess the decisions they feel are the most appropriate to the majority; they believe that the process of making decisions must be based on what is best for the majority. The person whose decision-making process is consistent with this perspective of result is deemed as an ethical individual. However, in cases where the majority is not in agreement with the decision made, fairness is ensured by wisely taking care of the disagreement coming up with agreeable adjustments. Furthermore, under this perspective, there is a sense of moral accountability to beware of what is the most appropriate in the best interest of all by assessing the available or possible trade-offs.
Ethical outlook based on result benefits from ensuring enhancement in an environment so that individuals can take pleasure in learning and working in solidarity. The main point here is that everybody’s interest is taken care of and great encouragement is made for everyone to be tolerant to fellow individuals within the same environment, for instance, workmates should ensure they get along very well taking into account any form of differences that may cause challenges between or amongst them. It is crucial to realize that the result perspective is deemed to be the most rational since individuals who subscribe to it are highly capable of assessing and linking their resolutions on what is best and most appropriate for the majority and not just getting concerned with their personal affairs. I belong to this perspective and I consider myself strongly attached to results as opposed to any other perspective. Being in harmony with others and being considerate to them while making decisions are the most important undertaking for me and also for those who share in this perspective.
In addition, such people know that the decisions that may be made are likely not to get support from everybody, but must take care of the majority who agree with those decisions. Nonetheless, individuals who do not share in this kind of perspective are highly likely to experience inconsistencies since they are not committed to assessing what is the most appropriate for society in its entirety. These kinds of people are not likely to get along well with the majority of the people they either work with or generally interact with within the society.
Equity
This perspective is premised on the absence of knowledge and human ruling. Individuals who fall into this category are very ingenious by utilization of their everyday experiences as a lead to making decisions considered ethical. The decision-making process and judgment are purely based on handy outcomes of the courses of actions to follow. In this case, each action is judged independently based on an objective viewpoint. Individuals, who are in this perspective, hold the belief that rights and wrongs have no fixed standard. However, taking new knowledge into account and the varying situations, it is sometimes crucial to sporadically change one’s beliefs.
The Role and Importance of Personal Ethics in the Field of Psychology
Ethics deals with human morality and is mainly concerned with making distinctions between good and bad things or behavioral traits within society. Personal ethics helps one to determine how he or she should treat or relate to other individuals in society. In other words, personal ethics is a source of an individual’s identity. Personal ethics is what rationalizes a person’s morality and holds him or her accountable for certain social or behavioral actions.
An individual’s ethics informs the way such an individual perceives the world around him or her. Besides, it helps in determining whether personal actions and decisions made are focusing on personal gratification or to the interest of the majority. It is important to realize that personal ethics are what make an individual adopt particular lines of actions and, apart from informing his or her expectations of others (University Microfilms, 1976).
Psychology is a social science that involves a lot of research and experimentations; such processes, there are ethics to be followed to ensure the findings do not interfere with the rights of participants in research or experiment. Besides, there are laid down ethical principles to be followed if the experimental or research findings are to be replicated and or generalized.
Personal ethics is greatly influenced by personal character traits. An example of such a trait is competitiveness which puts an individual in a situation where he or she must make decisions that have ethical implications. Personal ethics falls within moral psychology where ethics interlinks with the philosophy of mind; philosophy of mind involves processes that go on in the mind that have moral implications considered under ethics (Freeman and Peace, 2005).
Work-Related Scenario of an Ethical Concern
At the workplace, it is highly probable to encounter ethical challenges daily. The fact is that within an organization or working place, there is a good number of individuals who may not share in one’s views; this means that sometimes one may come up with a decision that others will view as selfish yet the decision-maker might be driven by the passion to at least take care of the majority if not possibly everyone. Normally, when one feels, strongly, that certain decisions that have been made are not ethical, then, the most appropriate thing to do is to comply with the policies of the organization and this should be a top priority irrespective of what other colleagues say or think of such an action. It will always be notable that many individuals who may not agree with one’s decision are concerned with their interest and do not mind about the plight of interest of others. The interpretation of this is that such people will only be involved in decision-making to the extent where their concerns are satisfied and thereafter not mind what happens to others. However, even though one may follow the company or organization’s policy, it does not mean his or her decisions are most popular amongst others; the policy is just a fallback in situations where all cannot agree on a particular decision. The decision to follow the policy even if one’s decisions may be wrong is informed by the fear of losing a promotion or the job. But at the end of it all, the most crucial thing to do is to stand with one’s ethical beliefs (Landrum and Davis, 2009).
Conclusion
My ethical perception is strongly based on obligation and least based on equity. However, individual perspective or perception contrasts, and therefore, a general description may not apply to everyone, but it can serve as an insight into one’s general perceptions and approaches he or she gives to issues of ethical concern.
There is a great link between ethics and psychology. Ethical decisions are formed by the perceptions in the mind of an individual which is cognitive. It, therefore, remains to be said that ethical conducts are a direct result of the cognition of an individual. Ethics are associated with personal morals, but personal morals emanate from one’s perception of what is right or wrong for him or her. In a nutshell, the links between ethics and psychology are summed up in moral psychology (Freeman and Peace, 2005).
Reference List
- Freeman, L. & Peace, G. A. (2005). Information ethics: privacy and intellectual property. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI).
- Landrum, R. & Davis, S. (2009). The Psychology Major: Career Options and Strategies for Success (4th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
- Snyder, C. & Lopez, S. (2009). Oxford handbook of positive psychology. New York: Oxford University Press US.
- University Microfilms. (1976). Dissertation abstracts international: The humanities and social sciences. Michigan: University Microfilms International.