Sarah Day

Business Ethics
Final Paper

My Moral Compass
and
Ethical Code

Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you
can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as you ever can.
John Wesley

When thinking about my personal ethical code and the direction in which my moral
compass points, I would like to think that it points in the direction that withholds many avenues
of values, love, generosity, and kindness. I never complain too much about things in life because
there is always someone else out there that has it worse off. I am very content with what I have
and I like to live my life to the fullest in every moment of every day. Life is short and not every
day is promised to us. I never like to stay bored for long because the world is full of endless
opportunities. I try not to be a judgmental person because everyone has a story and everyone
fights their own battles. I also feel like everyone has a reason for being a part of this life and we
are all placed in this world to fulfill a purpose. I am still on a path where I am trying to find my
purpose. I know that I am a good mom and that I have never felt love, like the love I have
toward my son. My most prideful accomplishments are made by my son and regarding the
values that I have passed down to him. Honesty, kindness, and forgiveness are the ultimate three
values of my own that I try to pass to him. When I talk about honesty, the point that I try to
make clear, is that honesty will always prevail. No matter what the circumstances may be. Even
if it hurts someone in the beginning, it is always more beneficial to have the truth be told.
Telling lies becomes too easy and that is why it is difficult for some to tell the truth. When I
explain kindness, I express the importance of treating others the same way you wish to be treated
in return. Forgiveness is also crucial but it can also be one of the most difficult things to do.
People deserve second chances because we are all human and humans are not perfect. When you
are able to forgive other people it makes it easier when it comes time to forgive yourself for
something. Forgiveness is what sets us free from guilt, shame, and anger from our past. I am a
very generous and giving/ sharing person. I dont like to see people suffer or struggle, especially
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family. When mine and my sons needs are met, I tend to help others. There is no greater feeling
of self-satisfaction than from what you get when you help a person who is in need. There had
been times in the past when I, myself, had struggled and hoped that someone would notice and
help out even in the slightest way. So now when I see others going through a difficult time, I
always have empathy for them and help them as I wished someone would have helped me.
Besides when you perform a good deed, it really does have a rippling effect and encourages
others to pay it forward. One last direction in which my compass would point is in the direction
of resiliency. To not give up easily and to give things your all. Its so easy to give up things but
if you give up on one thing then you will give up on other things. Everything in life worth-while
is going to be hard. If it was easy everyone would do it. If it was impossible no one would do it.
There are many things in this life are worth fighting for. Outcomes that I am working toward are
to live a fun, loving, and meaningful life. I want to lay down the foundation for my children to
live for those same types of values. Although, I am not religious, I am very spiritual. Therefore,
I always try to live an honorable life through god and make decisions based on what he would
want me to do. I think that many of my ethical codes have evolved and will continue to grow
from my spiritual faith.
My personal code of ethics can ultimately be compared to the utilitarian, common good,
and virtue approaches. When relating my code to the utilitarian approach, I basically consider a
result that would produce the least amount of harm and the most good. I think that it is
substantial to have an outcome that promotes more pleasure than pain. There might always be
someone that gets hurt from this approach but the good will outweigh the bad. This might not
always have the most ideal outcome for all stakeholders but the highlight is less people would
suffer. I think that it is important to look at each situation as a whole and base a decision on what
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will help the most. This can also lead into the common good approach which also evaluates a
resolution most beneficial for all who are involved except that this more or less just satisfies all
who are at stake. Whereas the utilitarian approach may just choose the side that produces the
most good in full and not necessarily care about satisfying the needs of the rest. I think that both
approaches are equally important and promote a very meaningful purpose; however, both are
better used under different circumstances.

I believe that most of my ethical codes can fall under

the virtues approach. I can see a virtuous person following most of the values that I believe in.
A virtuous person would not lie and would tell the truth even if it may be painful. A virtuous
person would be kind, helpful, and generous when they could be. A virtuous person would be a
loving, caring, non-judgmental, and forgiving. The virtue approach focuses on what a virtuous
person would do in a given situation and I think that a virtuous person would most certainly
withhold these particular qualities. However, I think that my virtues vary from the virtues of
others because they are typically individualized but overall virtues are derived from the notion of
wanting to do the right thing.
After reviewing the case on Pegasus International Inc. and the ethical dilemma regarding
the possible payoffs in order to expand their company into China, I personally did not get a good
feeling from the proposal. If I was the CEO or held any other managerial position within this
company, I would decline all payoffs with China. The first reason is because it specifically states
that it is against the law to receive business related bribes and by signing meant that the CEO
knew of none that took place. The CEO in this case would most definitely be aware of the
bribery that would take effect and would be making false statements if he denied knowing so.
The second reason is related to the question asked by the CEO, whether or not paying someone
to do the crime was the same as actually committing the crime, and yes it would be equally as
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bad if not worse. In this case if anyone would be held responsible for a case as such, it would
primarily be Pegasus as they the ones offering the business arrangements to China and they knew
that the possibility of payoffs existed. Even though many other companies have hired these
contractors to basically the dirty work for them, does not mean that it is right, ethical, and
furthermore it does not make it legal. If dignified law enforcement officials were to discover
these events, it would detrimentally label this company in a highly negative way. This kind of
negative attention would not hold well for a company that states its values are guided by
intellectual honesty, integrity, teamwork, and trust. These company values also encourage
employees to be honest with themselves and others, to tell it all and tell it like it is, to face the
facts, to take personal responsibility and accountability. By being a CEO to a company that
withholds such high values, he should be the first person operating by these standards as he is
their leader. It would be completely hypocritical if the CEO expected his employees to operate
based on these values and he didnt himself. I am sure that if the employees found out that his
was going against the values that he is enforcing upon others that he would lose a considerate
amount of respect. It is extremely difficult to be inspired by a leader that picks and chooses
which rule they wish to follow. This company also states that they value their customer
relationships, so what would this kind of negative media look to them. It might not be the most
profitable way at first but if these developing Chinese cities and districts really want to have
wireless, then I am sure they would eventually settle with doing things the right way. Besides
the company data already showed that they would be losing any money and they would only be
gaining from this company expansion. I think that if this company is patient and does thing the
right way, then they will have more to gain from in the future. Like I said the profit might not
take place immediately, but in the long run it will be the most effective and beneficial way.

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So I evaluated this case not only based on my personal ethics, but I took into
consideration the same three ethical standards that I found similar to my own values and implied
those as well. When looking at this case through the utilitarian approach, it basically could have
gone either way. There was no immediate harm that was foreseeable under these circumstances,
however, in the long run there might be. If the company indeed decided to allow the payoffs and
were exposed for doing so in the future, there could be many repercussions. They could
potentially face legal issues, face negativity from the media, loss of employee morale, and as
well as loss of trusting customer relations. So although this case would not result in any
immediate harm, if this information became public it could become very harmful to the
company. The same result also stands true for the common good approach. Even though there
would not be any abrupt risks, there still leaves the possibility of being uncovered. If that did
happen then many employees and current customers would become extremely displeased and
disgruntled, especially because the companys stated values would be completely contradictory
to the circumstances. The last approach that was used to weigh in on this situation was the
virtues approach in which this would have not at all passed. In my opinion, a virtuous person
would not state that they run there company based on all of these greatly sophisticated values and
then turn around and make decisions that completely go against them. A virtuous person would
live by the values that they encourage upon others. A virtuous person would do things the most
correct and ethical way that they knew. So according to the evaluation of this case based on the
three chosen ethical standards and based on my very own personal ethical code, it would not be
advantageous for this company to move forward with their expansion if payoffs are going to take
place. It will be more harmful to the company in the long run and it does not coincide with the
very values created by the company itself. Therefore, the company should wait things out and

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see if these cities and districts in China will want wireless badly enough that they will be willing
to move forward with business in a legal and ethically correct way.

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