Ethics and Value

Ethical principles are the rules of conduct that are

derived from ethical values or moral values, viz.
trustworthiness, fairness,justice,honesty,integrity,
respect, responsibility, caring and citizenship. This
ethical values enhance ones own judgement to
take right and good decisions to benefit all
sections of civil society.

Ethics and Value

If a person is accessible, straight forward in his
dealings, humble and simple, good character and
integrity then he will be loved ,respected, admired
and emulated by others.
To become great one must be humble----Sri
Ramakrishna

Ethics and Value

Value is anything which has utility or worth
It helps differentiate good from bad
Values guide actions in ones personal or social
life.\
Values are related to culture ,society or a system
Our actions are guided by our values
Moral value is something esteemed. When values
are assigned to particular object it is easy to make
a choice.

Ethics and Value

Values are desires that have content and intensity.
The content aspects of the value indicates the
nature of achievement.
The intensity attribute of value indicates the
degree of its importance in a particular context

Ethics and Value

Types of value
Instrument values
How we should or should not behave?
Provide the moral or ethical guidelines that help to
determine how we conduct our lives, and how we
perform our work.
Some are
Hard work and achievement
Education and intellectual pursuit
Self sufficiency, independence
Truthfulness , honesty

Ethics and Value

Assertiveness standing up for yourself
Open mindedness
Being well mannered
Terminal value
Reflects the bottom line of what we want to
achieve
Happiness satisfaction in life
Peace and harmony in the world
Knowledge and wisdom
Security, freedom from threat

Ethics and Value

Personal value
Ego centric value: The value is directed towards
satisfying the ego
Socio-centric
value: The value aims at
socialization and adaptation to society
Existentialist value: The value
is conformity
with the existing reality
Conformist view: This is an orientation to
achieve a materialistic goal by controlling the
physical resources

Ethics and Value

Personal value

Supernatural value: It is a type of metaphysical value

beyond the norms of the physical world to achieve
the ultimate reality
Tribalistic value: It consists of submission of oneself to
higher power and authority
Deontic value: It considers ones own duty as the
supreme religion
Utilitarian value: In this type the aim is to realise the
net benefits over the costs
Consequentiality value: In this case , an important
value is assigned to those actions having good
consequences

Ethics and Value

Individual values
Practical value

Moralistic value

Core values

Cultural values

Social values

Values relating to social responsibilities

Values relating to civic responsibilities

Other classification of values
Justice
Universal love
Truth and non-violence
Kindness and sacrifice
Character building
Honesty
God fearing attitude

Ethics and Value

VALUE + KNOWLEDGE = ETHICS

Any initiation of an action begins with an inventory of

values. These get converted to intention for action which
then get articulated as behaviour. All these behaviour
result in consequences to oneself as well as to others.
They either damage or enhance the values of the
affected person
Value
Intention
Behaviour
Consequences

Ethics and Value

Differentiate ethics and values
Values are deep-seated ideas and feelings. True
reflections of ones values are his or her behaviour
and actions. Values are basic belief that an
individual thinks to be true. Every individual has a
set of values through which he looks at all things
around the world.
Ethics are the guidelines or rules that are set
primarily for a society , organisation etc. It is
mainly based on moralities, rights, and obligations.
For example, the obligation to refrain from crimes,
killings, and rape is an ethical aspect. Ethics has
also been built on loyalty, honesty, and
compassion.

Ethics and Value

Differentiate ethics and values
Values are very much personal while ethics is very
much societal. One can also see that values and
ethics sometimes can be in conflict. Even if one
has certain values, he will not be able to entertain
certain decisions based on the ethical codes.
Though all family planning activities are
considered to be legal, some people do not
approve it morally.
With proper application of knowledge, values can
be converted as ethics.
True value of ethical behaviour is possible by
combining ethics and values.

Importance of business ethics

Business ethics is the application of general ethical
rules to business behaviour.
For example if a societys ethical rules says that
dishonesty is unethical then any one in business
who is dishonest with customers, stockholders,
competitors etc. is acting unethically.
In most cases general publics expects business to
exhibit high levels of ethical performance and
social responsibilities. Employees should be
encouraged to act ethically to prevent harm to
society. Also business firms are to be protected
from abuse by unethical competitors. For example
bribery

Importance of business ethics

Business firms who treat their employees with dignity
and integrity would get high productivity as the staff feel
good about working in an ethical company and in turn
do hard work.
There are positive benefits to firms if the companies
have good ethical practices. Similarly ethical problems
may damage the firms. Ethical problems occur for the
following reason
Personal gain
Individual values differ with organisational goals
Managers values and attitudes
Values and attitudes of managers are the critical
elements in a companys ethical performance.

Importance of business ethics

Competitive pressures
Competitor may engage unethical practises to wipe out
the firm from the market
Cross-cultural contradictions
For example some companies who have built factories in
nations whose pollution control laws are less stringent
than a particular country regulations. They are charged
with exporting pollution.

Importance of business ethics

Business ethics provides a broad frame work for giving

guidance
Ethical companies will be trusted by stakeholders and
general public
Ethics improves companies social image
It strengthens organisational culture
It creates solid foundation for all time to come
It generates sense of empowerment
Ethical companies are empirically found to have strong
team work
Ethical companies may not have work related conflicts.
Ethical companies can prevent marketing failures which
are mainly due to misleading information, lack of
transparency etc.

Factors affecting business ethics

Social values
Personal code of behaviour
Companies policy
Ethical standards imposed on managers
External environment (Govt.policy, economic,
political, Legal etc.)
Internal environment (Resources, Employees,
Culture, demographic etc.)
Personal factors
Organisational factors

Factors affecting business ethics

Personal factors like
Values possesses by individual
People often base their decisions regarding ethical
issues on their own values and principles of right or
wrong
Education

Nationality
Age
Gender
Women are more ethical than men (research studies)

Factors affecting business ethics

Organisational factors like
Corporate

culture
It is a set of values, norms, and artifacts that members
(employees) of an organization share
Significant others
Those who have influence in a work group (e.g.
managers, coworkers, subordinates) are referred to as
significant others
Obedience to authority
It helps to explain why many employees simply follow
the directives of a superior

Factors affecting business ethics

Ethical climate of the country like

Unhealthy competition
Abnormal profit motive
Political interference
Political uncertainty
Unjust legislation
corruption
Lack of ethical attitude
Lack of education
Lack of cooperation on workers
Red tapism

Sources of ethical knowledge for business

Legal system
Codes of conduct
Cultural experience
Genetic inheritance
Religion and Religiosity
Philosophical system