Ethical Decision Making
Ethics can be defined as “how a moral person should behave” (Josephson). This definition leaves a lot of room for interpretation on the part of the reader, but that is only because ethics themselves are very vague. While not as clear-cut as “values”, “ethics” deal more with an individuals beliefs using their own religious, spiritual or moral code. Sometimes all of these forces of influence come into play, sometimes only one or two, and rarely will two people agree entirely on an ethical decision. There will always be details that will differ from one person, and one group, to the next. What is important in making ethical decisions is that the decision is based on an ethical code, which can be clearly defined as to its nature in relation to a common good.When striving to achieve an acceptable ethical decision, it is important that all parties involved understand the basis upon which the decision will be based. It is important to set up ground rules for the decision, and it is equally important that these ground rules are clearly understood. Because the concept of ethics is so loosely based, what may well be an ethically acceptable decision in one culture may be horrific to another. The accepta
By definition, an ethical decision should be made to promote the moral good of a group, and ideally all of humanity, without intentional or foreseeable harm or detriment coming to any other individuals or groups in the process. In many cases, corporations will take an ethical stance and make decisions that promote humanitarian organizations through their fiscal or political power. A good example of this is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation® created by Microsoft® founder Bill Gates for the promotion of improved health and treatment of diseases throughout the world. The creation of this foundation is a good ethical decision due to the good it strives to bring to humanity without any obvious intention of bringing profit to a company or individual. Josephson goes on to describe the basic elements of ethics to be the ability to eschew those things that you have the power to due. Explaining that “An act isn’t proper simply because it is permissible or you can get away with it” gives light to the fact that an ethical person or corporation will think of the common good before making decisions that would benefit only that person or corporation. Ethical decisions will also adhere to the idea that the laws and beliefs of a society should not be pushed to their limits for an individuals benefit at the expense of the common good. Stretching the boundaries of what is good to justify a decision based on a self-serving attitude would be considered unethical. In conclusion, it is very apparent that a decision made from an ethical perspective is far different from standard business and personal decision
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Approximate Word count = 1084
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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