Ethics And Social Responsibility

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ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY OVERVIEW ETHICS AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOR For most of us, our lives are lived and our careers are executed in the pursuit of meaningful goals. Most of us likely believe that those goals must always be achieved through ethical conduct and socially responsible action. The material that follows describes many of the issues involved in ethics and social responsibility. Definitions of Ethics The study of ethics is the study of how we determine right from wrong in our relationships with other individuals and, groups. Ethical standards are the fundamental principles that guide how which people act. Ethics are standards for good or bad, or right or wrong conduct. Ethics provides principles to guide behavior and help people make moral choices. At its most basic level, individual ethics involves how an individual uses moral principles, beliefs, and personal values to analyze a situation, assess which courses of action are right or wrong, and decide which actions or behaviors are right or appropriate. Ethics, Law, and the Passage of Time Ethical is not the same as legal. Many laws are passed to enforce ethical behavior, but many behaviors that are legal are not ethical (and vice versa in some cases), and both standards of ethics and laws change over time. Ethical Dilemmas This refers to a situation in which individuals have to decide upon a course of action knowing that the choice of a particular alternative may benefit some while harming others. Often the ethical dilemma involves the choice of making a decision that is consistent with one’s ethical standards but which may work against one’s own self-interest. Ethical Decision-Making Ethical decisions are related to a specific context, including business ethics, educational ethics, and personal ethics. Sometimes these ethics may be in conflict. As we make ethical decisions,
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