Ethical Dilemma Reason 3
Business Standards Conflict with
Personal Values
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Self-study Courses | Books | Articles | Flowers | Gifts
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Ethics in business
Ethical dilemmas arise for a variety of reasons in this business world. Four of the most
common reasons are as follows:
1. Selfishness and personal gain
2. Profit pressures
3. Business standards conflicting with personal values
4. Cultural differences in global settings
Business standards conflicting with personal values
All people have their own sets of personal values that come from society, families,
religions, and experiences.
Ethical dilemmas can arise when those personal values conflict directly with the company’
s practices.
Organizations can manage their culture and ethical climate by trying to hire employees
whose values match their own. Some firms even measure potential employees’ values
during the hiring process and strive to choose individuals who “fit” within the ethical
climate rather than those whose beliefs and values differ significantly. A poor “fit” can
have very expensive ramifications for both organizations and employees. Beyond the
potential for misconduct, a poor employee-organization ethical fit usually results in low
job satisfactions, decreased performance, and higher turnover.
We may expect that all individuals employed or associated with the organization will be
treated with respect, dignity, and equality. We also expect that the organization that we
work for is committed to equal opportunity for all employees, without bias based on
differences in culture, ethnicity, colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital
status, national origin, or handicap. We expect that it provides a workplace free from all
forms of discrimination, including sexual and other forms of harassment.
However, what if you realize that the organization really discriminates against pregnant
women? Even if you yourself may not be affected by such discriminatory practice, you will
feel unhappy and angry when a woman colleague loses her job because of pregnancy.
You will start to feel that the company is not ethical and you will lose your respect for the
organization.
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Courses on Ethics
Here are some of the useful courses on Ethics that you may wish to consider signing up
for:
Corporate Governance and Ethics
This online course on Corporate Control and Governance employs a stakeholder
management framework, emphasizing business' social and ethical responsibilities to both
internal and external stakeholders. A twin theme of business ethics demonstrates how
ethical or moral considerations have to be included when dealing with the public issues
facing organizations and during the decision-making process. This novel and innovative
program teaches companies and professionals how to lessen fraud losses as well as how
to effectively eliminate future frauds. This ethics course offers comprehensive coverage of
fraud detection, fraud warning signs, technological fraud detection tools, investigation
techniques (especially useful to auditors, security personnel, and managers), financial
statement screening, fraud risk in e-commerce, pro-active fraud risk and much more.
Ethics and Values - for Social Workers
There are questions of values and ethics everywhere in life. Each of us has his or her
views of what is right or wrong, or what is of greater inportance, hence having higher
priority. We usually do not consider ourselves as beginners when we deal with this topic
of what we consider as right or wrong. This course is an introduction to the topic, but
new questions and dilemmas related to ethics and values will arise in every piece of work
you undertake as a social worker.
Business Ethics
The functions of an ethics program are stated, ethics defined, and general characteristics
of the ethics program listed. Identify ethical standards for fairness and honesty, precise
record keeping, and complying with antitrust regulations. Identify ethical standards for
giving and receiving gifts, gratuities, and entertainment with customers and suppliers,
government and non-government personnel, and foreign officials. Identify standards for
managing conflicts of interest, financial standards, including preservation of assets,
restrictive trade practices, intellectual properties, and employee relations. Recognize the
duty to comply with and report suspected ethical violations, what disciplinary action could
result from failure to comply with or report violations, and how to raise ethical concerns
and seek additional counsel. Recognize the relevanc of ethics principles through learning
from case studies.
Ethical Issues for Bankers
Ethical Issues for Bankers prepares students to meet the ethical standards expected of
financial services professionals. Students will learn the general guidelines that determine
banking ethics, gain the knowledge and skills needed to perform ethical decision-making,
and be prepared to observe their institution's code of conduct and Federal laws. Students
will also explore typical ethical dilemmas that tend to occur in financial institutions, and
learn how to apply a thoughtful three-step approach to such dilemmas."
Ethics - Standards of Professional Conduct : Especially suitable for Engineers.
Many organizations, particularly smaller businesses, do not have a written set of
standards to provide guidance to their employees on ethical matters related to their job
duties. While each job title, company and industry deals with unique circumstances, there
are some standards of professional conduct for engineers that are considered the norm
across a broad range of job titles, companies and even industries. In matters such as
conflicts of interest, use and protection of employer's assets, and disclosure of proprietary
information, there are universal standards of accepted conduct for engineers working for
employers based in developed countries (although the detailed policies may vary
between companies).
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has developed a document titled
"Standards of Professional Conduct" for its members. In addition to the aforementioned
examples of ethical issues, the ASCE's standards cover issues such as maintaining
accurate and complete records, outside employment/activities, acceptance of bribes or
kickbacks and whistle blowing. The ASCE's standards serve as an excellent model for
companies seeking to provide guidance to engineers on ethical matters related to their
position and the performance of their work tasks. It also provides a universal set of
principles to guide individual engineers on ethical matters in the absence of an employer
policy.
In this course, the student will be directed to ASCE's website to review the ASCE
document titled "Standards of Professional Conduct".
The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of fifteen questions at the end of
this course to earn PDH credits.
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Brought to you by Jacob Gan, PhD (Michigan)
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