Ethical Characteristics

This paper will deal with describing the characteristics and behaviors of an ethical person and emphasize on ways that would most likely encourage ethical decisions and actions in the workplace. Since dealing with ethical subjects is difficult, this paper aims to explore the subject and its theme in a comprehensible way. The initial part of the paper defines who ethical people are and what defines ethics as a moral philosophy. In short, an ideal ethical person strives to act with moral values, even if there is no threat of sanctions or external punishment for unethical acts. A number of examples are provided to gain a better insight of ethical issues. Deviating from ethical norms can be tempting and challenging for many people. A number of

A large responsibility for ethical encouragement lays on an organization’s management. However, this does not diminish the duties of an organization’s employees to strive to excel in ethical behavior. Employees should also try to initiate and implement useful methods to encourage such behavior. Parties work well when they honestly collaborate between one another.

Most organizations today define and develop codes of conduct and codes of ethics. Codes of conduct are specific written rules or directions to guide and control employee behavior. They enforce or restrict the specific actions that employees should follow or avoid. Any organization’s reputation or legal standing seriously depends on the conducts of its employees. An example of a part of codes of conduct can be as primitive as a sign near employees’ restroom that reads ‘Employees must wash their hands with soap before resuming work’. Codes of conduct are therefore related to deontology where a specific set of rules or laws must be abided. For instance, professional journalists working in a reputable news agency must not disclose the names of their interviewees who wish to remain anonymous, because that is what the codes of conduct prohibit them from doing.. Codes of conduct that are very wide in scope might also give an impression of overregulation by senior

They are less specific and give space for an employee to apply his or her own judgment (Robbins and Coulter 2012, p. 136). They encourage employees to apply their virtue ethics when dealing with their work. Values such as loyalty, responsibility, industriousness and politeness can be encouraged. Stevens (1994) argued that some ethical codes are like legal barriers that act as self-defense instruments against employees’ behaviors. Codes of ethics can state things such as ‘Do not use profane language’, ‘Follow all business laws’, ‘Follow the orders of your supervisor’ or ‘Show respect and concern for your coworkers’. Here it is important to note that an organization’s values might not always be consistent with an employee’s own values. However, it seems obvious that things that are constantly repeated and reminded to employees tend to become deeply ingrained in their minds. This process of internalization, where external standards of behaviors evolve in individuals to the point where they are recognized as their personal values, is perhaps one of the arguments for setting and handling banners, posters, booklets, or wallet cards to employees, which rhetorically remind them of an organization’s codes of conduct or ethics. This internalization can happen on both conscious and subconscious levels (Fisher and Lovell 2006,