Ethics at the Individual Level

[This post elucidates Values, Norms, Beliefs, Morality, Conflict, Integrity, Golden Rule, Dilemmas, and Decision-Making]
Ethics is set of moral principles that guide a person’s behaviour and arrive at moral standards that regulate right and wrong conduct. The ethical principles are expressive about good habits that one should acquire, the duties that one should follow, or the consequences of one’s behavior on others. Ethical behaviour at individual level is also shaped by ethical norms that organizations inflict on individual employees. The internal culture of an organization could also prevent individuals from taking responsibility for unethical actions. This is especially the case when individuals’ actions are not attributed to their conscience but their perceptions of what is organizationally accepted. These behavioral standards of employees would externally reflect as organizational values.
The principles of ethics at the individual level comprise the following.
Beliefs: Beliefs are the convictions a person usually hold to be true. These beliefs are basically assumptions that what we think is really true without any proof or evidence. From the things we see, hear, experience, read and think about we develop an opinion about what we think things ought to be beliefs of others.
Values: Values shoot from our beliefs which govern the way we behave, communicate, and interact with others. Values can comprise our concepts about equality, honesty, education, effort, perseverance, loyalty, faithfulness, conservation of the environment, etc.
Morals: Morals are driven by personal beliefs and values which most people agree on, such as ‘always tell the truth’, ‘Keep your promises’, ‘Do not cheat’, ‘treat others as you want to be treated’ etc. Morals have more social value and acceptance than values, with a person being judged more for their moral character than their values. A moral standard refers to the norms which we have about the types of actions which we believe to be morally acceptable and morally unacceptable.
Integrity: Integrity is what I will have if my ethics matches my morality. The very important attribute to ethics is displaying honest behavior all the times. This means being honest in all transactions or reporting the transactions.
Accountability: Accountability is answerability or blameworthiness. Accountability arises when an individual or department is held responsible for the actions, products, decisions, and policies including the administration, governance, and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position. Taking initiative and being punctual also comes under this purview.

Conflict: Individuals have different values, opinion, needs, and interest in the society. The conflict may arise on the basis of opposing ideas or torn between two different desires or perceptions and it continues when people unable to find middle way. Conflicts are of different types caused on the basis of verbal, racial, class, caste, emotional, social, personal, and organizational reasons. Though basis of conflict may vary but it is always part of the society. Conflict can also ascend due to political and geographic boundary disputes between the people, or between the countries.
Conflict of interest: Conflict comes from the Latin word for striking, but it does not always mean violent. A conflict of interest arises when a person chooses personal gain over his duties to the organization/ employer or exploits his position for personal gain in some way. In banks as a general rule, people of top management or Managers/ employees should avoid conducting bank’s business with a relative or any other person or any firm, company, association in which the relative or other person is associated in any significant role. In such a related party transaction is unavoidable, they must fully disclose the nature of the related party transaction to the appropriate authority. Any dealings with a related party must be conducted in such a way that no preferential treatment is given to the party.
Golden rules of ethics: The Golden Rule is an example of a normative theory that establishes a single principle against which we judge all actions of individuals. The three principal golden rules are; (i) We should do to others, everything we want others to do for us. (ii)We shall not do to others which we do not wish them to do to us. (iii) Do not do anything to others that if done to you would cause harm to you.

Based on the above golden rules one can determine what is right or wrong. The normative theories focus on a set of foundational principles or a set of good character traits.
Dilemmas: An ethical dilemma is a conflict between two alternatives, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. In other words, dilemmas is a situation where no matter what a person does, some ethical principle will be compromised.
Decision making: Decision making is using your mind to consider something carefully so as to selecting a logical choice from the available options. The decisions may be taken by individuals or group of individuals. The decisions taken are usually based on the values, preferences, and beliefs of the decision-makers. While making a good decision the person involved must weigh both positives and negatives of each option for the particular situation. In making ethical decisions, it is necessary to perceive and eliminate unethical options and select the best ethical alternative.

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