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Ethics is knowing right from wrong.

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Actions that are not necessarily morally right or proper.

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Practices that are morally right.

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Unethical behavior results in workplace conflict.

Misunderstanding image by George Wada from Fotolia.com

Ethics is based on the recognition of certain human rights. An individual has the right not to be deliberately deceived. He has the right not to be forced to go against his conscience. He has the right to expect other parties to live up to their commitments and to behave according to the law. In the workplace, the employer has the right to expect employees to behave according to company policy.

Deliberate Deception

Deliberate deception in the workplace includes taking credit for work done by someone else, calling in sick in order to go to the beach, sabotaging the work of another person and, in sales, misrepresenting the product or service to get the sale. There are other examples of deliberate deception, but these show how damaging deception can be by using a person's trust to undermine his rights and security. In a workplace environment, this results in conflict and retaliation. In a sales function, it can result in lawsuits from deceived customers.

Violation of Conscience

Your sales manager calls you into his office and threatens to fire you unless you sell 50 large toasters. You know the large toasters are inferior products and have been selling the small toasters to your customers, instead. To keep your job, you must violate your conscience and recommend that your customers buy the large toasters. Your boss is engaging in unethical behavior by forcing you to do something you know is wrong, and also risking the ire and potential loss of valuable customers to meet a product sales goal. He may be engaging in unethical conduct because top management has forced him by threatening his job, too. Coercion is also the basis for workplace sexual harassment and results in lawsuits. Unethical behavior often causes more unethical behavior.

Failure to Honor Commitments

Your boss promises you an extra day off if you rush out an important project by a certain date. You work late hours and finish the project before the deadline. Ready for your day off, you mention it to your boss who responds "No, we have too much work to do." Your boss engaged in unethical behavior that has virtually guaranteed your future distrust and unwillingness to extend yourself to assist in department emergencies. In addition, you are likely to complain to your co-workers, causing them to distrust the promises of the boss and be unwilling to cooperate with his requests.

Unlawful Conduct

Padding an expense account with non-business expenses, raiding the supply cabinet to take home pens and notebooks and passing around unregistered or counterfeit software are examples of unlawful conduct in the workplace. The person who steals from the company by padding her expense account or taking supplies for personal use risks losing her job. If a company decides to overlook such theft on the basis of maintaining employee morale by not firing a popular employee, other employees will also steal so they can feel they are getting the same deal as their co-worker. Passing around counterfeit software, if discovered by the manufacturer, can cost the company through lawsuits and fines.

Disregard of Company Policy

An employer is understandably concerned about avoiding lawsuits and angry customers because those things negatively affect profitability. Most employers clearly state company policies against deception, coercion and illegal activities. They also strive to convey an image of trustworthiness to their customers and employees. Corporate trustworthiness helps retain customers and valued employees, and the loss of either also negatively affects company profitability. To disregard company policy is unethical because it has the potential to harm the company and other employees.

About the Author

Victoria Duff specializes in entrepreneurial subjects, drawing on her experience as an acclaimed start-up facilitator, venture catalyst and investor relations manager. Since 1995 she has written many articles for e-zines and was a regular columnist for "Digital Coast Reporter" and "Developments Magazine." She holds a Bachelor of Arts in public administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Examples of Unethical Behavior in the Workplace

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Ethics is based on the recognition of certain human rights. An individual has the right not to be deliberately deceived. He has the right not to be forced to go against his conscience. He has the right to expect other parties to live up to their commitments and to behave according to the law.

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2. Be considerate
3. Choose my words carefully.
4. Be appreciative
5. Be understanding
6. Be accountable
7. Be independent
8. Be open-minded
9. Stay loyal
10. Think of other's feelings

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QUESTION: What are ethics?

ANSWER:

What are ethics? My ethics are the rules or standards governing the conduct by which I live my life and make all my decisions. One of the best ways of thinking about ethics is to take a quick look at what you believe and then think about how you would react when those beliefs are challenged.

Your ethics govern your thought process so that when a problem arises or you need to try and work your way through a situation your solution is based on your ethics. So exactly where do these comes from?

What are ethics? Where do they come from? Ethics are not born in a vacuum. Ethics are more like a jigsaw puzzle that is thrown together over time, that when complete makes up who you are and what you believe. From our earliest days of life, we start to learn from those around us. These learned behaviors add to the traits that we are already born with and help to shape us into the person we will become. As part of this learning process, we develop what will become our norms.

Norms are our everyday way of looking at how the world around us works and helps us to understand our place in the world. Norms also govern how we react to different situations and problems that arise around us. These are our ethics; the things we learn as we grow that govern the rest of our lives.

What are ethics? Why is having the right ethics so important? Ethics are important for a number of reasons. First, ethics are important because they give us a baseline for understanding the concepts of right and wrong. Ethics help us to have a ready understanding of how to react to a certain situation long before that situation happens.

There are situational ethics whereby we react as the situation dictates but our reaction is due to our built-in value system that tells us what to do, not the situation itself.

The major problem with having situational ethics is that they change with the situation. Having a standard of ethics that governs us each day of our lives means we always know how we are to live no matter what. There is no second-guessing and no changing your ethics according to what you feel your ethics are at the moment.

Second, ethics are important because they act as our mediator when dealing or coming into contact with other people. If we have the wrong sense of ethics we will react to people in a negative manner. But if our ethics are built on the truth, as found in the Word of God, we will see people for who they are as children of God and we will learn to love them just as God loves them.

Third, ethics are important because we pass them onto others. We have the ability to show others the correct way to act and behave by remaining ethical in the way we live, regardless of whether it involves our personal or business life.

What are ethics? Some final thoughts -- I have also learned over the years that ethics help us to remain on stable ground in an ever-changing world and that a person's ethics can be changed. Mine were changed when I came to know the God personally. In fact, in life, I think there is a process we go through where we search for a set of values that offer the truth in order to better guide our lives. This search can and always will center on the Bible which was written by God as our standard of ethics by which we live our lives.

At the heart of ethics are the integrity and values of the individual. If you can change the values and increase the integrity of the individual, you will change their ethics. This is what the Christian life is about: showing others the ethics we stand for and letting them know how they can turn from living by their own situational ethics to living according to the truth.

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QUESTION: What are ethics? ANSWER: What are ethics? My ethics are the rules or standards governing the conduct by which I live my life and make all my decisions. One of the best ways of thinking about ethics is to take a quick look at what you believe and then think about how you would react when those beliefs are challenged.

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Do you follow your personal code of ethics everywhere you go?

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What company practices the best ethical practices?

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Have you ever done something unethical?

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What's the difference between ethics and self-respect?

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"The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice."

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"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

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ethical quotes for education - Google Search

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Ms. Echeverria, who was too sick to testify in court and gave a videotaped deposition, started using Johnson's Baby Powder when she was 11 and continued after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, unaware that some studies had linked talc to cancer, said her lawyer, Mark Robinson. She stopped using it after hearing news reports of a verdict in another lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, he said, and now wanted to warn other women.

"She told me, 'I'm not doing this for myself,'" Mr. Robinson said. "She knows she's going to die. She's doing this for other women. She wants to do something good before she leaves."

A spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson, Carol Goodrich, said the company would appeal the verdict handed up by a jury in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County and was preparing for additional trials. The company "will continue to defend the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder," she said.

"Ovarian cancer is a devastating diagnosis and we deeply sympathize with the women and families impacted by this disease," Ms. Goodrich said in a statement. But she added, "We will appeal today's verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder."

The company statement pointed to a National Cancer Institute report in April that said, "The weight of evidence does not support an association between perineal talc exposure and an increased risk of ovarian cancer."

But elsewhere, the cancer institute uses more ambivalent language, saying "it is not clear" if talcum powder increases the risk of ovarian cancer.

Though numerous studies have linked genital talc use to ovarian cancer, the research findings have not been consistent. They consist mostly of epidemiological or population studies, which cannot conclusively prove a cause-and-effect relationship between an exposure and later development of cancer.

But scientists have hypothesized that talc might lead to cancer because the crystals can move up the genitourinary tract into the peritoneal cavity, where the ovaries are, and may set off inflammation, which is believed to play an important role in the development of ovarian cancer.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2006 classified talcum powder as a possible human carcinogen if used in the female genital area, but no federal agencies have acted to remove talcum powder from the market or add warnings.

Talc is a naturally occurring clay mineral composed of magnesium and silicon that is mined in proximity to asbestos, a known carcinogen, and the Food and Drug Administration asks manufacturers to take steps to avoid contamination with asbestos.

Talc is used in many cosmetics products, including one formula of Johnson's Baby Powder; another formula uses cornstarch, which has not been implicated in any studies or lawsuits about ovarian cancer.

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$417 Million Awarded in Suit Tying Johnson's Baby Powder to Cancer

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Ms. Echeverria, who was too sick to testify in court and gave a videotaped deposition, started using Johnson's Baby Powder when she was 11 and continued after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2007, unaware that some studies had linked talc to cancer, said her lawyer, Mark Robinson.

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Nestlé baby milk scandal has grown up but not gone away

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Obesity and diabetes show that better standards in the food industry must be enforced, writes Mike Muller, author of the 1974 baby milk scandal report

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Why are unethical practices so easy to follow?

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Starbucks treats their employees very well.

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Target allows part-time employees to get full benefits.

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Ethics matter - not just big scandals, but the small everyday decisions that add up, too. Follow four realistic scenarios that will raise your awareness, provide a framework for ethical decision making, and help create a company that you can be proud of.