Aparna’s Weekend Musings on Life – Series 10 – Ethics? Moral Emotions!!

 

Aparna’s Weekend Musings on Life – Series 9 – Ethics? Moral Emotions!!

Our feelings and intuitions – emotions play a key role in our ethical decision making. Most of our don’t realize how much our emotions direct our moral choices. But experts have proved that it is impossible to make moral judgements without emotions. Our inner directed negative emotions like guilt, embarrassment & shame motivate us to act ethically. Our outer directed negative emotions like anger, disgust, contempt at those who act unethically aim to discipline or punish or discourage others from behaving / being unethical.

Positive emotions like gratitude and admiration, which people may feel when they see another acting with compassion or kindness, can prompt people to help others. Emotions evoked by suffering, such as sympathy and empathy, often lead people to act ethically toward others. Indeed, empathy is the central moral emotion that most commonly motivates pro-social activity such as altruism, cooperation, and generosity. So, while we may believe that our moral decisions are influenced most by our philosophy or religious values, in truth our emotions play a significant role in our ethical decision-making.

Ethics is about doing the right thing. They are about well- based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans out to do – usually in terms of rights, obligation, benefits to society, fairness or specific virtues.

Ethics serve as guidelines for making decisions about how to behave in specific situations and also guide us in evaluating the actions of others. Hopefully, they will provide us with a good understanding of how to react to situations long before those situations occur.

What Ethics is Not About?

1.     Ethics is not synonymous with the law.

2.    Ethic is not about following cultural norms.

3.    Ethics may not be proved by science.

4.    Ethics is not the same or synonymous with our values. Though values are essential for ethics still our values create internal judgements that will determine how a person actually behaves. Ethics determine which values should be pursued and which should not.

Why Ethics Are Important?

Ethics are important because they help us to understand what is good, bad and how to differentiate between them. Without ethics, our actions would be “random and aimless, with no way to work toward a goal because there would be no way to pick between a limitless number of goals. Ethics do not provide easy answers to hard questions, but they do provide a framework within which to seek the answers.

Business Ethics

Business ethics is applying the virtues and discipline of ethics to business behaviour. They set the standard for how your business is conducted and define the value system of how you operate in the marketplace and within your business.

They are relevant to any and all aspects of business conduct: workplace issues, product and brand, corporate wrongdoing, professional ethics, and global business ethics. They apply equally to the individual who works for the company and to the company itself because all ethical and unethical business behaviour eventually finds its way to the bottom line. It is almost a certainty that someone will encounter an ethical dilemma at some point in his or her professional life.

The Costs of Unethical Business Conduct

By contrast, the costs of unethical business behaviour can be staggering. Some of the costs include the loss of physical assets, increased security, the loss of customers, the loss of employees, the loss of reputation, legal costs, the loss of investor confidence, regulatory intrusion, and the costs of bankruptcy. 

According to a research report by the Josephson Institute, unethical business behaviour has an adverse impact on sales, stock prices, productivity, the performance of the highly skilled employees, efficiency, communication, and employee retention and recruiting plus the risks from scandal and employee fraud.

Small Business Ethics

In business, it is common for conflicts between business success and ethical behaviour. When faced with an ethical dilemma, the decision may be unjustifiably influenced by profits and legality. This challenge is particularly acute for small business owners because they are so much closer to the employees and the customers.

Small-business owners will find themselves confronted more often with ethical choices because of the decision-making autonomy that they have.The pressure to make an unethical choice on behalf of the business can be very powerful, especially when the health and vitality of the business is at stake.

Ultimately, small business owners will behave in accordance with “their own moral compass, sense of fair play and inclination to deal in good faith.”

Creating an ethics policy (code of conduct or code of ethics) is an important step in implementing ethics is business environment.

Employees who work in companies with ethics policy gained positive experiences like:

• Less pressure on employees to compromise ethics standards
• Less observed misconduct at work
• Greater willingness to report misconduct
• Greater satisfaction with their organization’s response to misconduct they report
• Greater overall satisfaction with their organizations
• Greater likelihood of “feeling valued” by their organizations

Employee perceptions of their organization’s ethical leadership may well be the most important driver of employee trust and loyalty. Though many small business owners may feel that a code of ethics is unnecessary. However, the benefit of having such a code is higher employee morale and commitment, more loyal customers, and a more supportive community.

There is no recipe for developing an ethics policy. The contents should be specific to the values, goals, and culture of each company, and it should be a guide and reference for employees / leaders to take day-to-day decisions. It is meant to clarify an organization’s mission, values, principles and link them with the standards of professional conduct.

What to Focus while creating an Ethics Policy?

1. Focus on business practices and specific issues. The content of one company’s code of ethics will differ from that of another.
2. Tailor it to fit your business. One size does not fit all. Make sure your code of ethics reflects the values and mission of your company.
3. Include employees inputs while developing a code of ethics. A mandate from the business owner will not be effective. Get input from your employees whenever possible. They will be more accepting of the ethics policy.
4. Post your code of ethics internally and set up a reporting system. Employees need a way to let someone know about ethics violations. Both an open-door policy and an anonymous reporting system will be helpful.
5. Consider appointing a compliance person if needed.
6. Follow up on any ethics violations you uncover. Make sure that everyone understands the implications of ethics policy violations.
7. Live it from the top down. The business owner must walk the talk. No one should appear to be above the code of ethics. A Good role model is critical.

 

Regards,

Aparna Subramanian,

CEO & Founder,

Transformational Business Solutions