Week 2

UE00202
WORK ETHICS FOR PROFESSIONALS
 Why Study Ethics?

 Ethics is the one that seems most pertinent to us and it is no exaggeration to

say that everyone is engaged in ethical thought at most times in their lives,
knowingly or otherwise
 By understanding ethics,
1. we would gain more clarity and better understanding about what is right and
wrong,
2. more confidence about our choices and about the reasoning process we use to
defend our behavior,
3. understanding about other possible and legitimate ways to arrive at ethical
answers,
4. tolerance about different approaches,
5. understanding about some of the pitfalls involved in trying to differentiate right
from wrong,
6. and as a preparation for situations different from ones we usually encounter
 Ethical Concepts in General

Ethic, by definition, is a set of moral principles.

The word derives from the Greek ‘ethos’, which in
turn is “the characteristic spirit or attitudes of a
community, people, or system.”
In general the term ethic defined as the principles of
morally acceptable conduct of individuals as well as
community, people, or system.
Ethics also defined as personal beliefs about wrong
and right behavior.
 The Nature of Ethics

Ethic is individually defined (people have ethic)

Ethical behavior can vary from one person to
another.
Ethic is relative, not absolute. This means that
although what constitutes ethical behavior is in the
eye of the beholder, it usually conforms to generally
accept social norm
As it is individually defined, ethical behavior can
vary from one person to another, and it is relative
(not absolute).
Thus abortion may be moral or immoral according to the code we employ
but ethics tells us why we call it so and how we made up our minds.

 As a result, ethics is sometimes called moral philosophy; we

use it to criticize, defend, promote, justify and suggest moral
concepts and to answer questions of morality, such as:
 How should we live and treat one another?
 What are right and wrong?
 How can we know or decide?
 Where do our ethical ideas come from?
 What are rights? Who or what has them?
 Should we coerce one another?
 Can we find an ethical system that applies to everyone?
 What do we mean by duty, justice and other similar concepts?
 THE FORMATION OF AN INDIVIDUAL ETHICS

Since ethic is individually defined, there are various

factors which instrumental in the formation of
individual ethic.
Family factor, peer factor, life experience, personal
values and morals, and situational factors.
 a. Family Influence

Individual start to form ethical standard as the

children in response to their perception of their
parents’ behaviors.
E.g: children are more likely to adopt high ethical
standards if they see that their family members
adhere to high standards.
 b. Peer Influence

When children enter school, they are influenced by

peers with whom they interact every day.
E.g. If a child’s friends engage in shoplifting,
vandalism or drug abuse, the child too may decide
to do the same.
 c. Life Experience

Dozen of important events, both positive and

negative, shape people’s lives and influence their
ethical beliefs and behavior. These events are a part
of growing up and maturing.
E.g. A person who steals something and does not get
caught may feel no remorse and continue to steal.
But the person who is caught stealing may feel
guilty enough to revise her/his ethical standards
and not steal in the future.
 d. Personal Values and Morals

Values and morals also influence a person’s ethical

standards.
E.g. Person who places financial gain and personal
advancement at the top of his/her list of priorities
will adopt a personal code of ethics that promotes
the pursuit of wealth. Thus he/she may be ruthless
in attempting to gain these rewards regardless of
the cost to others. A person who puts his family at
the top of his priority list will adopt different ethical
standards.
 e. Situational Factors

The final determinant of an individual’s ethics is

situational factors. Sometimes people unexpectedly
find themselves in situations that cause them to act
against their better judgment.
E.g. some people who cheat on their expense
accounts do so because of personal financial
difficulties. Although this does not justify their
dishonesty, it does provide some context for
understanding why people may sometimes behave
unethically if they have no other choice.
 What is the meaning of the concept of Work Ethics?

 The so-called work ethic is generally construed to be a good

and laudable thing.
 It fancies itself a virtue, but like most double-edged swords, it
must be handled with care.
 Generally, work ethic defined as a set of values based on the
moral virtues of hard work and diligence. It is also a belief in
the moral benefit of work and its ability to enhance
character.
 A work ethic may include being reliable, having initiative or
maintaining social skills. In a rational reaction to a demand
for a "work ethic" involving the sacrifice of unpaid hours,
cultivate a rhetorical "work ethic" consisting of external
obeisance to absolute management control while producing
little.
 Principles of Work Ethics

a. Beneficence
Beneficence is doing well. People entered their career
to apply this principle.

b. Nonmaleficence
Nonmaleficence is the philosophical principle that
encompasses the People entered their career rule,
"first, does no harm." This principle includes not
doing harm, preventing harm, and removing harmful
conditions.
 -cont-

c. Confidentiality
Stemming at least from the time of Hippocrates,
confidentiality is the presumption that what the
client tells the People entered their career will not be
revealed to any other person or institution without
the client’s permission. Occasionally, the law, may
conflict with this principle.
 -c0nt-

 d. Personal Integrity
Personal integrity is adhering to one’s own reasoned and defensible
set of values and moral standards and is basic to thinking and acting
ethically. Integrity includes a controversial value within the workers
community truth telling. Absolute honesty has been championed
by many who feel that the client, no matter what the
circumstances, has the right to know the truth. Honesty
must be tempered with compassion, however; honesty does not
equal brutality. Perhaps truth telling is not universally accepted
within many professions because of poor role models, lack of
training in interpersonal interactions, and bad experiences, rather
than a discounting of the value itself. The issues surrounding truth
telling become somewhat murky when it involves a third party, for
example, a sex partner who is being exposed to an infectious
disease.
 -cont-

e. Distributive Justice (Fairness)

This form of justice relates to fairness in the allocation of
resources. This value is the basis of and is incorporated
into society-wide task policies. The concept of
comparative or distributive justice suggests that a
society’s comparable individual persons and groups
should share similarly in the society’s benefits and
burdens. For individual clinicians arbitrarily to limit or
terminate care on a case-by-case basis at patients’
bedsides is an erroneous extrapolation of the idea that
there may be a need to limit healthcare resource
expenditures. Distributive justice is a policy, rather than
a clinical concept.
 -cont-

f. Ethical Oaths and Codes

Since ancient times, may organizations have formulated
and established professional rules of behavior. Through
the years, the said organizations have codified its ethics
more rigorously than any other professional group. Many
of the standard of this career principles have been
incorporated into the profession’s ethical codes and
oaths. The standard for the said profession for countless
generations was the existing part of the Hippocratic
Oath. Its precepts now clash with modern career
thinking, and, as did many subsequent professional
codes, included what can best be termed economic
guidelines and professional etiquette along with ethical
precepts.
 The Concept of Profession and Professionals

Profession = employment/work/job
Professional = person making profession as a source
of regular income
- however, there are the criteria to define someone
either he/she is a professional or otherwise (will be
discussed next week)
 The Concept of Professionals Ethics

 Professional ethics is defined as the personal and

corporate rules that govern behavior within the context of a
particular profession. An example of professional
ethics is the American Bar Association's set
of ethical rules that govern an attorney's moral
obligations.
 Why do we need to Study Professionals Ethics

There are the main reasons to study ethics.

1. All of us use ethics on a daily basis, but many
individuals do not know what ethical behavior is.
2. Studying ethics is one way of recapturing our
heritage. Ethics were an inherent part of our daily
lives. Today, however, we live in a different time, a
time when ethical behavior appears to have
diminished in our culture. As a result, the study of an
ethics is appropriate, valuable and useful. 
 Scope and the Study of Professionals Ethics

 In general, studies on the professionals ethics include all

issues of ethics and values ​in a field of profession and
professionals behaviour in the community.
 Indeed, we cannot deny that in his daily duties as a
professional, they are confronted with ethical problems (it
will be very difficult and challenging). Therefore,
discussions on the scope and the study of professionals
ethics should be done in a more systematic.
 The Use of Professionals Ethics
Generally, the theory of professionals ethics used to
resolve ethical dilemmas and identify obligations.
1. Resolve ethical dilemmas
-help identify ethical issues and then seek joint solutions,
-provide basic accurate information about the appropriate information to solve a
problem,
-sometimes it gives way to organize the ethical considerations for problem solving which
would assist in identifying alternative actions,
-provides broad outlines in the development of the next ethical argument to consider our
ability to get the consideration and assessment continuously relevance,
-e.g: the theory of rights = responsibility must be implemented and will be wrong if it is
not implemented.
1. Identify obligations
- ethical theory can be used to justify the obligation to be performed by professionals,
- e.g. Lawyer has an obligation to ensure public safety guaranteed.
End of slides