12 Relationship Between Human Values, Morality, Ethics and Ethos

Learning Outcome
Introduction
Ethics
Ethics and morale
Features of ethical decisions
Values
Sources of ethics
Code of ethics for Indian industry
Principles of ethical behaviour
Principles of business ethics
Benefits of business ethics
Approaches to business ethics
Human values
Key human values
Importance of human values in business organisation
Summary

1. Learning Outcome:

After completing this module, the students will be able to learn about the following:
Ethics
Ethics and morale
Features of ethical decisions Values
Sources of ethics
Code of ethics for Indian industry Principles of ethical behaviour
Principles of business ethics Approaches to business ethics Human values
Key human values
Importance of human values in business organisation

2. Introduction

The word ethics stand for the discipline of the thought process of the human mind that keeps continuously differentiating the right and wrong and keeps guiding human actions forever in the life. Ethics are the fundamental principles and expected norms essential for the good conduct in the society. There is the need of the hour to promote the ethics in business practices and thus establish the healthy business traditions. Ethics refers to the set of moral principles that play a significant role in guiding the conduct of managers and employees in the operation of any organisation. Ethics refer both to the body of moral principles governing a particular society and the personal normal precepts of the individual. Ethics is the study of the individual and collective moral awareness, judgement, character and conduct. Morality refers both to the standards of behaviour by which individuals are judged and to the standards of behaviour by which people in general are judged in their relationships with others. Ethics encompasses the system of beliefs that supports a particular view of morality. Values are the impressive objectives and goals in the human life which brings peace, progress and prosperity in human life. Values are the basic fundamental beliefs that an individual thinks to be true. Every individual has a set of values through which he looks at all things and also at the world at large. It can be said that most of the people will never deviate from their values. The values can be said to be the guiding principles in one’s life. Values can be defined as a bridge by which an individual makes a decision regarding good and bad, right and wrong, and most important and less important. Human values are very important. Without human values the people are like flowers without fragrance. Human values are the principles, standards, beliefs and convictions that people adopt as their guidelines in daily activities. Principal human values are the foundations on which the professional ethics are built. They are the set of the consistent measures and behaviours that individuals choose to practice in the pursuit of doing what is right or what is expected of them by the society. Most laws and legislation in society are shaped by basic human values only.

3. Ethics

4. Ethics and morale

The word ethics and morale are used interchangeably and are generally understood to convey the same meaning whereas some philosophers draw a difference between the two. They argue that the morale could be visualised as representing the inner strata of the human conscience and ethics as outer strata. Though ethics and morality seems similar but when we study deeply there is difference between the two. Morality refers both to the standards of behaviour by which individuals are judged and to the standards of behaviour by which people in general are judged in their relationships with others. Ethics encompasses the system of beliefs that supports a particular view of morality.

5. Features of ethical decisions

Ethics have various characteristics; some of the main characteristics are as follows with regard to the ethical decisions:
Ethics involves learning what is right and wrong, and then doing just the right thing. Most ethical decisions have extended consequences
Most ethical decisions have multiple alternatives Most ethical decisions have mixed outcomes
Most ethical decisions have uncertain consequences
Most ethical decisions have personal implications

6.Values

Values are the impressive objectives and goals in the human life which brings peace, progress and prosperity in human life. Values are the basic fundamental beliefs that an individual thinks to be true. Every individual has a set of values through which he looks at all things and also at the world at large. It can be said that most of the people will never deviate from their values. The values can be said to be the guiding principles in one’s life. Values can be defined as a bridge by which an individual makes a decision regarding good and bad, right and wrong, and most important and less important.

7. Sources of ethics

The major sources of ethics are as follows:

Genetic inheritance: Various traits are inherited from our forefathers and they come to us from the generation to generation. These are courage, sympathy, goodness, generosity and cooperation.

Legal system: Legal system is a great regulator of ethical and value based behaviours. Laws reflect the expectations and approvals of the society.

Religion: Religion is a very great source of our conduct and behaviour in almost all the societies. Religious books lay down the great ethical norms for the society to follow and observe them.

Philosophical system: Philosophers are also a great source of values in our society. The different philosophical inputs have strong bearing on business decision making process.

Culture: Customs, beliefs and standards are transmitted from generation to generation.

Code of conduct: These are the codes of set rules and norms that are devised and designed by the companies we work in. we have to adhere to this moral code of conduct.

8. Code of ethics for Indian industry

Following are the main code of ethics to be expected from Indian industry. The companies have to excel in these compartments in order to be ethical and must promote the following:

Inclusive business
Accountable business
Transparent business standards Fair competition
Equal opportunities to all employees Health, safety and environment

9. Principles of ethical behaviour

Some of the main directive principles in India which promote the ethical behaviour in social and business organisations are as follows:

The state shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as possible.

The state shall strive to minimise the inequalities in income and endeavour to eliminate the inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities.

The state shall direct its policies towards securing to the citizens, men and women equally, the right to adequate means of livelihood. The ownership and control of the material resources of the community should be distributed so as to serve the common good.

That the cooperation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of the wealth and means of production in few hands and to the common loss of people.

There should be equal pay for equal work for both men and women.

10. Principles of business ethics

The business ethics are based on the following six main principles:

Harm principle: This principle states that there should be avoidance of the unwarranted harm to people. No stakeholder should suffer any kind of harm by the business enterprise. Starting from the investors, suppliers, operators, customers, society and the environment in general should not face any kind of harm at the hands of business practices and operations.

Fairness principle: It signifies the fairness of all practices to all the stakeholders involved in the business.

Human Rights Principle: Respect towards human rights of all stakeholders of business should be accorded due care and caution. Human values and dignity of all employees and stakeholders should be guarded and promoted at all costs by every business enterprise.

Autonomy Principle: It states that there should be no interference in the choices and autonomies of all the people. All employees and stakeholders should have freedom for their exchange of ideas and opinions on matters pertaining too many and on issues of common interest.

Veracity principle: All associated activities of the business should be true, transparent and clean.

Stakeholder principle: Business enterprises should consider the interests of all stakeholders that are affected by any business practice.

11. Benefits of Business Ethics

Following are the main benefits of business ethics:

Benefits to society: By observing ethics, business organisations help the society.

Emerges as a credible company: The Company that upholds the ethical values earn the credibility of all people involved in the business operations.

Cutting down the costs: Costs are cut down by not resorting to unnecessary unethical practices.

Winning trust of employees: Employees repose more trust in companies with ethical practices.

Matching public enterprise: Public gets satisfied with the business organisation which are ethical in their conduct and behaviour.

Enhanced image building: Image of the ethical companies gets refurbished and brightened up in the eyes of all stakeholders.

Overall benefit: All the stakeholders of the company derive immense benefits from the ethical conduct and behaviour of the company.

12. Approaches to business ethics

There are basically four main approaches to the business ethics. These are explained as below:

Traditional approach: Ethics is derived from societal concept of right and wrong. It has been taken from diverse sources like teleological theories, ethical egoism, utilitarianism, development ethics theory, virtual ethics theory and social justice theory. These all are traditional approaches to business ethics.

Intuitive approach: Business ethics are not only derived from traditions and customs, it automatically comes into being from behavioural transactions of the businessmen in society.

Rational approach: Business needs rationality for determination of ethics.

Spiritual approach: Here religious moral principles guide businessmen in achieving the alternative goals.

13. Human values

Human values are very important. Without human values the people are like flowers without fragrance. Human values are the principles, standards, beliefs and convictions that people adopt as their guidelines in daily activities. Principal human values are the foundations on which the professional ethics are built. They are the set of the consistent measures and behaviours that individuals choose to practice in the pursuit of doing what is right or what is expected of them by the society. Most laws and legislation in society are shaped by basic human values only. Today, human values play a major role in the establishment of peace and protection of the society. Human values are of universal nature. They are shared by all the human beings irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, nationality, culture and personal history. Some of the main human values are as follows:

Civility, respect and consideration

Honesty, fairness, loyalty and sharing

Openness, listening, welcoming, acceptance, recognition and appreciation Brotherhood, friendship, empathy, compassion and love.

14. Key human values

The prominent human values are as follows:

Hearty: Have a genuine heart for others. Be someone who displays an honest, warm, and exuberant personality to those around them. Let your feelings show that you are genuinely with them.

Humility: Humility is a great virtue. Don’t lead a life thinking you are a better than others or are superior to those around you. Modesty and humbleness will leave a far more everlasting impact on people than if you try to show off.

Personal integrity: Integrity in life leads to dividends. Always follow your heartfelt values and never let a situation or anyone steer you way from doing what you feel is right and correct. Be someone that people can look up to and respect and not someone who trades on his or her moral values for material gains in the life.

Incorruptibility: Be rock solid in your life values. Let it be known that you can stand for the firm for what you believe in and that your morals, values and actions are not for sale. Don’t let outside forces corrupt the person that you are.

Sound judgement: Show good judgement and a keen sense in life. Don’t let prejudices or emotions cloud your judgement.

Wholesomeness: Be focused on what you want to achieve in life. Give everyone you interact with your complete and undivided attention.

Courtesy: Be courteous to all. Practice good manners even though others around you may not.

Wisdom: Knowledge distilled is wisdom. Gain from the wisdom that is inside you. Understand the inner qualities of people.

Charity: Charity begins at home. Practice kindness, and be gentle towards others. Learn to extend a hand to help others, even though they themselves may not have helped you. The more you give, the more you get in return.

Civility: Have a great civic sense. Graciousness and respect go a long way in life. Be kind to others and extend courtesy towards them.

15. Importance of human values in business organisation

Human values are very important for all of us especially during the human interactions at the business places. These are the foundations for any viable life within the society with peaceful coexistence. Management is the process of optimum utilisation of human and non-human resources with the intent to accomplish the objectives of the organisation along with the value addition to the world. Thus, the process of management involves the following three things:

Optimum utilisation of resources which leads to the efficiency

Realisation of organisational goals which leads to the effectiveness Value addition to the world which suggests social responsibility

Therefore, the human values and ethical behaviour are the essential elements of a healthy business environment. Abundant access to information and greater business opportunities than ever before makes the human values and ethics an essential requirement in the modern business world. For nay organisation to grow, due preference should be given to the highest priority values contributes to the shared meaning in the organisation and it binds the people together as a community and provides the people with the common language. It tells people how to behave for achieving the organisation’s vision and contribute to the organisation’s vitality and performance. The main benefits of the values for any organisation are as follows:

Contribute to the organisation’s vitality and performance
Tell people how to behave to achieve the organisation’s vision.
Provides people with a common language Binds people together as a community
Contribute to the shared meaning in the organisation
Enhance the communication and efficiency of the team work
Strong awareness of value culture with good understanding of the business goals Innovation to support organisation competitiveness
Improves the service to partners’ needs
Provide base to management for better decision making

16. Summary

The concept of ethics is not new to the society. It is there since long time and is as old as the origin of the traditional knowledge society. Ethics refers to the set of moral principles that play a significant role in guiding the conduct of managers and employees in the operation of any organisation. Ethics refer both to the body of moral principles governing a particular society and the personal normal precepts of the individual. Ethics is the study of the individual and collective moral awareness, judgement, character and conduct. Ethics in the society have been devised to regulate the human beings personal conduct in a most ideal and pure way which is fully devoid of corrupt practices. Our great epics and other works have elaborately defined all the components of personal, professional, and social ethics. In fact, a helping attitude, empathetic, thought process, kindness to fellow beings, selflessness, honesty and integrity are all the key elements of the ethics. Ethics are the guidelines for the correct conduct in human interactions and human behaviour. The broad objective of ethics is to study the human behaviour and make evaluative assessment about them as moral or immoral. It establishes moral standards and norms of behaviour and makes judgement upon human behaviour based on these standards and norms and also prescribes moral behaviour and makes recommendations about hoe to or how not to behave. It also expresses an opinion or attitude about human conduct. The word ethics and morale are used interchangeably and are generally understood to convey the same meaning whereas some philosophers draw a difference between the two. They argue that the morale could be visualised as representing the inner strata of the human conscience and ethics as outer strata. Though ethics and morality seems similar but when we study deeply there is difference between the two. Morality refers both to the standards of behaviour by which individuals are judged and to the standards of behaviour by which people in general are judged in their relationships with others. Ethics encompasses the system of beliefs that supports a particular view of morality. Values are the impressive objectives and goals in the human life which brings peace, progress and prosperity in human life. Values are the basic fundamental beliefs that an individual thinks to be true. Every individual has a set of values through which he looks at all things and also at the world at large. It can be said that most of the people will never deviate from their values. The values can be said to be the guiding principles in one’s life. Values can be defined as a bridge by which an individual makes a decision regarding good and bad, right and wrong, and most important and less important. Human values are very important. Without human values the people are like flowers without fragrance. Human values are the principles, standards, beliefs and convictions that people adopt as their guidelines in daily activities. Principal human values are the foundations on which the professional ethics are built. They are the set of the consistent measures and behaviours that individuals choose to practice in the pursuit of doing what is right or what is expected of them by the society. Most laws and legislation in society are shaped by basic human values only. Today, human values play a major role in the establishment of peace and protection of the society. Human values are of universal nature. They are shared by all the human beings irrespective of their caste, creed, religion, nationality, culture and personal history.

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Suggested readings and references

Pramod Sharma, “Business Ethics and Corporate Values: An Indian Perspective”,
Ravintanaya Publications, Shimla
S.K. Bhatia, “Business Ethics and Corporate Governance” Deep & Deep Publications,New Delhi
A.C. Fernando, “Business Ethics and Corporate Governance” Pearson Publications
SB Gogate, “Human Values & Professional Ethics”, Vikas Publishing House, NewDelhi.
S B Gogate, “Human Values & Professional Ethics” Vikas Publishing House, NewDelhi, 2011
Harris & Hartman, “Organizational Behavior” Jaico Publication House, 2002