Unit 1: Basic Human Ethics

1.1. General Ethics

Important Terms

Ethics:
 The word "ethics" is derived from the Greek word ethos (character), and from the Latin word mores
(customs).
 Ethics refers to the concepts of right and wrong conduct.
 Ethics is basically a branch of philosophy dealing with the issue of morality.
 Ethics consist of the rules of behaviour. It certainly defines how a person should behave in specific
situations.
Values:
 Values are a person's or society's beliefs about good behaviour and what things are important.
 An example of values are the accepted beliefs of a family about dating.
 Character Values. Character values are the universal values that you need to exist as a good human
being.
 Work Values. Work values are values that help you find what you want in a job and give you job
satisfaction.
 Personal Values
Compassion:
 Compassion literally means “to suffer together.”
 Among emotion researchers, it is defined as the feeling that arises when you are confronted with
another's suffering and feel motivated to relieve that suffering.
 Compassion is not the same as empathy or altruism, though the concepts are related.
Empathy:
 The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences.
 Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people's emotions, coupled
with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
Accountability:
 The definition of accountability is taking or being assigned responsibility for something that you have
done or something you are supposed to do.
 An example of accountability is when an employee admits an error she made on a project.

12 Ethical Principles an Individual should pursue:

 If recent history teaches us anything is that ethics and character count, especially at the workplace. Huge
organizations like Enron, Arthur Andersen and Health South have been destroyed and others were
seriously damaged (AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) by people with massive ambition and intelligence
but no moral values.  In today’s ultra-competitive, high tech, interdependent business world, charisma
without conscience and cleverness without character are a recipe for economic and personal failure of
epic proportions.  As President Theodore Roosevelt said, “To educate the mind without the morals is to
educate a menace to society.”
 Abraham Lincoln described character as the tree and reputation as the shadow. Your character is what
you really are; your reputation is what people think of you. Thus, your reputation is purely a function of
perceptions (i.e., do people think your intentions and actions are honourable and ethical) .while your
character is determined and defined by your actions (i.e., whether your actions are honourable and ethical
according to the 12 ethical principles:
Unit 1: Basic Human Ethics

1. Honesty: Be Honest in all Communications and Actions. 

 Ethical people are worthy of trust and honesty.  
 They are not only truthful, but also, are candid and forthright.
 Ethical people do not deliberately mislead or deceive others by misrepresentations, overstatements,
partial truths, or any other means.
2. Integrity: Maintain Personal Integrity. 
 Ethical people earn the trust of others through personal integrity. Integrity refers to a wholeness of
character demonstrated by consistency between thoughts, words and actions.
 Maintaining integrity often requires moral courage, the inner strength to do the right thing even when it
may cost more than they want to pay.
 Ethical people are principled, straight forward and honourable.
 They fight for their beliefs and do not sacrifice principle for expediency.
3. Promise-Keeping: Keep Promises and fulfil Commitments. 
 Ethical People can be trusted because they make every reasonable effort to fulfil their promises and
commitments.
 They do not interpret agreements in an unreasonably technical or legalistic manner to create justifications
for escaping their commitments.
4. Loyalty: Be Loyal Within the Framework of other Ethical Principles. 
 Ethical People justify trust by being loyal to their organization and the people they work with.
 They place a high value on protecting and advancing the lawful and legitimate interests of their
companies and their colleagues.
 They never put their loyalty above other ethical principles or use loyalty to others as an excuse for
unprincipled conduct.
 They avoid conflicts of interest and they do not use or disclose information learned in confidence for
personal advantage.  
 If they decide to accept other employment, ethical people provide reasonable notice, respect the
proprietary information of their former employer, and refuse to engage in any activities that take undue
advantage of their previous positions.
5. Fairness: Strive to be Fair and Just in all Dealings. 
 Ethical People are fundamentally committed to fairness.  
 They do not exercise power arbitrarily.
 They do not use overreaching or indecent means to gain or maintain any advantage.
 They never take undue advantage of another’s mistakes or difficulties.
 Ethical people manifest a commitment to justice, the equal treatment of individuals, tolerance for and
acceptance of diversity.
 They are open-minded; willing to admit they are wrong and, where appropriate, they change their
positions and beliefs.
6. Caring: Demonstrate Compassion and a Genuine Concern for the Well-Being of others. 
 Ethical people are caring, compassionate, benevolent and kind.
 They understand the concept of stakeholders (those who have a stake in a decision because they are
affected by it) and they always consider the business, financial and emotional consequences of their
actions on all stakeholders.
 Ethical people look forward to accomplish their business objectives in a manner that causes the least
harm and the greatest positive good.

7. Respect for Others: Treat Everyone With Respect. 

 People with ethics demonstrate respect for the human dignity, privacy, rights, and interests of all those
who have a stake in their decisions.
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 They are courteous and treat all people with equal respect and dignity regardless of sex, race or national
origin. 
 Ethical people adhere to the Golden Rule, ‘striving to treat others the way they would like to be treated.’
8. Law Abiding: Obey the Law. 
 Ethical people abide by laws, rules and regulations relating to their business activities.
9. Commitment to Excellence. Pursue Excellence all the Time in all Things.
 Ethical people pursue excellence in performing their duties, are well-informed and prepared, and
constantly endeavour to increase their proficiency in all areas of responsibility.
10. Leadership: Exemplify Honour and Ethics. 
 Ethical people are conscious of the responsibilities and opportunities of their position of leadership and
seek to be positive ethical role models by their own conduct and by helping to create an environment in
which principled reasoning and ethical decision making are highly prized.
11. Reputation and Morale: Build and Protect the Company’s Good Reputation and the morale of its
employees. 
 Ethical people understand the importance of their own and their company’s reputation as well as the
importance of the pride and good morale of employees.
 Thus, they avoid words or actions that that might undermine respect and they take affirmative steps to
correct or prevent inappropriate conduct of others.
12. Accountability: Be Accountable. 
 People with ethics accept personal accountability for the ethical quality of their decisions and omissions
to themselves, their colleagues, their companies, and their communities.

1.2. Coordination

What is meant by coordination?

Unit 1: Basic Human Ethics

 Coordination is the function of management which ensures that different departments, groups and
individuals of the organization work in sync.
 This ensures the unity of action among the employees, groups, and. departments. It also brings harmony
in carrying out the different tasks and activities to achieve.
 Thus, the organization's goals can be achieved efficiently and smoothly.

Activity: Shape it together:

Objective : The main objective is to coordinate with each other, to practice leadership and arriving
at decisions with a consensus.
Time : 15 minutes
Tools : Blindfolds and a rope
Participants : 5 – 8
How to Play : Everyone needs to stand in a circle with the rope in their hands. Once the circle is formed,
ask them to put the string on the floor. Then they must put their blindfolds on and take five
steps backward. The activity is to create a square with this rope while keeping their blindfolds
on. In the end, participants can take their blindfolds off and check the result. To make the
challenge harder, you can ask them to make shapes other than squares.
Result : Teams that win will possess skills like communication, planning, and outstanding
leadership along with internal coordination.

Why is coordination important?

1. Coordination encourages team spirit:

There exists many conflicts between individuals, departments, between a line and staff, etc. Similarly,
conflicts are also between individual objectives and organizational objectives. Coordination arranges the
work and the objectives in such a way that there are minimum conflicts and rivalries. It helps the
employees to work as a team and achieve the common objectives of the organization. This increases the
team spirit of the employees.
2. Coordination gives proper direction:
There are many departments in the organization. Each department performs different activities.
Coordination integrates (bring together) these activities for achieving the common goals of the
organization. Thus, coordination gives proper direction to all the departments of the organization.
3. Coordination facilitates motivation:
Coordination gives complete freedom to the employees. It encourages the employees to show initiative. It
also gives them many financial and non-financial incentives. Therefore, the employees get job
satisfaction, and they are motivated to perform better.
4. Coordination makes optimum utilization of resources:
Coordination helps to bring together the human and material resources of the organization. It helps to
make optimum (maximum) utilization of resources. These resources are used to achieve the objectives of
the organization. So here, coordination plays an important role of minimizing the wastage of resources in
the organization.
5. Coordination helps to achieve objectives quickly:
Coordination helps to minimize the conflicts, rivalries, wastages, delays and other organizational
problems. It ensures smooth working of the organization. Therefore, with the help of coordination an
organization can achieve its objectives easily and quickly

6. Coordination improves relations in the organization:

The Top Level Managers coordinates the activities of the Middle Level Managers and develop good
relations with them. Similarly, the Middle Level Managers coordinate the activities of the Lower Level
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Managers and develop good relations with them. Also, the Lower Level Managers coordinate the
activities of the workers and develop good relations with them. Thus, coordination, overall improves the
relations in the organization.
7. Coordination leads to higher efficiency:
Efficiency is the relationship between Returns and Cost. There will be higher efficiency when the returns
are more and the cost is less. Since coordination leads to optimum utilization of resources it results in
more returns and low cost. Thus, coordination leads to higher efficiency.
8. Coordination improves goodwill of the organization:
Coordination helps an organization to sell high quality goods and services at lower prices. This improves
the goodwill of the organization and helps it earn a good name and image in the market and corporate
world.

Limitations of Coordination

1. Difficulty in Setting of Standards 

Control system minimizes its effective when standard of performance cannot be defined in quantitative
terms
2. External Factors Not in Control
External factors like government policies, technology changes, change in fashion does not come under
the ambit of an organisation, hence coordination being a part of the organization cannot control it.
3. Less Willingness of the Employees 
Employees often resist to coordinate and as a result effectiveness of coordination reduces.
Benefits of coordinating a system apart from the limitation is quite beneficial for an organization to
function.
4. Lack of Management Talent 
When hiring staff, it is possible to select some less efficient ones who do not understand good
management processes. This can lead to ineffective interactions.
5. Misunderstandings 
In a large organization, hundreds of employees work together and participate every day. Ideally, they
should be cohesive and work as a team. In many cases, however, misunderstandings arise between
employees that create a problem in cooperation.

1.3. Helping Mentality – Citizenship Behaviour

Definition:
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Organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) is a term that’s used to describe all the positive and constructive
employee actions and behaviours that aren’t part of their formal job description. It’s anything that employees
do, out of their own free will, that supports their colleagues and benefits the organization as a whole.

Examples:
 Voice: speaking up and offering your perspective in a positive manner to improve the organization
 Civic virtue: volunteering, attending things that aren’t required, going the extra effort, etc.
 Boosterism: representing the organization in a positive way even when away from work
 Helping: assisting co-workers who have heavy workloads
 Courtesy: keeping co-workers informed about information that is important to them; sharing knowledge
such as through mentoring, for example
 Sportsmanship: maintaining a positive attitude with co-workers

Types of Citizenship Behaviour

The five most common organizational citizenship behaviours, according to Organ, are:
 Altruism – Altruism in the workplace occurs when an employee helps or assists another employee
without expecting anything in return. A simple example of altruistic behaviour at work is when someone
offers their assistance to a co-worker who is swamped by taking over (part of) their tasks or volunteering
to help clean up the canteen after an internal company event. Altruism in the workplace can boost
employee morale, productivity, and effectiveness.
 Courtesy – Courtesy is polite and considerate behaviour towards other people, in this case, other
employees. Examples of courtesy at work include saying good morning (!), asking a co-worker how their
holiday was, how their kids are doing, how a project they’re currently working on is going; basically any
question related to a (personal) subject someone has previously spoken about that shows people you’ve
listened to what they were saying.
 Sportsmanship – Put simply, sportsmanship is about an employee’s ability to be a good loser. It’s about
being able to deal with situations that don’t go as planned – or negative surprises – and to not demonstrate
negative behaviour when that happens.
 An example of good sportsmanship in the workplace is an employee who is temporarily taking over the
tasks of a team member who broke his leg and will be on sick leave for a few weeks. While this
considerably increases this employee’s workload, she isn’t complaining about it to her colleagues because
she knows it’s a temporary situation and that she’s taking one for the team (to stick with the sports
jargon).
 Conscientiousness – Conscientiousness is defined as behaviour that involves a certain level of self-
control and discipline and that goes beyond the minimum requirements. In a work setting, this means that
employees don’t just show up on time and stick to deadlines, but that they, for instance, also plan ahead
before they go on holiday so that their colleagues won’t be drowning in a big workload. An example
that’s related to a remote work set-up is having enough self-discipline to get up in the morning and get the
work done, even when there is no manager around to give you a nudge. Conscientiousness also means
knowing that sometimes the job simply needs to get done, despite the fact that it’s after hours.
 Civic virtue – Civic virtue is about how well someone represents the organization they work for. It’s
about how an employee supports their company when they’re not in an official capacity. How do they
talk about the organization to their friends and family for instance?
 Civic virtue can also be demonstrated by employees signing up for business events such as fundraisers, or
running a (semi) marathon for a charity with a team of co-workers. Civic virtue is a type of organizational
citizenship behaviour that creates a sense of community and camaraderie within the organization. This, in
turn, leads to higher job satisfaction and better job performance.

Benefits of OCB
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We’ve already mentioned a few benefits of organizational citizenship behaviour above, but here is a (non-
exhaustive) overview:
 OCB can boost employee morale
 It increases people’s levels of work meaningfulness
 It is good for employee performance and productivity; in fact, research shows that OCB positively
predicts performance
 It creates better social interactions between employees
 It reduces stress
 It creates a sense of community among employees
 It is good for your Employer Brand

1.4. Justice

Justice, for many people, refers to fairness. But while justice is important to almost everyone, it means
different things to different groups. For instance, social justice is the notion that everyone deserves equal
economic, political, and social opportunities irrespective of race, gender, or religion.

What is the importance of justice in ethics?

Whenever individuals are treated unequally on the basis of characteristics that are arbitrary and irrelevant,
their fundamental human dignity is violated. Justice, then, is a central part of ethics and should be given
due consideration in our moral lives.
Ways to tackle justice issues at the workplace:
 Have a clear understanding of who makes up your workforce today and who will tomorrow, as well as
what is important to them.
 Take accountability, and demonstrate an active commitment to the core values of your organization and
your employees.
 Design a construct that can be infused into your talent management and/or corporate citizenship strategy
to efficiently deal with concerns as they arise.
 Develop a network of empathetic leaders.
 Encourage leaders to create safe, honest dialogue with your employees, but don’t force participation.

1.5. Value for Education

Why we should value our education?

Education provides stability in life, and it's something that no one can ever take away from you. By being
well-educated and holding a college degree, you increase your chances for better career opportunities and
open up new doors for yourself.

Objectives of Value Education

Value education should aim at the development of values of the following type.
 Scientific temper of mind.
 Large heartedness.
 Co-operation.
 Tolerance
 Respect for the culture of other groups.

Which value should a student have about education?

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It comprises some basic principles such as truthfulness, honesty, charity, hospitality, tolerance, love,
kindness and sympathy. Moral education makes one perfect. Education is not aimed at obtaining only a
degree, it includes necessary value based teachings which result in character building and social
improvement too.

Here is the list of importance of value education in life:

1. Education in the life of a person makes the future better.

2. Education act as a backbone in society.
3. Education changes the perspective of a person.
4. Education develops the moral values and patience.
5. Education helps in understanding things better and more precisely.

What are the four values of education?

The core of teaching consists of four basic values: dignity, truthfulness, fairness and responsibility &
freedom. All teaching is founded on ethics – whether it be the teacher-student relationship, pluralism or a
teacher's relationship with their work.

Need to Value Education

1. Moral awareness should be endorsed to orient the progress in science & technology towards the welfare
of mankind.
2. Common values should be re-discovered to unite human beings with the general decline of traditional
values.
3. Teachers pass values to the students both consciously and unconsciously through their conduct in and out
of class rooms. Therefore the need for a consciously planned value education program is obvious to
establish a formal learning.
4. The students might face more complicated decision making situations about issues involving values.
They should be helped in developing the ability to make proper choices in such situations through value
education.
5. Increase in Juvenile delinquency is a crisis to youth who under goes the process of personal growth. In
such situation value education assumes a special significance.
6. Value Education awakens curiosity, development of proper interests, attitudes, values and capacity to
think and judge about oneself and promotes natural and social integrity.