ETHICS 1.

NORMATIVE ETHICS
• Concerns human behavior in general,
• Ethics or morally philosophy can be
is to address our question about the
provisionally described as the
essence of human behavior.
empirical study of moral decisions.
• Examine whether or not a particular
• It is a discipline concerned with what
act should or should not be carried
is morally good and evil, right and
away.
wrong.
• The word often refers to any scheme TWO FIELDS OF NORMATIVE ETHICS
or philosophy of universal ideals or
1. Moral Philosophy
beliefs.
2. Applied Ethics or Practical Ethics.
• The concept is derived from the
Greek word “ethos” which may MORAL PHILOSOPHY
mean tradition, habit, character or
• Deals with moral ideas such as what
attitude. This is not only about the
human beings “must do or how
nature of specific courses of action,
human being should be.”
but is also about the goodness of
a. Moral Ideas – how one persona
people and what it means to lead a
choose good or wrong conduct.
decent life.(Leandro, Jr & Gubia, b. Moral Obligation – meaning of he
2018) acts and purpose of the act.
What is ETHICS? Ex: You are obligated to do things because:
ETHICS c. Moral Question – realization after
• Systematic analysis of the nature of doing the act
human actions. It is concerned about Ex: Am I worth it taking care of my parents
the correctness and wrongness of the rather than working in my dream company
act. An act is deemed to be right or with the highest pay employee?
wrong, based on the intent,
circumstances, or character of the APPLIED ETHICS
act itself.
• Also known as the practical ethics
• Higher level of human discipline
• The actual application of ethical or
• Divided into normative and meta- moral theories for the purpose which
ethics. is ethical or moral actions are
appropriate in a given situation
Ex.
1. Using a pedestrian lane
2. Giving gifts and appreciations
3. Greet all of the teacher you meet
outside the classroom
4. Helping your parents in doing
household chores every weekend
2.META – ETHICS CHARACTERISTICS OF MORAL
DILLEMAS
• Discipline that relies on meaning
• Aim to understand the nature and 1. Moral standards entail serious harm
dynamics of ethical principle the or benefit
way we learn and acquire moral 2. Moral standards are not determined
beliefs. by authority figures. Moral values
should always be upheld, even
IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS though they are at odds with self-
1. Through ethics people can determine interest
the difference between right from 3. Moral standards should be adopted
wrong, good and bad. over other values, including self-
2. People can eliminate actions that do interest. Moral standards should
not conform to what is right. always be retained even if they are at
3. People will be very careful to the stake with self-interest.
actions and decisions to make 4. Moral standards are focused on
4. People will not disturbed of the objective considerations
internal and external factors of not 5. Moral standards are perceived to be
doing the right thing universal
5. Establish good habits of characters 6. Moral standard are correlated with
of a person. different feelings and vocabulary.
6. Come up to rational decisions in HOW MORAL STANDARDS ARE
facing an ethical dilemma FORMED
7. It makes a person responsible in the
family, school and society There are various factors on how moral
8. A person becomes sensitive to the standards are influenced:
needs of others more than himself or
1. The moral values or principles that
herself
we conform with in our rearing
9. Reminds a person to fully need
2. The character and manners that
conscience in decisions making and
imbibed with us by means of
a person can acknowledge the
birthright
actions made. 3. The religious values that our
forefathers taught us
4. The values we learned from school
5. The moral conduct, ways and habits
of those people around us
6. The direct and implied cultural
norms
7. Our life experiences
8. Our critical thinking in these
experiences.
 HOW MORAL STANDARS ARE should morally do one thing and that
FORMED they should morally do another
thing, and ocassionally a third thing
• Individual’s Beliefs or even a fourth thing, but they’re
• Values/ Religious Values/ not doing any of these mutually
Characters/ Manners contradictory choices together.
• Rules and Regulations
• Individual’s action Ex. Helping a friend of yours to reconcile
• Life’s Experiences her relationship to his ex-boyfriend but you
• Moral Standards also have a feeling to that guy.

• According & Dordevic, (2016) is a

situation whereby a person has to
MODULE 2: MORAL DILEMMAS make a decision which is right or
DILEMMA wrong and make an alternative one
to make it acceptable.
• Is a situation where a person is
Ex. Despite using the planned uniform,
forced to chooese between two or
which you were supposed to wear during the
more coflicting options, neither of
parade, it burnt when you ironed it.
which is acceptable
DEFINITION OF MORAL DILEMMAS
MORAL DILEMMA
The said definitions characterized moral
• Are situation where persons, who are
dilemma or ethical dilemma as:
called “moral agents” in ethics, are
forced to choose between two or 1. Making an option to one moral value
more conflicting options neither of over the other
which resolves the situation in a 2. A situation where moral values are
morally acceptable manner. equally significant
• According to Kvalnes (2019) a 3. A scenario where a person has a
person experienced with a dilemma strong moral reason action, but not
must decide whether the moral duty equally strong moral reason in acting
will be given priority; “whatever in another way.
actions is taken will offend an 4. A state where a person should
important moral values.” morally do one, two or more and
• Dilemmas may arise as a result of a have a difficulty in deciding any of
prior personal mistakes or self- those conflicting choices
inflicted dilemma
3 LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA
Ex. A religious person and you are pregnant
1. Organizational Ethical or Moral
but you an ectopic pregancy. What will you
Dilemma
do?
2. Individual Moral Dilemma
• According to Kurie & Lubin 3. Structural Moral Dilemma
(2007) a moral dilemma is a situation
in which people assume that they
 1. ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICAL aware of doing what is good and
OR MORAL DILEMMA what is right.
• Lamberto et. Al (2013) an
organizational ethical dilemma refers
to a situation that causes an 3. STRUCTURAL MORAL
organization to respond negatively or DILEMMA
positively to an ethical issue that
There are 5 concepts in the structural moral
affects staff, shareholders, and
dilemma to consider namely
society, as well as corporate ethics
and customers. It includes also the 1. Differentiation vs Integration
leaders ethical actions in preserving • The conflict between the distribution
financial reporting integrity. of jobs and the organization of
Based on the article Michigan State numerous activities generates a
University (2020) and Small Business classix dilemma. The more
Chron.com (2019), there are common complicated a task structure, the
more difficult it is to sustain a
ethical issues in the organization such as
centered, tightly coupled
1. Unethical leadershio/bad leadership organization.
behavior. • When complexity grows, the
2. Toxic workplace culture company needs more complicated
3. Discrimination and harrasment/ Peril and expensive management
of employee favoritism techniques.
4. Unrealistic and conflicting goals • Laws, regulations, and directives
5. Use of the organization’s technology, need to be balanced by lateral
social media use, technology, and approaches.
privacy concerns 2. Gaps vs Overlap
6. Business travel ethics • When the main task are not explicity
defined, the critical job will slip
through gaps. In a similar manner,
2. INDIVIDUAL MORAL functions and activities can overlap,
DILEMMA causing conflict, wasting time, and
• As mentioned by Smith (2018), unintented duplication of
individual ethical or moral dilemma responsibilites.
pertains to a situation where 3. Lack of Clarity vs. Lack of
individuals confront with a number Creativity
of factors such as peer pressure, • When employees are not clear about
personal financial position, an what they are expected to do, they
economic and social status which often adapt their task to personal
may influence all individuals ethical interests instead of system-wide
standards. goals that often lead to problems.
• Socialization is part of every • Yet when people’s duties are over
individual’s life. It is just a query as defined, they comply with their
to whether an individual remains positions and procedured in a
 bureautic manner. They specifically
follow job requirements as to how
much the service or product fails.
4. Excessive Autonomy vs Excessive
Interdependence
• When individuals or groups are too
independent, they are always
isolated. On the other hand, if the
units and responsibilities are too
closely connected, people are
absentminded from work and waste
time or excessive coordination
Based in the discussion above, to avoid
structural moral dilemma then following
characteristics must be maintained.
1. Must have well-distributed jobs and
the laws, policies, rules, and
regulations must be balanced through
lateral approaches
2. Must have an implicity defined job
description, roles, and duties to
evade from gaps and overlaps.
3. Must have a clear- cut expectation of
the task in a wide range of goals
4. Must have a well-balanced
interdependence and coordination.