Understanding Moral and Ethical Behavior
“Understanding Ethical and Moral Behavior”
Michael Thomas
MGT/216
October 17, 2010
Mr. Harvey McDonell
Understanding Ethical and Moral Behavior
The differences between ethical and moral issues are not too far off base in comparison to one another if one takes a thorough assessment of the two. Ethical issues deal primarily with a level of standards or certain behaviors that have been set forth or established by an individual in whom he or she displays within a work setting or amongst a group of peers in a social setting. Ethical issues also involves a set of guidelines or promises that are made between parties that prohibit them from in delving in inappropriate behavior amongst or against those parties they are in agreement with, an example of this is a doctor who has sworn to remain emotionally uninvolved with their patients, but then supersedes that vow and becomes involved beyond the point of patient and doctor relationship.
Moral issues are similar to those of ethical issues, with the exception that moral issues don’t necessarily involve a level of standards or certain behaviors, but rather focus’ on what is right, fair, and just and based upon a person’s own personal belief system. Morals don’t involve any promises or standards that have been laid out before hand, but rather are established on the foundation of one’s belief system, usually established from an early age in a person’s life. An example of a moral issue is, a person walks into a store to purchase a loaf of bread and hands the cashier a $5.00 bill for the bread. The cost of the loaf of bread is $2.00, and the cashier ends up giving the customer $18.00 in change back. Obviously the cashier mistakenly thought that the customer handed he or she $20.00 in this situation. The moral issue at this point is whether the customer is morally grounded enough to return back the $16.00 to much that was given to him or her in error or just go on about their
Michael Thomas
MGT/216
October 17, 2010
Mr. Harvey McDonell
Understanding Ethical and Moral Behavior
The differences between ethical and moral issues are not too far off base in comparison to one another if one takes a thorough assessment of the two. Ethical issues deal primarily with a level of standards or certain behaviors that have been set forth or established by an individual in whom he or she displays within a work setting or amongst a group of peers in a social setting. Ethical issues also involves a set of guidelines or promises that are made between parties that prohibit them from in delving in inappropriate behavior amongst or against those parties they are in agreement with, an example of this is a doctor who has sworn to remain emotionally uninvolved with their patients, but then supersedes that vow and becomes involved beyond the point of patient and doctor relationship.
Moral issues are similar to those of ethical issues, with the exception that moral issues don’t necessarily involve a level of standards or certain behaviors, but rather focus’ on what is right, fair, and just and based upon a person’s own personal belief system. Morals don’t involve any promises or standards that have been laid out before hand, but rather are established on the foundation of one’s belief system, usually established from an early age in a person’s life. An example of a moral issue is, a person walks into a store to purchase a loaf of bread and hands the cashier a $5.00 bill for the bread. The cost of the loaf of bread is $2.00, and the cashier ends up giving the customer $18.00 in change back. Obviously the cashier mistakenly thought that the customer handed he or she $20.00 in this situation. The moral issue at this point is whether the customer is morally grounded enough to return back the $16.00 to much that was given to him or her in error or just go on about their