James Sheehy's A New Work Ethic: Implications of Work Ethics
A New Work Ethic
Selena S. Harris
BUS309 – Business Ethics
Dr. Hakim Allah
January 30, 2012
A New Work Ethic? Around the world, the assumption has been that everyone will make the correct choices when it comes to workplace attitude and ethics. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are situations where employees will encounter unethical situations and either choose to ignore them, become a full participant, or expose the issue. One’s personal decision can either make or break their future of economic earning potential or opportunities. Ignoring small beginnings in life can potentially lead to the loss of gaining the explosive prospects that are surfacing. Sheehy reports the typical attitudes that are in work environments today. In my experience according to Sheehy, the work environment has a strong consistency of contempt for customers, indifference to quality and service, unrealistic expectations about the world of work, in addition to a get-away-with-what-you can attitude (Shaw, 2010, pp. 164). Attitudes of these kind reveal not only the nature of one’s work ethic, but also business ethics, moral standards and individual consciences (Shaw, 2010). Workplace environments tend to start off with the proper business ethics and placing his/her best foot forward. As time wears on, employees tend to become comfortable and lose the vigor of the employer’s vision and create their own. Egoism has occurred in the work environment Sheehy has reported (Shaw, 2010). Moral philosophers distinguished two types of egoism which are Personal egoists and Impersonal egoists (Shaw, 2010, pp. 50). In the evaluation case presented, it appears that Impersonal egoism in an immoral fashion has taken place which maintains that everyone should let self-interest guide his or her conduct (Shaw, 2010, pp. 50). Another view of the attitudes of employees in the work environment is the nonconsequentialist theory (Shaw, 2010). Sheehy states “scamming” was
Selena S. Harris
BUS309 – Business Ethics
Dr. Hakim Allah
January 30, 2012
A New Work Ethic? Around the world, the assumption has been that everyone will make the correct choices when it comes to workplace attitude and ethics. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are situations where employees will encounter unethical situations and either choose to ignore them, become a full participant, or expose the issue. One’s personal decision can either make or break their future of economic earning potential or opportunities. Ignoring small beginnings in life can potentially lead to the loss of gaining the explosive prospects that are surfacing. Sheehy reports the typical attitudes that are in work environments today. In my experience according to Sheehy, the work environment has a strong consistency of contempt for customers, indifference to quality and service, unrealistic expectations about the world of work, in addition to a get-away-with-what-you can attitude (Shaw, 2010, pp. 164). Attitudes of these kind reveal not only the nature of one’s work ethic, but also business ethics, moral standards and individual consciences (Shaw, 2010). Workplace environments tend to start off with the proper business ethics and placing his/her best foot forward. As time wears on, employees tend to become comfortable and lose the vigor of the employer’s vision and create their own. Egoism has occurred in the work environment Sheehy has reported (Shaw, 2010). Moral philosophers distinguished two types of egoism which are Personal egoists and Impersonal egoists (Shaw, 2010, pp. 50). In the evaluation case presented, it appears that Impersonal egoism in an immoral fashion has taken place which maintains that everyone should let self-interest guide his or her conduct (Shaw, 2010, pp. 50). Another view of the attitudes of employees in the work environment is the nonconsequentialist theory (Shaw, 2010). Sheehy states “scamming” was
References: Shaw, W.H. (2010). The Nature of Morality. In (7th ed.), Business Ethics (pp. 7-36). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Shaw, W.H. (2010). Normative Theories of Ethics. In (7th ed.), Business Ethics (pp. 49-78). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Shaw, W.H. (2010). The Nature of Capitalism. In (7th ed.), Business Ethics (pp. 132-164). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.