What Happened To Individual Ethics?

What has happened to our society over the last few decades? Have we improved our level of understanding of the fundamental principles of life? Have we advanced in technologies that improve the quality of life? Have we increased the expected lifespan of the human race?

Have all the new technologies resulted in the promised leisure time? Look at your own lifetime and ask yourself, “”How far have we really come?”" And I have one additional question: “”Do we know where we are going?”" No ship captain worth his salt would consider leaving port without clearly understanding his destination and charting a course to get him and his cargo there safely and efficiently.

Yet we have seen countless news stories of plans gone wrong when it comes to things like protecting the ecology and the environment. Many large corporations have gone bankrupt, leaving both employees and investors holding the bag while CEO’s and staff members have made personal fortunes. Aid in the form of foodstuffs, clothing and building materials, sent by kind hearted and well meaning people, have been hoarded by gang lords or political leaders for their personal gain, often while their own people starve or die from exposure. Many are now reluctant to contribute to relief efforts because they doubt that the truly needy will benefit.

On a smaller scale, we see whistle blower stories of corruption in local businesses and in local government, where individuals have diverted public funds for personal use, and where confidential information has been sold to competitors or even political enemies. Newspapers and television news programs are likely to show us only those stories that align with their own agendas, and have become very unreliable when it comes to real reporting. Clearly, something has gone wrong, and it is not in isolated areas. Like a disease it has spread throughout society in all parts of the globe.

One survey indicated that only about 14% of respondents place confidence in schoolteachers, 5% in newspaper reporters and journalists, and 3% in corporate CEO’s and political leaders. Why? I believe that the answer is the lack of personal ethics. In my mind there is no line separating personal ethics, business ethics, so called situational ethics, spiritual ethics or any other kind of ethics. One is an ethical, though imperfect, person, or not. We don’t put on a suit of business ethics before we leave for work, and change into our personal ethics attire at 5pm. Just as I have long believed that it is wise to have only one vocabulary, one that you can comfortably use everywhere without fear of embarrassment, I believe that we must also have only one set of ethics.

We live with the same ethical standards every waking moment. Simply stated, ethics is a statement of right and wrong. If a thing is wrong here, it will be wrong there. If it is wrong now, it will be wrong next week or next year. These are rights and wrongs based on principles. Now, a decision whether to buy a car or a truck based on current needs, is not a decision based on ethics. And though we may not need a truck today, next year we may decide that we do. No change in ethics, but a change in conditions. What would be ethical in either case would be to arrange payment and live up to that arrangement, register the vehicle properly, obtain insurance, pay the taxes on personal property, drive carefully, avoid driving while intoxicated, obey traffic laws intended for the protection of everyone, etc. Tons of ethical considerations surround the use of a vehicle.

As John C, Maxwell says in his book “”There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics”", there is only ONE RULE for making decisions, the Golden Rule. Is it right or is it wrong? Within that framework, we may sometimes have to decide what is right for the greatest number of people involved, but we must do so while carefully considering the effect on ALL of the people. Such decisions will not always be easy. And at times we may be forced to do what is best for someone else, not simply what is best for us.

At times, what is best for another might be inconvenient or even costly for us, but a strong sense of ethics will compel us to make that choice and to live with it. And in the end we become better for it. I recall bidding on a small remodeling job many years ago in the home of an elderly woman. I got the job and didn’t discover until midway through that I had grossly underestimated the time and cost of materials. I completed the work and billed the lady according to our agreement, though I lost money on the job. The result was that I learned to estimate more carefully, and the woman recommended me to all her friends and neighbors, so that I was kept busy that whole season.

Ethical behavior ALWAYS pays off, one way or another. The scales will always balance.

Article Source

Tags: ethic, cases, business, issues, article