Cultural Values and Personal Ethics: The development of a personal code of ethics.

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Values and Ethics

Cultural Values and Personal Ethics: The development of a personal code of ethics.

Parrish G. Monk

University of Phoenix

COM 525

Managerial Communication and Ethics

Jeff Grogan

August 17, 2004

Cultural Values and Personal Ethics

In order to understand ethics and values we must first define them. However, in defining ethics and values we realize that these terms or concepts are vague and often exist amongst an air of confusion. In fact, ethics and values are two of the most often studied and highly debated issues in ancient and modern philosophy.  When referencing the word value Kurt Baier a member of the Union of International Associations was cited in an article on the organization’s website  (http://www.uia.org) stating that there is a bewildering profusion of terms, ranging from what a person wants, desires, needs, enjoys, prefers, through what he thinks desirable, preferable, rewarding, obligatory, to what the community enjoins, sanctions, or enforces. The purpose of this paper is to add clarity and perspective to the understanding of ethics and value as it relates to myself personally and the cultures in which I live.

Defining Ethics and Values

Defining Ethics

Ethics can be generally defined in three ways. Ethics is the study of morals and moral formation. Ethics is also the formal name for a branch of philosophy that is primarily concerned with the nature of morals and moral evaluation (Falde, 2000). Lastly, ethics are a code of behavior. Moreover, ethics can be any code of behavior, even one that does not claim to have moral justification. Ethics involve an individual’s choice. Ethics involve actions that take into consideration the impact of others. Typically speaking, ethics seem to promote the welfare and benefit of others and seek to avoid harming others. A person’s ethics are often based upon their values that come from external sources such as a religion or a formalized code of ethics from a profession. It is important to note that morals and ethics are often synonymous with each other and frequently interchangeable. In contrast, values are the principles upon which ethics are formed.

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Ethics applied

The institutionalization of codes of ethics is common with many professional bodies, communities or functional work groups. These codes of ethics are in essence rules of conduct that are rules governing one's conduct of behavior and practice when carrying out professional work (Falde, 2000).  A code of ethics may be considered to be a formalization of ethics into a set of rules for a specific purpose. A code of ethics is often adopted by the community because its members accept the idea that the adherences to these rules, including the restrictions that apply, are what are best for ...

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