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Ethics in the workplace involves encouraging employers, employees and volunteers to practice ethical decision making.  But what exactly does this mean.

Wikipedia defines ethics as a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about deontology; that is concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice. Deontological ethics looks at ethics by the acts committed rather than the consequences.    Basically doing what is right without concern of the outcome.  Then there is consequentialism, which bases ethical decisions from what the consequence will be.  It takes the position of “the ends justify the means.” 

If you look at both of these views on ethics it is easy to see how one could justify their actions as ethical.  If someone made a decision that was right in their mind but the outcome affected others and not the decision maker, then would others see this as an ethical decision?  While on the other hand if a decision was made based on what the consequences were but again the consequence was positive for some but negative for others, we run into the same dilemma as to whether it truly was an ethical decision. 

Philosopher Immanuel Kant views on ethics is that people should act out of duty, and that it is not the consequence of an act that makes it right or wrong, but the motives of the person carrying out the action.  

Trying to define ethics and how it should be applied to a particular organization or business is not an easy task.  However, it should not be overlooked.  Based on this brief explanation of ethics it is easy to see the importance of having a workplace Code of Ethics.  It takes away individual opinions as to what actions they should take when faced with a difficult decision. 

A written Code of Ethics defines the culture of a business or organization that applies to everyone.  It should clearly outline what is consider right or wrong taking away the influence of individual motives.  As Kant’s theory on ethics implies, it allows everyone in an organization to make a decision out of duty, based on the rules set forth by the business or organization. 

If your company does not have a Code of Ethics in place, it is important to seriously consider adding this to your policies and procedures.  There are many websites that help in preparing a Code of Ethics, which can be tweaked to fit your needs. However, a better approach is to have members from different levels within an organization come together to develop the codes.  This will avoid having the Code of Ethics written by one or two individuals who may have motives that do not reflect the whole of the organization.