1. There are many ethical issues about which people hold very strong opinions-abortion, guncontrol, and the death penalty, to name a few. If you were a team member on a project with someone whom you know held an opinion different from yours on one of these issues, would it affect your ability to work effectively with this person? Why or why not?
ANSWER : No, it will not affect my ability to work effectively with this person because as a human being guided with a will, I have to respect each others opinion. Every person is diverse, that includes our differences in the way we think, act , speak and etc. The enviroment where we lived in also affects in making our decisions and opinions. Therefore, in order to have an effective and healthy working relationship to our workmates the key there is just RESPECT.
2. Identify two of life experiences that helped you define your own personal code of ethics.
ANSWER : The two important life experiences that helped me define my own personal code of ethics is as follows:
First, when I chose to focus on my study and decided to never have a boyfriend until having a degree. This shows my clear perception to my priorities which is study and of course my family. I believed that I cannot do my best doing multiple things in the same time, and so I decided to chose study over a relationship with someone. I know that I made the right choice because this is what my parents want for me as well. Obeying them was an ethical thing to do and following their will is never gonna be wrong. They want what is best for us.
Second, is being a person who keeps my word. Everytime I speak words of commitment, I make sure that I can stand on it. Failing to do some of my commitments somehow bring me so much things to think and lets me feel ashamed of not fulfilling it. This just shows that I have care on the words that I have had spoken specially in making commitments.
By these experiences , I have defined my own personal code of ethics. First is by obeying my parents and setting my priorities in life and secondly, by honoring my commitments with someone and hold accountable for failing to do some of my these commitments.
3. Do you think that the importance of ethical behavior in business is increasing or decreasing?
ANSWER : For me, the importance of ethical behavior in business is decreasing because the risk associated with inappropriate behavior have increased, both in the livelihood and potential negative impact. Several trends have increased the likelihood of unethical behavior in business world. Some organizations are tempted to resort to unethical behavior just to maintain profits in their business. Also, employees may be encouraged to do “whatever it takes” to get the job done. These cases represents the decreasing trend of ethical behavior.
4. Do you believe that an organization should be able to escape criminal liability for the acts of its employees if it has acted as responsible corporate citizen, making strong efforts to prevent and detect misconduct in the workplace? Why or why not?
ANSWER : No, because as an organization, and as individuals they must value integrity , honesty and responsibity. They must be committed to their customers and partners and have a passion to their work. They must hold accountable to their customers, shareholders, and partners by honoring their commitments and that includes taking full responsibility to their employees with regards to the unethical behavior committed by them.
5. Is it possible to an employee to be successful in the workplace without acting ethically?
ANSWER : Hypothetically, Yes, it is possible but there is a some sort of guilt inside knowing that your success didn’t come from a “clean or good work”. Good work here means that you know to yourself that all you have done to your job was rightful and ethical. By doing these “good works”, you already know to yourself that you are successful in your job.
6. Should software piracy within the boundaries of third-world countries be tolerated to allow opportunities of those countries to move into the information age?
ANSWER : No, it should not be tolerated because it is against to the code of ethics. We know that software piracy is unethical because it is a sort of stealing one’s intellectual property. If they want to move into information age, they must strive to make their own software or encourage buying a software which is acceptable and ethical thing to do in order to pay the hardworks of the manufacturers who made the software.
7. Is ethics training really just a waste of time that will not change the behavior of employees?
ANSWER : No, ethics training is not a waste of time because it is during in this training that employees get to know their ethical responsibility. It is believed that personal convictions about right and wrong behavior can be improved through education. Some researchers like Kohlberg, the late Harvard psychlogist, have repeatedly supported the idea that people can continue their moral development through further education, such as working through case studies and examining contemporary issues. Thus, it just simply means that code of ethics in an organization should be encouraged. It is possible for an organization to do this by showing employees the good examples of how to apply the code of ethics in real situations in life. One effective way is through a comprehensive education program for ethics that promotes workers or employees to act ethically and responsibly. These programs are often presented in small workshop formats in which employees apply the organization’s code of ethics to hypothetical but realistic case studies. Therefore, we can say that training for employees was never gonna be a waste of time instead it is necessary for them to work ethically by which it promotes order to workplace.
