This report analyzes the importance of ethical behavior in the workplace and explores various theories of ethics. It also discusses the ethical theory adopted by the royal commission and the rules of the APES 110 code of ethics applicable to Freedom Insurance sales agents.
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Running head: ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Analysis of Ethical Theories Name of the Student Name of the University Author’s note
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1ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Executive summary The aim of the report is to analyse the importance of ethical behaviour in the workplace. The report contains an explanation of the various theories of ethics and the best ethical theory that will best suited for the royal commission. The report further contains an elaboration of the apes 110 code of ethics. Table of Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................3 Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
2ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Ethical theory adopted by royal commission.............................................................................9 The rules of the apes 110 that are applicable for freedom insurance sales agents...................10 Conclusion................................................................................................................................12 Reference..................................................................................................................................13
3ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Introduction Maintainingethicalbehaviourisessentialforanyorganisation,itguidethe organisation to operate in a manner that help the company to understand the art of behaving with the customers and the other stakeholders of the company. The ethical code of the organisation contain all the details of the behavioural issues that the employees of the company should follow while interacting with the external parties. Several ethical issues that are related with the organisation and the organisation faces several challenges while handling such issues. It became a challenge for the companies to overcome the ethical issues as that includes various factors, which are difficult to solve. The theories that are relevant with the organisation are teleology, deontology, relativism, virtue ethics, and justice ethics. The organisation have to make appropriate decision to manage the ethical issues that arise while the organisation continue operations. Discussion An ethical issue crop up when an organisation do something, which is not morally acceptable for the society. Some of the example of ethical issues are stated below Is it is required to revalue the assets to allow the company to meet estimated profit or to devalue the assets to meet with the accounting standards(Basta 2016). Is it is justified to manipulate the work sheet for other colleagues so that they can go home before the scheduled business hours. Ethics rise the question of what is good and what is bad, the goodness theories aims on the end result of decision making or the positives that it creates. Obligation theories aims on the motives that satisfy the actions.
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4ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES The ethical theories that are related with every organisation are explained below Teleology Deontology Relativism Virtue ethics Justice ethics Explanation of the teleology theory of ethics The teleology theory of ethicsconsiderstwo factors these ate egoism and utilitarianism Egoism Ethical egoism is the moral act of an individual. The ethical egoism is different from the psychological egoism, which states that people can only act for their own interest. In the modern days people become very self-centred and they only thinks about the benefits of their own and neglect the interest of others. The two major problems that rise from ethical egoism is that the ethical egoism cannot provide any solution when any problem crop up which results into conflict of interest. There are many ethical issues which are related with egoism. for example if any industry wants to eject waste to a river the people who resides on the bank of the river will oppose the ethical egoism just advises the parties to do whatever they think justified. It will not give any suggest any type of solution(Annas 2015). Ethical egoism does not follow any principle of impartiality. It is unethical to discriminate against people on the ground of racegender, or ethnic origin. The ethical egoism states that it should not try to be impartial.
5ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Theory of utilitarianism The theory of utilitarianism states that whether actions should be taken based on the results of those actions. The main idea of the theory is that whether any action is wrong or right it depends on the effects of the action. the policy of the utilitarian’s is that they always believe that the purpose of the ethics is to ,make life better by doing some actions which will bring happiness for the others and decreasing the negative approach that brings unhappiness to any others life(Tenenbaum, 2017).the basic points of utilitarianism are stated below It is concerned with consequences The theory of utilitarianism considers analysis of cost benefits It only considers goodness for greatest number of people. Theory of deontology The deontology theory is focused on the rights of the individual persons and not on the consequences of the actions to protect the right of the individual. The theory of deontology believes in equal respect and views certain characteristics as intrinsic right. The theory of deontology suggests that individuals have certain basic liberty like agreement confidentiality talking and due procedure. Deontological ethics is a theory of ethics based on a no consequentialist view of the persons and moral decision-making .the term deontology comes from the Greek word for duty. Thus, deontological ethics maintains thatactionsarenotrightbytheirsignificances.Relativelyfactorsotherthangood consequences determine the rightness of actions. Unlike utilitarianism, which states that “the ends justify the means” deontology states, “it is the mean that are important”. Deontological ethics – the categorical imperative
6ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Deontological ethics is grounded in the categorical imperative. The categorical imperative simply states thatour internal responses are more revealing than our outward professions when an individual flip the moral actions back on ourselves(Shinet al2015). Deontologist theory generally rejects the any moral theory grounded in god or higher absolute truth.at its core deontological ethics is a naturalistic duty based theory of objective, cultural morality that somehow transcends and connects the subjective realities of each individual in the culture(Sovacool,et al2016). Deontological ethics how individual really determine what is wrong and what is right The rule of deontology has two factors, which are: Rule deontologists and act deontologists Act deontology An act deontology is an ethical theory that gives emphasis on the logical priority to particular moral judgements rather than following any rules or principles. The act deontology is perfect for every situation as it makes judgement of every situation and take decision based on that judgement. The theory of act deontology states that the consequence of the act will decide that whether that act will be considered as ethical or unethical. The act deontology give more importance on the roles and duties of the social contracts play in determining the moral behaviour of any act(Shah Anwar & Irani 2017). Act deontology never give emphasis on the individual characteristics but it give importance on the actions of the individual. Rule deontology A rule deontology theory is a deontological theory that presents logical priority to rules rather than any particular judgements or principles. Rule deontology is based on the
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7ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES ethical issue in making ethical decision. Rule deontology does not make comparison but it only follows a predetermined rule. Rule deontology is of no use where the specific rule cannot be used to make the judgement that whether the decision is ethical or not. Rule deontology ignore the special roles that consequences duties social contacts paly in the moral system, especially with respect to determine the appropriate standard to evaluate moral behaviour. The theory of rule deontology give more importance on the criteria, which is related with the character development of any individual(Scherer 2018). The rule deontology often create dilemma in doing any act. for example if a computer engineer finds that a particular country is going to launch a nuclear missile on another country and that leads to major collapse of the country. The engineer knows how to hack the network of the missile but the rule deontology will prevent the engineer from doing so as hacking is unethical for the profession of the engineer(Paquette Sommerfeldt & Kent 2015). Relativism theory of ethics Ethical relativism that explains the morality is related with the rules of the culture. The theory of relativism states that whether an action is right or wrong depends on the ethically right in one society but it can be wrong for another society. For the ethical theorist there is no rulethat can be internationally applicable to all peoples at all times. If ethical relativism is right then there can be no common structure for resolving ethical disputes for attainment arrangement on ethical matters among members of dissimilar cultures(Drake 2016). The theory of ethical relativism is not acceptable by many ethicists. According to them that it may be possible that may be the ethical principles may differ for different culture but it can be stated that thebasic principle for every ethical actions are same(Goncalves & Santos2017).
8ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Moral relativism is the idea that there is no worldwide or complete set of moral values. It is a variety of morality that believers ‘to each her own” and those who follow it say “who am I to judge”(Turrens 2018). The moral relativism can be understood in several ways Expressive moral contingency also known as social contingency says that the moral standards are culturally distinct which is normally true. Certainly, there may be a few morals that seem closely universal, such as uprightness and esteem but many changes seem crossways nation when individuals assess moral values everywhere the world(Demuijnck 2015). Meta ethical moral contingency statuses that there are no detached grounds for favouring the moral values of one culture over another. Civilisations make their moral selections based on their single beliefs customs and performs. And in fact individuals inclination to believe that the right moral ideals are the values that exist in their own philosophy(Mallia 2015). Normative moral relativism is the idea that all societies should accept each others different moral values given that there are no universal moral principles . most philosophers however disagree with the fact. For example just because bribery is acceptable in some cultures it is not acceptable that all cultures will promote the culture of bribery(Dörr & Hollnbuchner 2017). Moral relativism is on the other hand states that there is continuously one correct answer to any moral query. Undeniably, those who obey to moral contingency would say “when in Rome do as the romans do”(Shaw McMaster & Newholm 2016). Virtue ethics
9ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES The virtue ethics is the mission to realise the need to live a life of moral character. This character based approach to morality assumes that individual acquire the virtue through practice. By committed being honest, brave, generous a person, develop a admirable and moral personality. According to the ethicist by giving more emphasis on the virtuous customs, people will likely make the right choice when confronted with ethical contests (MacAskill 2016). . Justice theory of ethics The word justice is related with fairness. However, every people wants justice but the meaning of justice is different from different individuals. For example, communal fairness is the view that everyone ask for equivalent financial radical and communal chances regardless of the race gender or religion. Distributive honesty refers to the reasonable distribution of assets in the society. Conservational justice is the fair conduct of all people with respect to environmental loads and assistances(Cointe Bonnet & Boissier 2016). Fairness is one of the most significant moral values in the scopes of law and politics. Legal and political systems that preserve law and order are needed, but they cannot complete either unless they also achieve justice(Lapsley 2016). Ethical theory adopted by royal commission Amongallthetheoriesoftheethics,theroyalcommissionshouldadoptthe deontological theory of ethics. As the deontology, theory of ethics deals with the actions of the individual and the results of the actions will determine whether the action is ethical or unethical. The deontology theory has two factors that is the rule deontology and the act deontology. The company by applying these theories that company can bring ethics among the activities of the company. The company has recently faced several unethical practices in
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10ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES particular to the banking and insurance departments. It came to the notice of the royal commission that the sales personnel are taking unethical means to meet their target, which affects the wealth of the clients and the reputation of the company. Act deontology judges every situation and based on the judgement make decision so this will be very suitable for the company(Kotzee Carter & Siegel 2019). The act deontology measures all actions and then give judgements give decisions so by applying this theory the company will be able to take decisions in accordance to the acts that has been done by the employees of the company. The rules of the apes 110 that are applicable for freedom insurance sales agents The sales team of the freedom insurance for their own interest use inappropriate tactics that results in to unethical practices and that also results into breach of the provision of the apes 110. The company faces issues relating to the ethical issues and for that reason it faces customer complaints which hampers their operations(Yazdani & Murad 2015). The structure of the apes 110 are stated below Identification of the threats to the basic principles Evaluate the significance of the threats and Apply protections where essential to either eradicate the pressures or decrease them to an suitable level. The code contains five basic principles these are enumerated below Integrity Objectivity Professional skill and due care Confidentiality
11ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Professional behaviour Integrity Integrity is the requirement to be straight forward and honest in the dealing to not have anything to hide. Integrity is the pillar of every successful and respected professional. So the sales agent of freedom insurance should contain integrity among them. Objectivity For every professions it is essential to have predetermined objective based on which the individual will delegate their duty. The sales agents of the company should have fixed an objective and should act accordingly. The objective of the sales personnel should be ethical and moral(Winkler & Duminy 2016). Professional skill and due care The core ethical duty of a professional is to be able to do what they hold themselves out as being able to do. This is a variation of the integrity principle. section 130 sets out the principle of professional competence in more detail. the obligation placed on members are: To maintain specialised knowledge and ability at the level essential to ensure that clients or employees receive proficient professional service To act assiduously in agreement with the appropriate practical and professional values when providing professional facility(Vallor Green & Raicu 2018). The sales agent of the freedom insurance company should also follow the ethical professional skill so that there acts does not breaches the code of conduct specified by the APES 110. Confidentiality
12ANALYSIS OF ETHICAL THEORIES Confidentiality is the main ethical factor that the sales personnel has to maintain. The requirement to comply with the principle of confidentiality continues even after the member client or member employer relationship has finished. However, there are times when a professional is expected to break this principle and this is explained in the section 140 of the code. Professional behaviour The sales personnel of the freedom insurance company has never shown professional behaviour which becomes the major reason of the raising of unethical issues against them. Conclusion From the above discussion it can be concluded that the royal commission has adopted thepolicyofdeontologytheoryofethicsthatenablesthecompanytobringmore transparency in the activities of the company. There are several theories of ethics among which the theory of deontology best suited with requirement of the company. The apes 110 code of conduct on the other hand prescribes the framework for the sales professionals of the freedom insurance following which the company will e able restrict the inappropriate sales tactics adopted by the agents.
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