Self Reflection - Ethics and Regulations

SELF REFLECTION – ETHICS AND REGULATIONS
I am XXX, a student of Asia Pacific International College, Australia. Right from my
childhood, I was taught the importance of morality, being imparted a value based education.
However, once I grew up, I could see that there was a lot of difference between learning
about morals and actually implementing them in real life.
According to me, the law is a rule system which is recognized by a particular
governance model, which everybody in the land is mandated to obey. Ethics are the
fundamental laws, which are needed to be emulated by every person, so that he/she can lead a
life of morality. Professional ethics is a broader application of personal ethics, which refers to
the ethical and moral standards that expected of a professional, and which is to be emulated
by a professional organization. Managerial ethics are the set of ethical and moral principles
that are sought by professional organizations so that their growth and development is
bolstered.
The practice of professional ethics has a mention way back in ancient Tamil literature,
the Thirukkural, where the need for adaptation of businesses with changing times, the need
for skill-based learning, etc are cited in an entire segment of the book dedicated to finance
and economy1. Every professional organization is mandated to follow the set of rules and
ethics that are paramount to that organization. Nevertheless, certain professional
organizations tend to overstep their ethical boundaries for certain short term benefits, thus
creating an environment of mistrust to their stakeholders. In my experience as a business
intern, I have seen circumstances in which the individual ethics might conflict with the
professional ethics, where religious beliefs come into play.
1 Chandran, S. "How to Sanctify Politics with Ethics? (2016) Vinayaka Missions University. 2,3.
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Many times, there are situations where one’s beliefs contradict with the societal
values, which lead to situations where either of the two is compromised. These situations or
ethical dilemmas are faced mostly due to the present day cultures being a melting pot. An
ethical dilemma is a complicated circumstance, where one is presented with two ethical
decisions, under the clause that making one decision would violate the other. In other words,
the situation is similar to making a choice between the “devil and the deep sea”. Ethical
dilemmas usually occur in cases where there is breach of both ethics and the law.
Organizations tend to face ethical dilemmas with a regular frequency, and are bound to make
decisions at the expense of the other. In the organization where I worked, I could see that a
few employees were severely reprimanded for minor mistakes, but a few others were let off
even if they committed graver offenses. The societal norms of appeasement, reasoning and
leniency can be detrimental when applied in a professional organization, but at times, the
rules are needed to be bent, if not broken, for a conducive agreement to be made.
The organization’s corporate responsibilities to ethico-legal values can be explained
by the rule based theory formulated by Jeremy Bentham. “What makes something good or
bad, right or wrong, is that it produces the greatest amount of pleasure (or lack of pain) for
the greatest number of people”2. Ideally, it emphasizes on looking further from the self
interests of the company, and considering the best interests of all those who would be
affected by the decision. By this theory, one can understand the impact an organization’s
decisions can make to its stakeholders. This theory focuses on impartial decision making,
which augments the organization’s profits and reduces the overall loss to the society. The
organization I worked for made it clear that the decisions made by the leaders must be in a
way that the stakeholders are benefitted, and not adversely affected.
2 Mill, JS. ‘Utilitarianism’ in Mill, JS, Seven Masterpieces of Philosophy (Routledge 2016). 337, 383
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