Ethics Essay

The code of ethics helps people report unwanted behavior that does not follow the code of
ethics. It brings professionalism into the workspace by employees having expectations towards
themselves, co-workers, and at work. Companies will also use the code of ethics to determine how they
want to help the community by reducing and recycling. The code of ethics will be very useful when I am
at work and have a problem that needs to be solved. When faced with an ethical situation, I would like
to ask ethical questions about the situation. I will analyze the situation for the consequences and think
of any way I can contribute to an ethical solution. When making decisions, I like to know the whole
picture to create different solutions. I make my decision by figuring out which ethical solution will be the
most effective to execute.

During my class, there were discussions of different types of ethical issues in the past. One of
the issues was the Volkswagen (VW) issue which involved the car company creating false testing results
for diesel cars. The company created a sophisticated program to detect when the car was being tested
for emissions. Another issue was the Pinto issue from the car company Ford in which they had an issue
with their gas tanks during a car accident. Many car crash tests determined that the car tank would
catch fire during a crash and that Ford knew about the issue. One of the reasons that the company
ignored the issue was that the pinto car was about to be released. Another issue involved an Amazon
Eco in which a person was accused of a murder they did not commit, and the only way to prove their
innocence was to release sensitive information from an Amazon Eco. The device’s only purpose was
playing music, telling the news, and the weather. Amazon refused to give the information to the
authorities without a binding legal document telling them to pass it. Lastly, the class discussed the Big
Data issue, which involved handling personal information. A person working for the paramedic medical
records was tasked with creating some data charts. The problem arose when the information needed for
the charts included personal information. The United States General Services Administration Privacy Act
prevents personal information from being used for data. The person was stuck between using personal
data for the charts or not.

The main difference from the ethical topics that I am learning from this class is that most of the
ethical choices that I make right now will mainly affect myself or the people around me, while the
ethical topics talked about in class involve choices that benefit the public or the workspace. The class
agrees that the most ethical decision would be to solve the problem or report it when trying to fix the
issues is not enough. The class has six main virtue ethics that the class discussed to relate to each issue,
and the three virtues of the six that I choose to relate to the issues will be responsibility, honesty, and
fidelity. I chose honesty because most of the issues discussed involved some form of telling the truth to
the public. Fidelity was also another due to people being faithful to the public or their job. Most issues
discussed with the group involved some form of responsibility, like knowing an issue to be addressed,
but nothing is done due to schedules or hiding the truth. The other virtues are still relevant to the issues
discussed, but the main virtues will be the three that were picked. The six virtues are broad enough to
cover people's ethics in the workspace.