principles

ethid
behaviour, esp d
group, profession
the moral fitnes

Basic Concepts 1
Asato ma satgamaya, tamaso ma jyothirgamaya, mrityorma amruthamgamaya
(From falsehood to truth, from darkness to light and from death to eternal life)

- BRIHADARANYAKA UPANISHAD

Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to
• define basic terms related to morality and ethics

• appreciate the importance of ethics to individuals, organizations, and society

• list and explain some of the governing factors of an individual's ethics
• comprehend how ethical behaviour is influenced by context
• value the importance of ethical behaviour
• define and explain the concepts of life skills and emotional intelligence

ETHICALLYSPEAKING
Vipin Handa is a science graduate. After completing his studies, he joined a publishing house as
a junior commissioning editor. He worked very hard and was successful in getting appreciation
from his superiors for his work. He was ambitious. In addition, he had family responsibilities. His
father was a clerk in a government office; he also had an elder sister to be married. They were just about
both ends meet.
making , he undertook

Themany
publishing
projects
for
house he waspublication
. working
He was for work
published
successful
in engineering
some cases
but
books.could
During
nothismakeany headway in many
others. He quickly realized that there are not many who are willing to write books or are capable of writing
good material. Many engineering teachers and professionals shied away from such work. many who
During his years with the company, he met many people who were willing to write books and
promised to do so later. He had a database of such people that he maintained as part of the normal procedure
of the company. He maintained a good relationship with all those people, as he was a very enterprising
person with good communication skills. and he applied
He worked with the firm for three years. His résumé and work experience now looked good
for a higher position in another publishing house that was also in the business of publishing engineeringtext
books. Due to his past experience in the field, the company recruited him and gave him a good remuneration
package. He decided to join the new firm.
2 | Professional Ethics

While leaving his present employer, he transferred all the data of writers and potential writers to a CD,
which he took with him. This had the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of more than 200 people
who could be considered as potential writers.
After joining the new firm, he was under pressure to acquire new projects-identify and contact writers
for engineering books. Since he was very ambitious and faced the pressure of doing well in his job and
supporting his family, he used the data from his CD. He contacted many of them and got several projects
because of his earlier association with them. He won the appreciation of his new employers for the business
he was able to get.
Ethicus wants your opinion on the following:
1. When you work for a company you are privy to a lot of information that may be crucial in a highly
competitive environment. Was it right of Vipin to take this information with him and use it when
working for a competitor?
2. Do you think that collecting the official data on a CD and using it for personal success was a highly
unethical act?
and had their
3. Suppose Vipin had not made a CD of the database he had. He remembered many people
contact numbers with him. Now if he contacts them for fresh projects, would it be ethical?

INTRODUCTION

This chapter aims to initiate you into the world of morality, ethics, and values, and help
objectives of leading a satisfying and blissful life. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals
with the study of moral standards and edicts that are intended to govern our behaviour. While
there are norms and standards for ethical behaviour, the bottom line is the individual's own
perceptions about morality and ethics.
This chapter provides an overview of the basic concepts of ethics, which will be detailed
in later chapters. While, in general, you may be able to distinguish between right and wrong
actions based upon your experiences and beliefs, it is also true that your decisions are often
based on your individual perceptions. The absoluteness of something being right or wrong
is very difficult to specify in many cases. The intention in this chapter is to enter the world of
ethics by understanding the different aspects of human existence.

TERMINOLOGY

Let us deal with the definitions of some of the common terms used in this book. These terms
and their meanings are, by themselves, rather ambiguous or abstract. They get their substance
from what is more commonly accepted by the society.

Moral and Morality

The word moral is defined in the Oxford dictionary as 'concerned with the principles of right
and wrong behaviour' and 'a lesson that can be derived from a story or experience'. Morality,
on the other hand, is defined in the following ways:

'Principles governing right and wrong and good and bad behaviour.'