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Personal and Organizational Ethics

made by Ms. Indra Mughal

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 Introduction
• An ethical framework can help people make
decisions and evaluate behavior in both their
daily activities and at work.
• Both personal and business ethics both share
many similarities that can help you strengthen
your decision-making process. By following a
set of ethics, you can make strategic decisions
to handle situations at work and thrive within
your career.

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 What are personal ethics?

• Ethics entails interior measures that illustrate

how an individual should behave under
normal circumstances derived from good and
bad deeds.
– Firstly, it is the ability to judge; for instance,
distinguishing between rights and wrong.
– Secondly, it is the commitment to perform in a
good and proper way through actions, not a simple
idea to be argued about. 
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 What are personal ethics?

• Personal ethics entails an honest basis

through which an individual builds his or
her life; however, it directs an individual to
make a decision that best affects business
positively.
• Individually ethics deals with the
uniqueness of a person to determine the
values of personal standards to life(i.e.
(income tax, doing kid’s homework, etc.) 7-5
 Three common examples of
personal ethics
1. Honesty: People typically value honesty because it fosters
trust. Honesty must be present in both your personal and
professional life because it can help you build stronger
relationships.
2. Loyalty: Many employers also consider loyalty to be a valuable trait.
Employers typically trust loyal employees because they know they can
keep the best interest of the business at the centre of their actions.

3. Respect: Anyone who has sound personal ethics usually shows

respect to those around them. People who demonstrate respect for
authority, colleagues, friends, and family exercise their personal ethics.
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 Why are personal ethics
important?
• Allows leaders to handle their teams effectively:
leader follows the recognized and formally accepted code of ethics in an
organization, the team they lead is more likely to learn from them and feel
confident when contributing to the organization.
• Fosters a strong sense of trust and belief in leaders:
People are likely to trust those who follow sound ethical codes in the
workplace.
• Helps individuals determine the best action to take in
challenging situations: People who have strong personal ethics tend to
make the right decisions in difficult situations.

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 Why are personal ethics
important?
• Helps the decision-making process:
Solid ethics helps the decision-making process be easier
for anyone who has them.
• Fixes a standard of expected behaviour:
Person's power to make good decisions is based on their core values or
moral nature.
• Serves as motivation for individuals:
People who have strong ethics are self-motivated and are willing to do
what it takes to complete a task or goal on time and to the best of their
ability.
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Organization ethics

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 Organization ethics
• The lessons learned from scandals and
organizational crises that trace back to the
early 2000s make one thing clear: Without
an ethical and compliant culture,
organizations will be at risk
• Organizational ethics are principles that
motivate and guide employees to make
good decisions in the workplace.
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 Organization ethics

Culture is referenced by the U.S. Federal

Sentencing Guidelines, which include
expectations for organizations to promote an
“organizational culture that encourages ethical
conduct” and “compliance with the law.”

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 Organization ethics
• Strong cultures have two elements:
• A high level of agreement about what is valued and a high
level of intensity with regard to those values.
• “In the long run, a positive culture of integrity is the
foundation for an effective ethics and compliance program,
which, when properly embedded into an organization, can
create a competitive advantage and serve as a valuable
organizational asset,” says Keith Darcy, an independent
senior advisor to Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Regulatory and
Operational Risk practice.
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 A culture of integrity characteristics
• Organizational values:  Organization’s commitment to legal
and regulatory compliance, integrity and business ethics.
• Tone at the top: Executive leadership and senior managers across the
organization encourage employees and business partners to behave
legally and ethically in accordance with compliance and policy
requirements.
• Consistency of messaging: Operational directives and business
imperatives align with the messages from leadership related to ethics
and compliance.
• Middle managers who carry the banner: Front-line and mid-level
supervisors turn principles into practice. They often use the power of stories
and symbols to promote ethical behaviors.
• Comfort speaking up: Employees across the organization are comfortable
coming forward with legal, compliance, and ethics questions and concerns
without fear of retaliation.
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 A culture of integrity
characteristics
• Accountability: Senior leaders hold themselves and those reporting to
them accountable for complying with the law and organizational
policy, as well as adhering to shared values or organizational values.
• The hire-to-retire life cycle: The organization recruits and screens employees
based on character, as well as competence. Employees are treated respectfully
when they leave or retire.
• Incentives and rewards: Good behavior is rewarded, but that bad behavior—
such as achieving results regardless of method—can have negative
consequences.
• Procedural justice: Employees may not always agree with decisions, but they
are likely to accept them if they believe a process has been fairly administered.

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 A number of steps can help to reinforce culture
and values

• Appoint a Chief Ethics Officer:  Many organizations are taking this step to
enhance the code of conduct and related controls and procedures, and improve
accountability for ethical behavior through training and performance assessments.
• Create listening posts: Conduct cultural assessments that get at the core of how
people behave and what they think.
• Maintain a healthy mood in the middle: middle management’s ability to translate
tone at the top into the policies and practices that drive everyday behavior.
• Keep it interesting: Find new and innovative ways to communicate cultural values
and reward values-based behavior.
• Play fair: Reward the right behaviors and penalize the wrong ones. Don’t play
favorites.
• Shout it from the rooftops: Leaders tend to under communicate values and
expectations. In this case, more is better.

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 Strong culture of integrity and an ethics program
challenges
• Defining the culture: It is a mistake for leaders to assume they have their finger on the
pulse of the organization’s culture at all times. Organizations can establish listening
posts, such as cultural assessments, using employee surveys and outside observers.
• Instilling culture and values throughout the organization: Culture needs to be active
and continuous, especially in large organizations with distant outposts.
• Extending cultural values in M&A: Cultural fit is one of the biggest stumbling blocks
in integrating a merged or acquired organization; in fact, it is one reason such
transactions fail, despite the potential business benefits.
• Handling naysayers: They should be identified, counseled and offered the opportunity
to conform to expected behavior, or consideration should be given to separating them
from the organization.
• Battling values fatigue: Communicating values is much like a marketing campaign—it
needs to capture people’s attention and use different content, formats, and
communication channels to remain fresh through the power of stories.
• Addressing leadership flux: leaders are not only competent, but who have the
chemistry, character and moral capability to inspire and win the hearts and minds of all
stakeholders
• Appealing to a cross-generational workforce: Organizations today need to appeal to
the most multi-generational workforce in history 7-16
 Similarities between personal and
business ethics
• Transferability: People can practice the same ethics
consistently, regardless of the situation, and apply them
within both their personal and business lives.
• Development process: The process of forming or
establishing your personal and business ethics is often
similar because it involves articulating your values,
priorities, and gives you time for reflection.
• Value types: People typically apply certain ethics to both
their personal and business activities such as
trustworthiness, determination, and integrity.

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 Differences between personal and
business ethics
• Role-specificity: Sometimes, business ethics can differ depending on
your role and industry such as an accountant and a sailor might
prioritize their values differently, in other side your personal ethics
remain the same regardless of your location or activity.
• Structure: The structure of business ethics is usually organized and
formalized as a mission statement. Personal ethics are usually flexible
or informal.
• Collective vs. individualized: People can share personal ethics with a
social group, family, or community, depending on how those groups
develop the shared values.
• Situational nature: The fundamental difference is how they use them
and in which situations they choose to apply them.

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