Kembara's Financial Solutions -The Practice of Ethics
Doing the right thing could be used as a simple substitute. The most important aspect of ethical decision-making is that you choose the course of action. Regulation or the law and ethics are not the same thing. You can behave unethically without breaking the law; you can behave in an unpleasant or antisocial manner without infringing the law. However, breaking the law makes your acts unlawful as well as unethical. One of the observations made about ethics occasionally is that, both from an individual and a corporate standpoint, the benefits of disregarding ethical norms and behavior far outweigh those of adhering to them. In other words, a decision made only based on what appears to be best for the doer (you) makes perfect logic. Keeping the phone is advantageous in the preceding example of discovering the cell phone on the bus. You have what you desire, but you didn't steal it—you just happened to find it. You have no personal connection to the owner (the person who lost it), so your behavior won't be influenced by that. This argument, however, ignores the fact that while pursuing your own interests may appear rational and viable for a little period of time, in our society the inevitable result is likely to be at the very least social and at the very worst criminal repercussions. Furthermore, whatever economic justification for the immoral behavior there may have looked to be is likely to be overturned by either of these outcomes, whether a social or legal consequence. In other words, any apparent short-term benefit will probably pale in comparison to the unavoidable long-term harm. So what might you do in a circumstance where doing the correct thing might not be clear at first glance? There is one easy question you should ask yourself, and it contains four important principles: Is what I'm about to do or the course of action that I'm about to take clear and honest, unbiased and up front, direct and transparent, well-informed and equitable? Let's return to the example of the mobile phone to test this. You make the choice to keep the phone rather than give it to the driver. How would your behavior in maintaining a pricey phone that you had discovered rather than stolen fare under scrutiny? • Did you act in a fair and honest manner? Did you ask anyone if they had dropped their phone on the bus or scan the area to see if anyone else was looking for it? Did you make an effort to identify the owner of the phone so you could return it? If not, you cannot say that your activity was open. • Was your behavior honest and transparent? This ought to be easy. Your phone was located. The fact that you do not know who owns it does not matter; it does not belong to you. It cannot be considered honest to keep it for oneself. • Were your actions clear-cut and honest? Your response to your pals appreciating your new phone will determine how you respond. Your activities are not transparent if you are unwilling to explain how you obtained the phone. • Did you act fairly and with knowledge? How on earth can you justify keeping something that doesn't belong to you? You have taken something away from its proper owner. You haven't made use of the technique for restoring misplaced items. What at the time seemed like a wonderful idea should now be haunting you!
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