What Is Ethics?

What is ethics? It is how a person is supposed to act and respond in certain situations. But people

have to make several decisions every day. Some decisions are simple like what am I going to have for

lunch? Or they can be more complex such as; how am I going to pay for college? How a person perceives

what is right depends on their environment, education and past experiences. "Humans are not always

rationale, and the 'best option' may not also be the 'right' one when you factor in other people associated

or ethical issues" (Swinton, 2010).

Individual ethics start with a person's core values. The quick test is a great example of how a person's

core values, environment and past experiences all affect the outcome of the test. I feel that part of the test

is valid, but some questions were too vague to really put a score on it. For example, lying is necessary to

succeed in life. No one tells the truth 100% of the time. People tell 'little white lies' in order to save

someone's feelings or abide by the company's rules. And in this economy, money has become more

important to most people because of the economy. Therefore, people have to be more competitive to

keep their jobs.

"Ethics is about right and wrong in human conduct. Ethics is about choices, dilemmas and grey areas.

It explores the question of what we ought to do, rather than simply discuss what people could do or actually

do" (Doman, Vaughn, 2003). Individual ethics are very complex because our values are influenced by our

experiences, both good and bad. For example, when an employee gets caught stealing more that 90% of

the time it was not their first time. In the beginning, they usually steal money because they are in a

financial bind. But they keep on stealing because they have done it in the past and gotten away with it,

proving that person's circumstance may alter a person's ethics. This person made an unethical and

unlawful decision. The person decided that they were in a financial bind, after exploring other options

(such as borrowing the money) the person made an evaluation and acted