Pre-course written ‘Ethical Journey’ study

Task is to construct a narrative (i.e.., tell the story) that covers your own ethical journey from first memories to date.

Solution

Introduction:

When I first looked at the assignment, my first reaction was that I have not come across any situations which can be included in this writing. But as suggested, I took my time, and gradually events popped into the light of my sub-conscious astonishing me in their presence. I am going to highlight only a few events here; which are not from very far back in my past. These are the only ones that happened, or else these are the only ones which I remember. They may not depict my complete ethical journey, but will certainly give some clue. But first let me give some definitions;

General Ethics-Definition:

The branch of knowledge which deals with the moral principles by which the behaviour or act of a person is governed is known as the Ethics (Paliwal, 2006).

Business Ethics-Definition:

The study of business ethics which deals with proper business policies and the practices regarding the potentially controversial issues like insider trading, corporate governance, discrimination, corporate social responsibility and bribery (Paliwal, 2006).

My Ethical Journey:

The first event which I remember happened in my High School. I was studying with a batch of about 50 students. There were some who were very good at scoring high grades, and then there were some like me, who studied and had better scores if not the best. The event which I recall here occurred in our examination hall. We were all taking our exams when our teacher left the room for a few moments in need of something urgent. The girl sitting across me was one of the high scorers of our batch. She silently nudged the fellow sitting on his front and started asking him about the multiple-choice questions. She had only confirmed if she had done it right. I don’t know why it struck me so bad, but I felt cheated. There were also others who were asking their fellows, the ones who scored lower. But I did not feel cheated by them. I felt cheated by her because I realised that she was cheating to take high scores which could have been mine.

There were also other similar moments like this which happened during my school years. There was one time when my fellow student whom I saw standing in a corridor with a female teacher, flirting with her came to me and said, “She told me I would pass this exam, but I have to do better next time.” The smile on his face made me feel cheated. How come he can pass the exam without even studying the course and get the same score as the one who has been putting in so much effort. It was so unfair as I felt revolted and cheated. In both events, I was judging my fellow students against the universal norms of considering cheating as an unethical activity. Putting this into context, it is not like I have never cheated. I did it in my early school days. But after going through events like these, I realised how bad it was. How unethical, it was to get past someone, and steal its position without being on merit. These small events shaped my journey, and I never cheated again. I started looking at it as a form of corruption. And this stopped me from doing it myself.

Another event which I remember is that when I used to babysit my neighbour’s kid. I used to get a small amount as my payment. One time, I remember my neighbour gave me half payment in advance and asked me to remind him to pay the remainder after a month. After a month, when I reminded him, he gave me full payment (not remembering that he had already paid me half of it). I remember a small moment of excitement when I saw more money than I expected to have, and just for a millisecond, the thought that crossed my mind was just to take it silently. But the next second, my lips were moving and I was telling him that he only owes me half. He was surprised. He said, “Really? Are You Sure?” I was pretty sure, so I told him. He was really happy, and he appreciated me for my honesty. It made me feel content and at ease with myself. I could have said nothing, but then I would have been dishonest with my employer.

There is also another event which is a good example of an ethical dilemma. Ethical Dilemma is referring to a situation in which a person is standing at crossroads, and both roads lead to similar difficult decisions. I used to intern at a small partnership firm of 11 employees for some time. I used to work for literally all the departments, as each department was merely composed of one or two employees and there was not much work for me to do in one department. When I joined, the accountant position was empty as well, and interviews were being conducted. The newly selected accountant started his job three days after my joining. We, both newcomers, became close. We often spent time together during lunch. At one time, he asked me if I knew where the documents of partnership and company registration are. I told him that I knew. He then asked me if I can get them to him.

I asked him why he needed it. He told me he needed to look at it to know how a company gets registered, and what the process of starting a new firm is. He wanted to get the first-hand experience of running a new business, as he had plans to start his firm after a few months. He told me he was working there only for this purpose, and I need not inform my superiors about it. I was shocked. I did not know what to do. It did not seem very wrong; we all intend to gain experience in our fields. But something felt wrong. I was asked not to inform the superiors, which felt wrong. What would happen if I’ll inform them, I asked myself? They will fire him. But he is a good friend, and he has trusted me with this information.

I never informed the superiors, and he left after a month. But now when I think of it, I consider myself to be dishonest to my employer. My employer had spent so much time, effort and resources on the hiring process, and yet they had the position vacant again in a month. If I had informed them, they would have been better prepared for the vacant position and coped well. I regret not informing the superiors and taking the wrong decision.

Conclusion:

My ethical journey does not account for any major ethical challenges or dilemmas. However, they still show how we, judging others and ourselves against the ethical norms. How we always tend to understand what is right and what is wrong, regarding our culture, values, and social norms. The events of feeling cheated by my fellow students, and deciding on honesty against financial benefits, and finally regretting my decision of not informing my superiors of a disloyal employee has shaped my ethical journey to better distinguish between right and wrong.

Reference

Paliwal, M., 2006. Business Ethics. New Age International.