Work Ethics

Chapter 1

Michael Marmot: highest mortality and poorest well being consistently associated with employees who had smallest degree of control over their work lives

Work: activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result

Ethics: moral principles that govern a person's behavior or conducting of an activity

Greek, ethos: habit, custom, disposition or character

A system of moral principles where it affect how people lead their lives, for life with continuous decision-making process and concerned with what is the right moral choice, for individuals and for society

Ethical code: set of principles which guide an organization in its activities and decisions and the firm's philosophy may affect its productivity and reputation

Work ethics: a group of moral principles, standards of behavior, or set of values regarding proper conduct in the workplace

Encompasses traits: reliability, dependability, dedication, productivity, cooperation, character, integrity, sense of responsibility, emphasis on quality, discipline, teamwork, professionalism, respect, determination, honesty

Moral: principles of right and wrong that are accepted by an individual or social group

Ethics and moral: right and wrong of conduct

Ethics: rules provided by an external source (codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions)

Morals: an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong

Conflicts between ethics and moral

Chapter 2

Importance of work ethics: 

• to communicate effectively with an opposing opinion of other person
• a basis for values and visions
• to motivate employees
• perhaps demanded by customers 
• for good relationships to stakeholders
• an overall check on plans
• part of governance
• sustainability
• to be organized and in a uniformed way
• employee job satisfaction
• increase productivity
• avoid miscommunication or negative confrontation
• avoid various exposures and risks
• avoid stress/conflicts
• avoid misunderstandings

What does employer owe 

• fair and equal work environment
• fair pay
• safe working conditions
• on time paycheck
• harassment free

What do you owe your employer

• value your work
• refuse to look for the easy way out
• take pride in the results of your work
• follow all guidelines
• dependable, avoid gossip, do not steal

Ethical abuses: illegal, unethical, irresponsible act done

• stealing
• unauthorized excess
• time
• vandalism
• falsify records
• break confidentiality
• ignore safety rules 
• harassment
• poor service
• irresponsible behavior
• addictions: drugs, alcohol, tobacco
• gossip cause poor work environment (morale) and lowers productivity

Ethical individual 

• better position
• prosperous future
• a good sense of responsibility

Unethical individual

• unmotivated
• poorly trained or managed
• minor position

Factors demonstrate a strong work ethic 

• integrity stretches to all aspects of an employee's job
• strong sense of responsibility affects how an employee works and the amount of work she does
• emphasis on great, do the best to produce great work
• good discipline stays focused on goals, determined to complete assignments
• sense of teamwork to meet objective, respect peers and help where they can, make collaborations go smoother

How to avoid abuse

Common workplace ethics

• time management, dependability, punctuality
• responsibility
• teamwork
• professionalism
• positive attitude
• integrity and loyalty

Elements of strong work ethic

• professionalism
• respectfulness: display grace under pressure, no matter how tight the deadline or heated the tempers, always remain poised and diplomatic
• dependability: keep promises, always on time and prepared for meetings, deliver work schedule
• dedication: aim for outstanding
• determination: do not let obstacle stop you, push ahead
• accountability; responsible for actions and outcomes, admit mistakes
• humility: acknowledge everyone's contributions, freely share credit for accomplishments, gratitude, open to learn, take work seriously
• appreciate resources: wasting costs money lead to environmental problems 

Initiative

• ability to get job done on your own (dependable) without someone constantly reminding you
• often come up with new ideas and ways to solve problems
• self motivated people often volunteer for challenging assignments

Keep your life private

Approach to promote ethics at workplace

• recruit and hire well
• lead by example
• support from the top
• trainings
• assess the working environment
• clear the consequences of ethical abuse
• protection and confidentiality
• consider work life balance
• reward ethical behavior
• meetings

Chapter 3

Professional ethics: 

Code of ethics and professional conduct: ethical principles that govern decisions and behavior in the organization

Code of ethics: broad, give general ideas of what types of behavior and decisions are acceptable and encouraged 

Code of conduct: more focused, how employees should act in specific situations

Characters of ethical worker

• uphold credibility and dignity 
• disseminate accurate info, prompt correct any incorrect communication
• sensitive to cultural values and beliefs, engage in fair balanced communication
• obey laws and public policies 
• give credit for expressions 
• confidential
• do not accept undisclosed gifts or payments

Benefits of professional ethics

• asset protection and assurance
• productivity will increase
• teamwork will develop
• public image and brand value increases
• adaptive to changes
• easy decision making
• trouble free working environment
• no one left negative: systematic
• less legal issues
• new level of success

Chapter 4

Ethical theories

Consequentialist theory 

Deontological theory

Public health and ethics

General moral considerations

• producing benefits
• preventing harm, preventable morbidity and premature death
• distributing health benefits fairly
• procedural justice, participation, transparency
• respecting individual autonomy and right of action
• respecting and fulfilling universal human rights
• respecting privacy and confidentiality
• protecting non dominant subgroups from marginalization and stigmatization
• building and maintaining trust

Routine activities to conflict

Public choices

Harm principle - John Stuart Mill

• The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant
• Mill making exceptions for children and those cared for by others
• 
  

Self-other regarding behavior

Paternalism and health responsibility

• paternalism occurs when the state or an individual interferes with the preferences of a person for her own benefit 

Responsibility of health

Confidentiality violence

Treatment against will

Immunization

Healthcare practitioners

Beauchamp Childress Principles of Biomedical Ethics

Four principles of healthcare ethics

• autonomy: right of the patient, persuade or coerce the patient into making into choice are violations
• beneficence (to do good)
• non-maleficence (to do no harm)
• justice: fairness

Four ethical rules

• veracity: truth telling, informed consent, respect for autonomy
• privacy: to not disclose info
• confidentiality: only share private info on a "need to know basis"
• fidelity: loyalty

Chapter 5

Ethical and dilemma challenges in public health

Challenges in healthcare field 

• avoiding conflicts of interest: physicians' behavior influenced by trivial freebies
• balancing profit with serving patients
• special treatment
• managing vulnerable patients - decision making capacity
• moral distress - providing care with minimal benefit

Ethical problem-solving 

• ethics mechanism 
• Ethics for Lunch 

Nancy Berlingers: understanding ethical practice, how to good and avoid doing harm involves recognizing the complexity of the patient care environment, which requires workers to respond and adapt to changing conditions as a normal part of work 

Chapter 6

Leader

Why do people behave unethically

• individual character: knowledge of right and wrong
• management
• laws and penalties

Integrity among business leaders 

• Russell Reynolds: 1/8 executives at high risk for integrity problems 
• they don't believe the rules apply to them 
• they show extreme lack of concern for others
• they rarely possess feelings of guilt 

Unethical behaviors 

• excessive competition
• pressure 
• over emphasis on measuring performance 
• experience of high levels of unmanaged stress
• opportunity
• think they can get away with it
• self interest and ethical fading
• hard to detect violations or compliance 
• don't know the standards or expectations
• may perceive that leaders are not always ethical
• individual values not aligned with organizational values
• feel mistreated, not valued, or not respected by leaders

Ethical leadership

Benefits of ethical leadership

• models ethical behavior to the organization and community
• build trust
• brings credibility and respect
• can lead to collaboration
• creates a good climate within the organization
• it is simply the right way to go
• affords self respect

How do leadership and ethics become one

Strong ethical culture

Specific components of ethical leadership

Severe risk of misconduct

High risk of misconduct

Five traits of an ethical leader

• the personality to defy group think
• the ability to set a good example
• selflessness
• their door is always open
• not afraid to be challenged
• take responsibility for everything

What matters to followers

• honesty
• competence
• forward-looking vision
• inspiration

10 ethical leadership characteristics

• justice
• respect others
• honesty
• humane
• focus on teambuilding
• value driven decision making
• encourages initiative
• leadership by example
• values awareness
• no tolerance for ethical violations

The ethical culture: influencing others

Chapter 7

Ethical communicator

Ethical communication

• accurate, truthful, honest
• Sundrud: principles within ethical communication are autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, justice and fidelity
• rooted in values and morals 
• lawful
• massage's point is received 

Effective communication

• to be an effective communicator means a receiver understands a message that the sender was intending to send
• clear, easily understood
• no values or morals
• non-verbal 

Key principles of ethical communication

• honesty
• openness to other views
• commitment
• consensus building

Communicating ethics 

Creating an ethical culture

Chapter 8

Advantages of professional codes of ethics

• enhances the right organizational culture
• establishes good image for organization
• enhances compliance with the law
• attracting talented employees
• promotes teamwork and productivity

Disadvantages 

• increased costs and low profits
• loss of time
• less concern for goals and performance
• lack of flexibility

Chapter 9

25% of employees have witnessed and felt compelled to engage in unethical behavior

Dealing with unethical behavior

• talk to them
• ensure they understand
• seek advice from a mentor
• don't take action without evidence
• report the behavior