Ethics, Morality and Legality
Ethics
Ethics is an investigation into the basic concepts and fundamental principles of human conduct. It includes study of universal values such as the essential equality of all men and women, human or natural rights, obedience to the law of land, concern for health and safety and, increasingly, also for the natural environment.
Business ethics is the examination of the variety of problems that can arise from the business environment, and how employees, management, and the corporation can deal with them ethically. Problems such as fiduciary responsibility, corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, shareholder relations, insider trading, bribery ands discrimination nation are examined in business ethics.
Law is a code of conduct which the authority in power-prescribed for society. It is concerned with the minimum regulation necessary for public order which is enacted by the government. For many business people, ethics is identified with the law. Business behaves ethically when it obeys the law. Compliance with the law alone will prove insufficient for ethically responsible business.
Following things will fall within the circle of ethics but not within that of law.
- Caring for the aged
- Being considerate to one’s workers
- Imparting good education to students
- Obedience to elders
- Speaking the truth
Morality
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There is no system of morality which is accepted as universal and the answers to the question
“Whit is morality?” differ sharply from place to place, group to group and from time to time. For some it means conscious and deliberate effort in guiding one’s conduct by reason based on fairness and religious beliefs and for other it is conformance to a recognized code’ doctrine, or system of rules of what is right or wrong.
Morality is derived from the Latin word “moralities” which is virtuous. Morality has three principal meanings.
Quest Tutorials Business Ethics & CSR
Morality refers to personal or cultural values, codes of conduct that distinguish between right and wrong in the human society. Describing morality in this way is not making a claim about what is objective right or wrong, but only referring to what is considered right or wrong by people. For the most part, right and wrong acts are classified as such because they are thought to cause benefit or harm, but it is possible that many moral beliefs are based on prejudice, ignorance or even hatred.
Legality
Legality is an act, agreement, or contract which strictly adheres to the statutes of a Particular, jurisdiction. For example, in insurance contracts it is assumed that all risks covered under the policy are legal ventures
Legality means lawfulness by virtue of conformity to a legal statute. This also means
- The state or quality of being legal: lawfulness
- Adherence to or observance of the law
- A requirement enjoined by law
Generally, law codifies a nation’s ideals, norms, customs and moral values however changes in law can take place to reflect the conditions of the time in which they are enunciated. Even if a nation’s laws are both sensible and morally sound, they may be insufficient to establish moral standards to guide the people’ The law cannot cover the wide variety of possible individual and adequate tool to provide moral guidance. group behaviour and in many situations is an inadequate tool to provide moral guidance.
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