990-45产品经理:Ethics in the workplace - making them work 工作场所的道德规范——让他们发挥作用

ETHICS AND MAKING A BUSINESS SUCCESSFUL
A successful business depends on the trust of various parties—employees, managers, executives, customers, suppliers, and even competitors. Six ethical terms form the foundation of trust upon which ethical business practice is built:

Ethics
Values
Morals
Integrity
Character
Laws
Ethics
Ethics refers to a set of rules that describes acceptable conduct in society. Ethics serve as a guide to moral daily living and helps us judge whether our behavior can be justified.

Ethics refers to society’s sense of the right way of living our daily lives. It does this by establishing rules, principles, and values on which we can base our conduct. The concepts most directly associated with ethics are truth, honesty, fairness, and equity.

While ethics is a societal concern, it is of critical importance to the professions that serve society. Because professionals such as physicians, attorneys, engineers, and property and facility managers provide services that affect our welfare, they develop professional codes of ethics that establish professional standards for behavior.

Examples of the types of standards found in professional codes of ethics include:

An attorney or physician maintaining client-patient confidentiality
An accountant not using client information for personal gain
Values
Values are defined as the acts, customs, and institutions that a group of people regard in a favorable way. Statements of value typically contain words of approval, disapproval, and obligation. Some of these words might be good, bad, should, and should not. However, value judgments do not have to contain specific value words. “That is a lie” does not contain a particular word of disapproval, but the implication that a lie is wrong is understood.

Values are what really matter to us most—what we care about. For instance, family devotion, respect for the environment, and working hard for a day’s pay are three values that can evoke a response in many people.

Morals
Morals are a set of rules or mode of conduct on which society is based. Certain moral elements are universal, such as the laws forbidding homicide and the basic duties of doing good and furthering the well-being of others. With morals serving as the underpinning of society, there are four points we should remember, says philosopher Robert C. Solomon.

Moral rules are important: In general, moral rules are rules that help society function in a civilized way.
Morality consists of universal rules: They apply to everyone, everywhere, and are recognized by everyone as being necessary.
Morals are objective: They do not consider personal preferences. Right is right and wrong is wrong.
Morality affects other people: Morality involves considering the well-being of others as reflected by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Integrity
To have integrity is to be honest and sincere. Integrity is defined as adhering to a moral code in daily decision making. When people and businesses possess integrity, it means they can be trusted. On the other hand, companies that lack this quality and mislead customers with inferior products or false advertising will suffer the consequences.

Character
Ethics is not just how we think and act. It is also about character. Character drives what we do when no one is looking. Each person has the ability to build, change, or even destroy his or her own character. We can build our character through the way we live—by thinking good thoughts and performing good acts. Similarly, bad thoughts and behavior can destroy our character.

A person with character has high morals and will act morally in all situations by choice, not force. A person with character will honor his or her commitments. Character pertains to organizations, as well. A company with high character is worthy of trust and respect, acts honestly, and stands by its promises.

Laws
The law is a series of rules and regulations designed to express the needs of the people. Laws protect people from the most blatant and despicable affront to morality, such as murder, rape, and theft.

Laws frequently provide us with a sense of right and wrong and guide our behavior, but not always. While murder is against the law, the law does not always stop someone from killing another out of hatred, anger, or in defense of a personal philosophy.

Laws are instituted as notions of justice and tend to be specific, yet diverse within different societies. Laws have always had a strong connection to morality, ethics, and values. But, not all laws are ethical.

Laws have legalized slavery, segregation, sexism, and apartheid. Although these laws might have reflected society’s values at the time they were enacted, they could not nor will they ever justify immoral behavior. Likewise in business, it is not unlawful to lie to a coworker or on a job application, but both are ethically wrong.

These six concepts—ethics, values, morals, integrity, character, and laws—form the foundation of trust upon which ethical business practice is built.

道德与企业成功
成功的企业取决于各方的信任——员工、经理、高管、客户、供应商，甚至竞争对手。 六个道德术语构成了建立道德商业实践的信任基础：

伦理
价值观
德
正直
特点
法律
伦理
道德是指描述社会可接受行为的一套规则。 道德是日常生活道德的指南，帮助我们判断自己的行为是否合理。

道德是指社会对我们日常生活的正确方式的认识。 它通过建立我们的行为基础的规则、原则和价值观来做到这一点。 与道德最直接相关的概念是真理、诚实、公平和公平。

虽然道德是一个社会问题，但它对于服务社会的职业至关重要。 由于医生、律师、工程师以及财产和设施经理等专业人士提供的服务会影响我们的福利，因此他们制定了职业道德准则，为行为建立了专业标准。

职业道德规范中的标准类型示例包括：

维护客户与患者机密的律师或医生
会计师不利用客户信息谋取个人利益
价值观
价值观被定义为一群人以有利的方式看待的行为、习俗和制度。 价值陈述通常包含赞同、反对和义务的词语。 其中一些词可能是好、坏、应该和不应该。 然而，价值判断不必包含特定的价值词。 “那是谎言”并不包含任何反对的词语，但可以理解谎言是错误的含义。

价值观对我们来说才是真正最重要的——我们所关心的。 例如，对家庭的奉献、对环境的尊重以及为一天的工资而努力工作这三个价值观可以引起许多人的反应。

德
道德是社会赖以建立的一套规则或行为方式。 某些道德要素是普遍存在的，例如禁止杀人的法律以及行善和促进他人福祉的基本义务。 哲学家罗伯特·所罗门 (Robert C. Solomon) 表示，道德是社会的基础，我们应该记住四点。

道德规则很重要：一般来说，道德规则是帮助社会以文明方式运作的规则。
道德由普遍规则组成：它们适用于每个地方的每个人，并且被每个人认为是必要的。
道德是客观的：他们不考虑个人喜好。 对就是对，错就是错。
道德影响他人：道德涉及考虑他人的福祉，正如黄金法则所反映的那样：己所不欲，勿施于人。
正直
诚信就是诚实、真诚。 诚信被定义为在日常决策中遵守道德准则。 当个人和企业拥有诚信时，就意味着他们可以被信任。 另一方面，缺乏这种品质的企业，以劣质产品或虚假广告误导消费者，就会承受后果。

特点
道德不仅仅是我们的思考和行为方式。 这也与性格有关。 当无人注视时，性格决定我们所做的事情。 每个人都有能力建立、改变甚至摧毁自己的性格。 我们可以通过我们的生活方式来塑造我们的品格——通过思考好的想法和做出好的行为。 同样，不良的思想和行为也会毁掉我们的性格。

一个有品格的人有崇高的道德，在任何情况下都会通过选择而不是强迫来道德地行事。 一个有品格的人会履行他或她的承诺。 性格也与组织有关。 一个有品格的公司值得信任和尊重，诚实行事，信守承诺。

法律
法律是为了表达人民的需要而制定的一系列规章制度。 法律保护人们免受最公然、最卑鄙的道德侮辱，例如谋杀、强奸和盗窃。

法律经常为我们提供是非感并指导我们的行为，但并非总是如此。 虽然谋杀是违法的，但法律并不总是阻止某人出于仇恨、愤怒或捍卫个人哲学而杀人。

法律是作为正义概念而制定的，往往是具体的，但在不同的社会中又是多种多样的。 法律始终与道德、伦理和价值观有着密切的联系。 但是，并非所有法律都是道德的。

法律使奴隶制、种族隔离、性别歧视和种族隔离合法化。 尽管这些法律可能反映了颁布时的社会价值观，但它们不能也永远不会为不道德行为辩护。 同样，在商业中，向同事或在求职申请中撒谎并不违法，但两者在道德上都是错误的。

这六个概念——伦理、价值观、道德、诚信、品格和法律——形成了道德商业实践赖以建立的信任基础。