Tag: Financial Management

• Deliberate abnormal delays in payments to (a) Vendors, (b) Dealers commissions and promotion costs.
• Delays in paying wages, interest to financiers, incentive, bonus to employees.
• Holding up bills of vendors on silly reasons and ultimately buying from others to avoid payment to earlier vendors.
• Not prompt in statutory payments of ESI, PF, Sales Tax and Excise Duties.
• Cheating employees of their dues towards medical expenses, leave travel assistance, children education fees etc.,
• Opening of current accounts in different banks to avoid adjustments against loans by earlier banker.
• Creating bogus bills of purchase to show higher costs and hence losses to avoid bonus payment to employees.
• Collecting loans from private financiers at higher rate of interest to help kith and kin and to get kick-backs.
• Quick release of payments to known or adjustment parties and delaying payment to others.
• Taking private finance only from those who are ready to do personal favours to the finance department head.

The American Marketing Association is more than a steward and advocate of marketing ethics in society; right from its preamble, you might assume that the people who outlined the association’s ethics had some discerning mothers.

Unethical Data Collection

Market research is incredibly valuable for businesses throughout all stages of their operations; utilising accurate consumer data in the composition and execution of market strategies can greatly boost the effectiveness and ROI of promotional activities. Data collection must be conducted ethically, however.

You should carefully consider governmental data and privacy protection policies before embarking on market research activities, and ensure full compliance with these regulations. In Europe, businesses must refer to General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), while companies registered in the US can utilise the nation’s own privacy protection laws.

Making false or deceptive comparisons about a rival product. Much more prevalent 20 years ago among general consumer products, you still might see this crop up in the tech sector. (Think smartphones.) Competition tends to be fierce when rivals resort to side-by-side comparisons. And consumers may find such a technique helpful, as long as the information is accurate and truthful.

Inciting fear or applying unnecessary pressure. “Limited time offers” are notorious for the latter, which is fine if a deadline really exists and the tone doesn’t sound threatening.

Exploiting emotions or a news event. Such instances pop up every once in a while, then make a quick exit when consumers complain about feeling manipulated.

Disparaging references to age, gender, race or religion. Many professional comics have learned the hard way that the line between humor and bad taste can be painfully thin. It might be easier to see if the humor packs an insult or a put-down that makes you grimace.

Doctoring photos or using photos that are not authentic representations. Most people expect professional photographers and videographers to make the most of lighting and close-ups. But the finished products should be accurate depictions that are free of touch-ups and other enhancement techniques that are designed to mislead.

Plagiarizing a competitor. For a small-business owner, discovering that a competitor has copied or impinged on a tagline, blog post or promotion can be painful or infuriating.

Stereotyping or depicting women as sex symbols merely to draw attention to a product. “While it might be intuitive to use models in adverts for beauty products and cosmetics, having half-naked models in adverts for generators, heavy machinery, smartphones and other products not strongly related to women is both nonsensical and unethical,” says Profitable Venture.

Selective Marketing

The practice of customer segmentation can become immoral if it results in selective marketing, a term that describes the exclusion of particular types of consumers, most commonly determined by their sexual orientation, ethnicity, weight, or physical mobility.

This selective marketing discourages demand among so-called ‘Undesirable‘ consumers who are considered to be unprofitable or damaging to the brand’s image, by making them feel unwanted and unwelcome, whether through lack of inclusion in marketing campaign representation, restricted customer targeting, or deliberate limitations of product ranges.

Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behavior expected by professionals.

The word professionalism originally applied to vows of a religious order. By no later than the year 1675, the term had seen secular application and was applied to the three learned professions: divinity, law, and medicine. The term professionalism was also used for the military profession around this same time.

Professionals and those working in acknowledged professions exercise specialist knowledge and skill. How the use of this knowledge should be governed when providing a service to the public can be considered a moral issue and is termed “professional ethics”.

It is capable of making judgments, applying their skills, and reaching informed decisions in situations that the general public cannot because they have not attained the necessary knowledge and skills.[4] One of the earliest examples of professional ethics is the Hippocratic oath to which medical doctors still adhere to this day.

Separatism

On a theoretical level, there is debate as to whether an ethical code for a profession should be consistent with the requirements of morality governing the public. Separatists argue that professions should be allowed to go beyond such confines when they judge it necessary. This is because they are trained to produce certain outcomes which may take moral precedence over other functions of society. For example, it could be argued that a doctor may lie to a patient about the severity of his or her condition if there is reason to believe that telling the patient would cause so much distress that it would be detrimental to his or her health. This would be a disrespect of the patient’s autonomy, as it denies the patient information that could have a great impact on his or her life. This would generally be seen as morally wrong. However, if the end of improving and maintaining health is given a moral priority in society, then it may be justifiable to contravene other moral demands in order to meet this goal.  Separatism is based on a relativist conception of morality that there can be different, equally valid, moral codes that apply to different sections of society and differences in codes between societies. If moral universalism is ascribed to, then this would be inconsistent with the view that professions can have a different moral code, as the universalist holds that there is only one valid moral code for all.

Ethics commonly related to the moral principle or guideline that governs a person’s behavior or the conducting of activities. In general ethics knows as the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles. In history of ethic, Thomas Percival (1740-1804) was published a code of medical ethics for physicians in 1794. He also creates the first code of ethics for professional ethics. The code is the first code of ethics to be adopted by a professional organization, AMA. Today’s, modern professions also adopted codes of ethics because it is a common standards, the minimization of the interpersonal strife that the emphasis on individual honor encourages. Ethic also as a framework of weal that permits professionals to assert their independence of their nominal employers in the name of service to other.

Professional is a person that conducting career and ethic is guideline or principle that should be practice in life or organization. Professional ethics is an important in field of applied ethics and assesses the moral dimension of human activity in occupations that have professional status. Professional ethics include law, medicine, ministry and by extension higher education, journalism, engineering and management. Professional ethics is concerned with the moral conduct and standards governing the profession and its members.

Professional ethics will help a professional make decision, control their work pressure, control their task, specific the risk that will face by professional, integrity in work and many more. Professional ethics will define the profession’s special relation to the market place. Members earn livelihood in professional roles, accepting certain standard in the form of codes, other measures, continuing education and support mechanism for member.

Professional ethics raise a number of theoretical and specialized questions that are not easily resolved. Among the theoretical issues is the extent to which the special norms and principles governing the professions override individual rights and other moral principles. Professional ethics is concerned with the obligations and responsibility that arise out of a particular kind of service performed for individuals or groups, and in that sense approximate obligations arising out of contractual agreements. In themselves the norms of professional ethics do not define the social or personal relationships of individuals towards one another.

Healthcare

Health care ethics is the application of the core principles of bioethics (autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, justice) to medical and health care decisions. It is a multidisciplinary lens through which to view complex issues and make recommendations regarding a course of action.

Decision-making capacity is a clinical assessment regarding an individual’s ability to make informed decisions about their care. Decisional capacity is directly linked to informed consent and is decision dependent.

Rural health care ethics focuses on health care ethics uncertainty or conflicts occurring in the distinct context of the rural setting. What makes rural health care ethics different is how the rural environment influences both the presentation and the response to ethics conflicts.

The Principle of Nonmaleficence

Nonmaleficence means doing no harm. Providers must ask themselves whether their actions may harm the patient either by omission or commission. The guiding principle of primum non nocere, “First of all, do no harm,” is found in the Hippocratic Oath. Actions or practices of a healthcare provider are “right” as long as they are in the interest of the patient and avoid negative consequences.

Harm by an act of omission means that some action could have been done to avoid harm but wasn’t done. Omission would be failing to raise the side rails on the patient’s hospital bed, upon which the patient fell out and was injured. An act of Commission is something actually done that resulted in harm. An example of an act of commission would be delivering a medication in the wrong dose or to the wrong patient.

The Principle of Beneficence

The beneficent practitioner provides care that is in the best interest of the patient. Beneficence is the act of being kind. The actions of the healthcare provider are designed to bring about a positive outcome. Beneficence always raises the question of subjective and objective determinations, of benefit versus harm. A beneficent decision can only be objective if the same decision would be made regardless of who was making it.

The Principle of Justice

Justice speaks to equity and fairness in treatment. Hippocrates related ethical principles to the individual relationship between the physician and the patient. Ethical practice today must extend beyond individuals to the institutional and societal realms. This means that, in addition to providing fairness in treatment to the patient, the institution and staff must also be treated fairly. For example, it is not fair if a patient cannot make payments and the institution has to pay for the treatments already given for the patient’s benefit.

Education

Educational ethics is a field which considers ethical problems and dilemmas specific to the complexities of education, with a view to assisting educators, educational policy-makers and school communities to clarify these context-specific problems and making ethical recommendations for their resolution.  It includes the history and development of educational policies with a particular focus on its potential or actual ethical implications for school administration, teachers, school students, school communities and others; the analysis and articulation of teacher ethical obligations including but not limited to codes of conduct and ethics in teaching; research relating to ethical conduct, manner and the moral life of schools, the investigation of models and theories of ethical beliefs and decision-making in relation to tertiary, school and child care education; and pedagogical dimensions, interventions or curriculum for teaching and learning professional ethics with initial and in-service teachers.

Corporate

Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations. These ethics originate from individuals, organizational statements or the legal system. These norms, values, ethical, and unethical practices are the principles that guide a business.

Business ethics refers to contemporary organizational standards, principles, sets of values and norms that govern the actions and behavior of an individual in the business organization. Business ethics have two dimensions, normative business ethics or descriptive business ethics. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns.

Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, most major corporations today promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters.

Types:

1. Corporate responsibility

Businesses have responsibilities to their employees, their clients or customers, and, in some cases, to their board of directors. Some of these may be contractual or legal obligations, others may be promises, for example, to conduct business fairly and to treat people with dignity and respect. Whatever those obligations are, the business has a responsibility to keep them.

2. Personal responsibility

Each person who works for a business, whether on the executive level or the entry-level, will be expected to show personal responsibility. This could mean completing tasks your manager has assigned to you, or simply fulfilling the duties of your job description. If you make a mistake, you acknowledge your fault and do whatever you need to do to fix it.

3. Loyalty

Both businesses and their employees are expected to show loyalty. Employees should be loyal to their co-workers, managers, and the company. This might involve speaking positively about the business in public and only addressing personnel or corporate issues in private. Customer or client loyalty is important to a company not only to maintain good business relations but also to attract business through a good reputation.

4. Trustworthiness

A business cultivates trustworthiness with its clients, customers and employees through honesty, transparency and reliability. Employees should feel they can trust the business to keep to the terms of their employment. Clients and customers should be able to trust the business with their money, data, contractual obligations and confidential information. Being trustworthy encourages people to do business with you and helps you maintain a positive reputation.

5. Respect

Respect is an important business ethic, both in the way the business treats its clients, customers and employees, and also in the way its employees treat one another. When you show respect to someone, that person feels like a valued member of the team or an important customer. You care about their opinions, you keep your promises to them, and you work quickly to resolve any issues they may have.

6. Fairness

When a business exercises fairness, it applies the same standards for all employees regardless of rank. The same expectations with regard to honesty, integrity and responsibility placed upon the entry-level employee also apply to the CEO. The business will treat its customers with equal respect, offering the same goods and services to all based on the same terms.

7. Community and Environmental Responsibility

Not only will businesses act ethically toward their clients, customers and employees, but also with regard to the community and the environment. Many companies look for ways to give back to their communities through volunteer work or financial investments. They will also adopt measures to reduce waste and promote a safe and healthy environment.

Social work

Social work ethics are based on the profession’s core values of social justice, service, dignity, and worth of each person, integrity, the importance of human relationships, and competence. These are the overarching ideals to which all social work professionals should aspire. These ethical principles lay the foundation for specific ethical standards that social workers need to follow.

Social work ethical principles include:

• Social justice: Social workers are to challenge social injustice and seek social change on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people.
• Service: the primary goals of the profession are to address social problems and help people in need.
• Dignity and worth: Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of each person, being mindful of diversity, and interact with each individual in a caring and respectful manner.
• Integrity: Social workers are trustworthy, understanding the profession’s ethical responsibilities and acting in ways that are consistent with those requirements.
• Importance of human relationships: Social workers understand that relationships are a critical vehicle of change and work to include clients as partners in the helping process.
• Competency: Social workers are constantly increasing their skills and knowledge to apply these improved skills in practice. Social workers also contribute to the professions’ knowledge base by conducting, reading, and promoting research.

A moral entrepreneur is an individual, group, or formal organization that seeks to influence a group to adopt or maintain a norm; altering the boundaries of altruism, deviance, duty or compassion.

Moral entrepreneurs take the lead in labeling a particular behaviour and spreading or popularizing this label throughout society. This can include attributing negative labels to behaviour, the removal of negative labels, positive labeling, and the removal of positive labels. The moral entrepreneur may press for the creation or enforcement of a norm for any number of reasons, altruistic or selfish. Such individuals or groups also hold the power to generate moral panic; similarly, multiple moral entrepreneurs may have conflicting goals and work to counteract each other. Some examples of moral entrepreneurs include: MADD (mothers against drunk driving), the anti-tobacco lobby, the gun-control lobby, anti-pornography groups, Black Lives Matter and LGBT social movements, as well as the anti-abortion and pro-choice movements, which are an example of two moral entrepreneurs working against each other on a single issue.

Social Issues

Moral Entrepreneurs contribute essentially to moral panic and moral emergence. It is owing to their creation of chaos with vernaculars that dramatize, name, and interpret them. Did you know that these people or groups use an oratorical tool called Typifying while identifying and defining social problems.

The term moral entrepreneur was coined by sociologist Howard S. Becker in Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (1963) in order to help explore the relationship between law and morality, as well as to explain how deviant social categories become defined and entrenched. In Becker’s view, moral entrepreneurs fall into roughly two categories: rule creators, and rule enforcers.

Rule creators generally express the conviction that some kind of threatening social evil exists that must be combated. “The prototype of the rule creator,” Becker explains, is the “crusading reformer:”

The professional ethics is one of the most valued criteria in the labor market. Having good conduct in the workplace can be the passport to a successful career.

Life in society, which values ​​and respects the well-being of others, requires some behaviors that are associated with the ethical conduct of each individual. The professional ethics consists of the standards and values of society and the working environment that the person lives.

In the corporate environment, professional ethics brings greater productivity and integration of employees and, for the professional, it adds credibility, trust and respect to work.

However, there are still many doubts about what is ethics, so before talking about professional ethics, it is important to understand a little about what is ethics and what is the difference between ethics and morals.

The work ethic is the set of values, norms and behaviors that lead and more aware of the attitudes and behavior of a professional in the organization. Thus, professional ethics is of interest and importance to the company and also to the professional who seeks the development of his career.

In addition to the experience and autonomy in their area of ​​activity, the professional who presents an ethical conduct gains more respect, credibility, trust and recognition from his superiors and his co-workers.

Ethical conduct also contributes to the progress of internal processes, increased productivity, achievement of goals and the improvement of interpersonal relationships and the organizational climate.

When professionals and companies value ethical values ​​and principles such as kindness, temperance, friendship and patience, there are good relationships, more autonomy, satisfaction, proactivity and innovation.

For this, it is convenient that the company has a code of ethical conduct, to guide the behavior of its employees in accordance with the organization’s standards and posture. The code of business ethics facilitates the adaptation of collaborating and serves as a manual for good coexistence in.

Ethical conduct also contributes to the progress of internal processes, increased productivity and achievement of goals.

Professional ethics and strategic value

Amidst the chaotic national scenario, political problems, social inequality, lack of infrastructure for education and health, ethics has become one of the main issues addressed in schools, universities, work and even on the streets.

With the population more aware of the moral issues and social responsibility that authorities and companies must render to society and the environment, there was an increase in inspection and demand for the ethical commitment of these bodies.

With that, ethics gained a new value, the strategic value. Companies were forced to modify their concepts, break paradigms and present a more transparent, humane and coherent stance so as not to lose public.

In this context, professional ethics, which should be an ingrained virtue of the individual, became part of the organizational strategy and, consequently, a competitive differential in the job market.

However, when the company adopts professional ethics as a market strategy, it also contributes to the development of the professional, who needs to improve his skills with interpersonal relationships and leadership.

A professional with leadership and relationship skills disseminates ethical values, values harmony in the work environment and puts respect for people and commitment to work first.

A professional with leadership and relationship skills disseminates ethical values, values ​​harmony in the work environment

Benefits of work ethics

The ethical professional is, of course, admired, as respect for colleagues and customers is what makes this employee stand out. Ethics would be a kind of filter that does not allow the passage of gossip, lies, the desire to harm an employee, among other negative aspects.

And it is necessary to emphasize that leaders are ethical professionals, or should be, to develop the competencies of the position successfully. Those who choose ethics prefer to offer feedback, instead of leaving the work environment unharmonious, and are honest about their own conditions, that is: they do not invent lies to be absent from failures.

Cultivating professional ethics in the workplace brings benefits and advantages to everyone, as it provides growth for the company and for all those involved. With a well-structured ethical conduct, it is possible, teamwork and mutual respect between all employees.

Professional ethics are principles that guide the behavior of an individual or group in a corporate or business environment. Good ethics is a basic requirement of any profession. Professional ethics are important to any organization success because:

• They provide personal and professional benefits by regulating the actions of a profession and stipulating the virtues of such profession.
• They encourage team work and promotes the bonds between colleagues.
• They are designed to ensure employees are behaving in a manner that is socially acceptable and respectful toward one another and professionally relates with others.

Personal Ethics refers to a person’s personal morals and code of conduct. From the very beginning of a person’s understanding, these ethics are being instilled in the individual by their parents, family and friends. Without any personal ethics, the life of the human being is incomplete and shallow. As an example, we can consider an individual’s honesty, openness, sense of responsibility etc. The person with good personal ethics will automatically show his moral and virtues while talking to his friends, relatives and elderly people. A person’s personal ethics are revealed in an exceedingly professional situation through his behaviour.

• Instill a sense of trust and support in leaders: Leaders and other professionals who regularly behave in the same way no matter the situation are more likely to be trusted and supported by colleagues and employees. Individuals who follow a sound ethical code are easier to believe in and are more likely to establish credibility among others.
• Allow leaders to more effectively lead their teams: When a leader regularly follows a predictable and respectable code of ethics, their team is more likely to follow their lead and feel confident in the contributions they make to the organization as a whole.
• Give individuals a solid basis of which to determine the most appropriate action in any given situation: When a person has solid personal ethics, they are better able to make decisions and take action in situations that may otherwise seem challenging.
• Improve the decision-making process: A professional’s ability to make decisions is based on their personal and professional ethics and what they believe to be good or bad. Having strong ethics makes the decision-making process easier and more streamlined.
• Support motivation: Individuals with strong ethics are often easily self-motivated and willing to go the extra mile to accomplish a task or goal on time and in the correct manner.
• Set a standard of behavior: In the workplace and in life, ethics help establish an appropriate standard of behavior for individuals. This behavior is called ethical behavior and refers to a person’s ability to make sound decisions based on their ethical nature.

Nepotism and corruption are regarded as acts which are unethical and morally wrong. Corruption is the abuse of public resources, which can be monetary or non monetary in nature, for the private gains. Nepotism is favoring the people who are directly or indirectly related to the office bearer causing inequality in access to adequate means of livelihood.

They are considered unethical because:

1. Against the principles of equality enshrined in the constitution.
2. Private gain regarded more important than societal gain.
3. Gives rise to anti social elements in the society.
4. Undermines the rule of law.
5. Against the public service goals of impartiality, dedication, neutrality and public good.
6. Disregards the principles of socialism as advocated by DPSPs.

The effects of Nepotism on society are:

1. Further breeds malaise such as poverty, inequality, social tensions and political unrest.
2. Promotes the ‘getting the work done by hook or by crook’ culture.
3. Erosion of faith in the constitution and values enshrined within.
4. Generation of black money.
5. National security can be jeopardized by such acts in higher echelons of policy making.
6. Erodes the ethical values such as honesty, empathy, sincerity.
7. Nepotism also leads to corruption and vice-versa.

The basic concern about nepotism in business is that it contradicts typical customs in employment to hire and promote the most qualified candidate for a job. While a son, daughter or nephew may be the most capable employee, nepotism sometimes leads to relatives getting jobs when other candidates have stronger education and work experience. Even when a relative is most qualified, hiring him may give the impression of nepotism.

Business Structure

The ethics of nepotism in business have a lot to do with the business structure. A family business, often established as a sole proprietorship, partnership or S corporation, typically means you own and control the operation by yourself or with family members who are partners. If you partner with nonfamily members or formalize a corporation with shareholders, the business takes on a formal standing that is distinct from your involvement. In these cases, nepotism is more questionable because other parties have an ownership stake or vested interest in the operation.

Policy Consistency

In large companies, nepotism isn’t inherently wrong, although some people believe it is unethical in all cases. A 2009 Family Business Institute article noted that companies may benefit from nepotism if it consistently enforces fair policies. In a small organization, employees are often hired from internal referrals rather than formal job postings. Some companies encourage referrals of family members and friends to open positions. The ethics in this type of culture relate to the company’s consistency in accepting family referrals and giving candidates fair access to jobs.

Practical Matters

Along with the ethical nature of nepotism, you need to consider the practical business matters. While family businesses often establish legacies from multiple generations of family involvement, not all companies benefit from nepotistic behaviors. In some cases, well-meaning owners or operators hire underqualified, unmotivated family members that aren’t worth what they are paid. Even worse, they undermine the workplace culture and increase the burden on other staff. Balancing your desire to help family while managing a successful business is key.

Tracking Nepotism:

• Nepotism has a social origin. From ages, human species as been ‘nepotistic’ in the sense that it has been passing its socio-economic-political legacy to its next generations.
• Humans try to control the sources of prosperity-may it be movable or immovable property, social status, political power, for the benefit of its kith and kin.
• The divine theory of kingship in ancient and medieval ages was considered ethical and natural. The political power remained in a certain family based on the divine rights notion and the concept of primogeniture.
• The property has been transferred based on inheritance since the birth of institutions of family and kin.
• Profession-wise, there has been a division of labor and functional specialty of families/communities all-over the world.
• In the West, ancient philosophers like Plato talk about three different kinds of men with natural qualities to performs certain tasks.
• In India too, the root of family/community monopoly over a certain craft/business has been since the Post-Vedic period.
• The separation since the beginning of the post-Vedic period further transformed into caste-system which can be termed as a structural nepotism rooted in religious notions of purity and human qualities.
• Technically, the above systems cannot be called nepotism but the ideologies of functional specialty, the ability to gain that specialty and its kith and kin based monopoly was considered natural. The modern form of this social sanction is nepotism.
• The consequent social progress and rising complexity of structures in polity, economy, and social hierarchies, these natural traits claimed and monopolized by powerful sections everywhere.
• By this logic, nepotism is a close relative of monopoly. Nepotism leads to monopoly and monopoly breeds further nepotism.
• Everywhere around the world, the medieval feudal structure was nepotistic where certain families and kin claimed the monopoly over different socio-economic-political functions.
• This societal sanction to the idea of monopoly was challenged by the Renaissance and enlightenment and discarded by the political revolution of democracy.
• The freedom to choose ones’ own destiny without any societal and structural-institutional hindrance and the right to choose are the hallmarks of democracy.
• Here comes the problem with traditional genetic rights and placing family/related members in the positions of common ownership, hence the problem with nepotism.
• Today, democratic societies do not accept nepotism in the fields of common ownership and democratic decision making, political and administrative structures.
• This heightened belief in equality in every aspect is the basis of criticism of nepotism in today’s society.

Types of Nepotism

Placing one’s own relatives or the persons with whom one has conflict of interest at positions of power based on personal bias is nepotism. The types are

Political Nepotism

A politician promoting or placing his/her immediate and extended relatives in political posts.

Administrative nepotism

A government employee/bureaucrat appointing his acquaintance/relative on government jobs.

Contractors related to public authorities/representatives of the people getting government contracts.

Nepotism in Economic sectors

A majority owner of a joint-stock company promoting his son/daughter for ownership/highest decision-making positions.

Entertainment Industries

In open professional communities like film industries, producers, directors, production companies preferring industry kids over talented and hard-working outsiders.

Ethical concerns around nepotism

• The issue of nepotism comes with, among other downfalls, a degradation of the ethics and moral degeneration of society and institutions.
• The more dangerous issue is that nepotism is often left out of ethics codes because it does not seem unethical to the majority of the population. Another reason for leaving nepotism out is that it very so common in every society.
• Nepotism leads to serious harm to the principle of equality of opportunity in every field it is practiced.
• It leads to neglect of fairness as the principle of operation.
• In politics, there is a massive degradation of democracy and legitimacy of the rule of law to produce desired results of redistributive justice.
• The highest form of nepotistic structure is a kind of crony capitalism where dynasties in politics and the corporate world get together to appropriate resources and wealth that should in reality belong to the people in the country.
• In administrative structure, it hampers commitment to the rule of law, disbanding of integrity and impartiality.
• It creates a sense of despair in the victims of the nepotist system in politics, business, entertainment industry.
• The victims have to cope with the extreme stress of competition. They mostly either accept the condition and get adjusted to it or very few cannot sustain the shattering of innocent dreams and take the unfortunate route of suicide as in the case of Sushant Singh Rajput.
• Nepotism is harmful to the system itself, as devoid of quality and character in its flagbearers, the structure cannot sustain itself for long. The dynastic parties become fetters on the new movements and die soon, corporate offices bear losses, administration loses efficiency and art does not satisfy the art-lovers: films don’t do well at the box office and so on.

Impacts of nepotism

There is a loss of belief in democracy when the political spectrum is full of dynasts. It degrades the democratic system and democracy itself faces legitimacy crises. The result is extremist anti-state movements like Naxalite and Maoist movements.

• Corruption is a big fallout of nepotism. The symbiotic relationship of nepotism and corruption can be seen in the corruption perception index where most of the third-world countries with dynastic politics fare very badly.
• The nepotism also breaks the governance system as the dearth of quality administrators at every stage of hierarchy makes good governance impossible. Quality of human resources is the pre-condition of good governance.
• The economic development of a market dominated country suffers due to nepotism in corporate structures of big and small business houses. The interconnected economic sectors also suffer.
• Nepotism kills entrepreneurial zeal if the majority of investment is directed to create monopolies and nurture nepotism. The thriving startups either cannot sustain the competition or taken over by powerful conglomerates built on nepotism.
• The societal effect of nepotism can be seen in continuing caste and religious hindrances in progress. The relation between nepotism and caste lobbies in organizational structures is very subtle and that is not often discussed extensively.

Ethics is mainly known as the principle of moral conduct that makes a distinction between good and bad/ evil, right and wrong, virtue and non-virtue. The word ethics is derived from a Greek word ‘ethos’ meaning character. It is a branch of knowledge that governs right and wrong conducts and behaviours of an individual, profession, group or organization. It is a core of the professional and personal lives of people. Different scholars have defined ethics differently. However different their definitions might be, ethics is always concerned with morality and right vs wrong and good vs evil. It is applied universally. There is also ethics in professions such as journalism, advertising, education, medicine, etc.

Characteristics of ethics:

(i) Ethics is a set of moral standards and values acceptable in a society. It is relevant in the context of a society only.

(ii) Ethics guides human conduct or behaviour. If any member of the society behaves contrary to the norms and customs, society disapproves it. Moral principles serve as a guide for personal and professional conduct. Ethics checks people from taking decisions and actions which are harmful to society.

There are three main theories of ethics. First, the utilitarian theory suggests that actions become right or wrong on the basis of their consequence. Second, the theory of rights holds that all people have certain basic rights. Third, the theory of justice demands that actions must be fair and equitable.

(iii) Ethical principles are universal in nature. These prescribe obligations and virtues for everybody in a society. Ethics is important not only in business and politics but in every human endeavour.

(iv) Ethical standards differ from society to society. What is considered ethical behaviour in one society might be considered unethical in another. For example, abortion and artificial birth control is a taboo in most of the Islamic countries and catholic Christian communities. But these practices are fully ethical in China, Russia, Japan and many other countries. Similarly, euthanasia (mercy killing) is permitted in some countries but is strictly unethical in most countries.

(v) Ethics is normative or prescriptive in nature. It deals not with what is but what ought to be. It does not rest on feelings of approval or disapproval but on principles. For example, it may be unpleasant to fire an employee but morality may require it.

(vi) Ethical norms might not be legally binding. But these are more powerful than law because these have the sanction of society. When a person’s behaviour is inconsistent with the prevailing values and norms, it is called unethical. Ethics serves as a guide to law by highlighting its short comings.

(vii) Ethics relates to the behaviour of individuals and groups. The ethical norms do not apply to the behaviour of animals, birds, and insects. Only human beings have the capacity to guide and regulate their behaviour.

(viii) Ethics are not hard and fast rules. They are an expression of a society’s attitudes and beliefs. There is an element of discretion as a person has the option to adopt ethical norms. Ethics may differ from place-to-place and time-to-time.

(ix) There exist no sharp boundaries between ethical and non-ethical. Therefore, people often face ethical dilemmas wherein a clear cut choice is very difficult.

(x) Ethics aims at perfection in human conduct. It guides law makers in framing proper laws to regulate the behaviour of all citizens. Existing norms may contain valuable insights but ethics sets out to critics and test them in terms of ultimate norms.

(xi) The concepts of equity and justice are implicit in ethics. Fair and equitable treatment to all is its primary aim.

(xii) Ethics and morality are interrelated but not synonymous. In the words of Rogene A. Buchollz “Ethics deals with the formalisations of ethical principles in the abstract or the resolution of concrete ethical problems facing individuals in their daily life. Morality on the other hand generally refers to the tradition of belief that have involved over years. concerning right and wrong conduct, so that morality has its roots in belief of a society while ethics aim at formulating the principles to justify human behaviour.” According to Clearance C. Walton, “morality is the standards than an individual or group has about what is right and wrong good and evil.”

Scope of Ethics

Meta-Ethics: Meta-ethics comprises the area of situational ethics and deals with logical questions like ‘What do we mean by ‘freedom’ and ‘determinism’ etc. It delves into the nature of ethical properties, attitudes and judgements. For example, a media critic’s description of a TV series as ‘good drama’ does not necessarily denote that the program is morally sound. It is the function of metaethics to define such vague concepts in ethical terms. Some of the theories of Meta-Ethics are Naturalism, Non-Naturalism, Emotivism and Prescriptivism.

Applied Ethics: Applied ethics is the problem-solving branch of moral philosophy. It uses the insights derived from metaethics and the general principles and rules of normative ethics in addressing specific ethical issues and cases in a professional, disciplinary or practical field. Applied ethics is the vital link between theory and practice, the real test of ethical decision-making. Applied ethics often requires not only theoretical analysis but also practical and feasible solutions.

Some of the key areas of applied ethics are:

• Decision Ethics
• Professional Ethics
• Clinical Ethics
• Business Ethics
• Organizational Ethics
• Social Ethics

Normative Ethics: Normative ethics deals with standards or norms by which we can judge human actions to be right or wrong. It deals with the criteria of what is morally right or wrong. For example, if someone murders a person, everyone will agree that it is wrong. The question is: Why is it wrong to murder someone? There are a lot of different answers we could give, but if we want to specify a principle that stated why its wrong, the answer might be: Murder is wrong because when we kill someone, we violate their right to live. Another perspective might be to inflict unnecessary suffering on the person being murdered or their family is wrong, that’s why to kill a person is wrong. There are three elements emphasized by normative ethics:

• The person who performs the act (the agent)
• The act
• The consequences of the act

Importance of Ethics

Business ethics comprises various traits, such as; trustworthiness and transparency in customer services. Ethical business practices strengthen customer relationship that is of prime importance for long-term organizational success. It deals with retaining and creating a long-lasting impression in the minds of customers.

Such impressions help the enterprise to win the trust of customers and get more business. Business ethics plays a very crucial role in various management functions.

Principles:

Beneficence:

The beneficence principle enunciates a fundamental principle of ethical conduct. This essentially means doing good to others. According to this principle, all our thoughts and actions must be directed to ensure that others benefit from these thoughts and actions. This can be done without much difficulty. People generally tend to care more about themselves than others. Even small actions performed by us can be based on this principle.

As an example, consider a person parking his/her motor vehicle, a car or a motor cycle. He/She must park the vehicle in such a way that it does not block pedestrians walking on the road, prevent smooth flow of traffic, or obstruct another person‘s parked vehicle. Many times, people park their vehicle oil the road without caring about the inconvenience caused to others.

As another example, consider an unfortunate accident where a person has been hit by a vehicle and the driver of that vehicle has fled. The person has been badly injured and requires urgent help. What would you do? Here, doing good to others would mean mitigating the injured person’s suffering by ensuring that he/she gets immediate medical help.

Least Harm:

The second ethical principle to keep in mind is that our actions must result in the least harm to others. There can be situations where, even if we intend to do good to others, our actions may cause some harm to them. In such a situation, it is necessary to ensure that our actions are such that we cause the least harm to others.

Let us consider the case of a train accident. One’s duty in such an event is to help the injured passengers. He/She must get them out of the compartment; help the authorities take the injured to the hospital, and so on. On the other hand, sometimes it is seen that people use such incidents as an opportunity to steal the belongings of the injured, hapless people.

This is what doing harm is. The least good one can do in such situations is to prevent people from acting in such an unethical manner. Consider another example of a day-to-day occurrence. Young people travelling in a city bus are often seen grabbing a seat as soon as it is vacant, while a senior citizen or a woman accompanying a small child has to travel standing. It is your duty to offer your seat to such people if you are sitting.

If you are standing and a seat falls vacant, do not jump to catch that seat, taking advantage of their frailty or inability to move fast. Allow them to occupy that seat. This is the least that you can do.

Autonomy:

This principle essentially states that we need to respect the autonomy of others for performing actions. We should not impose our views on others. This principle assumes that every person knows what is good for himself/herself. One can also look at it from the point of view of the person performing the action, who decides that what he/she is going to do is good for himself/herself.

As an example, consider your own case. As a student you may have opted for a course based on your love for the subject. On the other hand, some of you may have taken up the course because your parents took the decision for you. They have invaded your autonomy to take decisions about yourself. This is a very common occurrence and many students end up pursuing a course for which they have no aptitude or do not like.

As another example, consider the case of arranged marriages in India. It is not uncommon to find parents deciding a partner for their sons/daughters based on factors such as family status or wealth, without caring for their children’s feelings or wishes. This is a clear invasion of the person’s autonomy. Taking the concurrence of the children before getting them married is a very important factor in the success of marriages.

Non-Violence or Peace:

This principle has become very relevant today. Violence has now pervaded all sections of society and has become its greatest bane. One of the basic ethical principles is to shun violence and to not support those who resort to it. Unless we adhere to this principle, no substantial progress can be made in ethical behaviour.

Our greatest concern is that there is a tendency to resort to violence in cases where many other options are available. There is also a nonchalant attitude to violence among people. This is a major cause for concern.

In an incident, a person was killed by a group. The police could not even investigate the case because in the violence that spread in the aftermath of this murder, many people were killed, a large number of houses were burnt, and hundreds were injured. In this case, there was violence for no particular reason.

In a case that was reported by the press, a group was collecting donations for a festival. The group approached a small shopkeeper and demanded Rs. 1000. The shopkeeper refused to pay more than Rs. 250. The group resorted to violence, beat him up, and ransacked his shop. It is to be remembered that donations, by their very nature, are voluntary.

However, extortion of money in the name of religious festivals and, in case someone refuses to pay, resorting to violence and causing bodily harm have become common nowadays. As a society, we have become violence- prone and there is an urgent need to curb this to prevent further damage.

Thus, commitment to peace and non-violence is a fundamental principle of ethics. There should be a commitment to not resort to violence and explore other better options to solve a problem.

Justice:

The principle of justice states that our actions must be such that they are fair to everyone concerned. All ethical decisions must be based on the principle of fairness. There can be situations where a deviation from past practice is required. All such cases must be analysed and justified before a decision different from earlier decisions is made.

For example, consider the many development-induced displacements that make headlines in the newspapers these days. The building of a dam, the requirement of a weapon-testing ground, the need for a nuclear power plant, or the need for an expressway might necessitate displacement of a community to clear land for such a purpose.

If you take the specific case of a dam, it is a necessary part of infrastructure development as it provides water for irrigation and electric power generation. The construction of a dam is, thus, for the common good of a large section of the society. However, thousands of people are displaced from their land and their means of livelihood threatened because of such a project.

It is generally found that the rehabilitation of people affected by such projects is shoddy. They are left in the lurch at the end of the project with, in some cases, inadequate compensation and in others, no compensation, land, or means to earn a living. Here, injustice is done to the thousands affected. Similar examples can be seen in many developmental projects.

Truthfulness:

Truthfulness is the quality of telling, adhering to, or upholding the truth. This appears to be a universal principle. Truthfulness also leads to other values such as trustworthiness and honesty. Mahatma Gandhi highlighted this principle when he undertook the freedom struggle and named it Satyagraha, desire for truth.

We will seldom find an example where not telling the truth gets us any real benefit. In the Upanishads, it is said asato ma sat gamaya, meaning ‘lead me from falsehood to truth’. Truthfulness is thus a universal principle propounded by all religious texts. In engineering measurements, it is mentioned that the true value of a quantity is not known.