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Ethical Behavior

Ethical Behavior, a Myth of the Past or a Necessity for Future Development

With the ever increasing pressures of life, philosophers, psychologists and intellectuals are striving to answer the question, Are ethics basically becoming a myth of the past? The question calls for stepping beyond the yes or no answers, to analyze and investigate the factors influencing ethical behaviors today. Whether personal, organizational, contextual or environmental, they all play a significant role in shaping the behaviors of people and thus act as tremendous forces for building the societies we live within.

Ethics, a term that has long been used yet no clear definition has been made about till present date. Simply put, ethics is considered as the code of moral principle, setting the standards of what is good or bad or right or wrong in a person’s conduct. It is the careful study of behavioral standards that give guidance through real-world problems and decisions. It provides an insight about what should and should not be done. The word ﾒshouldﾓ often refers to ethics. For example, the process of hiring and promoting should -or should not- take gender in account. Although ethics attempts to differentiate between right and wrong, it is not a regulation or constraint that derives the same behavior from everyone. With the ever increasing pressures of life, philosophers, psychologists and intellectuals are striving to answer the question; Are ethics basically becoming a myth of the past? The question calls for stepping beyond the yes or no answers, to analyze and investigate the factors influencing ethical behaviors today. Whether personal, organizational, contextual, or environmental, they all play a significant role in shaping the behaviors of people and thus act as tremendous forces for building the societies we live within.

Based on what the media presents on a daily basis, one has to wonder if the news broadcasted to us is exaggerated or whether the ethical values are...