The search for excellence begins with ethics. ?very time a person chooses between alternatives, the choice is based on assumptions that lie at the heart of a moral code. The code is grounded in values that provide the framework for principled reasoning and ethical decisions. Commerce depends for its very existence on the ethical behavior of the vast majority of participants. It requires that contracts are honored, private property is respected, and promises are kept. It relies upon the unspoken sentiments of fair play and camaraderie. In this paper I will discuss ethics values within companies and how ethics influence decision process of an employee. ?thical practices make good business sense, because ethical companies suffer less resentment, less litigation, and less regulatory oversight (3). Furthermore, ethical managers and ethical businesses tend to be more trusted and better treated by employees, suppliers, stockholders, and consumers. Organizations are a reflection of society; they are the method by which individuals unite to form a network of common interest. And each organization is a fluid enterprise. At its center are the managers and executives responsible for directing the resources of the company. Shareholders own the capital and expect a return on their investment. Workers produce the goods and expect a decent wage and safe working conditions. To have a successful enterprise, each group must be responsive to the others and balance its interest against the interests of the others. When the balance is upset or when the interests pull too hard against each other, the ethical system is damaged. For an enterprise to continually give value to human effort and to encourage creative achievements, a balance of all interests is required (5). Administrative actions are shaped by three domains: legality, free choice, and integrity (3). The law defines and constrains the limits of potential actions, specifying the bounds of lawful behavior. What is legal is not necessarily moral; what is not prohibited by law is not necessarily ethical; and what minimally meets the law is not necessarily proper. While the law codifies customs, ideals, beliefs, and moral values of a society, it cannot possibly cover all possible human actions.
Free choice represents complete freedom of personal choice to do anything one desires. But, the right to swing your fist stops where the other person's nose begins. In other words, people have a right to do whatever they want as long as their actions do not negatively affect others. ?thical behavior is more constrained than this, however. ?thical behavior is that behavior which is the right thing to do, given the circumstances. The rightness of actions is constrained by the third domain, integrity, which is obedience to the unenforceable. This represents unwritten, often unspoken, guidelines for behavior for which no legal mandates or prohibitions exist. It is the grey area where neither law nor free choice prevail. This is the realm of integrity, the necessary foundation for ethical decision making.