Ethics has been adressed from various perspectives and, consequently, defined from diverse standpoints. However, for the purpose of this essay it will be viewed beyond the prohibitive or sectional nature of it and instead address the meetpoint of most theories: considering ethics as a universal practice that trespasses the personal boundaries and the imposition of principles or expected conducts of individuals, and rather viewing it as the reciprocal influence of giving the same importance to each participants’ interest (Singer, p.11; Trevino and Nelson, 2011, p.17). Once this perspective is identified, it will be brought up in discussion a more individual and conductual approach, deepening into “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group” (Trevino and Nelson, 2011, p.17) .

Talking about ethics in the workplace environment, it is focused on the relationship between profitability and ethical behavior at various levels of the organization, adressing the influence of each of the spheres – personal, organizational, and systemic – among each other and its impact of the applied practices (Enderle, 2018, p.620; Henk Van Lujik, 1997, cited in Fisher, Lovell and Valero-Silva, 2013, p.38). According to Grosser, Moon and Nelson (2017, p.626), even though general perspectives of Ethics can be used to address dillemas at the workplace, there has also been a growing area of theorization surrounding the particularities of business ethics.

Starting with the identification of the different approaches, two main blocks will de addressed: the prescriptive –grossly considered the moral guide that assumes people’s desire is to take the right decisions – and the descriptive – building up on the idea of the psychological individual influences on decision-making (Trevino and Nelson, 2011).

In the building block of the prescriptive approach, we have three theories. Deontology focuses on decision-making through what considered to be right rather than good; “they believe that sometimes it is permissible, and sometimes required, to bring about suboptimal states of affairs”  (Lazar, 2017, p.580). This theory’s standpoint establishes that regardless of the consequences of a decision, compliance with what is considered right comes first (Timmermann, 2015, pp.77-78). According to Trevino and Nelson (2011, p. 42-44) and Singer (1993), the principles this current follows take into consideration several values – including respect, fairness, and justice – to establish a set of rules and priorization of these rules for guidance.

Consequentialism on the other hand establishes that the attention should be on the consequences rather than on the duties (Palmer, 2017, p.89). The desire to obtain our society’s broader good and have benefits instead of harms become the outcome of the equation is priority (Trevino and Nelson, 2011, p.40-42). One of the greater challenges of taking this happiness–weighting posture is the ability to identify all the possible outcomes without leaving out any minority’s considerations or impact (Fisher, Lovell and Valero-Silva, 2013, p.117; Trevino and Nelson, 2011, p.40-42)

Finally, virtue-ethics “is located on the central pillar of character and culture (….) virtues are not ‘ends’; rather than they are ‘means’ (Fisher, Lovell and Valero-Silva, 2013, p.131). According to Trevino and Nelson (2011, p.46) this perspective allows us to consider the individuals’ particularities – such as their character, integrity and what motivates them – as the main topic and rather consider principles as part of the environment or context in which the individual is developing; the subject is central rather than the act.

Figure 1: “The Ethical Decision-Making Process” (Trevino and Nelson, 2011, p.20)

Deepening into the descriptive approach, according to Trevino and Nelson (2011, p.71) focus is on the influence of individual’s characteristics in the ethical decision-making process. Figure 1 (above) allows us to visually represent this process. It starts with the Ethical Awareness, the one that establishes that it’s important that the individual is capable of identifying what is the ethical concern they are dealing with in the current problem they’re embracing. Following this comprehension, the individual will be lead into the Ethical Judgement part of the process, in which – as it is detailed in Figure 2 (below) as well – the main purpose is to analyze different components of the situation, going through the facts, consequences, feelings and emotions, and potential biases. Once all the so-called areas of potential distortions have been taken into consideration, we’re bound to the Ethical Behavior: the resolution of what will be their flow of action after taking in all the previous analysis during Awareness and Judgement plus the challenges of its surroundings, such as the culture of the organization, rules, and leadership. Among the individual characteristics that could impact in the flow of this Decision-Making Process, variables such as the locus of control, machiavellianism, the moral development of the individual in a cognitive level, and the moral disengagement are taken into consideration.