Ethics Vs. Morals: Which on Results in Workplace Fraud?

Ethics vs. Morals: Which one results in Workplace Fraud?

Ethics is defined as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. Ethics is considered a theory or system of moral values. Morals are defined as moral practices or teachings: a mode of conduct or proper ideas and beliefs about how to behave in a way that is considered right and good by most people. What do these two things have to do with work and how can they lead to fraud in the workplace. Well, the definition for business ethics is the moral correctness of one's conduct while conducting business. Business ethics examines ethical principles that come into play during all aspects of business, and examines all the moral or ethical problems that are created in a business environment. Business ethics examines the conduct of individuals, and the conduct of corporations and other organizations. The foundation of any company's ethics and compliance program is its Code of Conduct. A code of conduct is the single document that every employee reads, discusses, and in many cases certifies against. Yet, many companies miss the opportunity to write, design, and communicate a code in a way that can inspire employees, reconnect them with the mission and values of the organization, and help mitigate unwanted behaviors.

If your values are to be manifested throughout the organization, your code of conduct must be more than just a set of legal rules and policies to which your employees must blindly adhere. Your Code of Conduct should be a set of principles that inspire employees to act and make decisions in a way that exemplifies and strengthens your culture beyond mere compliance. Similarly, the Code should be designed and communicated in a manner that inspires discussion, dialogue, feedback and deeper understanding through carefully crafted education and outreach. However, because most agencies fail to provide clear code of conducts and are just issuing ethics online test they leave open to the employee the decision to choose what is morally right and wrong for them without a guideline of ethics set in place by the company. For example if you work for an agency which regulations telecommunications such as radio, television, wireline and wireless phones and you choose to reproduce copy righted cd's from an original cd and then sale them to the public. Now according to the two definitions above this is both an ethical and moral issues because ethics is considered the system that is set in place through a ethical code of conduct by the agency and because the agency also governs piracy for the Untied States and this is something that you know is morally wrong to do but you do it anyway. This type of action would be considered stealing and fraud and is punishable by law and in this case your agency is the law could lead to loss of employment, fines and jail time. Another case of morals vs. ethics would be an employee taking photos of his private parts and passing them out on business cards to other employees then claiming that his personal cards got printed on his business cards by mistake. Now oddly enough this is not a case of fraud but it is a case of misconduct and a true testament of this person's moral fiber. Ethically his job can only recommend he seek help for what could be a serious problem and ask that he apologize to the employees he offended by providing them with an apology. Note however, the employees that were offended can still file a harassment lawsuit against the employer. While I can not reveal names, dates or in depth details of these cases I could not possible make this or the outcomes of these cases up and they clearly show that your ethical actions are governed