Ethics Awareness Inventory Analysis

Ethics Awareness Inventory Analysis

In today's world it is all too prevalent to see more and more people hungry to gain success at any cost. Modern culture can and indeed is labeled greedy and thoughtless. I believe that if it were easy to be ethical all the time, ethics would be a very small area of study. So what does the word ethical mean? To me, it is to take into account every aspect involved in any given situation, peoples' feelings, thoughts and well-being, both now and in the future, and act as best one can to achieve the most satisfactory outcome for all concerned.

According to the Ethics Awareness Inventory my ethical perspective is based on character. I base my ethical perspective on what it is good to be, rather than what it is good to do. People who fall in this category judge ethical behavior by looking beyond actions to the person's character. To me, honesty and integrity are the most important character traits. Simply following the rules does not make you ethical. In my professional development, ethics is extremely important. Selling products and services to the public can challenge your ethics. Meeting sales goals and increasing profit or commissions can cloud ones view and cause you to sell something to someone who doesn't need it or want it. I have found that building an honest relationship with customers and educating them about appropriate products that will meet their needs is more profitable in the long run. Those customers tend to come back to me with future business and more importantly, they recommend me to friends and family. By building this relationship, I am not only able to meet sales goals set by my employer; I am also able to strengthen my ethical beliefs.

Although my employer provides policies and procedures there are always situations that arise that require me to make a decision that is not outlined in these policies. My decision making process asks three questions: is it right for the customer; is it right for the company; and is it right for me. If I can not answer yes to the first two questions then I am the only one benefiting from it and it is not ethical. In my opinion, it must be right for the customer before I consider the second and third questions.

Ruggiero states that "ethics is the study of the choices people make regarding right and wrong." My educational experience has helped me increase my awareness