Ethics Personal Statement – BA 342 FA19

Ryan Waddington

Introduction: My own view of Ethics has to do a lot about a person’s character and who you are
as a human being. Your own personal view on Ethics shows what kind of people influenced you
throughout your life, what type of person you are currently and what type of person you want
to become. Ethics controls not only peoples actions but their outlook on life as a whole. Ethical
behavior not only show who you are but it impacts your career, actions, and the communities
around you.

Personal: Personally, my ethical viewpoint shows there is always a right decision to make
morally. No matter the situation you should be able to find a decision that you are morally
content with and are willing to live with for the remainder of your life. I’m not saying I am
perfect by any means, no one is. Whenever I make a decision, whether I slip up and make the
wrong decision, it is clear at the end of that choice I’ve decided whether it was ethically right or
ethically wrong. I believe that ethics is both taught and something that you are inherently given
from birth. From a young age my parents would always guide me to have a strong moral
compass with every action I take. They engrained in me to own up to my actions whether that
was getting in trouble at school, getting bad grades, disrespecting others, or making a mistake
in sports or at work. They taught me what it means to be a good ethical person at home and in
life. Another important ethical guide you have growing up is the friends you surround yourself
with. Personally I’ve seen both side of how friends can cause you to go down a rough path even
if you feel your morals have had a solid foundation. I also believe there is something inside of us
as a human being that we are born with that directs our ethical judgement. Similar to how we
are born with emotions, different talents, and irregular flaws. I can understand how some
people believe we are born as a blank canvas coming into this world. I believe slightly
differently. I imagine that we are born with a predetermined moral compass. As we grow up
this moral compass can be guided and directs by judgments of right and wrong throughout our
experiences we go through in life.

Career: Starting a new career is always a challenge. Starting off at that career on the correct
moral judgement in your decision making can be easy based off of your ethical background.
Having strong ethics in the business community is probably one of the most important
characteristic you can possess in the workplace. Going back to some of my own jobs I had in the
past it was hard to stay and be well respected in the workplace if you didn’t have a solid
foundation when it came to ethics. As a basketball referee in my home town I knew a large
majority of the little kids that I refereed because of my active involvement in my communities
sports programs. Each game I was faced with an ethical decision to call each game fairly even if
I knew a coach or player on a certain for the majority of my life. In a more professional sense,
ethical decisions could mean the difference between you keeping your job or having to look for
a new one because you got fired for making the wrong ethical choice in the workplace. One of
the biggest ethical decisions I hear about in my daily life is in accounting. Even through one of
my accounting classes I have heard numerous stories of bad ethical accounting practices.
Whether it was manipulating the books or records, or taking a little money out of petty cash, it
usually ended very poorly for that person involved because of poor ethical judgement and
decision making.

Society: In society today I believe that they’re very poor ethical standards. This ranges from
celebrities, politicians, communities and on a global scale. Crime is an easy example of poor
ethical decision making. On the news it is even hard to sit through a news segment without
seeing or hear about a positive story either in the local news or on a global scale. Even as we
discussed in class, if you think you are a good person it is still hard to live out an ethical lifestyle
with so many distractions out there. It’s hard to stick to your morals when you have a whole
society telling you to live a certain way, wear certain things, and act a certain way. Globally I
feel that ethics could be very similar from country to country. The idea of right and wrong in a
different country are very similar in the sense of crime, human rights, respect, but could differ
in the sense of country’s customs and culture. As a society we face ethical decision making
almost in every aspect of our daily lives. This is shown in our interactions with other humans
and our environment as well.

Conclusion: In conclusion I believe Ethics follows the idea of right decision making and wrong
decision making for the most part. From a young age a person’s ethics is crafted within them
and only solidified as you move on throughout your life. From your personal life, career, and
society, I’ve seen different viewpoints and perspectives on how someone’s ethics behavior is
shaped and how their ethical judgement can impact not only their lives but the lives of others
around them.