Topic– Code of Ethics
6) Code of ethics is not a solution for the problems of any organisation, and can on the contrary make things worse. Comment.(250 words)
Directive word
Comment- here we have to express our knowledge and understanding of the issue and form an overall opinion thereupon.
Key demand of the question.
The question wants us to express our knowledge and understanding of the code of ethics and form an opinion as to why/ why not the code of ethics is sufficient for an organisation and what problems it could create for an entity.
Structure of the answer
Introduction– write a few introductory lines about the Code of ethics. E.g write a simple definition of the term.
Body-
- Discuss briefly the advantages of having a code of conduct. E.g it motivates and guides employees to behave ethically; provides a moral direction and purpose to the organisation; helps build standards and is useful in decision making etc.
- Discuss why it is not sufficient and what problems could possibly arise because of the code of ethics. E.g Codes of ethics need a strong institutional backing to function effectively. Without a positive culture of support, they can be useless; The very idea of parcelling ethics into a formal ‘code’ is also dangerous, if it leads to the attitude that ethics itself is just some separate part of life and of activities; it’s not; there is a background assumption that ethics can be fully articulated, and not only that, articulated well enough to be distilled into a set of instructions and recommendations that can be understood by a variety of people working within an institutional context etc.
Conclusion- based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.
