The Importance of Ethics in the Workplace

In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important
(EEOC 2002, 2)
The employees involved were an African American Male, whom we'll call John and a Caucasian female that we will call Sally. The ethical dilemma began when the two started flirting with one another at work, saying some suggestive comments now and then. One evening after work, they decided to go out for drinks. After a few drinks, Sally asked John if he would like to come home with her. Of course John wanted to, but he evaluated the situation in his mind and determined that it would not be in his best interest to go. He did not want to take the flirting any further and did not want to get involved with a co-worker. He graciously declined her offer, Sally became infuriated. Angered at one another, they exchanged words and called each other some names. John chose to be a bit racist in his comments and that did not work to his favor. Sally went to work the next day and proclaimed that John had sexually harassed her. Human Resources jumped on the situation immediately, and of course, John was assumed to be the guilty party. John was reprimanded and eventually left the job. He left because he felt like he had been labeled and was not comfortable working with Sally. Per Lieutenant Gov. Mary Fallin: "To err is human; to forgive is not company policy." (Smith, 2005, 1)
This dilemma was not handled properly and is a