Chapter 12: Professionalism, Ethics, and Social Responsibility
Learning Objectives
In this chapter, we will:
- Define the terms profession and professionalism.
- Understand the importance of respecting one’s coworkers.
- Explain the concept of personal responsibility in the workplace.
- Define the term “ethics”.
- Identify levels of ethics within organizations.
- Understand sources of individual and organizational ethics.
- Describe different methods of ethical decision-making.
- Explain and give examples of the levels of social responsibility for organizations and individuals.
We spend more time with the people we work with than the people we live with during the five-day workweek. So, it shouldn’t be too surprising that our workplace relationships tend to be very important to our overall quality of life. In this chapter, we’re going to explore some areas directly related to workplace interpersonal relationships, including professionalism and ethics. We will also look at how our ethical behaviour and the behaviours of the organizations that we work in can be placed in terms of responsibility to society.
