Questions 2

#1 In the begging of chapter 12, the author claims, "the terms Values and ethics are not synonyms." Although they are not exactly the same, I still feel that there shared values that work as ethics. For example, honestly is valuable in American society, so cheating is unethical. In this case, I think the value is directly connected to the rule (ethics). What is the significant difference between value and ethics? How would you explain that values are different from ethics?

#2 In page 356, the author claims that our values and attitudes are primary created by "our family, peer groups, role models, and societal institutions." I understand that parents and other peer groups are very essential to learn what is right and wrong. However, it might be very confusing because each person has very different learning environment. If we simply gain a sense of right and wrong from our environment and people surrounded us, people in a country with diversity like the U.S. have all different ethical codes? What do you think about the role of culture when it comes to development of ethics? Also, how do you think people maintain their sense of right and wrong to be the same when they live in diversity?

#3 In page 364, Woodward and Denton claim, “Defining what is private in the workplace is becoming more difficult and complex.” I agree with the statement that employers are able to check and monitor their employees in many ways. For example, checking work e-mails and their facebook are becoming common. Woodward and Denton claim that there are more ways to monitor employees including monitoring phone calls, routine background checks and obtaining a wide range of personal and medical information. Apparently, we are losing private part of our lives day by day. They claim, “Technological advances have changed the nature of work, communication, and supervisory functions in the workplace.” Do you think our idea of online ethics changes that we would not have as much privacy as we used to? If so, do you think these new technologies change our perception of privacy and make us unethical?