Ethics Case
Journal 1: Moral thinking Date: Jan 19, 2014
This week was the first week that I opened the door to Ethics for Professional Accountants. After reading the first three lecture notes and doing two cases, I found that Ethics is concerned about an individuals moral judgment on the right thing to do. A good moral judgment will lead to good decisions made by individuals, thereby influencing the society.
There are six stages of moral and ethical development proposed by Kohlberg in a study case called “Heinz Steals the Drug.” I am interested in three of the stages:
Stage 1, “Punishment-Obedience Orientation,” explained that people perceive fixed rules set down by the authorities. For example, children considered stealing is wrong. The reason they know this is that their parents told them that they will get punishments for that. To avoid punishment, they choose not to steal and think that is the right thing to do.
Stage 3, “Seeking Approval,” stated that people would like to be good boys or good girls in the opinions of other people. In other words, they live up to the expectations of what others would think what a good person would do in that situation. For example, Heinz has a good motive to steal the drug because he loves his wife and he wants to save her life. Any good person in that situation would try their best to save lives. On the other hand, the druggist is selfish, not interested in saving another life but pursuing profits through overcharging. People would think the druggist is not doing the right thing in this stage.
Stage 4, “Law and Order,” pointed out that as long as you maintain the rules and regulations, you are doing the right thing. For example, we all know Heinz has a good motive, but he should not steal the drug because stealing is forbidden by law. People