Glossary of Ethics Related Terms Part-II

Belief is an internal feeling that something is true, even if it is unproven or irrational; things we hold to be true. Belief is the simplest form of mental representation and, therefore, the building block of our thought process.

Norms/social norms:  Norms are social expectations that guide behaviour i.e., socially acceptable ways of behaviour are called norms.

Attitude: Attitude is a learned tendency to act, think and feel in particular ways towards a class of people, objects, place or event.  In simple words, it is an expression of favour or disfavour towards a person, place, thing or event.  Attitude is akin to spectacles through which a person sees the world. Thus, attitude is an individual’s subjective interpretation of the f objective world.

Discrimination is the behaviour of distinguishing in favour or against a person based on the groups, class or category to which that person belongs.

Social Influence: Social influence refers to the ways people influence the attitudes, values, beliefs, feelings, and behaviours of others.

Persuasion is a process aimed at changing the person’s attitude or behaviour towards some event, idea, object or person.

Conformity–following the existing rules/order/system/norms/culture under pressure (real or imaginary)

Obedience – Following orders under Extreme external pressure.

Imitation – following someone without any external pressure.

Nudging’ refers to altering the decision-making environment in the context of biases and ‘irrational’ behaviour that decision-makers often display.

Aptitude is defined as a natural or inherent capacity to acquire a certain skill or ability in future through appropriate training. Aptitudes are innate special abilities that make an individual easily acquire knowledge and skill or perform certain activities or tasks.  They are inborn characteristics that make you special and excel in an activity more than others.

Aptitude will help us to learn things in the future Hritik Roshan in childhood

Ability is something we have learnt in present. (kaho naa pyar hai, the first movie with a lead hero)

Skill is something we have learnt in the past and have mastered -Agneepath, war, Dhoom)

Law is an ordinance of reason drafted by a sovereign authority and binding on the subjects of a particular territory.

Eternal law: they are not made but exist eternally, simply we can think of eternal law as comprising all those scientific (physical, chemical, biological) ‘laws’ by which the universe is ordered (law determining planetary motions, the flow of energy, conservation of mass /energy.

Devine law: laws that are revealed to humans through sacred texts like Bible, Quran, and Gita.

Natural law: Eternal law that can be perceived by reason need for food for a living, dignity for all etc.

Human law: laws made by human-like NRC, CAA, FARM laws etc.

Religion: Religion can be defined as both a belief system and a social institution. As a belief system, religion shapes what people think and how they see the world. As a social institution, religion is a pattern of social action organized around the beliefs and practices that people develop to answer questions about the meaning of existence.

Conscience is known as the inner voice of a person. A person’s intentions, decisions, actions and conduct are many times influenced by instincts, temptations, emotional bonds, desires etc. but conscience is always over and above all these factors. Now it is a personal choice to listen to the conscience or not but listening to the conscience, in general, is considered ethical.

Lack of Ethical Management: It refers to the recognition and acknowledgement of values as an important dimension of administration and includes values as a core component of an institution like government, NGOs and Private firms. In simple words, Ethical Management means the inclusion of ethics in all components/framework/steps of management i.e., POSDCORB

• Planning (value of inclusion, sustainability)
• Organising (Impartial)
• Staffing (based on rational rules)
• Directing (democratic)
• Coordinating (sympathetic)
• Reporting (objectivity, truth)
• Budgeting (veil of ignorance)

Lack of Management of Ethics: It is the process of creating and using tools and techniques which can help in integrating values with the conduct of administration, employees and citizens.

Work Commitment: Sitting on the files, ill-treatment toward the general public in government offices, and hospitals shows that public servants lack work commitment. Work should not be considered as a burden but as an opportunity to serve and constructively contribute to society.

Excellence: an excellent administrator ensures the highest standards of quality in administrative decisions and actions and does not compromise because of convenience or ease.

Good Governance: The world bank defined Good Governance as “how power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development”.

Public service is defined as the class and tasks of officials who act as delegates of elected officials. The elected representatives embody the legitimacy to define the public interest, while public service ensures that the public interest is served, and public trust is maintained.

Probity originates from the Latin word ‘probitas’, meaning good. It is the quality of having strong moral principles and strictly following them. It includes principles such as – honesty, integrity, uprightness, transparency and incorruptibility. Probity is confirmed integrity. It is usually regarded as being incorruptible.

Probity in Governance is concerned with the propriety and character of various organs of the government as to whether these uphold procedural uprightness, regardless of the individuals manning these institutions. It involves adopting an ethical and transparent approach, allowing the process to withstand scrutiny.

Transparency refers to designing government processes such that government actions and decisions are not hidden from public view.

Corruption: The word ‘corrupt’ is derived from the Latin word ‘corrupt us’, meaning ‘to break or destroy’.

A code of Ethics is a broad framework of ethical principles and standards acceptable to society.

Code of conduct: a set of specific rules to regulate the behaviour of participants of a particular organisation.

Citizen Charter: As per OECD it is a public document that sets out basic information on the services provided, the standards of service that customers can expect from an organisation, and how to make complaints or suggestions for improvement.

Work culture is the total of an organization’s values, beliefs, and principles on one hand and orgaorganation’s ideologies and principles on the other.

Quality of service delivery: It means the right services are provided to the right people at the right time in the right manner.

Environmental ethics: Environmental ethics is the discipline that studies the moral relationship, value and moral status of human beings to the environment and its nonhuman contents.

Media Ethics: Media ethics concerns moral issues in journalism, news media, film, television and entertainment. It examines how to apply ethical principles like honesty, accuracy, impartiality, fairness, harm avoidance, and privacy in these domains.

Medical ethics: Medical ethics is the applied branch of ethics that describes the moral principles that medical practitioners must conduct themselves.

Biotechnology and ethics: Biotechnology, the application of biological knowledge for practical purposes, raises significant ethical concerns as scientific abilities outpace wisdom.

Corporate Ethics/Governance: It is a broad term that refers to the mechanisms, processes, and relationships that govern and direct corporations.

Military ethics is a paradox, which seeks to establish a relationship between the two antithetical concepts of morality and murder.

Objectivity means as exist in the ground, while subjectivity means as exist in the mind. Objectivity means looking at things as they are, while subjectivity means looking at things as we are.

Apathy is the state of indifference or the state in which no emotion such as concern; care, motivation etc are shown. (Ignoring road accident by saying ye to chalta rhta h)

Sympathy is an instinctive reaction to kindness that is momentary in nature. It is spontaneous and a real understanding of the problem is not there. (Noticing road accident and saying bahut bura hua bhai)

Empathy involves putting oneself in another man’s place to understand his pain and sorrow. It has both cognitive and emotional aspects. Understanding of the nature & intensity of the problem is there. Empathy is more sustainable than sympathy. Being empathetic involves a deep relationship than being sympathetic. Empathy is a stronger attitude than sympathy, hence it’s a better indicator of behaviour. (Crying after seeing a road accident and asking people to help because you are feeling the pain/emotions of the victim)