AbstractEthical perspective plays an important role in business. Impressions are based on perception and important decisions are made from these interactions. This paper will evaluate all four ethical perspectives including character/virtue, obligation/deontology, results/utilitarianism, and equity/relativism. My own personal ethical perspective will also be described and evaluated using results from the ethics awareness inventory from the Williams Institute.Character/VirtueThe character/virtue ethical perspective describes individuals who believe character is a most important characteristic. Moral values such as integrity, trustworthiness, and honesty are traits seen in those described in this category. People described with this character trait believe these characteristics strengthen the ability to make ethical decisions in business and away from the work environment. Strict compliance with rules is less important than behaving as a decent and caring individual.Along with moral character, the ethical perspective virtue is a philosophy that indicates wisdom and well being allow individuals to make ethical decisions. Virtue also stresses behavior in individuals in how actions should be made as opposed to the actions that take place. Wisdom plays an important part in the decision-making process mixing with morals for each individual situation.Obligation/ DeontologyThe obligation/deontology perspective describes those that are categorized this way that ethical decisions are based on the loyalty and responsibility of each individual. Intent over results is a main factor in this category. Treatment of individuals takes priority over task completion and results. Obligation based ethics in people described with this perspective feel respect and dignity towards others is an important trait. Other characteristics include justice, human rights, and fairness.Deontology stresses welfare of each individual is the primary factor in ethical decision making however, this mainly applies to the majority affected. The reasoning behind that factor is that no one decision can account for every individual. When conflict arises, some individuals are treated differently in order to come to a solution.Results/ UtilitarianismIndividuals categorized with results ethics believe that results of an individual's actions determine their ethical perspective. People with results ethics also believe that the majority should be satisfied. If the results create positives for the largest amount of people affected, that person is viewed as ethical. However, when results are less than satisfactory and have not been viewed as achieving overall good for society, those results are considered unimportant. The main goal for people with results ethics is to create a peasant environment which would provide improvement to society.The Utilitarianism perspective bases decision making for the good of the majority. Individuals characterized with utilitarianism traits believe consequences affect...
