Most will agree that legality and ethics are not the same thing.
What may be ethical may or may not be legal and vice versa.
For example:
1. An
insurance salesperson more concerned with getting a larger commission as
opposed to selling the most suitable policy sells the wrong kind of policy to a
prospective client. This may be legal but unethical.
2. A young executive is
driving over the speed limit, trying to reach the hospital with his bleeding
child in the back seat of his car. Hardly anyone would question the ethics of
breaking the law in this situation. It would be unethical not to get medical
help to save the kid's life, even if it meant breaking the law.
Legality establishes
minimum standards, whereas ethics and values go beyond those standards.
Ethics
and values are about fairness and justice.
It is not about pleasing or
displeasing people.
It is about respecting people's needs and rights.
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