Introduction
Work ethics! What does it mean?
“As business, industry, and education face challenges to each produce workers and students who perform at optimum levels, all are faced with the issue of the work ethic. Nearly all discussions with emphasis of linking or improving businesses and education capture work ethic somewhere in the discourse” (Cooper, 2004).
“Being ethical is also not the same as following the law. The law often incorporates ethical standards to which most citizens subscribe. But laws, like feelings, can deviate from what is ethical. Our own pre-Civil War slavery laws and the apartheid laws of present-day South Africa are grotesquely obvious examples of laws that deviate from what is ethical” (Martin, 1996).
“Being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society” (Leys, 2004).
“Some researchers report that work ethics has not declined as drastically as it appears. Rather, the content of the work ethic has changed. People are struggling between “success and self-fulfillment.” In 1968, 69% of American workers felt that working hard was the way to reach personal success. That figure had declined to only 39% by 1971.” (Curry, 2005) However, we do find that today’s youth expect much more in way of intrinsic rewards. “Yet, surveys indicate that they do not receive these rewards. Some writer’s state simply that work ethics is a willingness to stay employed while others ...