Whenever I’m weary from the battles that rage in my head
You make sense of madness when my sanity hangs by a thread
I lose my way but still you seem to understand
Now and forever I will be your man.

Sometimes I just hold you
Too caught up in me to see
I’m holding a fortune that heaven has given to me
I’ll try to show you each and every way I can
Now and forever I will be your man

Now I can rest my worries and always be sure
That I won’t be alone anymore
If I’d only known you were there all the time
All the time

Until the day the ocean doesn’t touch the sand
Now and forever I will be your man
Now and forever I will be your man

The dilution of traditions is a real hard truth in today society. With each passing generation, the idea of preserving traditions becomes less of a concern.

Currently, the younger generation has vague understanding about the origin of some traditions. Most of the time, we do what we were told by our elders. Very few questions were actually being asked.

Lazy to continue… Haha.

-Introduction-

Ethics are principles which define moral values and rules. It addresses questions of right and wrong through a set of behavioural guidelines accepted by a society. A team-oriented workplace or environment consist cluster of individuals; with each person having his or her own attitude and set of beliefs. This often dilutes the reality of having a truly ethical environment. Therefore, understanding of ethics in a team environment is of utmost importance, as congregation of people with different backgrounds and cultures might make the environment volatile and subject to unnecessary conflicts. Such blend of differences could eventually hamper productivity and lead to irreparable damages for any organisation. In this report, it will look at some of the ethical issues which are relevant to ethics in a team environment.

-Importance and relevance of ethics in a team environment-

For many organizations, daily business operations require the cross functional effort of individuals to get jobs done. As such team effort is an important aspect that should be embraced by both the employers and employees. In order to have a seamless effort, each individual has to behave and act in an ethical way. This will ensure efficiency in outputs through the elimination of unnecessary bottlenecks.

Acting ethically is imperative as end results depends on individual acting responsibly and placing team’s interest as priority. If anyone is seem to be acting for self-interest only; there will be the issue on conflict of interests. For example, when a person is grouped with co-workers who come to workplace to socialize instead of doing what they’re paid to do, he or she could end up having to do work that others were unable to complete or had done wrongly. It can be a stressful process and it reflects badly on the department work ethics and the rest of the employees. To the public, it could be damaging to the company’s reputation. Therefore, it is important that each person plays their role dutifully and be able to render help to co-workers when such a need arises.

Additionally, leaders and managers in the team or organization should ensure fairness in the way their staffs are being treated. Equal opportunities should be given to all staffs and rewards will be awarded based on merit. By treating each other with respect and transparency, it will encourage honest and vital feedbacks that could help to ensure the smooth operation of the working environment.

-Ethical issues identified in relation to working in a team environment-

In a team environment, every individual have their own expectations and personal code of ethics. This personal code of ethics brings accountability and responsibility towards oneself. While on a macro level, it provides a sense of purpose and direction, bringing out a meaning to being professional and personal pursuits. An individual, who has clarity of personal ethics, can relate to the seriousness of abiding by the ethics at the workplace. This is something that is unachievable by someone who is unclear of his or her own ethics values.

Another issue lies with the statement; ‘honesty is the best policy’. It is a common knowledge that one should not lie regardless of the situation. However, this is not the truth in reality as ‘truth is inconvenient’ at times. In order to achieve something for the sake of self-interest, individuals could act in a dishonest manner with little regards to the repercussion from their actions that could befall on stakeholders, such as colleagues and the reputation of a company.

Working in a team requires significant amount of trust between members in order to get things done effectively and efficiently. Therefore, one should not be judgemental and conclude their understanding of another person based on superficiality factors such as gender, nationality and physical appearance. Efforts should be taken to gain deeper understanding about one another in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each individual.

Such that everyone can gel well by overlooking cultural and professional differences and work together to achieve predetermined goals. This way, ethical issues related to racism or nepotism is circumvented.

-Recommendations for better ethical behaviours and actions in a team environment-

Good work ethics include a positive attitude with all work projects, being prepared to go the extra mile to get things done, creating a work environment where great teamwork can flourish (Beckenham 2011).
For effective implementation of good work ethics, the attitude of each member in the group has to be positive. They must learn to be receptive to one another through cooperation and mutual trust.
Therefore, it is important to have activities created to provide opportunities for team-building and for one another to understand each other better. With the establishment of strong interpersonal relationships, members of the group will be able to treat one another with respect and sensitivity. It will also encourage genuine feedback and support; though not all opinions will be positive, but as long as it’s constructive and honest, the receiving party will be able to appreciate the effort.

Next, it is important to have a leader who is able to lead and act in an ethical way. Very often, subordinates will look to their superior as a role model or to justify some of their behaviours displayed at work. For instance, if the leader always uses office hours to deal with personal affairs, probably the rest of his staffs would follow his way and not work as diligently as they should have. Hence, selection of an ethical leader is important.

Last but not least, within the team environment, a code of conduct could be drawn up for guiding purpose. To achieve the effectiveness of such a code of conduct, there should be constant trainings for all members, including management to create and incorporate ethical values into the organization. Management should take a lead in this aspect through their behaviours and constant communication. Feedbacks are important and constant reviews of the codes will ensure that they are current and valid.

-Conclusion-

Being ethical is essential for creating an ideal work culture for a team environment. It enhances the business literacy and helps in addressing internal problems in an efficient manner. A single ethical standards need to be drafted for the organization because of the differences in personal ethics perceived by different individuals. Ideally, management should take a lead in this aspect through their behaviour and maintaining communication with the staffs. Positive results do not appear overnight, in fact, it will take a great amount of patience and determination to establish an ethical culture.



Appendix
Reference
Daniel, A.M., & Gunn, L.B. 2005, “Working Well with Others: The Evolution of Teamwork and Ethics”, Public Choice, vol. 123, no. 1-2, pp. 115-115-131.
White, D.W. & Lean, E. 2008, “The Impact of Perceived Leader Integrity on Subordinates in a Work Team Environment”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 81, no. 4, pp. 765-765-778.
Barnett, T. & Vaicys, C. 2000, “The moderating effect of individuals’ perceptions of ethical work climate on ethical judgements and behavioral intentions”, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 351-351-362.
Other useful website(s)
Beckenham . A 2010, “8 Practical Keys of Good Work Ethics”, Ezine Articles, viewed on 22 September 2011, »»

Singapore transportation systems have always been lauded as one of the most efficient ones in the world. This could be due to the fact that geographically, Singapore is a small island and with the mean of money, we were able to connect the whole of Singapore with relative ease as compared to some other neighboring countries. Of course we also have to give credits to those urban planners who have the visionary to make Singapore as who she is today.

Envy as the world may be, but this is not the case for significant group of Singaporeans, the transportation systems have been a hotly debated issue ever since the recent General Election. Notably these debates were conceived from frustrations and bad experiences encountered by the ordinary Singaporeans.

From the MRT system, we are faced with over-crowding and difficulties in boarding the trains during the peak hours. With our buses, we have to deal with long interval between buses. Issues with cabs are surcharges and increased fares. The worse of the lots, private cars. Owners of private cars are ‘slapped’ with high COE, road tax and insurance, oil prices and ERP.

Touching on ERP, the government and advocates mentioned that the main purpose of having the ERP system is to cut down on traffic jams and better traffic management. High COE price, ERP and other existing policies exist to encourage Singaporean to switch to public transport. Yes, alot more Singaporeans are turning to public transports but are we seeing any less ‘crowded’ on the expressway and affected areas? No! In fact ERP is a well conceived ‘ATM’ for the authority.

Recently, the 2 major public transport operators in Singapore decided to ask for permission to increase fares for MRT and buses. Citing higher costs due to oil prices, increased passengers volume and the need to purchase new vehicles to better meet demands. My question to this is why should the increase in costs be borne by the commuters? More commuters are switching to public transports, isn’t that what the government would like to see & have?

Therefore, in my humble opinion, the taxes collected from ERP and road taxes should be used to subside these 2 operators. These 2 operators should instead ask the LTA and MOT to cover their increasing operating expenses and not from the ordinary Singaporeans like you and me.

It was said that the election for Elected President (EP) should be well above politics, but how true is it?

The ground feeling is a total contrast to such a tall notion. There are literally 2 voices now - to choose a candidate with PAP affiliation or to choose a non-PAP candidate who dare rise to challenges.

The sentiments from the recent GE have yet to settle and this will definitely attribute to the result of the EP election on 27th August 2011.

However, we have to know that a EP is not the executive power and a dignified EP will have to perform his duties as prescribed within the constitution. People have to respect the boundary, if not, what are the need for rules and regulations?

Please vote wisely. Changes will come, but it will not be through this Presidential Election.