Workplace Ethics: Whether the Board Violated her Rights (Essay Sample)

Workplace Ethics
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Workplace Ethics
Employees are always expected to exhibit the highest level of professionalism and dedication in their work. Their personal behaviors should not in any way conflict with the interests of the organization. According to Boon 2011, workers are always required to adhere to the set code of ethics and conduct as it helps them to better their performance. For instance, teachers are expected to exhibit social behaviors, attend all classes, and show commitment to their work. They are also, supposed to act as role models by upholding decency and instilling good behaviors to their students. Hence, this paper emphases on a case study where a teacher’s moral behavior is questionable to her performance in school.
Whether the Board Violated her Rights
From the case study, it is evident that the Board of Education violated Mrs. Pettit’s privacy rights. Firstly, we realize that the party took place in a private area, and the attendants were strictly adults. Besides, her private life does not in any way relate to her performance at the workplace. She was among the few teachers who were devoted to offering quality education to students with intellectual disabilities. Every person is entitled to enjoy privacy rights so long as they do not infringe other people’s rights. Therefore, the act of the Board of Education bringing her personal life into light violated her privacy rights. Mrs. Pettit’s behaviors did not affect her performance and relationship with students. Therefore, the board should have kept the issue private.
The Board of Education should not have fired her. Previous records from the school principal indicated that she was competent in her teaching job. It is also evident that the job was challenging, and teachers were poorly compensated. Despite this, Mrs. Pettit worked hard to ensure that her students were enriched with education. Her private behaviors are not enough attesting that she was unfit to serve as a professional teacher. Therefore, the decision by the board to fire her was uninformed. They should have put into consideration her previous record before taking such a decision.
Mrs. Pettit’s private life had no connection with her workplace performance. Also, there was no prove that she had influenced the students with her moral misconducts. The fact that the party attendants were adults is reason enough that she kept a healthy relationship with her students (Boon, 2011). Therefore, she adhered to the code of ethics that required professional teachers to instill good discipline and behaviors to their students. Also, had it not been the police officer who revealed what was going on in the private party, Mrs. Pettit’s actions could have been a secret. Hence, she did not deserve to be fired because there was insufficient evidence that she had enthused students with immoral behaviors.
Pettit’s Behavior
It is clear that Mrs. Pettit exhibited an unethical conduct. It was against the society’s morals for an individual to publicly show sexual indecency. Sexual matters are regarded sacred and should only happen in private. Thus, her behaviors were negatively impacting the morals of other people more especially those who attended the party. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the society to shun such acts by taking necessary legal actions. However, her actions cannot be termed unprofessional since she was responsible for her teaching career. It could only have been unprofessional if she was incompetent in her job. Therefore, the fact that she was immoral does not necessarily imply that she was unfit to teach.
Good Performance and Moral Standards
The most important factor for all teachers is enhancing performance in the classroom. The teacher is supposed to ensure that he or she is professionally competent in the teaching career. This can be assessed by the level of discipline among the students. As a professional, the teacher should ensure that he or she instills good behaviors and help students to achieve best grades in academics. The principal motive should be geared at helping the students to have good morals while in school and once they get outside (Mausethagen, 2013). Therefore, it is the responsibility of relevant authorities to ensure that teachers act as good role models of what they expect their student to exhibit. When the behaviors of students, deteriorate, the teacher should be held responsible since he or she spend a lot of time fostering personal characteristics of each student.
Besides helping students to excel in their academics, teachers have the responsibility of ensuring that their morals are accepted in the society. Nurturing good behaviors goes a long way with academic excellence. The teacher should provide discipline by acting as a role model (Boon, 2011). Looking at Mrs. Pettit’s case, it raises a lot of concern about whether she can be a good example of the code of ethics requires of all teachers. It might happen that she is secretly influencing students with her immoral behaviors. In many situations, the moral standards of a teacher depict his or her performance in dealing with students. Such a teacher cannot give proper guidance to students so that they uphold the highest level of morality. Therefore, teachers should uphold a higher standard of morality outside the classroom for them to be trusted in their duties.
Unprofessional and Immoral be...