ABSTRACT
Professional ethics, both as practice and as theory, is part of the larger field of business ethics and ethical decision-making. This chapter reviews the highlights of the business ethics literature, including definitions, models, and main themes related to ethical decision-making. It examines the codes of conduct for ethical behaviors among L&D professionals, including learning design and technologies professionals. It also identifies some of the ethical pitfalls (and how to avoid them) in a rapidly changing landscape. Business ethics as a field of study is large, with roots going back to Aristotle. The literature on ethical decision-making attributes both individual and organizational factors to ethical workplace behaviors. Despite consistency across the various professional codes of ethics and the importance of ethical behavior discussed in the scholarly and practitioner literature, L&D professionals may still find themselves facing a potential ethical dilemma when asked to make trade-offs as part of the design decision-making process.
