Classic Aristocratic Ethics and Contemporary Civic Relationships

Ethics include well-founded standards of right and wrong. The law and religion subscribes good ethics but like every human endeavor, the two are subject to error. Ethics therefore, include standards related to human rights. Standards that qualify as ethics are founded on consistent reason. Human feelings cannot be a guide for ethics
. More often than not, feelings led to unethical actions. As human knowledge, increases the standards are subject to revision and reevaluation. As such, ethics include the continuous study and evaluation of beliefs and moral conduct. This ensures the individual and the institution live up to well-founded standards.
According to Aristotles theory of ethics, ethics are a completely different field from other sciences. This is because the centerpiece of ethics is improving human life. Ethics are the most important thing in a human life. Ethical virtues include complex social, rational, and emotional skills. Ethics in essence encompass the appreciation of good things in life, such as justice, friendship, wealth, and happiness. These things function together to make life for an individual worth living. To develop a business environment with ethics, where every employee enjoys working, an understanding of factors and issues people value is important. This enhances the relationship between the managers and the employees. It also improves employee retention and reduces the cost associated with hiring new employees.
Aristotles ideas on civic relationships
Aristotle is the father of modern civilization. His contributions to knowledge are immense and some historians regard him as the most intellectually gifted person to have ever lived. According to Aristotle, people study ethics to better their lives. Ethics is therefore a principal concern in the well-being of humans. He differs from his teacher Plato who viewed good virtues and a formal education as key to human well-being. Aristotle considers only ethical virtues as paramount to a happy life. The practicability of ethical virtues is achievable only through a good upbringing and good habit. This helps an individual make the best choice supported by reason. This practical wisdom comprises deliberative, social, and emotional skills, and enables consideration of others.
Aristotles inquiry begins with the principal idea that people have different options about what is good for human beings. For humans to have ethics, this difference must be resolved. The purpose of Aristotle is not to have knowledge of what is good or bad for humans. The intention is to apply the knowledge to improve the lives of humans in every sphere. Aristotle seeks the highest good and describes it with three characteristics. The highest good must be desirable for its own sake, all good must depend on it, and it is not desirable for the sake of something else. The only thing that fits such an end is happiness. For an individual to be happy, he or she must live well. This does not merely describe the individuals state of mind but evaluate the entire life of the individual.
There is no end to living well; living well is an end by itself. The highest end of life is happiness regardless of, political, cultural, and religious opinions. The other goods, such as wealth, health, and friends are sort because they promote happiness. These things do not constitute happiness. To determine what happiness constitutes, Aristotle insists an individual must apply reason in his or her actions and decisions. To answer this question, one must describe the function of a human being. Human beings are the only species that have the capacity to reason. Humans are conscious of their actions and the effect they have on those around them. What is good for the humans has to do with this human ability. What sets the humans apart is the ability to use reason to enhance their lives. Living well requires virtues. To live a happy life therefore consists of actions and decisions guided by reason in accordance with the virtues.
Happiness is not a virtue but rather a virtuous activity. To achieve happiness one must possess other goods. These goods include friends, happiness, health, and wealth. These goods affect virtuous activities to some extent. Some of the goods required to achieve wellbeing are beyond the control of the individual, such as the loss of a friend. To some extent one requires good fortune to living happily, however, it is the responsibility of the individual person to acquire and exercise good virtues with his or her fortune.
Aristotle explained that the area of justice consists of a character trait or a virtue but not a state concerning the entity being discussed. For an individual, it includes their motives and their behavior as well. He stated that there exist two groups of people in the society and an apparent difference is clear between them. The two groups are, those that are active and participate in activities within the society thus the active, and folks who just sit and observe as these activities are being carried out by their peers, hence the passive group. Moreover, Aristotle stated that some individuals living among the people in some states are not real citizens. He criticized the citizens whose activities within the state does not suit the standards set for an ideal citizen and recommended that the political establishment should not grant such citizens any benefits. He meant that non-prolific people in the society are not to be regarded for any benefits since all they do is drain the societys resources.  They rely on other peoples things for life and this must be shunned for justice to be exercised to all. Everyone should obtain what is appropriate to them, payable to them, and not rely on what others have worked hard to get, as this is a hindrance to justice.
Aristotle considered justice an immediate act established amid two extremes in reaction to a certain state of affairs. He found two extreme ways of identifying the character of a state, which are, either its action or inaction. According to Aristotle, an arrogant person lacks the traits of a polite person. For him justice is associated with simply vague features and that injustice encompasses both inward and outward characteristics. His thinking was that the opposite of anything that is positive lies in its negative features. Lawless or greedy people are unjust, and it is important to maintain law and order in addition to avoiding contravention of the societal expectations in order to be just. Aristotle advocated in the area of justice for this virtue.
Pertaining to friendship, Aristotle considered humans as social beings. It is natural that every person is surrounded by other people, who are friends. Friends are very important and human beings are constantly in the process of trying to make new friends in order to expand the network. It is an attempted contravention of nature and nearly impossible for anyone to lead a normal life with no friends or associates. To Aristotle, friendship is more than just the union of relationship and mutual benevolence between two parties. His definition of friendship surpasses the common understanding of the relationship that is devoid of sexual or family love. He viewed friendship as a bond between two people in any ground, regardless of their level of intimacy.
Friends fall into various categories depending on their usefulness in the relationship, since the usefulness to each other is the single-most reason for becoming friends. This utility value friendship is what Aristotle sees. There is complementary value and mutual need between people in a friendship because what one lacks, he or she can obtain it from the other. However, a utility-based friendship dies in case one becomes no longer useful to the relationship. Some other forms of friendships are based on pleasure, such as those mostly displayed by many youths in the contemporary world. In this case, pleasure drives the friendship and whatever it is that pleases either party, determines the duration a friendship can last. A genuine friendship is one based on love, virtue, and mutual respect towards each other. This type of friendship is based on true concern for each other, and not for any gain. It is rare to find young people sharing this kind of friendship.
On deliberation, Aristotle claimed that once freewill generates their moral responsibility. There are no laws for moral responsibility and therefore one must have the will to do something morally without force. However, there are expectations of the society for every member, in accordance with the particular social norms.  Everyone is liable for his or her actions, only the moral conviction can determine whether it is good or bad. One does something out of deliberation and a sensible quantity of volitional power should therefore be exercised to ensure moral responsibility. In all actions, a person must be guided by moral control.
Contemporary ideas of ethics in the workplace
Virtues have a significant role to play in the modern corporate environment. They increase the employees happiness, productivity, and loyalty. Virtues play a significant role in important work issues, such as decision-making, creativity, and emotional control. When individual employees in the business are virtuous, they help create a positive work environment where everyone enjoys better relationships. As described early virtues must transcend time, religion, age, or culture. A general classification of virtues important in the workplace includes six groups. They include wisdom, justice, courage, restraint, humanity, and transcendence. This virtues result in character strengths, such as consideration, persistence, inquisitiveness, appreciation, and forgiveness.
Building virtues within the organization not only improve the wellbeing of the employees, it also develops the reputation of the business organization. Virtuous employees develop superior products and services. The customers and the stakeholders are treated exceptionally. Through highlighting individuals who embody the business values, the business promotes virtues within the employees. Individuals seeking employment must also consider the values of the business. The work demand on the employees marches their strengths and ideals. The employees are happy with their work and life in general because they can act in accord with their character and values. This provides another reward system for the organization. This reward system is as effective as the traditional reward systems of compensation and benefits. This increases the loyalty and productivity of the employees.
It is evident that to live in harmony in the workplace, companies try hard to build on the civic relationships as proposed by Aristotle. Justice is guaranteed through just work practices in which the rights of workers are protected in order to create and maintain a good relationship between them and the organization. When employees are happy, they can perform their duties deliberately and this would facilitate achievement of organizational goals. Without interactions among workers, it would be difficult to coordinate activities amongst employees and the management and it would be hard to build trust among employees hence lowering performance. The workplace should have a work-friendly environment in order to promote friendly relationships in the first place. A good relationship helps a company improve organizational performance in various dimensions, such as respect, self-importance, credibility, fairness, and solidarity. In offices, you could include a sort of physical spaces that tolerate privacy, partnership, and hanging out.
Comparing and contrasting the contemporary view and the Aristotles views of ethics
Aristotles view on civic relationships and ethics focuses on the individual and the process he must go through to become virtuous. Everyone can become ethically virtuous; however, there are two determinants. During childhood, the person must develop good habits. When the individual is mature and their reasoning fully matures, he or she acquires practical wisdom. Ethical virtues comprise a combination of the two. The contemporary view in the best places to work focuses on the relationship between individuals in the workplace. How the individual and the business contribute to a better working environment. The emphasis is on matching the personality and values of an individual with the work demands. The contemporary view focuses on the application of virtues in the workplace to achieve happier employees. Happier employees are more productive.
In contrast to Aristotles notion that friendship has three components; usefulness to  each other, they must enjoy each others company, and the sharing of commitment to each others good, the modern society views friendship in terms of the second component. The concept of utility is difficult to apply in the modern understanding of friendship.  However, both notions uphold the component of commitment for the good of others although in the modern world, this is usually seen as quite irrelevant to the concept of friendship. A friendship is formed in the cultural, social, and economic circumstances. At work, friendship is a resource for controlling some of the exceptional and mundane events that face our lives, and it is through it that one gains emotional and practical support from fellow workers and the management.
Aristotles philosophy teaches us to let justice prevail. However, in the best workplaces, people stand for what they feel is right because everyone likes to feel their life has purpose. The company should commit to paying employees a wage that is commensurate to the work they do to motivate them into doing their best. A number of companies do not meet the required standard for many jobs that they offer, especially in financial perspective. You can find a company that pays the CEO a huge salary, talk of millions of dollars a year, while ordinary employee gets a salary that falls below the poverty line. Managers of most successful companies make it their duty to do anything possible to please their employees. They uphold good relations with relevance to the lessons of Aristotle who saw this as the most crucial thing for proper co-existence and as the source of happiness.
Conclusion
Aristotle developed the most famous argument for the existence of God. This is the first cause that hold the view nature tends toward a final cause. He has contributed to almost every science. From Aristotle happiness is neither a destination nor a process. Happiness is an end chosen for its own ending and an activity that people must practice every day to achieve well-being. The contemporary view of civic relationships enhances the experience of the employees. This is achieved by providing a solution that fits the needs of both the business and the worker. The demands of the employees march their personal attributes. The employees find their job more fulfilling thus they are more productive. Best places to work value the happiness of the employees and endeavor to achieve the best working conditions from the employees point of view. The basic understanding is that non-act out of selfish interests.
It is apparent that most well performing companies endeavor to build on the civic relationships that Aristotle proposed in order to ensure people live in harmony, both in and out of the workplace. Happiness is highlighted as the center for workers satisfaction through building a relationship of trust, which serves as the most essential component for any relationship to last. According to Aristotle, justice is ensured by fair work practices. The virtues that Aristotle laid emphasis on have been of grand use of these businesses particularly on ethical responsibility. Each worker is bound by this responsibility to show concern for others and doing what is good instead of what is evil to promote good relationship amongst the management and the workers. Workers can only perform to their best in any workplace when they are happy. Companies that ensure happiness amongst their staff, and strive to make everyone wanted by ensuring fairness among everyone is said to be among the best places to work in.