Discussing the issue of ethics and discipline in any group situation, ultimately rests on the problem of order in any group.
To understand Ethics and Discipline we must understand the issue of group, social norms and maintenance of order.
Groups are collection of people who share some common goals and norms and are based on interactional relationship. This mostly takes place in a family settings or major primary group that an individual belongs to.
This group share things in commn which include ideas, symbol, feelings and mutual obligations.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
Ethics and morals are often used interchangeably, mean while they are not really the same.
ETHICS refers to the systematic general science of right and wrong conduct while MORALS is the pattern of conduct and the direct working rules of moral action.
Ethics is however based upon a reflective analysis of moral experience. Ethics have particular interest in the moral character of voluntary actions (source)[The World Book Encyclopedia, 1984:292). That is what makes such voluntary actions right or wrong and what gives them a definite moral quality. From the exposition so far, it is a clear action of an individuals and social groups supply the subject matter of ethics. Without necessarily dabbling into the distinction between comparative and normative ethics, we can safely add that all known societies have moral rules that prescribe or forbid certain actions.
The rules or norms regulating social conduct in complex groups such as a nation are always many. Thus is more so in plural societies which have a diversity of institutions, each of which consists of social and cultural aspects. Even then, attempts are made to compress such diverse rules and norms which are then coded in a constitution not only for the purpose of promoting good government and hence order; but also for the welfare of all persons in the country concerned.
