Ethics and morality are often seen as esoteric concepts, and are often misunderstood. Just like good manners, everyone thinks that they have been correctly taught what is right or wrong, good or bad, but the reality is that most people do not have a framework for understanding the conceptual underpinning of why they hold these particular beliefs. In order to behave ethically and know the difference between ethical extremes one must be aware of the different perspectives of ethics.

In CDLE Leadership Paper 1-2009 CMDR Tony Mullan, RAN identifies a range of practical areas against which the content of existing values programs in Defence can be evaluated. The paper describes what values are and their relationship to individual behaviour, decision making and long term organisational performance.