Unit VIII-Organization Ethics-MBA 6301-15K-7-C. Austin

ORGANIZATION ETHICS CAROLINE A. AUSTIN COLUMBIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 1 Running Head: ORGANIZATION ETHICS 1

ORGANIZATION ETHICS  Organization Culture  What is Ethics  What are Values  Factors that affect Employees Ethics  Ethics and Responsibility  SWOT Analysis for Developing Ethics in a Company  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  Motivating ethical business practices  Maintaining Business Ethics  Society expectations  Conclusion  Reference Table of Content 2

ORGANIZATION ETHICS Ethics (behavior), its meaning is a moral standard of conduct in what is good and right which is opposite to bad or wrong. Ethics has to do a lot to do with behavior especially moral behavior that has respect to society (Sauser, 2005). Ethics is a value driven belief and this concept varies among moral issues. Ethics can vary across cultures and dilemmas that arise is a driven personal ethical value. People of different culture have tendencies to rationalize unethical behaviors which can lead to a right approach in ethical thinking or a good behavior approach. All employees of this company are expected to follow and abide by organizational policies (Sauser, 2005). Ethical dilemma is a situation that is unethical and has an offering potential benefits is still wrong and unacceptable. One of the common occurrence is when a company’s culture environment conflicts with an employee’s personal ethics. An ethical basis of individuals in a company is that individuals have equal political rights, deserve to be treated fairly, have rights to live as they please, as long as they do not break the law or harm anyone. A good corporate society or culture is one that treats its employees fairly and protects their rights which has no-corruption in government and in business. This means a free non-toxic environment. Ethics also play an important role for employees based on relationships, families, and communities. Ethics is a practice of decision or choice and evaluation decided by socially established ethical standards that never fully guide moral value (Clegg & Kornberger & Rhodes, 2007). These factors require loyalty, honor, friendship, self sacrificing, humility, and a clean non toxic environment. A good honest individual that has the qualities that helps promote a stable, long lasting relationship with families and communities help set ethical guidelines. For any company to establish an ethical moral non toxic environment for employees, its must have ethics training and policy. 4 What is Ethics 4

ORGANIZATION ETHICS What are values in a company for employees to believe in. The company board members believe in appropriate behavior and moral standards. Moral reasoning varies in ethical practices. Cultural relativism suggest that there are no right way to behave in a cultural contest. As stated before ethical behavior is determined from right or wrong. Certain truths apply everywhere whether its values change culture in determining from right or wrong. So cultures in a company must always understand that it is a problem for personnel to assume that local ethical standards are adequate set of rules to ethical behavior. Our company prioritizes its values as top priority. Ethics become a means through which people can define any situation and decide to applying socially accepted values (Clegg & Kornberger & Rhodes, 2005). Every person has a conscience and it function is to work on a person’s moral values in deciding from approval or disapproval derived from their own thoughts and actions (Sauser, 2005). So there fore with a conscience a person can exercise their behavior in appropriate social acceptance. An organization or company meets its ethical responsibility when its actions conform to broader values and moral expectations to society (Sauser, 2005). Not everyone will agreed to the same values or moral concept. Management must address a multicultural society with those who may be rivals or some outright adversaries (Sauser, 2005). Most people get a long and work well together with attitudes of a caring or concerning ethical value for their job. The same goes for management and the higher hierarchy in the corporate social levels. This is why it is important to build an ethical culture within the workplace by management of any corporation or company (Sauser, 2005). 5 What are Values 5

ORGANIZATION ETHICS 7 Ethics is every employee and managements responsibility to make sure that the environment or workplace is free from any kind to unethical behavior. Every one must know the policies of the company and how to report any violations. It is the companies responsibility to have every employee in processed with all of the necessary knowledge and training to not only work but feel safe. Change in any organization can be stressful and it is very difficult process. All companies or corporations must develop a written set of policies in order to establish their ethical standards or code of standards for all employees. There are normally four elements at the start in establishing the a companies ethical policies, first it is a written set of standards for ethical conduct, second it is training on the standards of conduct, third it is establishing an office to handle ethical issues, fourth is a phone number for advice and a means to report misconduct anonymously without anyone knowing who they are. A company must adopt it ethical code without any flowery words or phrases and it must be simple in language (Sauser, 2005). Training is essential to all who must have this and a company can hire ethical people. A reward system can be utilized when those who do good get rewarded. But not only is there a reward there is also punishment for unethical situations. Correcting unethical behavior is when the companies ethical code is breached then the company’s management must decide to discipline or reprimand or suspend without pay or termination Ethics and Responsibility 7

ORGANIZATION ETHICS 8 STRENGTHS in Developing Ethics    Established Policies  Quality assurance results  Non Manipulation results  Good ethical environment  Fair treatment of employees  Customer satisfaction  Resolving all complaints  Good communication with employees  Importance of employee WEAKNESSES Affecting Development    Customer complaints  Poor policies  Lack of trust  Failure to communicate  Poor attitude  Lack of opportunities  Bad treatment of employee  Lying to employees  Management abuse OPPORTUNITIES for Development    Ethics training  Diversity in jobs positions  Established Policy programs  Employee Training  Increase efficiency in work performance  Customer innovation ideas  Develop new products THREATS in Developing Ethics    Legal Issues  Reputation loss  Toxic environment  Customer dissatisfaction  Unresolved complaints  Management issues  Hostile work environment  Lying to employees SWOT Analysis for Developing Ethics in a Company 8

MOTIVATING ETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES Companies that have establish a motivating ethical business environment attract enthusiastic employees. Ethical policies are important and establishing them is hard in the beginning and employees as well as management benefit form them. Ethics training help to reinforce understanding what kind of environment the business is wanting to maintain. Giving the growing interest in a utilitarianism environment that most people want, this might be achievable in any environment that has full participation. Utilitarianism is a ethical theory that places the focus on right and wrong is on the outcome of choosing an action policy over other action policies. Much research shows that the different ethical policies can encourage individuals and organization interest in and attention to ethics (Valentine & Godkin, 2016). Use of ethics policies can lead to Higher ethical performance and increase organizational pride and enhance corporate identity, a stronger moral climate, greater employee socialization and cleaver behavioral constraints (Valentine & Godkin, 2016). The manner in which ethics programs and a working environment that emphasizes ethics and social responsibility and job attitudes are interrelated is still a subject of research (Valentine & Godkin, 2016). Ethically-minded job candidates will indeed be attracted to ethical organizations due to value congruity and perceptions of CSR can affect individuals preferences in seeking employment with particular firms ((Valentine & Godkin, 2016). The important part is that an individual’s attraction to and retention in a company can be the least partly explained by individual and organizational value matches and organizational value matches and mismatches and that some of these reside in perceptions of CSR (Valentine & Godkin, 2016). 1 0 ORGANIZATION ETHICS 10

MAINTAINING BUSINESS ETHICS The idea of a working culture that has a great ethical environment while employees worked and are proud of their work is not always a true for major businesses. Business ethics is the rule or standard which governs the conduct of employees or a member of a profession (Howard, Nov-Dec 2001). Business with a good ethic conduct draws attention to customers and a lot of customers will to buy from companies they trust (Watkins, 25 Sep 2015). Businesses that depend on full participation of their employees to do in their work and can show results of their work is a reflection of the management that manages well. In a large company it is hard to find that contrast because of the scale size in which they must operate. In a small business you’re going to find a balance because it s easier to run at a smaller scale. Ethical standards guide working personnel and the company to be honest and trustworthy in all interactions (Chron, 2018). Professional leaders in a profession must have a ethics policy since it affects others in the business. Ethical theories are always action based or consequence based (Howard, Nov-Dec 2001). Most employees will work for an organization that has the same value as themselves. Currently a majority of corporations thrive in an culture where personality has replaced character as the basis for judging a person’s behavior (Howard, Nov-Dec 2001). Individual behavior is driven by culture or their environment. A person is responsible for their own actions. Actions are prudential, without regards to any legal or ethical considerations, if the act is in the person’s self interest (Howard, Nov-Dec 2001). Leadership is describe as a pattern of leader behavior that promotes both positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate, for fostering a greater self awareness which develops positive self awareness (Howard, Nov-Dec 2001). Most Leaders invest in jobs that has the same value that they have . Leaders do not invest in jobs that do not have the same core values or conduct. Managing ethical behavior on the part of the company and the employees of a business can translate into honest and valued relationships with both the customers and business partners (Chron, 2018). The same may applies in larger businesses. At this time, the effectiveness of leaders is determined by organizational factors rather than ethical factors (Howard, Nov-Dec 2001). 11 ORGANIZATION ETHICS 12

CONCLUSION Business leaders must have an ethics program for employees to receive the proper training and understanding of business policies. This is for them in case they need to use in order to defend themselves. Discrimination and other harassing situation that are not warranted has no place in society but its there and ethics program are there too. Employees must be able to work in an environment that is free from unwanted harassment and know how to deal with such problems. Employees depend on the management within their organization to establish policies that clearly outline behavior expectations from employees to supervisors. No one is above the laws and no one wants to be terrorized either so that is why laws were created to enforce socially excepted behaviors. Corporate organizations in order to protect the employee and have their management understand that they must be able to treat their employees fairly. In any Company there are many people that are aware of their rights and strive to prevent unfair employment practices in order to stand up for themselves. This helps to create a good working environment and interaction between employees as a good culture environment. Employees and management must always know their organization or corporate policies so everything in the working environment is safe and free from unwanted situations. 13 ORGANIZATION ETHICS 13

REFERENCES Alan and Paez, Iliana (29 June 2014), Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership, Journal of Business Ethics, Springer Science Business Media Dordrecht, Vol. 130, Iss.3 Sep 2015, Retrieved from Business Source Complete Database Brummer, J. (1985), Business ethics: micro and macro, Journal of Business Ethics, 4, 81-91, Retrieved from Business Source Complete database Chron (2018), What are Ethical Standards, Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ethical-standards-workplace- 11576.html Clegg, S. & Kornberger, M. & Rhodes, C. (2007), Business ethics as practice, British Journal of Management , 18, 107-122, Retrieved from Business Source Complete database French, W. (2006), Business ethics training: face to face and at a distance, 66, 117-126, Retrieved from Business Source Complete database Howard, Ronald A. (6 Nov-Dec 2001), The Ethical OR/MS Professional, Retrieved from   Business Source Complete Database Javalgi, R. & Russell, L. (2018), International marketing ethics: a literature review and research agenda, 148, 703- 720, Retrieved from Business Source Complete database 14 ORGANIZATION ETHICS 14

Watkins, S. (25 Sep 2015), Ethics draw customers, be honest and dependable, take responsibility, otherwise, nos 1-9, won’t matter, Investor business daily, Retrieved from Business Source Complete Database Valentine, S. & Godkin, L. (2016), Ethics policies, perceived social responsibility, and positive work attitude, Journal of Management, 35(2), 114-128, Retrieved from Business Source Complete database Zuber, Franziska (Sep 2015), Spread of Unethical Behavior in Organizations: A Dynamic Social Network Perspective, Journal of Business Ethics, 131(1), 151-172, Retrieved from Business Source Complete Database   ORGANIZATION ETHICS 16 References Continued