Can Ethical Values be Incorporated Into an Organization’s Culture?

Decisions are made every day in the workplace that may have ethical implications. It is important to conduct business in an ethical way because those decisions may have an impact on their companies, employees, shareholders, customers, and possibly on society. As organizations integrate ethical values into their corporate culture, they will have an engaged workforce that will have higher morale, higher employee retention, and higher production. “American Management Association (AMA) executive members completed an online corporate values survey. Ethics and integrity were listed among 76% of the respondents’ company corporate values and 72% said that they were practiced most or all of the time. Yet respondents had seen unethical behaviors: micromanagement (70%), hidden agendas (56%), dissension in senior management ranks (58%), and failure to give proper credit (59%)” (Plunkett, Attner, & Allen, 2008, p. 66). The corporate environment has placed a great deal stress on their employees, both executives as well as the line workers. Without questioning the competence in their function and assuming that it is adequate, many employees are experiencing dissatisfaction and frustration in their positions. They feel that their professional goals are set either to be unchallenging or unrealistic and they experience stress that can adversely affect their performance. Conflicting responsibilities for their work, family, friends, and for themselves give the workforce a sense of confusion. This personal confusion and conflict has a negative impact in their thought pattern and their personal well being and much of the stress exists from the difference between what people think "is" happening and they think "should" be happening in their l...

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...hat employees treat their customers. Some of the best traits that a leader can possess are personal ethics and person responsibility. The leaders of the scandalous companies of the 2000s failed in their personal ethics, which had a negative impact on their companies, employees, shareholders, and communities. Organizations that are unethical can cause an individual to behave unethically. An organization can cause unethical behavior in employees in several ways: offering unusually high rewards, threatening unusually severe punishments and an over emphasize on results (Plunkett, Attner, & Allen, 2008, p. 68). Leaders have a great due of influence on their subordinates. Leaders teach more to their employees about ethics through their actions and example that by the organization’s code of ethics. Unethical employee behavior is also related to corporate culture.