What is ethical culture? Culture is defined in many ways as there are values but a general place to start is “accepted behavioral standards within the confines of a specified group as guided by a pattern of shared learned beliefs, traditions, and principles” (Bolman and Deal, 1997). Christopher Meyers in “Institutional culture and individual behavior: Creating an ethical environment” includes the need to define ethics with outside perspectives such that unethical behavior is “violation of accepted moral principles … at least as the choices are seen from outside the organization” (2004, p.270).
Ardichvili, Mitchell, and Jondle (2009) prepared a study to identify characteristics of ethical businesses which resulted in five characteristic clusters:
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In line with Meyer’s definition of ethics that should be determined by those outside the organization, employees outside the executive circle will determine leadership ethicality importance when they observe it in action, not just hear it in training.
Ethicist’s review of leaders. Trevino, Brown and Harman (2003) conducted a qualitative analysis of organizational ethics officers and CEOs in study of ethical leadership definitions. The outside perspective of the ethicists lent a unique, unbiased view of how leadership should behave in order to insure organizational values are delivered through all ranks of employees, especially those furthest away from executive circles.
Ethics officers help with analysis and delivery but it will make little difference if management does not support them. "If [the chief ethics officer] is really good and works closely with top management, they could make a difference," says Peter Felix, president of the Association of Executive Search Consultants. "Equally, they could make no difference at all, if the commitment from top management isn't there" (Clark, 2006).
Influence of Leadership and Management on Ethical
The Ins and Outs of Ethics is a Business Week Online magazine article from May 13, 2001, it was written by Eric Wahlgren. In the article he interviews Michael Rion, the author of The Responsible Manager. Rion is also a leading business ethics advisor who consults many Standard and Poor’s 500 companies. In the article Wahlgren asks Rion why it is important for businesses to have a high ethical standard. In his responses, Rion explains that effective organizations utilize ethics programs to clearly define ethical expectations, resolve ethical issues quickly, and to remove moral constraints. Additionally, employees who understand how to deal with ethical dilemmas will also be more productive and have strong core values to guide them. According to scripture, Rions concepts are biblically sound, relevant, and desirable, proving that ethical organizational behavior is shaped and influenced by sound ethical principles.
Ethics are the moral beliefs that help direct a person’s behavior These values are molded by social norms, culture, and often times religious beliefs. With that, ethical decision making is the development of measuring the moral associations of a course of action(Squazzo,2011). Every decision has an ethical or moral component due to the fact that they each have effects on others. Organizations often instill ethics agendas to help ease better decision making of employees. According to Jack Gilbert there are five specialties for ethical culture that healthcare organizations can learn from, they are: mindfulness, voice, respect, tenacity, and legacy(Squazzo,2011). Gilbert states mindfulness as being mindful of unethical thing that could
The behaviors addressed in this article are essential in the aspect of ethical decision making in management area.
Importance of ethics in the business world is superlative and global. New trends and issues arise on a daily basis which may create an important burden to organizations and end consumers. Nowadays, the need for proper ethical behavior within
...EO down to the lowest position in the organization. Punishing a leader who violates the code of ethics, regardless of the years or greater contribution such leader have contributed to the organization will reinforce the importance of adhering to the organization’s code of ethics.
According to Ferrell (2004), “Organizations create ethical or unethical corporate cultures based on leadership and the commitment to values that stress the importance of stakeholder relationships. Establishing and implementing a strategic approach to improving organizational ethics is based on establishing, communicating, and monitoring ethical values and legal requirements that characterize the firm's history, culture, and operating environment” (p. 129). Ethics programs ensure satisfactory relationships with all stakeholders by aligning with all of their demands and needs, and determine conduct with customers and relationships with regulators, shareholders, suppliers, and employees (Ferrell, 2004).
Ethics shapes our attitudes towards the world, other people, and cultures and how we process right from wrong. I would love to believe that the world is made up of individuals that have a high level of integrity and pure ethical fibers; however, this is not the world in which we live in. Ethics or rather morals entail mechanisms that defend, systematize as well as recommended conceptions of right or wrong, good and bad. Interestingly, organizations have to develop ethical codes to ensure employees and employers understand the difference in doing right or wrong. It is no secret that ethics are an essential aspect of successfully running any organization or government, yet, countless corporations grow precipitously on unethical practices. Ethics
... conduct deemed to be ethical. An organization that promotes ethical behavior, will tend to attract good employees (Ober, 2009). Acting as an ethical leader in today’s society shows true courage and strength (Jones, 2013). Every day we are faced with ethical decisions. Regardless of the size of an organization, every leader faces challenges and making sound ethical choices. When faced with having to make an ethical choice, get the facts, evaluate the options, make a decision and act on it, and explain your rationale. How a leader chooses to handle ethical conflicts in the sets the example for everyone to follow.
Ethical leadership is a term that has become very commonplace today. It is a concept that many have come to see as important as leaders do have a very big role to play when it comes to driving teams in the right direction. Choices and decisions made by leaders/managers impact the team heavily. Leaders must have high ethical standards to be able to manage and work effectively. Ethical leadership is the core of a great organization; a leader bears the greatest responsibility in the overall direction of an organization and that applies to ethics as well. An ethical leader must first and foremost be ethical; the five principles of an ethical leader should inform all levels of an organization to create an ethical culture for all parties. Maintaining ethical standards can make or break an organization and that depends greatly on the leadership that is practiced. Working at Sigmund Cohn, I have seen how ethics take priority over anything. Production will be stopped until certain questions are answered.
Ethics is so important in business because it gives a company credibility. When a company has credibility the consumers trust the company and will tend to buy from the company more regularly. Employees become loyal and are motivated to drive the business forward. According to Schermerhorn (2004), “an individual that feels secure in a working environment can move on to being more focused on an organization’s goal.” Creditors and investors show their commitment and confidence by funding company development and consumer confidence is positive. Ethical business practices build fundamentals of trust with colleagues, competitors, staff, customers and every other individual and entity. The result of an unethical practices can be declining profits and a loss of market share. However, ethics are cultural specific. “What it is considered ethical in one culture may be considered unethical in another (Chiu,
Keeping in mind, as a leader, that he/she is a role model. Individuals will acquire ideas about the how the organization operates, the culture of the organization, and about what is considered as ethical behavior, from the leader. This paper presents a comparative analysis of three articles: Kottle and Pelletier (2013), Groves and LaRocca (2011), and Cheng and Wang (2015). These three articles concentrated on the ethical behavior of a leader. An analysis of these articles establishes a theme and general perception of the ethical behavior of a leader. The importance of understanding ethics, incentives that operate as an example and forming strategies for businesses are discussed because of their importance regarding development of good leadership. These key aspects suggest personal ethics positively affect leadership and when made a priority for leaders will produce ethical and effective leadership. An examination of the research questions will be followed by a review of the samples, results and conclusions
The important of leadership and ethics issues are two concepts that are interrelated linked with an organizational environment. Ultimately, all stakeholders of an organization want their leaders and organizations to be ethically sound. Bazerman & Tenbrunsel, (2011). Having exercise the power and influence given to leaders over their followers, ethics practice will be critical to the process of leadership. Northouse, (2013). Ciulla (2004) argued that to achieve “good leadership,” leaders must be morally sound and as such, “ethics lies at the heart of leadership studies” (p. 18). Similarly, followers expect their leaders to be honest and ethical (Northouse, 2013). Honesty
Ethics are the driving force behind good business. Every ethical choice made by a professional can and will have a much different outcome than any unethical choice. Bad ethics can ruin many aspects of a business and as (Gaye-Anderson, 2007) states how quite easily the lives and professional reputation of the employees can even be severally damaged (para. 3). Everything from morale to motivation can be severely affected by poor ethical choices. Customers will take their business elsewhere. Employees will abandon ship. Other, competing businesses reap the benefits of the bad moral choices. Ultimately, the entire business can be brought down by one poor ethical choice.
Ethics is the responsibility of each individual person, but starts with the CEO and the Board of Directors, setting the right tone at the top and moves down through the organization, including setting the tone in the middle. A company’s culture and ethic standards start at the top, not from the bottom. Employees will almost always behave in the manner that they think management expects them, and it is foolish for management to pretend otherwise (Scudder). One of the CEO’s most important jobs is to create, foster, and communicate the culture of the organization. Wrongdoings or improper behavior rarely occurs in a void, leaders typically know when someone is compromising the company
Ethical behaviour is what all career people should aim to have. Not just the ethical attribute but exceptional behaviour with this regard.this is because in order to build a career, one must be governed by the rules of ethics to safeguard oneself and others. Ethics are essential in the workplace because a tough ethical code provides a non-threatening environment with high employee morale. The corporate social responsibility is important to everyone,therefore it should not be neglected by the employees and the organization. Ethics purely center on personal conduct. It involves personal choices that can make or break a person in the workplace or business. The major importance of having good conduct is to maintain a high level of respect not just for people but for the proffession. Most people who begin their working career have aspirations of excelling at their jobs and reaching the pinnacle of their profession while maintaining a sense of values; however employees often become blind with ambition and put aside their sense of ethics in order to obtain financial security and recognition for their efforts. There are many things that one can gain from having good behavioural ethics in the workplace. It will develop a discipline which will propel the work practices to a higher level and will help set a high standard. It will promote teamwork among the workersand will also buil...