The Importance of Ethics in Informing Organisational Culture - Research Paper Example

Ethics Introduction Ethics is not limited to guiding individual behaviour since it applies to organisations as well in an effort to cultivate ethical culture where an individual takes responsibility for their own behaviour. As such, organisational ethics is the responsibility of an organisation to carry on its processes in an honest, respectable and appropriate manner. Organisation ethics are not driven by policies and procedures but by the leader’s actions (Gilliland, 2007). Good leaders should model the ethics they would like to see reflected throughout the organisation. Employees mostly follow the actions of the leaders such that if an employee knows that a leader is dishonest in business dealings, there is the likelihood that he or she will conduct business ignoring the laid down rules and procedures. Thesis statement This paper will focus on the importance of ethics in informing organisational culture and the dilemma that employees are faced with when non ethical practices are involved. Importance of ethical climate Ethical climate can best be defined as part of an organisations culture. Organisation is like a tribe where the members have their own way of communicating, beliefs and assumptions as well as power structure. The elements combine to form an organisation’s culture. Different organisations are faced with are faced with different sets of ethical challenges and there is established moral values and norms which serve as guidelines for establishing ethical standards. Ethical climate as such determines what members of an organisation see as right or wrong shaping their ethical decision making and behaviour. Ethical climate is of paramount importance since it boosts the morale of employees, enriches organisational commitment and fosters an involved workforce and improves employee retention (Gilliland, 2007). Bias that impact moral decision making Biases that affect moral decision making are antisocial actions that harm others in the organisation and by extension affect the productivity of business in such an organisation. Such biases include discrimination due to gender, age, disability, level of education or job definition in the work place. Such ill treatment is guided by existing stereo types and prejudice. These stereotypes for example are the notion that old people cannot learn new skills or the belief that some races are lazy such as the Hispanic. Discrimination in the work place is generally expressed subtly through behaviours such as disregarding the achievements of people due to the colour of their skin, women, and low class status. Hiring and promotion is also done on the same basis such that some organisations will promote men despite having lesser qualifications and experience than the women (Giacalone, 2003). Nepotism is another form of bias that can affect decision making. The leader may favour those he or she is related to either by blood or coming from the same community. People who are close to the leader may be given favours at the expense of other employees. Patronage is also common where leaders owe special favours to their friends for example a board member who may have assisted the leader in to the current position. Such unethical behaviour affects the overall performance of an organization (Giacalone, 2003). This will affect the morale of the hardworking workforce and the favoured may gradually become complacent. As such the productivity of the organisation will be compromised. Incivility is also a form of bias where high level ranking employees may look down on the low or entry level employees or the subordinate such as the cleaners. Incivility will affect morale and therefore productivity. Example of an ethical dilemma There are many examples of ethical dilemma which employees in an organisation are faced with. Among these is the act of whistle blowing which may serve as a deterrent to fraudulent practices but on the other hand could make some of the employees to dedicate their time to spy on the actions of the company gathering evidence of wrong doing even if it is not in their job description and especially if a reward is involved. This is wrong from an ethical perspective since it violates the loyalty of an employee obligation to the organisation. Ethically, spying on an employer in an effort to end fraud may seem as an unacceptable behaviour but a person could argue that the end justifies the means (Chapple & Palgrave Connect, 2014). However, whistle blowing is an ethical practice where clear evidence is involved, preventing harm to the public and especially where the whistle blower has exhausted all channels of trying to resolve the matter internally. Scholars argue that it is not the whistle blowing itself that is a deterrent to fraud since companies are always aware of it but rather the knowledge that the an employee could stand to benefit financially from uncovering wrong doing and therefore proactively looking to inform outside authorities. An example of such ethical dilemma case was filed by a former employee of Amgen, a leading company in biotechnology in California where the former employee accused the company of trying to persuade doctors to use Aranesp, rather than Procrit, a competing drug sold by Johnson & Johnson. Amgen pointed out to the extra profits the doctors could make by using the overfill and billing for it. The Lawsuit also alleged that Amgen offered kickbacks to doctors in the form of fictitious consulting arrangements and weekend getaways in order to overtake market share from Johnson & Johnson. As much as loyalty is an important virtue, it should not be used as a hindrance to doing the right thing which is preventing corrupt practices. Despite the fact the case was not successful; the former employee did the right thing in informing the authorities of a suspect fraudulent activity. He should however have tried to resolve the issue with the leadership of Amgen first before whistle blowing to find out the facts as well as doing proper investigations to support such claims. Conclusion Some of the ethical principles to be considered include honesty, where both employees and employers should show honesty in all their actions and communications. Both leaders and employees should not mislead one another in their communication for the overall wellbeing of the organisation. Integrity is also vital and it takes inner courage and strength to do the right thing. Finally loyalty should always be considered especially from the employees to their employer (Chapple & Palgrave Connect, 2014). Problems especially involving ethics should first be resolved internally before taking them outside the organisation. References Gilliland, S., Steiner, D., & Skarlicki, D. (2007). Managing social and ethical issues in organizations. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Pub. Inc. Chapple, C., & Palgrave Connect (Online service). (2014). The moral responsibilities of companies. Giacalone, R. A. (2003). Handbook of workplace spirituality and organizational performance. Armonk, NY [u.a.: Sharpe. Read More