As the company’s current view right now, the concern with top executives earning the most amount of money instead of enhancing the development of the company to be the best it can be. Senior staff need to lead by example for the lower levels to follow. The senior staff (top executives) needs to recognize the compensation they’ve received is way too high of a percentage and needs to cut down its funds and allocate it to ethical training program, and programs that provide support to those who are facing ethical dilemmas. Establishing the code of ethics and provide ethical training will guide and understand what is to be expected.
Liedka (1991) suggested that many managers find themselves forced to choose between preserving their relationship with the firm and following their own values. Tetlock (1992) showed that individuals confronted with complex problems view a justifiable decision as the most socially rational, demonstrating the power of perceived organizational norms. Beu and Buckley (2004) argued that organizations can affect the rules of the game in favour of ethical behaviour by implementing ethics programs. In this study two types of ethics programs are described, Codes of ethics and Values based organizations. In line with this paper, under Codes of ethics the employee is accountable for the organization. Members of the organization know what is expected of them, they know to whom they might justify their behaviour and they understand the sanctions and the benefits associated with their behaviour (formal type). By contrast, Value based organizations focus on defining organizational values and encouraging employee commitment to ethical aspiration through personal self-governance. (informal type). Concerning influential types of management/leadership in ethical behaviour, findings contain mainly the following types- as they were described by Trevino & Brown (2004): Transformational leadership: these relationships entail future obligations that are unspecified and are enforced by norms of reciprocity. Without the protection of contractually specified obligations, the perceived trust-worthiness of the partners and the fairness of the exchange become important for developing and maintaining lasting relationships. The obligation is voluntary and the benefits may be non-monetary, hence the loss of reputation plays an important role here. Leaders, in this category raise followers’ level of moral development and focus followers
A company’s everyday decision making should be ethical, but some decision can lead to ethical
In simple words, a moral theory is an effort at outlining what an individual ought to do in accord to an intrinsic good. It can take many aspects, each with it’s own strength and weaknesses, and each appealing in it’s own way. In this paper I will focus on two normative ethical theories, consequentialism and deontology. I will respectively describe each one, and will then proceed to list their corresponding benefits and shortcomings. I will conclude by siding with consequentialism for various reasons that I will try my best to explain.
Nelson, William A. Healthcare Executive Column. July/August 2005; Making Ethical Decisions: A Six-Step Process Should Guide Ethical Decision Making in Healthcare; Healthcare Management Ethics. July/August
Examples of selfish behavior are depicted in the work force. People in the business world have minimal consideration for the prosperity of their coworkers, or much concern for the social feeling that we recognize as important. Many business practices are literally established on the rule that a superiority of one employee can only develop from the drawback of another. Employees are not repremanded for such conduct even though there is a obvious cruel intention behind it. Daily business habits that convey self interest and lack social feeling towards others contaminate society in general, making it difficult for people to pursue their conscience in the civilized way they desire. Even the people with good motives are forced to, under the constraints of the business world, defend themselves to the best of their abilities neglecting morality. Society usually neglects the fact this personal protection includes damage to another person. This constant practice of making decisions for selfish reasons that is encouraged by society’s work force deforms people’s decision making skills, making them more immoral. Self interest is the giving into social pressures in order to survive in
The distinction between right and wrong has been a matter of discussion for centuries, whether expressed through philosophical essays, social organisation or artistic creation. Deontological ethics is a philosophical theory which dissects acts into right and wrong on the basis of the adherence of an act to a specific rule. One of the many formulations of deontology is Kantianism, a view introduced by Immanuel Kant, which argues that the basis for morality are motives for one’s action rather than the consequences of it and searches a justification for one’s duty to behave in a certain manner. One of the critiques or counter positions of Kant’s ethics is Sartrean existentialism as it denies the possibility of an absolute moral system and focuses on the individual morality rather than social one and bases on one’s commitment to his chosen values. Yet drawing parallels between the two positions is far from impossible, despite Sartre’s strong opposition to Kantian moral theory.
Deontology which is derived from the Greek words Deon (meaning obligation/duty) and logia (science/study) combined to be also known as duty or rule-based ethics or the study of duties or obligations. It is a branch of ethical theories that deals with ethics of conduct, which theories are based on the sort of actions people must perform. It is based on non-consequentialism where the ends do not justify the means and thus deontology is an approach to ethics in which a sense of duty or principle prescribes the ethical decision (Preston, 2007). Deontology affirms duties must be obeyed regardless of the consequences. The theory of Deontology has its flaws as well and this essay will present three criticisms of deontology namely that deontology relies on moral absolutes, allows acts that make the world a worse place, two permissible duties that are right can conflict with each other and will demonstrate these flaws with relevant case studies and dilemmas.
The process in which we make ethical decisions stems from something far greater than rules and regulations they have a lot to do with moral philosophies. There has been an abundance of research as to how the two are related and there are strong findings that suggest that ethics orbit around our own individual perspectives and views of others around us. The two most discussed approaches of ethical decisions arise from a cognitive approach and an interpersonal approach. Philosophers have studied ethical behavior for centuries, and most have framed it as a cognitive exercise (Honderich 1995). Many scholars believe that ethical decision making begins with being aware of what is considered ethical and acknowledging ethical issues. When a person is aware of what ethical behavior is a person can then make sound judgment about what the issues are can begin to establish intent on how to handle the situation ethically.
The implementation and education of the ethical decision-making model promote moral awareness and company values that can mitigate ethical dilemmas to an extent. The aftermath was devastating for Wells Fargo not just economically but for its image. The corporation can introduce this model in training courses for new hires and current employees. Also ensuring management comprehends the prominence of ethical decisions and are aware that they are the wheels of the car, therefore, lead by example. If the corporation initially had prioritized ethical values and decision-making evaluations at every level of the business, this scandal could have been prevented at least its magnitude. Contracting ethical officers and on-going training would have educated employees on the proper decision making steps. This dilemma safeguarded that Wells Fargo will take a different approach with its management team, ensuring they are trustworthy and promoting the company values, as customer satisfaction and trust is the
Despite the world 's trend toward upholding business ethics, the major corporate scandals in the past decade including the familiar Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, AIG, and Madoff cases along with Toshiba 's disgrace in the recent days, send a clear and consistent message and that is: we are still living in an era of immaturity in ethical awareness.
Must employees will notice, criticized, or even emulated the moral failures of their leaders. If we look at our world history, it is filled with examples of how competent leaders have failed from ancient times to modern times. Periodically, we read about unethical behavior in some type of media outlet. Which often corrupts the public’s trust in the leader’s company or agency, then it brings the individual leader into question.
Ethics in business and in corporate culture has become a critical issue for many companies. There is need to pay more attention to an analysis of unethical behavior in leadership and its relation to corporate culture. Ethical leadership is a growing concept and many large companies are promoting business ethics as their corporate social responsibility. The behavior and the individual values of the leader provide the direction to the business. Leader’s actions in term of ethical behavior and unethical behavior gives ideas to the employee and other stakeholders that what need to follow and what values are aspired in an organization. The position of the leader with moral and ethical values is most important to provide the solutions to ethical issues in a workplace. This also evident from above discussion that ethical leadership is also crucial in developing the ethical culture within an organization. The employee performance can also incredibly increased by ethical and moral behavior in a workplace that practice good ethics. Finally, the overall performance of an organization in term of its financial outcomes is also benefited from the ethic practice. The case study of L’Oreal also provides a good example of all
Basically, ethics are at their essence which is it is the moral judgments about what is right and what is wrong. Business ethics is focusing on examine the policies and conduct within the context of commercial enterprise in an organizational as well as in an individual level. In business, the ethics in business is an applied ethics where professionals and researchers use principles and theories to solve any ethical problems that exist in business. At the quarter of the 20th century, as technologies like internet have made world business or international business all more viable, the business ethics domestically have grown in importance along with the power and significance of major businesses. So that, international business ethics take center stage as a major concern of the modern era. The earlier opinion stated that a business cannot be ethical, but this opinion is not used anymore in the modern business. Today business has belief that they must be responsible for social since they live and operate within a social structure. The key factors that make business ethics is important at the quarter of the 20th century are corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and globalized economy.
Being an ethical business captivate and keep employees, stakeholders, and employees as they consider knowing