Ethics in the Workplace

Abstract

Sound ethical principles are crucial in creating an ethical organization, as well as, promoting the attitude that working within ethical guidelines is of extreme importance in organizational growth, longevity, and decline. In recent years, large organizations, such as the Enron Corporation and WorldCom suffered tremendous loss and ultimate collapses due to unethical and illegal behaviors of top managers. In order to build an organization that is both sensitive and responsive to consumer's needs and is accepted by society, a code of ethics must be developed, which in turn, must govern the organization. Operating within this code of ethics builds relationships that not only offer integrity, but value as well. In order for employees to perform their duties in an ethical manner, employers must establish the ground rules that foster and maintain tenets of an ethical environment (Maginnis & Charles, 2009). Consequently, this paper will explore the importance of ethics training for employees, as well as, their employers, and the outcome of those organizations that neglect and abandon ethical principles.

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Bernard "Bernie" Madoff, Ken Lay, Andrew Fastow, and Bernard Ebbers are just a few in a long list of CEOs who gained notoriety through their use of unethical principles in the operations and management of their organizations, Bernard Madoff Investment Securities LLC, Enron, and WorldCom. Despite the ill gains and possible legal prosecutions, these men, like many others, opted to continue their pursuit of swindling millions, if not billions of dollars, which led to their prosecutions, incarcerations, and ultimate demise of their organizations. They overlooked ethics and neglected the ideas of good and bad, right and wrong.

Ethics play a pivotal role in the success of an organization. Ethics can be defined as the inner-guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs that people use to analyze or interpret a situation and then decide what is the right or appropriate way to behave. Additionally, ethics indicate what inappropriate behavior is and how a person should behave to avoid doing harm to another (Jones, 2010). Many CEOs and top managers, in addition to the ones previously listed, fail to consider how workplace ethics apply to the practical goals of their organization and the work of their employees.

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The old adage, "money is the root of all evil,' is in most instances the explanation which provides reasons for unethical practices in business organizations. Unethical practices in business organizations are the result of lack of training, which highlights reprimands for engaging in unethical and/or illegal behavior, as well as, intentional avoidance of codes of ethics that are already in place. Additionally, due to the fact that managers choose to ignore codes of ethics, many employees follow suit and believe that there is absolutely nothing wrong with conducting business illegally or unethically, as long as it gets done. For instance, Sean Valentine (2009) suggests that managers are some of the most important individuals for the development of an ethical context because they often set the stage for ethical conduct for all other organizational members.

It has been the argument that many, if not all, organizations are already equipped with codes of ethics, guidelines and principles. However, whether or not there is any adherence to these principles is left to be determined. Take into consideration the following statement that David Gebler (2006) suggests in his article, "Creating an Ethical Culture,"

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that in most companies, ethics programs are really no more than compliance programs with a veneer of do the right thing messaging to create an apparent link to the company's values. Additionally, he suggests that if an organization wants to reduce the risk of unethical conduct, it must focus more effort on building the right culture than on building a compliance infrastructure (Gebler, 2006). In other words, in order to build the right culture, one that is socially responsible, morally, as well as, socially upstanding, managers and CEOS, must understand what motivates individuals to act unethically. As previously mentioned, some employees choose to engage in unethical practices simply because their behaviors are overlooked or because their employers condone these behaviors.

With these things being said, in order to create an ethical organization, there is an absolute must for ethical principles to be at the very core and foundation of the organization. Work performance, goals, strategies, duties and responsibilities, and expectations are of equal importance, but in order for any of these to be adequately measured and effectively carried out, ethics must come into play. Therefore, ethics training should be considered a mandatory standard for all organizations. Consequently, research suggests that the government is now

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imposing new rules and restrictions on businesses and their leaders in the wake of the recent economic crisis, attempting to address the regulatory failure and corporate avarice frequently blamed for the global recession (Lager, 2010). Further, he suggests that leaders who wish to avoid fines or business failure should prevent abusive or improper business conduct not by adoption of codes of conduct and periodic rules-based ethics training, but by establishing and maintaining a values-based organizational culture supportive of ethical behavior, largely through the principles of ethical leadership (Lager, 2010).

Research suggests that there are six components of successful ethics training. First, organizations should provide trainees with an understanding of ethical judgment philosophies and heuristics. Second, they should provide industry/profession specific areas of ethical concern. Third, organizations should provide trainees with organizational ethical expectations and rules. Fourth, they should provide trainees with an understanding of their own ethical tendencies. Fifth, they should take a realistic view; elaborate on the monkey wrenches in ethical decisions, and lastly, get the trainees to practice and return (Knouse & Giacalone, 1997).

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Many employees and employers alike view ethics training as a means of teaching morality; instead, ethics training should be viewed as an attempt to engage in morally proper behavior in a business setting. Ethical problems will arise in every organization; though, perhaps not to the extent of the problems which surfaced in the examples