Morality Case

Issues at work affect us personally:

Sometimes in organizations we find that situations or events can affect us personally, which we may find as 'Morally problematic'. This could include many different things for example hiring or firing, sacking or being made redundant or the environment around you. Solutions are offered by companies in order to deal with disagreements however these are more of a 'Damage limitation method' rather than confronting moral dilemma.

Examples:

Organizational 'language' exists to help decision makers 'Depersonalise issues' and anxieties and put them under an 'Organizational moral framework', for example the book talks about some situations:

* On dismissal of a colleague: "It's their job or yours" - Makes you feel better about the situation

* "The organizations efficiency is at stake" - Justifies firing someone insulating that the dismissal of a friend is for the benefit of everyone else.

The next slide will look at how not all actions relating to morals can be hidden.

Not all morality can be hidden:

Different views:

Think back to the example in tutor groups when we did the court case on sexual harassment;

Everyone knew that it was incorrect but different views and opinions on the harassment that took place made it easy to cover up as a innocent act

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Conformity:

The book for OS says this: "Organizations are influenced by the values of the dominant coalition of people who hold power"

Conformity is essentially doing what the 'Bigger picture' demands or following the crowd in order to pursue the goals of the company, not necessarily doing the right or wrong thing.