Internal and External Factors: The four functions of management across every organization include organizing, planning, controlling, and leading. In order for an organization to be effective and successful in the ever-changing business world, these four functions of management are necessary. However, the performance of these functions in any organization is usually affected by both internal and external factors. While examples of internal factors include diversity, ethics, and innovation, external factors include technological advancements and globalization. An analysis of the internal factors shows that ethics impacts leadership and controlling functions of management as diversity and creativity affect leading and organizing functions. Moral and ethical integrity is a major factor that affects the success and productivity of an organization because of its impact on the functions of management and the management team. As organizational ethics has increasingly become an issue of major focus resulting in organizations to face huge dilemma, there have been several questions on who should manage ethics and integrity in the firm (Segon, n.d.). In most cases, organizations tend to delegate the ethics function to the human resource management practitioners or department. This is primarily because organizational ethics is largely related to the type of employees within an organization. Notably, the development and establishment of organizational ethics is regarded as a complex
During the announcement of the seventh annual list of most ethical companies in the world in 2013, Alex Brigham of Ethisphere, noted that more companies find that ethical business practices increase their competitiveness in their respective industries, helping to further substantiate the notion that a culture of ethic is crucial to sustainable excellence (Smith, 2013). Researchers in the field of Organizational Behavior has found that employees are subjected to an environment of ethical dilemma constantly. During such moments employees have a choice either to pursue with ethical conduct or engage in an unethical behavior which results in harming the organization or its stakeholder (Trevino & Brown, 2004). How the employee behave greatly depends
The survey was performed in 2010 involving members of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA). They focused on the evolution of business ethics by analyzing six other studies over a span of two-and-a-half decades. Members of the survey were ethics manager, but members on the previous studies were regular employees and management. The results of the analysis of the previous studies showed that ethics programs in companies during a time span of the 1980’s through the 1990’s was used to show social responsibilities and not necessarily to enforce it throughout the company. It showed that ethics programs now that companies follow ethical laws and they are motivated to be ethical. Another result of the study showed that ethics training at companies has increased since the 1990’s due to the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley and other laws directed at ethics. The passing of the laws in the early 2000’s has led to ethics being a major component of everyday
Human Resources professionals are in a unique position to help corporations build the integrity of the company and develop positive organizational cultures. They can use their influences on many levels within an organization promote ethics by developing programs and policies that encourage employees to make the right choices. This may be in form of a written code of ethics or ethical training for managers and employees that make them fully aware of the company’s expectations in areas such as discrimination, sexual harassment, and the treatment of employees. The HR department can also be a resource and kept close at hand when ethical situations arise they are not clearly addressed in the policies or as a mediator for conflict resolution. Since the HR department is involved in the hiring of new employees, they can be proactive in identifying desirable character traits that align with the company’s philosophies as well as on-boarding programs that reinforce the values of the company.
One of the great challenges encountered in relation to organizational ethics is that of individual ethical values. Individual factors are essential in the resolution of ethical issues of concern.
In this article the authors take the approach of analyzing three famous ethical theories. They look at the ethics of virtue by Aristotle, Immanuel Kant’s deontological ethics, and John Stuart Mill’s utilitarian happiness principle. They explain what each of these great thinkers argued constitutes moral behavior as well as their thoughts on what drives such behavior. They then apply these concepts to ethics training programs of modern day corporations. In short, one must have an understanding of the impetus of people’s ethical behaviors in order to implement an appropriate program to cultivate and reinforce the desired organization’s ethics.
Ethics are principals that practice in everyday life, helping individuals make a decision on what is right and wrong, and then doing the right thing. However, to find the answer, it is not always clear when researching for the solution, especially when company is trying to be known as a diverse environment. Most ethical dilemmas will required judgments depending on the circumstances. It is vital for managers to learned how to distinguished the morals when making the final decision because ultimately, if managers choose to do unethical. The results can affect several people that works within the organization, and company’s image to the society. With that said, corporation try to eliminate unethical behaviors that can affect
Ethics in business is defined as the principles to distinguish right from wrong and to choose ethical actions. It is the standard governance to all concerned to practice mutual respect and to establish morality in order for the entire organization to benefit. This leads to the development of code conduct that must be followed by the organization. It is highly important that the top senior management and leaders must set the standard attitudes and behavior in the entire organization to press ethical concerns. Because of the consequences of ethics in different organizations, senior leadership’s responsibility is to provide ethics because of their authority and responsibility; this has evolved significantly as a primary influence to change (Ciulla, 2004).
Ethics in the workplace and sometimes the lack thereof can significantly influence the success of an organization. Effective leaders often approach ethical dilemmas by identifying alternative actions and their consequences on stakeholders. The aftermath of the disasters caused by Enron, WorldCom, and other businesses, once prominent companies, resulted in a significant loss of confidence in business leader’s conduct. Organizations in today’s highly competitive business environment must develop an ethical culture to withstand the ever increasing scrutiny by customers, governmental regulatory agencies, and their competition. In order for companies effectively to navigate through the ethical
Companies are supposed to be able to achieve and demonstrate an ever increasing performance showing improvement on leading in their industries to acquire competitive advantages. Having a high level of performance could be greatest achieved with competent and motivated employees. The conduct of business in an organization with an ethical manner is of great importance to secure an increasing performance as well. Organizations functioning towards ethical standards should ensure unbiased applications of business and recall a sense of justice to stimulate motivation among their employees. Employees that are motivated through a positive ethical organizational climate and leadership do much better than a less motivated employee. This promotes the organizational achievement that causes
Ethics at work, specifically applied to employees is one of the most important tasks of the human resources team of any company. Whether it's right or wrong, good or bad, it must be communicated, explained and done from the top of the management team all the way to the employees. Situations were ethics come into play are really common in any given day at work. Are we discriminating because of sex, race, and age? Can we lie to customers just to make business? The list can go on an on. Ethical situations exist and the way we manage them will have a huge impact on the results.
As a Human Resources professional there is one part of your job, which lacks a sufficient amount of training, but is essential for you to perform every aspect of the job. Most companies assume that you have a clear understanding of what is acceptable or expected when it comes to ethics values. It 's not always the case, basically, when you take a human resource position you are taking responsibility to direct the company in making ethical decisions and actions. This can take a variety of forms, we tend to allow our personal beliefs and ethics guide us and our decisions. Although this is a good place to start, we must remember that we deal with numerous beliefs, and a diverse workforce. Additionally, the responsibility to build credible and ethical relationships are not only within the organization, but also with the business community and the customer base. The aim of developing a strong ethical program is to identify both the rules that should govern people’s behavior who are engaged with work activities and to enhance the credibility and the value of the human resource department.
In today’s world where technological advances have made our lives so much better and convenient, access to immense knowledge had never been this easier, so much have been achieved because of these technological advances that it wouldn’t be wrong to say that we are having world at our fingertips. Businesses have benefited immensely from these technological advances; productivity is improving with each passing day as it has become so much easier to always keep an eye on employees and increase the productivity that leaves us with a very fine line between ethical and unethical behaviors. It is the Human Resource Managements duty to implement moral codes in organizational structure. It’s the organization’s Human Resource Management job to outlay if somethings ethical or unethical and not just draft it in
Different companies set the ethical standards that are meaningful to their organization. Ethical standards help employees in making right decisions that are beneficial to the organization (Ebimobewei, 2012). Employees become open when they see a wrong and unethical act to the company. Ethical standards provide guidance on what to do when ethical dilemmas arise.
Increasingly, organizations are paying attention to ethics partly due to the positive influence it has on the behavior of employees (Marta et al., 2013). The field of human resources has numerous ethical challenges. However, the most common are the quality of work life, diversity in the workplace, worth of an individual, impartiality of human resources managers, and fair
The purpose or aim of every organization is to establish such an organizational culture and behavior among its employees that helps in achievement of ideal ethical standards. There are certain determinants that play a critical role in helping achieve the right organizational culture. Some of these include personal moral intensity, social ties, codes of ethics, locus of control and Machiavellianism. These