Ethics at Work and Ethical Analysis

Ethics at Work and Ethical Analysis
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Abstract
Ethical decision-making is paramount in organizations that have to deal with ethical issues in uncertain circumstances where numerous interests, stakeholder and values are in conflict and laws are not applicable. Moral problems may arise in situations where leaders or managers use a particular approach to make a decision that affects the welfare, health or safety of consumers, a community or employees. Hence, organizations should strive to promote an organizational culture that supports the principles of ethical decision making. In this paper, I admit the fact that I always make decisions that affect other people in different ways. The factors that influence decision making include ethical competency and awareness. I also discuss the three main categories of ethics-based principle and choose to apply concern-for-others principle since it promotes fairness for all. The role of organizational culture in ethical decision making is also discussed. Lastly, research indicates that organizations can create employees’ awareness of ethics and ethical decision making through education and training.
How my Decisions Affect other People
Making decisions is a mandatory process that not only takes place in the workplace but also in everyday life of a person. According to Ejimabo (2015), individuals decide on a wide variety of things in different ways under different circumstances. These decisions may be personal, political, medical, romantic, career or financial.

Personally, I make decisions almost on a daily basis but hardly reflect on how their outcomes affect the people around me or the other issues that may arise as a result of my actions. For instance, I may decide to seek employment in a different company after realizing that it pays well and has excellent working conditions for employees trying to advance their careers. This decision seems perfect since it offers me room to advance my career. Unfortunately, I will hardly consider the impact of my decision on my team members, the customers whom I had established a working relationship and the organization at large which had invested in nurturing my leadership skills. Rarely would do I think of an increase in employee turnover rate if I choose to leave a company whose employees perceive me as a person of influence and integrity.
Factors Influencing Decision Making
Different situations cause organizational issues which may require more than a single approach to problem-solving. Case in point, it is unwise for an employer always to increase the wages of employees every time they raise the issue. Instead, the Human Resource Department and the management should take the initiative to investigate the root of the problem over a given duration. Slocum and Hellriegel (2011) explain that some circumstances may not have a simple rule for ethical decision making. Nevertheless, the primary interest of the leaders is to develop ethics competency which guides them in making moral decisions. Ejimabo (2015) also notes that problems lack a single solution because some choices tend to be simple while others need more than one approach to make a decision due to their complex nature.
Therefore, ethics competency plays a crucial role in decision making. It is the role of leaders to validate values that are right and demonstrate effectiveness in ethical decision making as well as consider an alternative course of action when conducting ethical issue assessments. During the process, the involved parties should promote open communication. Leaders also have to ensure that they weigh the available and necessary options as well as the outcome of the decisions they make, putting into consideration the various ways through which the outcomes affect shareholders, the organizations, employees, customers and the society (Slocum & Hellriegel, 2011). Importantly, any effective decision-making process takes time and requires vast knowledge sharing.
Application of the Ethics-Base Principles in a Business
The use of the ethics-based principles in business varies according to the values, leadership and culture of an organization. The modern society is particularly sensitive to matters of equality and corporate social responsibility as well as employee development. The self-serving principles justify behaviors and decisions that serve the best interests of a person or benefit the organization. I would not apply this principle to my business since it ignores the interests of employees and other affected parties. Rani, Krishna Prasad and Gowri Shankar (2015) explain that unlike senses, that put the interests of a person first, ethics prioritizes others over oneself. On the other hand, the balancing interests’ principles such as means-end and utilitarian principles create justification for decisions that an organization make with the aim of balancing the interests of groups of multiple individuals. I can apply this principle to my businesses only in situations of an ethical dilemma.
Notably, I would apply the concern-for-other principle in my business due to several reasons. The modern society prioritizes matter of equality, employee engagement and human rights. Work policies, procedures and regulations should support distributive justice. For instance, employees should be in a position to enjoy distributive justice through liberty and opportunity in the workplace. In support of my choice, Lian and Min (2015) argue that the use of distributive justice in an organization indicates the firm values the workers’ contribution and acts justly. Hence, employees build trust and cooperate with the management which results in high work productivity.
The Role of Organizational Culture in Decision-Making and Ethics
Organizational culture refers to the assumptions and beliefs that are considered useful and are passed down and taught to new members regarding how they should behave in the organization (Graham, 2014). It is, therefore, the role of the management to ensure employees engage in behaviors that comply with the organizational goal by controlling their activities. The role of organizational culture in ethics and decision-making is to create a unitary corporate culture around the critical ethical values. This approach enables both employees and leaders to engage actively in making effective decisions. This method also supports strong moral leadership that adheres to the set code of ethics. Unitary organizational culture also creates room for the development of an ethics program whose primary beneficiary is a team of like-minded and ethical people working for the organization.
Contrary to a unitary culture, other organizations opt for subculture approach which embraces cultural diversity. This approach also plays a crucial role in ethics and decision-making since it creates values that influence employee’s behavior. For instance, organizational culture determines employees’ engagement through the level of trust and mutual respect that they establish with the organization (Sahoo & Mishra, 2012). Hence, employers who can acknowledge and respect the differences in employees’ values and beliefs set ethical standards and make effective decisions.
Training Employees on Ethical Behaviors
In my opinion, employees can receive training on ethical behavior. Every organization looks forward to a point where employees fit the description of (OCB) Organizational Citizenship Behavior (morally intelligent, and highly ethical) (Caldwell, Floyd, Atkins & Holzgrefe, 2012). According to Sekerka (2009), organizations can create awareness on proper conduct through ethics training which should not only help employees understand the issue but also help them solve ethical problems effectively. Furthermore, the worker can apply for courses that focus on ethics to gain vast knowledge that can be of personal and organizational gain.
Conclusion
Decision making and ethics play a vital role in defining an organization and its success. Leaders can make ethical decisions by applying the ethics-based principles, demonstrating ethical competency and showing awareness on good and bad practices. Given the fact that people affect others with the choices they make, it is essential for them to recognize the aspects of decision-making and apply the ethics-based principles when solving an organizational problem. Importantly, organizations should adopt strategies that enhance a unitary culture or a subculture that can help employees improve their ethical standards. Education and training are among the programs that a firm can start to create awareness among employees on ethics.

References
Caldwell, C., Floyd, L. A., Atkins, R., & Holzgrefe, R. (2012). Ethical duties of organizational citizens: Obligations owed by highly committed employees. Journal of business ethics, 110(3), 285-299.
Ejimabo, N. O. (2015). The Influence of Decision Making in Organizational Leadership and Management Activities. Journal of Entrepreneurship & Organization Management.
Graham, J. (2015). The Role of Corporate Culture in Business Ethics. Vysokaskolamanazmentu, Slovakia, retrieved from w ww. cutn. sk/library in December.
Lian, Z., & Min, L. (2015). Distributive justice climate and job performance: the mediating role of industrial relations climate. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43(1), 145-152. doi:10.2224/sbp.2015.43.1.145
Rani, M. J., Krishna Prasad, C. V., & Gowri Shankar, K. U. (2015). Ethical decision making: guiding principles. CLEAR International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 6(10), 1-6.
Sahoo, C. K., & Mishra, S. (2012). A framework towards employee engagement: The PSU experience.
Sekerka, L. E. (2009). Organizational ethics education and training: A review of best practices and their application. International Journal of Training and Development, 13(2), 77-95.
Slocum, J. W., & Hellriegel, D. (2011). Individual and organizational ethics. In Principles of organizational behavior (13th ed., p. 672). Australia [etc.: South-Western Cengage Learning.