Business ethics are merely the governing codes of conduct that define the overall and expected behavior within the business (Thiel et al. 2012). Every business entity has a well-structured framework of values and policies that regulate the flow of operations and the interrelation among the staff. Business ethics are formulated by considering both the internal and external business environment including the government, staff, and suppliers. Thus the goal of business ethics is to have an inclusive interrelation between the people and the business that will ensure continuous productivity. Business ethics leads to ethical decision making. How does emotions based on religious does believes affect ethical decision making? It is indisputable that for a business to thrive well in performance, sound decisions which are ethically viable must be made and implemented with acute integrity, in the sense that no biasness or prejudice arises. The paper is going to focus on examples of three workstations to explain how emotional bias can affect value based, fact-based and policy-based decision making in business.
The Christian manager as ethical decision maker
Introduction
There is a sense in which personal religious believes have always conflicted with the professional decision making. There is a manner in which the two do not concur with each other, and that is a controversy that affects decision making in any business. For instance, a banker will have to make an ethical decision when issuing loans to clients. This decision ought to be professional and not driven by personal interest or relation. Another example is when it comes to making decisions concerning promotion in that workplace. A Christian manager or rather a religious manager would perhaps be guided by emotion to promote those workers who have stayed in the company for a long time in regardless of their values and performance. He may also be governed by emotions to encourage those who receive low salaries to boost their income which raises the question of whether such kind of a decision is viable and works for the best interest of the business. Choices include fact-based, value-based and policy-based decisions (Thiel et al. 2012)
What is a fact-based decision about ethical decision making? As the term suggests, it involves collecting evidence based on figures and facts; information which is tangible, traceable and that can be provable. There is a sense in which decision makers rely more on assumptions and opinions when making decisions. Least emphasis is given to hard facts and data in making a decision. And this is one of the factors that lead to business failure since decisions are made based on assumptions, without facts or information to hold as prove. If a Christian manager will assume that a subordinate staff is eligible for promotion just because he or she reports to the work early is an example of an unethical decision. Data ought to be collected involving, the previous performance of that employee, whether he or she does meet targets, values, and principles of the company.
Emotional bias in fact-based decision making involves ignoring or disregarding figures or data and going for assumptions. It includes failing to make informed decisions basing on tangible evidence. There is also the issue of relying on secondary information other than primary or first-hand knowledge in making fact-based decisions. A manager can quickly make a wrong choice by building on what other employees say about a particular staff. The decision made based on that approach is unscrupulous, misinformed, premature and inaccurate since there is no evidence that what other employees are saying is true. Data collected on that staff is the only evidence that provides guidance on making a sound decision that is healthy and ethical. There is also the issue of excessive optimism as a form of emotional bias that affects fact-based decision making. Excessive optimism is whereby one is blinded and excited by the current results and tends to assume that the results would remain the same in the future. It is some an illusioned decision making. For instance, an accountant may be impressed by the financial performance of a business in a particular year and tend to predict that the same will hold in the future.
What is a value-based decision? It is a rational process of making a decision based on moral principles and policies (Thiel et al. 2012). It involves honesty, accountability, commitment, transparency, and integrity. Values are merely parameters that define personal as well as organizational behavior. Values guide every person; same applies to organizations they have benefits that every employee is obligated to adhere and uphold to ensure productive operation. Some personal values like being trustworthy are too critical in organizations when making decisions. An organization that is driven by real costs will always remain robust and effective in its operations. And employees who are guided by moral principles will still uphold organizational values building trust and confidence among one another.
The effect of emotional bias on value-based decisions making cannot go untouched. How possible can emotions deviate one from regarding moral values when making decisions? An excellent example is a manager might be offered money by several people as a bribe to give a favorable decision. In such a case, the manager will automatically decide in favor of the one who offers the most substantial sum of money and disregards the rest. In such a case, the decision made is not founded on integrity, honesty, and accountability, it is based on what amuses and excites the decision maker most. Values should act as boundaries of discipline beyond which decision will be a violation of the organizational principles and policies.
The policy-based decision is a protocol undertaken in an organization that is in agreement with the organization policies and guidelines and that will have a new effect to the business (Thiel et al. 2012). The policy decision is slightly different from the values-based choice in a sense that in policy decision making there is no option other than to comply with the rules and regulations that govern the organization. But in the value-based decision, it is more of personal values and principles where the staff is expected to apply moral principles in making a decision that is incongruent with the organization policies. In other words, we can say that systems are the overall rules of the organization that every staff must comply with. Making policy based decision means going for a declaration that well matches with the organization policies. For instance, there is password policy, system policy, security policy among others. Every decision made must respect and agree with what the respective policy stipulates.
Policy-based decision making is not much affected by emotional biasness as compared to the other forms of decisions (Thiel et al. 2012). However, there are instances in which emotions like anger may lead to ignoring policies in making decisions. For example in a situation where the staff gets angry or is annoyed with a colleague he or she might decide to use the work emails to strike back to that person, bearing in mind that there is email policy which says that the works emails are for professional purposes only. Or even the workstation phones, one may decide to start quarreling with his or her colleague via the work phone. It is in violation of the communication policy of the organization where personal moral values make sense when it comes to complying with company policies. It calls for proper own ethical standards for one to be able to choose an option which is in agreement with the administration of the organization.
Conclusion
Decision making is part and parcel of any organization whether profit or non-profit. It is a very critical process which guides the operations of the organization, in the sense that one wrong decision will affect the performance of the entire organization entity. There is a need for organizations to train its employees on avoiding emotions when it comes to making decisions which are fact viable, value-based and policy-based. Emotional bias is a negative approach that will always result in making the wrong choices. Emotions are part of one’s personality, and that too can be reformed so that one can focus first on the impact of the decision to the organization before considering his or her emotions. Employees including managers ought to be in a position to exercise integrity, accountability, and professionalism and do away with personal interests and affiliations.
Reference
Thiel, C. E., Bagdasarov, Z., Harkrider, L., Johnson, J. F., " Mumford, M. D. (2012).
Leader ethical decision-making in organizations: Strategies for sense making. Journal of
Business Ethics, 107(1), 49-64.
