The ethical issues raised by historical workplace conundrums, where ethical behavior in most organizations has not been obvious, are covered in this essay's abstract. Many unethical practices that are common in businesses have been discussed, along with wonderful concepts and understanding about how to handle both individual and organizational behaviors. In addition, the article reviews the literature and makes an effort to paint a picture of the current state of the corporate world. The topic of conversation includes factors affecting an individual, a group, and an organization, as well as knowledge gaps and impediments to performance. It also emphasizes diversity and prejudice and how those issues have affected businesses as a result of overuse. In conclusion, the research emphasizes the advantages of implementing voluntary programs to help improve productivity and profits in the firms.
Key words: behavior, business, diversity, productivity, program
Historical Ethical Dilemmas
Unethical Behavior at Workplace
Unethical behavior is a conduct that is against what is required of a morally upright person, profession or business. In the workplace, it is referred to as an action that does not confide with the rules and the regulations established by the organization. It can arise in the way the employees relate or how the employer runs the business. The most common forms of unethical behavior in the workplace include the misuse of time, where co-workers may decide to cover up for a latecomer to the office or through making calls to their spouses, family and their personal businesses during working hours. Another form of unethical behavior is the employee theft where those who are responsible for procurement or account office may decide to manipulate records of sales or expenses to earn individual benefits. It may lead to huge loses to the company as the money that should be allocated for company expenses is diverted to individuals. Abusive behavior is another form where leaders in high positions or power may tend to mistreat their juniors. Such a behavior form revolves around gender, race and ethical origin of the people involved. When the employer lies to the employees in the organization, trust virtue is lost leading to unethical behavior. In workplaces where there is no trust, people tend to underperform in their allocated tasks. Another form is the violating of the company’s Internet resources where some workers may surf the Internet through Facebook or Twitter during working hours. It may lead to the company spending more resources than it should to meet its goals, hence translating to huge loses in the company (Itai, Rachel, Eran&Simcha, 2013).
The leadership in the organization can help minimize unethical conduct by keeping the promises they have for the employees, initiating open communication, ensuring that employees have all the information needed to facilitate good performance in the work, and supporting those who uphold the standards of ethics. In the organizations where leaders act less on the minimization of the unethical behavior, there will be little or no significant change (Janet & Kathie, 2013)
How Businesses Have Evolved to be More Ethical Today
In the business today, there is the progress in the ethical behavior compared to the historical days as people now seem to care more about their social influence to protect their companies brand or reputation. Business ethics involves moral behavior for the professionals. The factors that lead to evolved businesses ethic include protecting the brand, globalization, establishing the customers’ trust, and the winning investors’ confidence. When a company has good morals and keeps promises, investors will then have peace of mind about their money being used in the right way, hence winning their confidence while in the aim of establishing customers’ trust, one should observe the ethical behavior and corporate social responsibility that can translate to attracting customers to the products, hence boosting sales and benefits of a company. Protecting company’s brand is an important factor as its ethical conducts define whether the firm risks being poorly behaved and likely to breach the laws concerning the behavior (Janet & Kathie, 2013). Reputation also is considered as once lost, it is difficult to rebuild it and, therefore, organizations are encouraged to keep the promises and observe ethical conducts to maintain a good brand for the firm. In globalization, businesses can be increased through social influence spreading in a wide range in the world. If a firm is known to have good morals and social ethics then, it is likely that clients may be attracted to buy their products, thus increasing demand. This will, therefore, lead to the expansion of the business to new areas making the firm to go global.
Financial Meltdown in the 2007-2008 due to the Failure of Capital Market Processes
Capital market processes are where long-term debts securities are bought or sold to investors. In the years 2007-2008, the financial crisis was a result of a failure of capital market processes. There were policies that encouraged home ownership, easier access to loans by subprime and overvaluation of bundled loans. The crisis started with the subprime mortgage market in 2007, which was expanded by low interest, lax regulation, and security and implicit guaranteed by the government that created moral hazard leading to risky lending. It then developed to international banking with investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. The collapse was a result of excessive risk-taking, which in turn helped to expand financial impact. The high rate of mortgage approval attracted a large number of interested buyers, thus the house prices went up causing those in subprime borrowing against the house. The high rates caused rapid depreciation of financial institutions as the value of the assets increased and the number of buyers reduced while the banks involved started to have insufficient funds. Bail-outs by national government were employed to financial institutions to help prevent the collapse of world financial sectors. The crisis caused failure in major businesses, the decline in wealth consumer, and deterioration in the economy.
Diversity and Discrimination at Workplace
Diversity involves gender, race, ethnic groups, age, personality and education among others. It entails individuals’ perception leading to the way of interaction. Employees would work effectively in a firm if the leaders promote factors such as communication, adaptability, and changes. An organization will progress due to its ability to recognize diversity and its benefits. The adaptability factor entails having different people with various talents and experiences endorsed in the plans for coping with the fluctuating market and client demand. Diverse people with many skills give a company high chance to be global as different languages, cultures and ideas are involved. When communication as a factor is employed to various people in a firm, different ideas will be drawn from the pool to assist in addressing the company’s needs. Discrimination means being treated unequally to others due to race, age, and ethnic group among others. In workplaces, employment laws should be enforced to ensure fair hiring, firing, demoting and promotion based on the judgment that treats all employees fairly. Otherwise, it causes damage to one’s self-esteem and can tarnish company’s reputation due to risks of lawsuits and fines (Alex & Hoi, 2012).
The impact on a firm as a result of mismanaging the above issues may occur due to differences in age, ethnicity, religion or any other individual traits that cause negative effects on production. For example, in a company that diversifies with time without a strategy, discrimination between the manager and the subordinate staff or between the employees can be enhanced. It is likely for discrimination to be found in a firm with diverse workforce due to different traits among the people. An organization that has such a feature can offer the wide range of ideas, skills and energies, thus improving production and causing high competition on the market. This working environment will be of benefit to the employees as they will have a better appreciation and respect for the difference. Contrasting views are encouraged leading to the improved working team and success, higher staff morale, better delivery standards since the workers are motivated and strengthened to progress well. The whole environment will be vibrant, nurturing, and inclusive.
Corporate Outreach and Company Sponsored Volunteer Programs
The corporate outreach and company sponsored volunteer programs are a good idea to implement in firms since they have a great value in the long run. They contribute to the increase in employees’ engagement, recruiting of young staffs, and enhancing company’s recognition in the community. The improvement in employee engagement is brought about by the satisfaction and high working morale, thus increased production and profits rates occur. Young workers are recruited especially in situations where there are specified personnel or possess high demand skills. The company’s reputation is improved in the public’s eye or may also help to maintain a hard-earned image in the face of challenges. Ethical leadership involves demonstrating appropriate conduct by the personal actions, interpersonal relations or encouraging factors like communication and decision making. Implementation of the above programs gives an opportunity for employees to develop their careers and leadership skills, which translate to the increased staff retention. The skills and the competencies the workers have could result in a positive impact on the nonprofit image through the volunteering opportunities that lead to future participation, acquisition of new skills and firms’ loyalty (Alex & Hoi, 2012).
References
Alex, W.H.C., & Hoi, Y. C. (2012).Culture dimensions, ethical sensitivity and corporate governance. Journal of business Ethics, 110(1), 45-59.
Itai, B., Rachel, D., Eran, V.G., & Simcha, B.W. (2013) Advancing ethics in public organizations: The impact of an ethics program on employers’ perception and behavior in a regional council. Journal of Business Ethics, 112(1), 59-78.
Janet, L.K., & Kathie, L. P., (2013). Measuring and differentiating perceptions of supervisor and top leaders ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(3), 415-428.
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