Personal and Business Ethics - Essay Example

Introduction Business ethics play critical role in the overall functioning of an organization as effective business ethics policy allows organizations to actually better understand the business dynamics in more effective manner. The overall complexity of the business organizations as well as the global nature of the business has made it more difficult for the organizations to engage into any kind of ethical misconduct. As such effective mangers and business leaders therefore have to develop an effective strategic orientation towards understanding the business and personal ethics in more elaborative manner while at the same time ensure that organization does not engage into such behaviors. This has become possible only due to increasing regulations as well as the scrutiny from the stakeholders in order to avoid any unexpected organizational controversy or crisis. (Butcher & Clarke, 1999) Apart from business ethics, personal ethics also play critical role as to how the managers actually behave and act within the organizational settings. Organizational politics as well as other issues may force the managers to engage themselves into behaviors which can be unethical in their true nature without being considered as unethical. The role of office politics in effective management of the organization therefore is one of the issues which have come across many times in organizational studies to understand the relationship between the two. This paper will therefore explore the question of how important it is for the effective managers to actually to have an understanding of the personal and business ethics in order to perform more effectively at organizational level. Ethics Ethics are basically related with the moral obligations of the individuals, social justice as well as the personal responsibility. As such the ethics therefore outline the characteristics of an individual as to how he actually behave and act within a given setting. Ethics are also refereed as one’s duty to other human beings and it even may require going beyond what one is supposed to act as per law. Thus ethics are something which supersede the laws also and depend upon the overall nature of the individual, what characteristics he have and how he behave and act within a given setting in a manner which is more ethical for others. Business Ethics Study of business ethics and how managers and organizations apply the same to the business settings is an important aspect of how the organizations actually manage themselves. Business ethics therefore attempt to discuss and provide explanation to the problems and issues which may arrive at the organizational level and may involve unethical behavior both by the organizations as well as the employees. (Mauro, Natale, & Libertella, 1999) Business ethics are important in the sense that they allow the organizations to have a constant check on themselves and also to ensure that they do not engage into the practices which can be unethical in nature. The complex nature of the competition as well as the increase globalization of the businesses has made it more challenging for the organizations to actually compete. As such it is relatively possible that the organizations may engage into practices which are ethical in nature and can support the organizational objectives rather than creating crisis for the organizations. (HUCZYNSKI & Buchnan, 2004) Different approaches indicate as to what approaches organizations and individual managers can take in order to comply with the business as well as the personal ethics. One such approach advocates the virtue based approach wherein both the managers as well as the organizations are required to integrate a business philosophy which is based upon the notion of virtues. This is critical because reference to virtue actually allow managers to deeply understand as to how individual behave and how they can become more moral in their actions. This approach therefore signifies the importance of how managers can cultivate the understanding of the business and personal ethics. (McDonald & Zepp, 2006) Personal Ethics Personal ethics are important in the sense that they outline the personal values and character of an individual. They are important within an organizational setting in the sense that they influence the way employees actually conduct themselves in business settings. Recent studies in psychology as well as organizational behavior therefore indicate that there is only thin line between the personal and business ethics and it is relatively hard to actually separate both from each other. As such both the personal as well as business ethics are critical in the sense that they reinforce each other and create a unique set of values for individuals within business settings which can allow them to integrate both their personal as well as business ethics in one concrete set of ethics. Earlier studies which attempted to correlate the business and personal ethics together indicated an strong link between the two. However, most of these studies were limited to the corporations under study and there was a general lack of the application of these results on the industry wise or even economy wise implementation of the same. It is therefore critical to note that the personal as well as business ethics may be two separate issues even within an organizational setting. What is significant however is the implication that personal ethics tend to influence the way businesses operate therefore business ethics of the organizations are influence by the way individuals perceive their own personal ethics. The notion of whether the individuals can be unethical in their personal life and businesses they own and run behave ethically therefore is a distant reality and organizations now have to ensure that they develop and implement code of ethics which can also guarantee the behavior which is also responsible at the personal level. It is also important to note that the organizations also have to follow a certain code of ethics according to the law and as such it is critical that they develop their code of ethics in such a manner which can foster the culmination of personal ethics of the individuals also. The above discussion therefore leads us to the point where it is now critical to discuss as to how and why it is important for an effective manager to develop an understanding of the personal and business ethics. Effective management and ethics Since there is a stronger link between the business as well as the personal ethics, it is therefore critical for the managers to ensure that they understand the more subtle ethical issues in more elaborative manner. This also requires that the managers must first understand as to how the personal as well as the business ethics are basically inter-linked with each other and influence each other. A good manager therefore also must take into consideration as to how he or she can bring forth his own personal ethics and demonstrated in professional lives. This is because managers ultimately have to develop as business leaders and the integrity as well as honesty are some of the basic characteristics required in an effective and efficient manner. Further, the organizational complexities as well as the increasing diversity at the work place demand that managers must develop their skills in such a manner which can allow them to deal with such complexity in more ethical manner. This is significant because the decisions made by the managers directly affect the employees and it is critical that the managers must take decisions which confirm to the principle of social justice and transparency. (McDonald & Nijhof, 1999) An effective manager will also therefore look into how the ethics are integrated within the organization itself. Since business ethics are mostly discussed and implemented at three different levels within an organization it is therefore critical that the managers must effectively ensure that what has been set at the macro level for the organization. Studies have suggested that the managers actually do not exactly do not know as to what role ethics play in the daily decision making process of the managers. (Ralph A. Mortensen, 2007) This indicates that though organizations may have set ethical targets for itself at the macro level however, however, if the decision making process is not integrated at the individual decision making level of the organization, managers may not be able to achieve the relative effectiveness in terms of making ethical decisions. Conclusion Business ethics are more important in the current business environment because of the increasing complexity of the businesses have made it more important. Over the period of time, customers have become more ethical in nature and expect the organizations to be ethical too. As such it is important that the organizations must develop a comprehensive set of ethics which they need to follow. To be an effective manager, it is important that the managers must give due consideration to how the ethics play role in their day to day business decision making process. The overall diversity at the workplace requires the managers that they take decisions which are transparent and based on honesty and ethical behavior. Above, all a general understanding of the personal and business ethics because it allows the managers they can extract better performance from their employees. This is essential in order to ensure that the employees of the organization must act in morally responsible manner. Bibliography 1. Butcher, D., & Clarke, J. H. (1999). organisation politics: the missing discipline of management. Industrial and Commercial Training , 9-12. 2. Gael M. McDonald, R. A. (2006). What Should be Done? A Practical Approach to Business Ethics. Management Decision , 28 (1), 26-31. 3. HUCZYNSKI, A. B. (2004). organisational behaviour. Harlow: pearson. 4. Mauro, N., Natale, S. M., & Libertella, A. F. (1999). Personal values, business ethics and strategic development. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal , 53-60. 5. McDonald, G., & Nijhof, A. (1999). Beyond codes of ethics: an integrated framework for stimulating morally responsible behaviour in organisations. Leadership & Organization Development Journal , 20 (3), 133-147. 6. Ralph A. Mortensen, J. E. (2007). The importance of ethics to job performance: An empirical investigation of managers perceptions. Journal of Business Ethics , 8 (4), 253-260. Read More