The Responsibility of Ethical Leaders - Case Study Example

Ethical standards of an organization Name: Course: Institution: Date: Ethical standards of an organization Introduction Ethical behaviour in any organization is considered as fundamental in the development of the said organization. It is important to note that any form of malpractice can interfere with the dignity and the reputation of the organization from the perspective of its customers and the public. One of main causes of unethical behaver among employees of any organization are bad apples. These are employees whose ethical standards are below the required measure (Treviño & Nelson 2011, p. 14). Such employees corrupt the good morals among other employees and it is the responsibility of ethical leaders to ensure that all the bad apples causing problems are removed from the organization (Treviño & Nelson 2011, p. 14). The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the validity of the view that the removal of bad apples in the work place can lead to the elimination of all unethical behaviour in that organization. Unethical behaviour in an organization and the best solutions It is true that the social setting of an organization can have individuals with either a good or corrupting influence on the moral character of individuals. Such influence can make people with dubious or acceptable moral characters to embrace unethical behaviour especially if they find themselves to be working in organizations where individuals embrace unethical conduct as a common norm (Christiansen et al 2014, p. 68). This validates the point that bad apples can corrupt dubious or credible apples. The decision by an organization to eliminate such individuals from the organization may be unjustified by the fact that behaviour is a learned attribute. It is the responsibility of the ethical leaders in an organization to work in ways that will help bad apples into altering their behaviour and embracing ethical acceptable attributes. A decision to remove individuals from the organization may not serve the purpose of eradicating the behaviour which is the problem that the organization desires to eliminate (Christiansen et al 2014, p. 69). One way by which the ethical leaders can ensure that bad apples restrain from dubious behaviour is through the development of initiatives and strategies that do not tolerate immoral conduct, but reward moral attributes. These include creating awareness on the codes of conduct of the organization among other strategies (Raines 2010, p. 57) The claim that all unethical behaviour in an organization is a result of the influence of bad apples and the view that an elimination of these apples will result in an organization that is free of immoral traits is misplaced. This is due to the results of a recent social science research which rejects the notion of the bad apple as an explanation to all instances of ethical misconduct in an organization (Burke & Cooper 2009, p. 104). This study suggests that there are other factors such as the systematic and predictable psychological and social forces that are influential enough to cause essentially moral individuals to make poor ethical decisions (Burke & Cooper 2009, p. 105). These factors are influential especially in understanding the way organizations make management decisions, the administrative and compensation structures of an organization (De 2009, p. 206). It also includes the level of training that insists on how professionals and staff are trained, controlled and mentored. Through streamlining of all the processes involved in the management of the organization, ethical leaders will recognize that even individuals that are perceived to be of high ethical standards also do bad things without the influence of the bad apples (De 2009, p. 207). A broad consideration of underlying factors for essential management will ensure that ethical leader have an insight of the possible strategies that are important in preventing the occurrence of ethical misconduct and the improvement of ethical decision making for the benefit of the organization and its employees (Raines 2010, p. 67). Once an organization has introduced strategies and initiative that will minimize the possibility of accommodating bad apples, it is the responsibility of ethical leaders to ensure that the hiring process is characterized by various screening techniques that will ensure that only individuals will acceptable moral standards are allowed in the organization ((Raines 2010, p. 101). This is because the easiest way of maintaining the moral standards of an organization is to avoid hiring bad apples. This means that such an organization must take a different approach toward assessing candidates for employment opportunities (Schermerhorn 2012, p. 45). The process of minimizing the possibility of hiring a bad apple helps in ensuring that other factors related to unethical behaviour are kept under constant supervision. Other than the moral dilemma that is associated with bad apples, it is important that the ethical leaders in an organization to guide the majority, who form part of the good apples on the best practices to embrace in making ethical decisions (De 2009, p. 210). This is because the good apples possess an active conscience but they are also at risk of occasionally have lapses into unethical behaviour. It is important for the management to ensure that other than initiating ways of managing the bad apples, those who are considered as good apples must understand that they too can be tempted into unethical actions and that their conscience can sometimes override their rationalization (De 2009, p. 210). It is therefore important for ethical leaders to sensitize all the members of an organization on how to counter the tendency of rationalizing their actions through, first, setting clear parameters of their conduct, make rules, processes, and procedures that are not only realistic but also practical (Schermerhorn 2012, p. 55). It is also important to eliminate aggravations and obstacles that impede their ability of making ethical decisions. Most importantly ethical leaders should allow members of the organization to voce concerns about factors that encourage unethical behaviour (Schermerhorn 2012, p. 56). Conclusion Bad apples are not the only contributors to unethical behaviour in organizations. Any decision by ethical leaders to eliminate bad apples from the organization may help in the reduction but not an eradication of unethical behaviour. This is because there are other factors such as the systematic and predictable psychological and social forces that are influential enough to cause essentially moral individuals to make poor ethical decisions. Ethical leaders have the responsibility of training all employees on the best strategies of maintaining high ethical standards. References Burke, R. J., & Cooper, C. L. 2009. Research companion to corruption in organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Christiansen, B., Basilgan, M., & IGI Global,. 2014, Economic behavior, game theory, and technology in emerging markets. De, C. D. 2009. Psychological perspectives on ethical behavior and decision making. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Pub. Raines, J. B. (2010). Ethics in policing: Misconduct and integrity. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Schermerhorn, J. R. 2012. Organizational behavior. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. 2011, Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: John Wiley. Read More