Ethical Aspects of the Business Sphere - Term Paper Example

Management Ethics Normally, a leader or manager will be judged by the success he/she achieves. Judged in the sense, he/she will be appreciated, feted, discouraged, hated etc, etc… by the success or the lack of success (failure), he/she gets. In today’s world, success of an organization is mostly correlated with profits, markets share, etc. That is, many people will accept a fact that a person is a success, only if he/she achieves all the above-mentioned material things. Even though this perspective is not at all wrong, the bone of contention is how an organization or its leader or manager achieves success. Whether, they achieve it through ethical means or by fraud, illegality, etc? The primary focus of any organization is to give a clean management based on preset ethics; otherwise the repercussions will be unfavorable. If all the employees as well as the management team are ethically perfect they will exhibit good discipline and at the same time high productivity. Focusing on ethics is paramount as it will have an effect on the business both in the short run as well as long run. Companies that do not have proper… ethics procedures risk severe damage to their reputation, criminal/legal action and regulatory penalties. The consequences could include loss of customers, reduced share price (Advice on management). So, the ethical issues should be given top most priority and can be incorporated in every aspect of organizational functioning. Ethical Issues during Recruitment stage The widely accepted and the common fact is, the workers only form the crucial ‘cog’ in the running of the organization. So, only if these crucial workers are recruited or staffed optimally through an effective recruitment process, the organization can achieve optimum success. Recruitment particularly recruitment of apt employees forms a key part of the organization’s functioning or even its survival. But, at the same times, organizations and its managers should be duty bound to incorporate ethical aspects in this recruitment process. That is, as part of that preset ethics, managers particularly HRM can or should recruit qualified and equipped employees from diverse backgrounds, without any discrimination. This aspect is critical to the ethics because for organizations recruiting apt workers are not the end of the task, they have to recruit employees from diverse and minority backgrounds in both their home and foreign operations. This practice will bring qualified employees who could be from different religions, ethnicity or could be disabled, etc. When organization and managers optimally carries out this ethical practice, it would give opportunities to the subjugated and discriminated lot. When organizations do that, it will be appreciated by many sections, thereby optimizing its ethical image. Managers can inform about the job opportunities in their organization by contacting specific and exclusive groups for the discriminated people. This ethical aspect will benefit the recruited employees, as well as the organization. The other way organization can become ethically perfect is by recruiting employees who are ethically perfect. That is, apart from having an ethical recruitment process as discussed above, the managers should also recruit ‘ethically qualified’ employees, so that then ethics could spread optimally and could be imbibed all over the organization. This can be done, if the managers or Human Resource Department (HRD) conducts extensive reference checks and collects background information from various sources about the employees, who have fulfilled all the job needs and are on the verge of being absorbed. (RefCheck Information Services). The collected information has to be given precedence, and even if the prospective employee has good qualifications, his/her character should be fully checked before being recruited. Likewise, the recruited employees should be monitored continuously whether he/still holds on to that ethics or is indulging in unethical practices. So, it is clear that it is necessary that the management must ensure a constant availability of sufficient number of efficient employees importantly from diverse backgrounds, for the efficient functioning of the organization and to fulfill ethics. Ethical issues during the decision making process When the decision making process is initiated, as part of ethical practice, the leader or manager should productively involve the employees as part of the process. If the workers are involved in the management process including decision making process, they could provide valuable suggestions, and importantly will amplify their motivation and work even harder to actualize the given suggestions. The ethical tactic of interacting and then involving the workers in the decision-making process will surely provide organizations good results. This is because, if a manager during the process of decision-making puts for discussion his/hers thoughts and strategies among the workers, it will have unexpected at the same time favorable results, because one may never know from where, when and importantly from whom a great idea could come. So, involving and allowing the workers to play a part in the decision-making process, but at the same time being the final authority is a good method, which managers can implement for increasing the motivational levels of the workers and also to make them experienced in their job. “Good management consists in showing average people how to do the work of superior people” (Rockefeller, 1996). That is, as specified by the Cooper model, when the workers keep on participating in all the important decision making process, they will start to understand all the intricacies of organization functioning. (Scott, 2002). This way, they will utilize their minds to formulate effective objectives, plans & strategies, and importantly they will gain maximum confidence, because they will be happy with the fact, that they have contributed some thing purposeful to organization or leader or management’s decision making process. So, organization’s ethical tactic will optimize the performance of the workers and thereby their productivity as well. Importantly, the involvement of workers will raise the ethical image of the organization, optimizing their performance as well. Ethical Issues during downsizing In an organization, ethical issues will arise when certain workers are treated as ‘expendable’ and are often the first to be forced out. That is, due to economic crisis and other organizational reasons, some workers will be given voluntary retirement or removed from the job. Even though this will cause ethical dilemmas, the move could bring in benefits to the organization on a long term basis. That is, if the organization is made “leaner” and “fitter” in times of need, it can optimize its functioning and can recruit more employees in the favorable times. So, even though downsizing process will give rise to ethical conflicts, it will mostly lead to better productivity and increase in profits. This positive aspect of downsizing has to be showcased or the negative impacts of downsizing should be subdued by the manager only. That is, during the process of downsizing, the managers should directly communicate with the employees who are to be laid off, and give them assurance that it is done for everyone’s good. “Every action you take should be consistent with your values...If open communication is a corporate value, it becomes more important during a downsizing.” (Gebler).Then, the manager should provide adequate financial settlements, so that their service for the organization does not goes unrewarded. And if there is chance, effective managers should try to find alternate jobs for the laid off employees in some other organizations or give them some options for their livelihood. Apart from this role, managers can avoid lay off of underperforming employees by giving them adequate training. Instead of hiring new employees and firing the existing ones, equipping the old employees have proved to be successful. That is, when the existing employees fall short in their performance, mainly due to lack of skill and knowledge about the new process, the managers as part of ethics should implement good training methods. Conclusion Organization and its leader or manager should not stagnate and saturate. Schein (2004) pushes forward this idea by stating “that the leader of the future must be a perpetual learner”. Perpetual learner in the sense, they should learn new levels of perception and should play an important role in integrating the ethics component in the management of the organization. That is, by optimally managing the ethical issues during the recruitment stage, decision making process and downsizing process, the manager can optimize the overall functioning of the employees as well as the organization. This optimization in the functioning will elevate the organization’s standing both financially and ethically. References Advice on management. Famous advice on Ethics. Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http://www.adviceonmanagement.com/advice_ethics.html Brown, M. (1989). Ethics in Organizations. Issues in Ethics, vol. 2, no. 1 Gebler, D. Ethical Downsizing: Protect your Reputation during Layoffs. Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http://www.workingvalues.com/news/0601_bostonbusinessjournal.html RefCheck Information Services. Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http://www.refcheck.com/faqs.asp Rockefeller, J. D. (1996). Humanistic Management by Teamwork. Edited by Baldwin, D. A. Libraries Unlimited Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership, 3rd. ed, Jossey-Bass. Scott, R. J. (2002). Ethical Decision-Making: The Link Between Ambiguity and Accountability, Cooper’s Ethical Decision-Making Models, Retrieved March 27, 2010 from http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/scott.html Read More