Cultural Values of Ethical Principles - Essay Example

Business ethics Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction The principles that guide the employees of an organization are called the ethical principles. The ethical principles guide the employees when performing their tasks. Through business ethics, many organizations have created competitive advantage as the organizations are able to utilize the resources effectively and the customers are able to develop loyalty in the organization. Any organization which upholds the business ethics is able to abandon unethical practices and practice ethical standards (Barth 2003). This is one of the strategies which is applied by organization to improve their competitive advantage in the market. This is because upholding the ethical principles enable the stakeholders to identify what is right to do and what is wrong to avoid. The stakeholders will act on the best interest of the organization and not their individual selfish gains. The business ethics of the employees can be applied using the cultural values of the organization and the moral development. In this regard therefore, this essay will discuss the values that will influence my decision to reject inflating the expense account on behalf of the organization. I will focus on cultural values of the organization and their related theories and aspects. In respect to the situation of making a decision of inflating the expense account, the cultural values should be applied. This is because cultural values help to do what is right and avoid what is wrong. The first cultural value I will apply to reject inflating the expense account is the integrity. This is because it will assist to apply the moral ethics which will help to act on the best interest of the organization and not act out of selfish interests. I will apply integrity values to reject inflating the expense account because it is one of the business ethics which should be upheld by any employee when performing the daily tasks (De George 2003). When I apply integrity when rejecting to inflate the expense account, it will help to improve the reputation of the organization and the investors will be interested to invest in the organization. This is because they understand the organization upholds the moral principles thus their resources can be safe unlike when I could make the decision of inflating the expense account. Moreover, I will apply honesty as one of the organizational cultural values. Honesty requires that I should always act on the best interest of the organization and not the individual gains. In this regard, I will reject inflating the expense account because it is morally wrong as it will lead to misuse of resources of the organization (Boatright 2000). By applying honesty when rejecting to inflate the expense account, I will have upheld the organizational values which require every employee to uphold the moral principles when conducting business on behalf of the organization. This will help to improve the performance of the organization as everyone will be held responsible for his or her actions. In this regard therefore, honesty as one of the organizational cultural values will guide me to reject inflating the expense account as it does not benefit the organization but individual gain. In addition, I will apply loyalty to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. This implies that I should be loyal to the organization and be committed towards improving the operations of the organization. I will apply loyalty to uphold the laws of the organization as well as protecting the interests of the organization and not the personal gains. I will make independent judgment that will benefit and safeguard the objectives of the organization (Callahan 2004). By applying loyalty, I will be able to abandon the vices of inflating the expense account of the organization with the aim of gaining personally. In this regard, I will be able to avoid the conflict of interests of the organization and my own interests thus, I will reject what is morally wrong and uphold the business ethics when conducting the business. Moreover, I should also apply fairness as one of the cultural values of the organization. As an employee of the organization, I should be fair to all levels of management and in all dealings. I am expected to uphold the principles and values of the organization by being fair in all dealings as an employee. Fairness is one of the moral values of the organization (Zinbarg 2001). In this regard, I am expected that I should not take any advantage in the organization to exploit the resources of the organization. I should support the management of the organization to practice justice in the organization by rejecting to inflate the expense account of the organization. In this regard therefore, I will reject inflating the expense account with the aim of upholding fairness in the organization as this will help to manage any conflict of interests in the organization. On the other hand, abiding by the law will guide me in all operations. One of the laws of the organizations is to abide by the laws set by the management of the organization and are acceptable. In this regard, I am expected that I should not make any fraud from the organization by taking anything which belongs to the organization without considering the procedure which should be followed (Soule 2003). This is the one of the laws I will follow to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. In this effect, organizational values will influence my decision of rejecting to inflate the expense account because it is morally wrong to inflate the expense account of the organization for my own self interests. Corporate citizenship is another cultural value of the organization which will influence my decision. Good corporate citizenship expects that all employees should do what is right and avoid what is not right. Making a decision to inflate the expense account of the organization is one of the vices which should be eliminated as a result of the corporate citizenship (Kaptein & Johan 2002). I am expected to uphold the moral principles as this one of the values of the organization. In this regard, I should not defraud the resources of the organization because of the selfish interests. I will apply this value to reject inflating the expense account of the organization as what is expected of me as an employee of the organization. In addition, accountability is also another cultural value of the organization that will play a key role. I understand that I should be personally held responsible for my actions. This is clearly stated in the laws of the organization. In this regard, I understand that if I do something which is morally wrong, I will be held responsible and face the legal prosecution (Klein 2002). Accountability value of the organization will guide me to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. In this effect, accountability as one of the values of the organization should guide me in rejecting the inflation of the expense account for selfish interests. Finally, leadership expectation is another cultural value. As a leader in my department, I am expected that I should lead by example to be followed by the followers. The followers will always do what their leader does (Johnson 2003). In this regard, I will reject inflating the expense account of the organization because the followers will also follow what the leader does. This value is clearly stated in the laws of the organization and I am expected to help in implementing the same. However, I will also be guided by the moral development to make that decision. This is because as I develop my career, I learn that it is important to uphold the moral principles when conducting the business (Johnson 2003). In this regard, I learn to understand what is right and wrong and I should always do what is right and abandon what is wrong. Making a decision to agree to inflate the expense account will ruin my career. This is because it will destroy my good reputation and I will be regarded as a corrupt employee and this will ruin my career which I have taken a long time to build. In this regard therefore, I should not agree to make a decision to inflate the expense account of the organization because this is against the moral principles of conducting the organization. Conclusion Moral principles should be applied when conducting any business. When am faced with the situation of making a decision whether to inflate the expense account or not, the organizational value will influence my decision of rejecting to inflate the expense account. These organizational values which influence my decision include transparency and accountability, integrity, fairness, leadership roles, corporate citizenship, ability to abide by the laws, loyalty and honest of the organization. These principles will influence my decision to reject inflating the expense account of the organization as this will ruin my career and it is against the business ethics which should be upheld when conducting any business deal. In this regard therefore, I will apply the moral values and organizational values to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. References Barth, S. R 2003, Corporate ethics: the business code of conduct for ethical employees. Boston: Aspatore. Boatright, J. R 2000, Ethics and the conduct of business, Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Callahan, D 2004, The cheating culture: why more Americans are doing wrong to get ahead, Orlando, Harcourt. De George, R 2003,  The ethics of information technology and business, Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Johnson, L 2003,  Absolute honesty: building a corporate culture that values straight talk and rewards integrity, New York, AMACOM, American Management Association Klein, S 2002,  Ethical business leadership: balancing theory and practice, New York, Peter Lang. Kaptein, M & Johan, W 2002, The balanced company: a theory of corporate integrity. Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press. Richter, J 2001, Holding corporations accountable: corporate conduct, international codes, and citizen action, New York, Zed Books. Soule, E 2003, Morality & markets: the ethics of government regulation, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Zinbarg, E. D 2001, Faith, morals, and money: what the world's religions tell us about money in the marketplace, New York, Continuum. Read More

This will help to improve the performance of the organization as everyone will be held responsible for his or her actions. In this regard therefore, honesty as one of the organizational cultural values will guide me to reject inflating the expense account as it does not benefit the organization but individual gain. In addition, I will apply loyalty to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. This implies that I should be loyal to the organization and be committed towards improving the operations of the organization.

I will apply loyalty to uphold the laws of the organization as well as protecting the interests of the organization and not the personal gains. I will make independent judgment that will benefit and safeguard the objectives of the organization (Callahan 2004). By applying loyalty, I will be able to abandon the vices of inflating the expense account of the organization with the aim of gaining personally. In this regard, I will be able to avoid the conflict of interests of the organization and my own interests thus, I will reject what is morally wrong and uphold the business ethics when conducting the business.

Moreover, I should also apply fairness as one of the cultural values of the organization. As an employee of the organization, I should be fair to all levels of management and in all dealings. I am expected to uphold the principles and values of the organization by being fair in all dealings as an employee. Fairness is one of the moral values of the organization (Zinbarg 2001). In this regard, I am expected that I should not take any advantage in the organization to exploit the resources of the organization.

I should support the management of the organization to practice justice in the organization by rejecting to inflate the expense account of the organization. In this regard therefore, I will reject inflating the expense account with the aim of upholding fairness in the organization as this will help to manage any conflict of interests in the organization. On the other hand, abiding by the law will guide me in all operations. One of the laws of the organizations is to abide by the laws set by the management of the organization and are acceptable.

In this regard, I am expected that I should not make any fraud from the organization by taking anything which belongs to the organization without considering the procedure which should be followed (Soule 2003). This is the one of the laws I will follow to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. In this effect, organizational values will influence my decision of rejecting to inflate the expense account because it is morally wrong to inflate the expense account of the organization for my own self interests.

Corporate citizenship is another cultural value of the organization which will influence my decision. Good corporate citizenship expects that all employees should do what is right and avoid what is not right. Making a decision to inflate the expense account of the organization is one of the vices which should be eliminated as a result of the corporate citizenship (Kaptein & Johan 2002). I am expected to uphold the moral principles as this one of the values of the organization. In this regard, I should not defraud the resources of the organization because of the selfish interests.

I will apply this value to reject inflating the expense account of the organization as what is expected of me as an employee of the organization. In addition, accountability is also another cultural value of the organization that will play a key role. I understand that I should be personally held responsible for my actions. This is clearly stated in the laws of the organization. In this regard, I understand that if I do something which is morally wrong, I will be held responsible and face the legal prosecution (Klein 2002).

Accountability value of the organization will guide me to reject inflating the expense account of the organization. In this effect, accountability as one of the values of the organization should guide me in rejecting the inflation of the expense account for selfish interests.

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