Characteristics and Behaviors of an Ethical Person - Essay Example

Critical Thinking Name Institution Part A Personal and business ethics is an issue that has drawn significant interest of scholars. Many scholars agree that ethics forms a critical part of people as it defines their value systems and their interaction with others (Choy, 2012; Donaldson, 2008). Consequently, ethics has become one of the interesting concepts because it has far-reaching implication on personal and business performance. In any organization, ethics relates to what people perceive as right and wrong, which place influence on what acceptable conduct within an organization. Indeed, ethics has a deep influence on the overall composition of an organization as it grow and experience transformation as people learn or experience new ways of interacting with others in their workplace. With a clear understanding of ethics and its role in enabling successful business conduct, I understand what makes employees emerge as ethical workers. In addition, I understand that several strategies can be helpful in promoting employee’s ability to practice personal and business ethics. This discussion on ethical behavior and workplace ethics relates to the consequential theoretical model of ethics. Characteristics and behaviors of an ethical person While society seems to embrace unethical conduct more than ethical behavior, some people demonstrate ethical principle through their work. This is because such people have ethical framework that guide their interaction with other people, as well as personal or business conduct. Given that some people demonstrate high standards of ethics, it is not difficult to notice them because of their ethical behaviors and characteristics. In any situation, ethical individuals demonstrate unique behaviors and characteristics because ethical principles guide and reinforce their behaviors and traits. First, ethical people tend to be truthful when dealing with other people. Truth has an essential role of defining ethics in society because ethical principle requires people to speak the truth and avoid deception. Given that ethics define, what is accepted and morally correct, individuals who uphold moral ethics tend to be truthful when dealing with various aspects of their work. Individuals who value truth have the ability to provide ethical judgment, which rest on one’s ability to make critical judgments that others accept as morally good (April, Peters, Locke, & Mlambo, 2010). For instance, a manager who communicates true information to his subordinates has ethical standing. Such a manager will reveal valuable information without hiding any information that may affect the wellbeing of the organization. However, the lack of truth in an individual affirms the person’s inclination towards unethical conduct. Consequently, ethical standing stipulates that an individual must uphold the truth and provide truthful information when dealing with other people whether at home or in the workplace. Ethical persons tend to demonstrate passion for justice in any situation that comes their way. The principle of justice has a high relation to ethical wellbeing and conduct of any members of the society (April et al., 2010). Because of this reason, individuals who love justice as an ethical value will pursue justice in any situation that comes their way. For instance, an ethical person will seek justice when he or she learns of an injustice that someone else has committed. As an illustration, an ethical manager may do his or her best to end unethical practices that promote injustice to the employees of the stakeholders. This may be a case of corruption, theft of resources or unlawful termination of employment, which tends to propagate injustice in the workplace. In an environment where these activities are a norm, an ethical manager can make efforts to end them and promote justice. Notably, justice remains an indispensible trait of managers or individuals facing cases of injustices. An ethical person will make and keep their commitments when dealing with other people either at work or in other interactions outside their workplaces. In any environment, people tend to make commitments with other people, but honoring them is a decisive test. A study reports that managers’ ability to complete their work relates to their ethical conduct, which shapes how well they do their work other people expect of them (Velthouse & Kandogan, 2007). Because honoring of commitment defines the ethical wellbeing of individuals, ethical persons ought to display high levels of responsibility about their promises and other commitment they make in the workplace. For instance, managers who promise to assess challenges employees face must honor this promise as per their commitments. Any failure to honor the commitment will signal the lack of ethical values governing the conduct of the manger of an organization. For this reason, ethical persons must wield extensive passion to keep their commitments in any workplace. This goes without say that lack of commitment to promises underscores little committal to ethical principles. In such a case, an organization can experience lack of distrusts among workers, which can result in far- reaching implication in the workplace. Having the right conscience and following its guideline is a distinct attribute that defines an ethical person. People’s conscience influence their actions, and decisions in the workplace. However, individuals with the right conscience will succeed in acting in an ethical way. For instance, a sales person who sells an inferior product to customers without mentioning the product’s deficiency acts in an ethical manner. This is because the sales persons is much aware of the product’s deficiency, but he or she goes ahead to violate this conscience. In any business or personal situation, an ethical person will keep and obey his or her conscience because a right conscience will create an environment where they can demonstrate other ethical principles such as truthfulness and justice. Ethical persons tend to engaged in activities that are lawful and in line with workplace or societal guidelines. In recent years, many organizations have suffered because of unethical conduct amongst their employees. A case in point is Enron, which lost close to $90 billion because the managers flouted rules guiding shareholder value (Dean, Beggs, & Keane, 2010). Given the predicaments of Enron and other organizations where managers their managers engaged in unethical conduct, it is clear that ethical managers must uphold lawful conduct. As an illustration, ethical persons must restrain from corrupt practices that can jeopardize the success of the organization or their relationship with other people. Henceforth, ethical persons will shun unlawful conducts such as bribery or practicing favoritism, which have a negative implication of their performance and influence in any work environment. How to encourage ethical behaviors in the workplace In essence, ethical behaviors tend to have a positive impact in any workplace environment. Dean, Beggs, and Keane (2010) argue that ethical wellbeing forms the cornerstone of success in any organization. As a result, it makes sense for organizations to promote ethical behaviors in the workplace by applying the following strategies. a) Committing to ethics is one of the first strategies organization can adopt to promote ethical behaviors in the workplace. According to April et al. (2010), lack of proper business paradigms is one of the reasons that led to woes of companies such as AIG. As a result, an organization can commit itself to ethics by adopting adequate policies and frameworks that can install ethics among the employees and management. Such action will enable the company to enhance ethical conduct among all the employees. b) Training on the staff on how to respond to ethical issues is critical in motivating staff to embrace ethical behaviors in the workplace. There is no doubt that managers and employees encounter situation that tests their ethical framework. For instance, managers can encounter other businesspersons who may be inclined to bribe them to receive a favor. Owing to such challenges, training of staff can help equip all employees with the necessary skills to fight unethical conduct in the workplace. Dean, Beggs, and Keane (2010) agree that individual factors can improve how well individuals respond to individual factors that shape their response to unethical encounters in the workplace. Given this points, employees who receive such training has much capacity to demonstrate ethical behavior at their workplace. c) Organizations that encourage open communication among its employees stand better chances of encouraging their employees to act and make ethical decisions. Unethical conducts put pressure on employees and lack of communication can coerce them into giving in to the demand of unethical actors (Siu & Lam, 2009). However, communication among employees can bring to light challenges they are facing, and this can shape how well they respond to unethical encounters. Therefore, encouraging open communication is critical in promoting the adoption of actions and decisions that are ethically sound. Relation to theoretical models of ethics Ethical issues in the above section underline some of the challenges employees face in their course of duty. In line ethical issues, the above discussions align with the consequential theoretical model of ethics. This model entails ethical perspectives such as the utilitarianism, which argue that an action is good when the affected people are affected. For instance, the paper has regards ethical persons as those who engage in lawful conduct. This discussion supports the consequential model that place emphasis on consequence rather than intent. In addition, the strategies for enhancing ethical behavior support employee decisions and actions, which are consistent with the above theoretical model of ethics. Part B Reflection of my role as ethical role model as a manager Wealth of literature underscores importance of ethics among managers (Fassin, Rossem, & Buelens, 2011). Being that I am an aspiring manager, my goal is to become a manager who will serve as a role model by embracing ethical principles, virtues, and values. I will seek to integrate ethics into my management process by upholding what my organization will regards as right concerning various issues and process. Because of my deep interest in ethics, I believe that I will be able to learn skills on how to make proper use of resources available to the organization. In addition, I am inclined to embrace efficient use of ethics in making proper decisions that promote the common good of the organization and business associates, as well. Presently, my objective is to internalize concepts and acquire skills that will enhance my ability to demonstrate high levels of ethical conduct in the workplace. I have taken an active role in learning ethical principle that governs the organization by making extensive reading of ethical resources. Notably, I am concerned with use my ethical framework to make decisions that will have positive influence on other people. Most important, I have a great interest in internalizing codes of ethics that shape workplace interaction. This is because such codes of ethics reinforce ethical conduct when one considers how to act in situations where their self-interest contradicts set ethical standards. Given my interest in promoting the common good through my actions and decisions, I believe that I am well suited to become a role model for other employees in my workplace. Similarly, I believe that my intent affirm my awareness of the consequential theoretical model of ethics. This is because I intend to become a role model who can promote common good in the workplace and encourage other people to become agents of ethical conduct in my organization. References April, K., Peters, K., Locke, K., & Mlambo, C. (2010). Ethics and leadership: Enablers and stumbling blocks. Journal of Public Affairs (14723891), 10(3), 152-172. doi:10.1002/pa.360 Choy, D. (2012). How Consumers Perceive The Ethical Conduct of Businesses And Their Managers. International Management Review, 8(1), 44-48. Dean, K. L., Beggs, J. M., & Keane. T. P. (2010). Mid-level Managers, Organizational Context, and (Un)ethical Encounters. Journal of Business Ethics 97:51–69.DOI 10.1007/s10551- 010-0495-0 Donaldson, L. (2008). Ethics Problems and Problems with Ethics: Toward a Pro-Management Theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 78(3), 299-311. Fassin, Y., Rossem, A., & Buelens, M. (2011). Small-Business Owner-Managers' Perceptions of Business Ethics and CSR-Related Concepts. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(3), 425-453. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0586-y Siu, N., & Lam, K. (2009). A Comparative Study of Ethical Perceptions of Managers and Non- Managers. Journal of Business Ethics, 88167-183. doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9824-y Velthouse, B., & Kandogan, Y. (2007). Ethics in Practice: What Are Managers Really Doing?. Journal Of Business Ethics, 70(2), 151-163. Read More