Creating a Climate of Ethical Behavior at Workplace - Research Paper Example

Creating a Climate of Ethical Behaviour This paper explores approximately ten scholarly sources related to an ethical work environment. It covers different ethical climates in the context of knowledge management. Creating an ethical work climate is essential since an ethical work environment is seen as part of an organization. It includes individuals’ perceptions about organizational practices that are perceived as right or wrong. Creating a strong ethical culture in an organization is the key to success in the organization since employees need an ethical code so as to increase their effectiveness and productivity. Knowledge sharing practices enable organizational members to share ideas and fully exploit knowledge-based sources. Personal commitment and trust is necessary because they help in knowledge management process. This paper will explore ethics in an organization as well as workplace safety-enhancing behaviors and qualities such as personal commitment and trust. Keywords: ethical work climate, knowledge management Introduction Undoubtedly, ethical behavior significantly contributes to the success of many organizations. An ethical work climate is part of the organization and it is a representation of organizational practices that are viewed as right or wrong. Many individuals believe that an ethical work climate is indispensable for a good business. Notably, organizations striving for excellence and success in their business activities tend to focus on a strong ethical culture. Organizations need to effectively respond to both economic and non-economic surroundings in order to achieve their goals, but this requires members to be socially responsible and behave ethically. Truly, creating a working environment guided by ethics can be a very important move for an organization. In contrast, unethical behaviors negatively influence the organization. For instance, unethical behaviors are more likely to increase the organizations’ liability and financial risk. Secondly, consumers would not be attracted to the products and services of the organization with an unethical climate. More so, an unethical climate negatively affects the workers since it lowers job satisfaction and performance. In most cases, unethical behavior emerges from lack of knowledge and an inability to come up with ethical solutions (Patterson, 1989). Unethical behavior makes individuals become more sensitive to the likelihood of censure and this will in turn motivate them to avoid censure behaviors (Sinha, 1967). Therefore, it is very appropriate to institutionalize an ethical attitude in the organization. This paper provides a thoughtful discussion on creating a climate of ethical behavior in an organization. The first section focuses on different ethical climates in the context of knowledge management. The second part explores how ethical climate, trust, job satisfaction and personal commitment are related to knowledge management. The last section provides a discussion on various types of ethical climate. Knowledge Management Knowledge sharing is the practice of providing or receiving necessary information to bring about change in the organization. It is an essential practice and many organizations allow their employees to share knowledge when necessary. Knowledge is generated from individuals’ ideas and skills among others (Shafique, 2013). Knowledge sharing is a very important aspect in the organization since employees’ engagement in knowledge sharing practices leads to the development of new products and services. It allows the organization to fully exploit knowledge-based resources, and this will in turn improve an organization’s performance and productivity. More so, knowledge sharing is believed to be the source of competitive advantage of the organization over other firms especially those ignoring knowledge sharing practice. In addition, employees tend to be more willing to acquire and share knowledge if the work climate has a high level of teamwork and ethical behaviors are upheld. Arguably, contextual and situational conditions including ethical work climate, teamwork, and trust play a leading role in influencing employees’ decision on the knowledge sharing opportunities. Organizational ethical climate significantly influence workers’ attitude and participation in knowledge management practices. Ethical climate influences knowledge management via trust, increased performance, satisfaction, and commitment. Employees who are motivated find knowledge sharing inherently interesting and so they do not hesitate to share knowledge. Indeed, knowledge sharing is very useful for many organizations since knowledge is one of the key factors that stimulate the competitive strength of the organizations (Shih-hsiung and Gwo-guang, 2013). For instance, knowledge helps organizations to survive and become more successful and so, proper and effective management of available knowledge in an organization is very important and this is only possible through the provision of knowledge sharing opportunities to organizational members. Ethical climate, trust, satisfaction and commitment related to knowledge management Ethical culture is based on shared knowledge, experience and values; therefore, the ethical work climate positively correlates with knowledge sharing. The ethical climate of an organization significantly affects the practice of knowledge sharing. A further argument is that various ethical work climates influence workers’ knowledge management attitudes and participation differently (Shih-hsiung and Gwo-guang, 2013). Lack of sufficient trust and commitment from employees from organizational members makes them not engage in the knowledge sharing practice. Trust is a very important force in creating team behavior, and it plays a significant role in building knowledge sharing within an organization. Employees’ behavior and ethical norms positively influence trust. Arguably, for workers to have commitment to the organization there is a need to establish an ethical climate where professionalism, care and rules are considered. Commitment in the administrative process is necessary and professionalism involves the feeling of being committed to serving others (Boone, 2011). Agreeably, personal commitment also plays an important role in the process of knowledge development. More so, commitment is a very important aspect in workers’ knowledge management practices since it helps employees to be focused in creating new knowledge. Therefore, an ethical climate positively affects commitment and as a result, commitment will positively influence knowledge management performance. In addition, job satisfaction positively affects workers’ commitment, which will in turn influence their engagement in the knowledge sharing practice. Satisfaction is one way through which employees are motivated to provide effective service (Shafique, 2013).More so, knowledge management performance not only relies on technology, but also on human interactions and relationships. Indeed, an ethical work climate and commitment positively relates to trust and satisfaction. Knowledge management entails various processes including creation, identification, collection organization, adaptation, and application as well as sharing. Organizational culture is one of the key forces that can effectively foster the implementation of knowledge management. Organizational culture incorporates ethical behavior and is based on shared knowledge. The climate of the organization forms part of the organizational culture, and is comprised of those features that reflect the views of employees on the quality of work environment (Shih-hsiung and Gwo-guang, 2013). Overall, a principled and ethical work climate provides an ideal environment that promotes and sustains the performance of the organization. More so, it is necessary to create a work environment that puts more emphasis on ethical business behavior (Gargill, 2006). As a result, the organization will be able to know the kind of employees they want, and hence recruit their target applicants. Attracting and sustaining highly skilled employees will help the organizations improve their performance and achieve their goals. Types of Ethical climate An ethical work climate encompasses the views of what ethically acceptable behavior is and how ethical issues should be tackled within the organization. The employees in the organization can define it as the prevailing views of organizational practices (Armstrong and Francis, n.d). Ethics is not all about encouraging or allowing individuals to do what they believe are right, but it involves assisting individuals to decide on doing the right things (Patterson, 1989). It is advisable to recognize and define the ethical issue, reflect upon it, decide the right thing to do, and lastly implement and evaluate it so as to create a sustainable ethical work environment (Kirsch, 2009). Normative ethics establish standards that are necessary to judge the morality of individuals’ actions. According to the Woodstock Theological Center (1990), ethical standards must be based on the organization’s culture and climate in order to influence behavior. Some of the types of ethical climate suggested by Victor and Cullen include self-interest, friendship, personal morality, laws and professional codes, and social responsibility among others. Generally, caring incorporates friendship, social responsibility, and team interest; law and code involves laws and professional codes; rules entail company rules and laws; instrumental encompasses self-interest, company profit, and efficiency; and lastly independence is all about personal morality (Shih-hsiung and Gwo-guang, 2013). Caring dimension falls in the benevolence ethical criterion where the concern for others is the prevailing agenda. Caring is the extent to which the work environment is characterized by employees who are sincerely interested in the good and well-being of other people. In such work climate, organizational members have a sincere interest in the well-being of their colleagues. Here, individuals look out for the good of their colleagues because everyone is expected to always do what is right for the customer and the public as a whole. They also show interest in the well-being of other individuals within and outside the organization especially those who might influence their ethical decisions. In caring dimension, the most important concern is to ensure that the interests of all individuals in the organization are considered. The major focus is what is acceptable and best for every organizational member. Employees in caring work climate are more concerned with what is always best for the other person because they are not self-driven. Secondly, independence entails the principle of ethical criterion. It refers to the extent to which organizational members are being controlled by their own moral beliefs and values. In this dimension, individuals act according to their own personal moral belief based on a set of well-established principles. People are required to follow their own personal and moral beliefs in most of their operations in the organization meaning that everyone in such organization makes decisions independently and decides for himself or herself what is ethically right and wrong. Ethical judgment may significantly influence how people make decisions in the organization (Wei and Yunhui, 2012). In independence dimension of ethical work climate, every individual’s own sense of right and wrong is the most important concern. Furthermore, law and code dimension relates to the principle ethical criterion. Law and code is the degrees to which organizational members strictly adhere to the codes and regulations of their profession. More so, law and code dimension suggests that during the decision making process, employees in the organizations need to make decisions based on the mandate of certain external factors including the law and the professional codes of conduct. In the organization with law and code dimension, individuals are expected to strictly follow both legal and professional standards. Everyone is expected to comply with the law and professional standards as their first obligation in the organization. The law as well as the ethical code of profession is what matters most to many employees in an organization. Moreover, rule dimension is also connected with the principle of principle ethical criterion. Rules refer to the extent to which organizational members strictly adhere to the organizational rules and mandates. It involves the set and accepted rules of conduct proposed by the organization and all organizational members are expected to obey those rules according, failure to do so, they are sanctioned. These rules are very important because many decisions made by the organization are guided by such rules including codes of conduct. In the rule dimension, every organizational member is supposed to comply with and stick by the organizational rules and procedures. Successful individuals in the organization with the rule ethical dimension strictly obey the policies and procedures of the organization. Lastly, instrumental climate falls in the egoistic criterion and it is mainly based on individualism and maximization of self-interest. In this atmosphere, people believe that their decisions and any other decisions made in the organization are meant for serving the interests of the organization or benefit individuals. More so, here, organizational members are more concerned with how they can protect their own interests above anything else. Individuals are more concerned about themselves and their own personal gains and pay no attention to other people’s interests. However, organizational members are expected to do anything that is in line with the organization’s interests. More so, there is no room whatsoever for an individual’s own personal morals or ethics. Conclusion Employees in a caring ethical climate believe that various ethical policies and activities of the organization are based on the concerns of the members and that of the society. In addition, independent climate views are based on personal moral beliefs. Moreover, in instrumental ethical climate, behaviors are based self-interest without putting other people’s interests into consideration. Further, law and code ethical climate is based on the consideration of external systems in guiding ethical behaviors and decision-making process. In this climate, the law guides individuals’ behavior and decisions. Lastly, the rule dimension of ethical climate is where a set of rules and regulation guide ethical behavior in an organization. Knowledge sharing is an essential practice whereby organizations give their employees opportunity to share ideas whenever necessary. Knowledge sharing practice allows organizations to exploit knowledge-based resources and have a competitive advantage. Organizational ethical climate significantly influence the employees’ attitude as well as their participation in the knowledge management practice. References Armstrong, A., and Francis, R. (n.d). An Ethical Climate Is a Duty Care. Journal of Business Systems, Governance and Ethics.Vol.3, No.3. Boone,T. (2011). Stress at work: the role of failed leadership. Journal of Professional Exercise physiology, 9(4), 1-10. Drowatzky, J. N. (1993). Ethics, codes, and behavior. Quest, 45(1), 22-31. Gargill,W. N. (2006). Drawing The Line Between Ethical And Marginal Practice. Competition Forum, 4(1), 242-247. Kirsch. N. R. (2009). Professional behavior: Case two. PT: Magazine Of Physical Therapy, 17(6), 18-20. Kirsch. N. R. (2009). Workplace issues: Case two. PT: Magazine Of Physical Therapy,17(2), 38-40. Mathews, M. D. (2005). Why ethical behavior works. 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