Ethical Principles at a Work Place - Essay Example

? Phase Discussion Board 3 Introduction: Ethical principles at a work place of refer to morally accepted behaviors likely to influence profitability of the business. Business organizations exist to make profit; all the activities and actions of the employee must therefore abide by this objective. A business organization recruits its human capital from the society; such people are likely to possess diverse personality traits some of which may hamper profitability. It is thus the mandate of the management to ensure that all the employees behave appropriately and all work in unison for the attainment of the business objective. Some of the management tools that aid the process of governing employee behavior include the code of conduct and ethical principles. Codes of conduct are clearly crafted rules that govern behavior of employees at the work place. The set of guidelines contain the dos and the don’ts of the organization. They further give a clear outline of appropriate disciplinary actions taken against an employee who contravene them. Ethical principles on the other hand refer to accepted behaviors. These are not written and have no mechanism effecting their compliance. Each society and profession has a number of acceptable behaviors and conduct to which every practitioner or member is required to abide by, failing to results to either lack of professionalism or gross misconduct. The ethical codes are in most cases reinstated in the codes of conduct of most professions (Davis, Giordano, & Licht, 2009). However, an individual is required to have a sense of responsive behavior in the conduct of business transactions. Management in business refers to the coordinating, overseeing and supervising the activities in the organization with the aim of achieving the organization’s objectives. In doing this, the management ensures that all employees have the right mindset and are geared towards the attainment of the same. Motivation is one great factor that instills the spirit of workmanship and goal orientation in the employees. Some key motivators include remuneration and recognition of achievement. The type of management exhibited in the firm also is a great motivator to employees. Employees prefer effectively coordinated organizations where activities run as scheduled. To a achieve this, the management must effectively and adequately understand the concept of management and the theories governing the same. Contingency theory of management postulates that each situation in the organization is unique and requires unique strategies to accomplish. This theory dictates that rather than having a universal approach to every situation, an organization should tailor make strategies for every situation. This way, the unique features of the situation are addressed. This is the most practical approach and is in most cases cost effective. Another theory of management that is equally effective is the systems theory. This theory views an organization as a system with four components that include input, transformational process, outputs, and feedback. Each of these four is integral to the attainment of the organizational objectives and must therefore be effectively coordinated. There are two types of organizational systems, the open, and the close system. A closed system does not interact with the external environment while and open system operates in constant interaction with the environment (Coon & Mitterer, 2011). Two theorists, Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor in analyzing the behavioral viewpoint of management hypothesized that human relations movements emphasize social factors at work resulting in group dynamics. It is common to find informal class groupings at a palace of work. These groupings are formed n the basis of mutual interest of the members. Despite being formal and irrelevant to the direct process production, the groups require effective management since they shape employee mindset. In such groups, employee come together especially at tea or lunch breaks and discuss social issues among others. It is also in such groups that they share their experiences at the organizations. Most strives and industrial actions originate from such social informal gatherings at the organization. It is with this understanding that Fuyol, another psychologist calls for administrative type of management in business organizations. Fuyol in his administrative theory of management recognizes the essence of division of labor. This way each individual is obliged to undertake his or her duty without fail. Furthermore, in such a set up, it becomes easy to instill discipline through effective flow and recognition of authority. Delegation of duties also becomes possible in such structured organizations. Managers are leaders; however, leaders do not have to necessarily be managers. A leader is person mandates direction and coordination of people and the activity they do. Leaders influence people and they must have the allegiance of their subjects. There are different means through which people become leaders, the most common of which is democratic thorough elections and thorough appointments. Managers acquire the leadership status through both mechanisms. Both managership and leadership are management tools, which influence behavior of employees to achieve the organizational goals (Richard, 2003). The trait theory of leadership asserts that leadership behavior is influenced by certain qualities of a person. In historic societies, people believed that leadership qualities were inherited from ancestors. However, studies have proved that training and experience can possible create a leader. A successful leader must therefore posses such qualities as good personality. A leader is a role model to his subjects; he must therefore behave in a particular manner acceptable to the society. Leaders uphold the societal norms and abide by the ethical principles; at the work place a leader must comply to the codes of conduct. A larder must portray a quality of tirelessness, this way he motivates his employees to work even harder for the benefit of the organization. Behavioral theory of leadership assumes that people are generally lazy and irresponsible by nature, they thus require an instrument of motivation. According to this theory, a leader is an instrument holder. He uses himself to motivate his employees since their behavior will only change in accordance to the changes in the behavior of the manager. This theory gives credit to the trait theory in which a leader is required to possess useful traits and personality to influence others. Situational theory on the other hand explains that leaders are affected by situations and that every situation gives rise to a leader in the society. This theory is also applicable in organizations. Leaders to informal groupings in business organizations are normally heard and seen in crises. During an industrial strife at a company, leaders become very vocal and steadfast to the achievement of the workers plight, such personality as fearlessness exhibit themselves moire strongly in such situations. Furthermore, how the management reacts to such situations determine the quality of leadership in the managers. The success of a manger is in most cases measured by how he or she handles a striking workforce. Effective management should ensure that tits employees do not strike or engage in industrial actions. This is done by ensuring that the management addresses all the issues raising complains among the employees. After the materialization of a strike, a manger must be charismatic enough to articulate the issues raised by the employees and find a means of developing a return to work formula without costing the firm anymore hours of operation (Murphy & Dillon, 2011). The acceptance theory of leadership asserts that the followers decide who a leader is. This is more prevalent in democratic societies and organizations in which the subjects elect their own leaders and managers. In such institutions after presenting the willingness to lead, the subject chooses whom to follow and make him or her their leader. This infers to the fact that a leader must posses desirable qualities to woo support from subjects. Additionally, during crisis especially industrial strife, subjects rally up behind the most charismatic leader one who defends or promises to defend their plights. This was, a leader is born. In brief, management is a multi-staged process that differs from one organization to another depending on the structure. However, leadership is consistent in nature and requires similar traits in personalities no matter the structure of the organizations. The different theories that explain leadership concur to the fact leadership depend more on the traits of an individual. However, unlike in the past when it was largely believed that leaders are born, the modern day society provides for parameters through which leaders are trained and arise to the positions of leadership through experience. References Coon, D., & Mitterer, J. O. (2011). Psychology: A journey. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Davis, S. F., Giordano, P. J., & Licht, C. A. (2009). Your career in psychology: Putting your graduate degree to work. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (2011). Interviewing in action in a multicultural world (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. Richard, B. (2003). Vocational business training, developing and motivating peopl. New York: McGraw-Hill. Read More