The Impact of Organizational Ethics on Employee Relations - Research Proposal Example

The impact of organizational Ethics on Employee Relations (case study of Local government) Table of Contents 1CHAPTER ONE 2 1Introduction 2 2Justification of the Study 2 3Research Questions 3 4Objectives of the Study 4 5Research Hypothesis 4 2CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 3CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 7 1Research Design 7 2Target Population 7 3Description of Sampling Procedure and Sample Size 8 4Data Collection Instruments and Procedures 8 1Validity 8 2Reliability 8 5Data Analysis Procedure 8 6Ethical Issues 9 Conclusion 10 Bibliography: 11 1 CHAPTER ONE 1 Introduction Building effective relationships between employers and employees is considered one of the most important areas of business today (Andersen 2004). This relationship can be reflected among other things on areas like business ethics issues, conflict and successful resolution between employer- employee and employee-employee (Andersen 2004). Just like any other organization, the local government has to have good working relations between local government officers and the public. 2 Justification of the Study The perspective on employer-employee relations has in the past decades undergone a radical transformation. This has been contributed by the ever increasing competition in the business world and organizations increased competitive advantage (Delaney and Huselid 1996). The study of the impact of organizational ethics on employee relations is important because an organization survives because of relationships between employers, employees, and other stakeholders (Delaney and Huselid 1996). The biggest concern is what would happen if organizational ethics is not practiced, and the possible effect of this. Firstly, according to Goleman et al 2002, it is necessary to note that work force in any given organization is essential for the achievement of the organization. In fact, the weak the work force is, the weak the organization is (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004). Therefore, it can be argued that application of ethics in an organization can affect the employees negatively or positively depend on how it’s applied. In essence, Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004 noted that when there are unethical acts or conduct within the organization, especially instigated by management to the employees, the implication of this is translated to the customer and other employees, and which may have adverse effects to the performance of the whole organization. The local government system is not exceptional. In regard to local government system, the system is considered to play a key role in issues pertaining public service ethics. The concern here is on what would happen if there no codes of conducts to which, for example, elected councilors are expected to conform. Just like in any other organization, the focus of local government in this case is not only about corruption, but rather the misconduct, hospitality, relationship with other officers and any other behavior that would bring any member of the local government into disrepute (Murray 1995). The study of impact of organization ethics on employee relation is of primary importance because it stipulates on the impact of local government officers conducts to both the local government system and the public. When no or little ethics is displayed by the officers, the implications are felt in terms of public service delivery, development of different infrastructure, and most importantly the trust of the public to the local government (Yukl 2009). It is apparent that the behavior conducts of the local government officers have a direct relationship with the output of their work (Raymond 2009). For example, the study will try to evaluate and draw conclusions on the effects of bad conducts of local government officers in relation to service delivery and public satisfaction. In this regard, the current study will sought to find answers to the following questions, which will guide the rationale of the study: 3 Research Questions 1. What is the impact of organizational ethics on local government officer relations? 2. What are the implications of bad behavior conduct of local government officers to both the public and the officer? 3. How can the local government officers maintain organizational ethics? 4. Is there a relationship between officer organizational ethics and the performance of the local government system? 4 Objectives of the Study 1. To find out the impact of organizational ethics on local government officer relations 2. To assess the implications of bad behavior conduct of local government officers to both the public and the officer 3. To evaluate how the local government officers can maintain organizational ethics 4. To find out the relationship between officer organizational ethics and the performance of the local government system 5 Research Hypothesis The local government officer organizational ethics affects the performance of the local government system 2 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW The issue of standards of services offered by the local government has been in the past decades been associated with the conducts of the local government officers. In light with this, emphasis on ethical issues such as honesty has been cited to promote good conduct by the local government officers (Raymond 2009). This has instigated a call for national code of conduct of local government. The national code would be considered to enforce the law, open up ways of sending complaints, to promote openness and accountability of conduct, as well as to boost the intensity of public participation in the local government systems. It is apparent that many codes of conducts of the local government are not followed due to lack of public concern and reluctant police enquiries. As a result, continued practices of fraud and misappropriation of public funds has been on the increase. This is evident by the involvement of the private sector in the engagement of public services delivery. This raises concerns especially in relation to conflict of interest or situations where there is potential public gain from the public office (Northouse 2010). For example, in some instances, the officers are offered with time from official duties to discuss bids and contracts negotiations. This amounts to involvement of other insignificant activities by the officers, thus leading to unattended duties in the office. According to Osborne 2010, in order to instill organizational ethics among the local government officers, there is a need to take action against those who breach the rules and regulations, incorporate self management reviews of prevention measures, encourage public relations policies, and thorough officers’ recruitment (recruit people of high integrity). It is also important to note that leadership is seen as a distillation of factors that exist around the relationship between individuals, values, and environment (Sims 1991). It is inherent that ethical expectation of the local government officers is naturally higher just like that of any other leaders. In fact, the officers should have a patent sight of what is and not acceptable legally, rather that exhibiting some quality of moral goodness (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004). However, studies have indentified status within the organization which acts as a key variable in determining the success of the ethics officer role in the local government (Briscoe; Schuler and Claus 2008) In contrast, as much as the ethics role of the officers largely lies on the officers, ethical leadership consolidates legitimacy and credibility to the purpose and vision of the organization, creating trust and developing personal relationships. Trust is particularly significant, of course, during periods of change and uncertainty, in which the members of the organization can become suspicious and unmotivated. Nonetheless, ethics, as its known, involves shades of gray, and the moral perspectives of a strong leader may not resonate with his or her followers. Ethical management must operate within the parameters of respect for others and recognition of different perspectives. Therefore, it is vital for the local government officers to take care of their values, which largely influence the values of the organization and its members (Larson and LaFasto 1989). Officer’s ethical leadership behaviors should conform to the perceived integrity scale, which measures the relationship between the perceived ethical behaviors of a leader with his or her efficiency in the job, and demonstrate a correlation between perceived levels of integrity and commitment to the leadership (Ludeke and Swebeck 1994). Ethical leadership of the management of the local government has a lot do with the officers relations. There is a direct relationship between the management of the local government and leadership style exercised by the officers (Dubnick 2011). For example, it is apparent that when the management of the local government practices ethical collaboration model, where emphasis on the collective and collaborative processes of building relationships, networks, and connections, individual competence and behavior of the officers is cultivated, the officers follow the suit (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2004). In this regard, it can be argued that organizational ethics is somewhat blurred between management and leadership. It is also vital to note that the majority of ethical policies and frameworks both come about as a reaction to events, and is brought about to life through regulatory frameworks. Some studies have indicated that the local government has been more often than not portrayed an ethics mania. This occurs when the local government does not see ethics as particularly relevant. In this condition, leadership is seen to be reactive, and only minimum legal standards are maintained (Ferrell and Fraedrich 2004). When this happens, the officers display leadership competences. In light with this, the local government management opts to divert its leadership style, especially when criticized. It focuses on ethics management. In this kind of management, the local government sees ethics as important but not necessarily part of the culture (Jurkiewicz and Giacalone 2004). In most cases, rules and regulations are followed, but ethical issues take a backseat. 3 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY This section deals with description of the methods that will be used in conducting the research. It is divided into the following subsections: research design, target population, sampling technique, research instruments, validity and reliability, data collection procedures, data analysis technique and ethical issues. 1 Research Design The study will be carried out using the descriptive, cross-sectional survey design. The design will involve collecting data on a sample or cross-section of the respondents who will be selected to represent local government officers and the members of the public. This study design will aim at investigating the problem by use of questionnaires, and interview schedules. The descriptive survey design will be appropriate because according to Bryman and Bell 2003, it does not deal with a single case but rather several cases sampled from the target population. Bryman and Bell also contends that this kind of study is concerned with gathering facts and/or figures rather than the manipulation of variables. 2 Target Population This study will essentially target local government officials as the principal respondents. To complement the study, members of the public will be incorporated in the study for them to provide information on their perception of organization ethics of the local government officers. 3 Description of Sampling Procedure and Sample Size The study will use stratified random sampling. Investigator finds this sampling procedure appropriate because the target respondents will be divided into two strata: the local government officials and the members of the public. 4 Data Collection Instruments and Procedures Data collection is gathering empirical evidence in order to gain new insights about a situation and answer questions that prompt undertaking of the research. This study needs first hand information, which will be received from respondents in the field through interviews and questionnaires guide. 1 Validity Validity will assist the researcher to determine the degree to which the items presented in the questionnaire are accurate. Further, the researcher will seek the assistance of his supervisor(s) and other scholars to assess the relevance of the content in the questionnaire. 2 Reliability Reliability of the research instruments will be determined through testing and re-testing. Therefore, piloting of research instruments for this study will be more focused and objective. 5 Data Analysis Procedure After data collection, editing, coding of similar themes, classifying and tabulating are the processing steps to be used to process the collected data for a better and efficient analysis. Data editing will examine the collected new data to detect errors and omissions for correction to ensure accuracy and consistency. Data coding will assign symbols to answers to classify or categorize responses. Data will be coded and recorded on tally sheet after the systematic analysis of each individual variable for measuring completeness; occurrence and clarity because row data collected from the field through primary data are never well organized for interpretation. The two statistical methods; descriptive and inferential analysis will be applied to measure and determine the relationship that exists among the collected data. Descriptive analysis such as percentages, mean, mode and coefficient of correlation will be used to help to understand and interpret variables, distributions size, and relationship. The package MS excel will be used to present the results of the data. 6 Ethical Issues According to Gregory 2003, the researcher has to be careful to avoid causing physical or psychological harm to respondents by asking embarrassing and irrelevant questions, threatening language or making respondents nervous. Ethical considerations such as confidentiality, anonymity and avoidance of deception are very important issues in social research. For the purpose of this study, permission will first be sought from relevant authorities and a letter granted to allow carrying out the research. Furthermore, the purpose of the study will be explained to the respondents and assure them of confidentiality of their responses and identities. List of activities Task Start Finish Project planning 01/05/2012 15/05/2012 Contact respondents 16/05/2012 31/05/2012 Data collection/interviews 01/06/2012 30/06/2012 Data analysis 01/07/2012 30/07/2012 Project report presentation 01/08/2012 01/08/2012 Conclusion Just like any other organization, the local government has to have good working relations between local government officers and the public. Just like in any other organization, the focus of local government in this case is not only about corruption, but rather the misconduct, hospitality, relationship with other officers and any other behavior that would bring any member of the local government into disrepute. There is a direct relationship between the management of the local government and leadership style exercised by the officers. In order to instill organizational ethics among the local government officers, there is a need to act decisively against those who breach the rules and regulations, incorporate self management reviews of prevention measures, encourage public relations policies, and thorough officers’ recruitment. Bibliography: Andersen, B., 2004. Bringing business ethics to life: Achieving corporate social responsibility. Milwaukee, Wisc.: ASQ Quality Press. Briscoe. R. Dennis; Schuler, S. Randall and Claus, L., 2008. International Human Resource Management. New York: Taylor & Francis. 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J., 1989, Teamwork: What must go right, what can go? New York: Taylor & Francis. Ludeke, P. and Swebeck. B. 1994. Enterprise bargaining: a practical approach. Sydney: Federation Press. Murray, D. J., 1995. Ethics in organisations. London: Kogan Page. Northouse, P.G., 2010. Leadership: Theory and practice 4th ed. London: Sage. Osborne, P. Stephen., 2010. The new public governance? Emerging perspectives on the theory and practice of public governance. New York. Taylor & Francis. Raymond, W. Cox., 2009. Ethics and integrity in public administration: concepts and cases. Armonk. N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. Sims, R. Ronald., 1991. The institutionalization of organizational ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 10, 7: 493-506. Yukl, G. (2009). Leadership in organizations. New Jersey: Pearson Publishers. Read More