Is Hiring Ethical People the Most Important Factor Involved in Creating an Ethical Organization - Coursework Example

Is hiring ethical people the most important factor involved in creating and sustaining an ethical organization Lecturer: Introduction Hiring ethical people is not significant factor in developing and maintaining ethical organizations because various factors contribute to the development of ethical organizations. Among the various factors that affect creation of a successful ethical organization is leadership that is responsible of ensuring a healthy ethical climates indicated by zero tolerance of destructive behavior. Moreover, other factors to the development of ethical organizations include integrity and structural reinforcement propelled by important tools that ensure creation of an ethical organizational climate like shared values and codes of ethics. The most significant factor in developing and sustaining an ethical organization is an ethical leader who leads an ethical organization; therefore, effective ethical organizations require effective leaders who exemplify personal values with organizational values. In ethical organizations, the effectiveness of leadership begins at the top and gets conveyed through example and reciprocity of demands as per ethical behavior, as well as an ethical business culture.Therefore, moral philosophy that offers the prescriptions on how individuals ought to behave and live as well as resolve ethical dilemmas plays a significant role based on consequence-based perspective and duty-based perspective. Moreover, communication in ethical organization is open, honest and reciprocal among the workforce because leaders actively seek and offer feedback on essential issues from the various levels of the organization (Kiyomiya, 2012). Role of Leadership Leaders in ethical organizations value the perspectives of employees and help facilitate the employees’ ability to provide opinions and concerns since the leaders demonstrate care and respect for the employee’s point of view (Friedland, 2009). Ethical organizational culture has its influence on organizational commitment because of the culture is consideredethicalthen employees tend to be more committed to the organization. In ethical organizations, the leaders remain the ethics officers of the organization beastie they cast the light or shadow of the organization through the example they set. Ethical leaders ensure that ethical messages never drown because of other messages regarding tasks and profits since the leaders focus on frequent communication regarding values, corporate standards as well as the significance of ethical behavior. Leaders are essential in creating an ethical organization because executives ensure that employees acknowledge ethics and are never neutral about ethics because the followers may focus on financial results without ethical concerns. The individual, his character, the situation and situational variables like organizations culture influence developing ethical decision making in ethical organizations. Through ethical leaders, an organization is capable to develop positive ethical atmosphere that enhance moral behavior in leaders and followers. Leaders enable ethical climate, which is part of an ethical organization’s culture and influences the way the organization responds to issues as part of its culture. Like any other organization that faces unique ethical challenges, ethical organizations create their values and norms as well as guidelines that enforce the organization’s ethical standards (Johnson, 2008). Examples of ethical organizations in Singapore include Singtel, which is a Telecommunication Company and the Association for Early Childhood Educators (AECES). Integrity and structure Developing ethical organization necessitates zero tolerance for destructive behaviors, enhancement of integrity and structural reinforcement. Through moral leaders, ethical organizations can be developed because the leaders can create zero tolerance policies that inhibit antisocial actions. Ethical leaders are capable of addressing the underlying factors that can trigger destructive actions because they are able to screen out potential employees with history of destructive behavior(Ferrell, 2014).Through egoism, leaders are capable of ensuring that followers act in a morally correct way if the ego promotes the agent’s self-interests because people make decisions that can maximize their self-interest; however, all individuals have to balance their self-interest with the interests of others. In ethical organizations, all units share commitment for a high level of moral standard, which helps sustain the ethical talk of an organization with its actions. Consistency in the commitment enhances the level of trust that encourages members to be willing to share undistorted information or even negotiate with good intent that consequently improves organizational productivity (Johnson, 2008). An example of an organization that has had integrity issues is Nation Kidney Foundation, (NKF, Singapore) because its former CEO engaged in malpractices like misuse of donated funds (Foo, 2013). Essential tools in ethical organizations In developing ethical organizations, leaders depend on several essential tools to accomplish this and the tools include core values, code of ethics and ethical learning. The most essential step in creating and sustaining an ethical organization involves ethical issues because leaders can define and then focus on essential ethical issues; hence, core values form the initial component in developing ethical organizations. In ethical organizations, the decision to behave in the right manner is hugely determined by rewards as well as punishments associated with the action. Therefore, in ethical organizations, people tend to follow rules automatically because they do not desire the negative consequences. Code of ethics form the most common tools in ethical organizations because the code of ethics offer a description of the organization’s ethical stance to its members as well as the outside world. By referring to the code, employees and leaders in the organization are able to oppose unethical and organizational pressures; hence, the written code can directly influence ethical behavior. Sustaining ethical organization requires organizational ethical learning that is often influenced by several factors like climate of openness. In ethical organizations, leaders are capable of making conscious effort in order to reduce barriers in all units and the environment enhances development and sharing of new ideas (Johnson, 2008). The morals of a leader based on ethical leadership and are essential in developing a positive reputation for ethical leadership because traits, behaviors and decisions form part of the leader. In ethical organizations, ethical leaders put ethics at the core of their agenda because they act as role models who show employee to conduct business in an ethical manner (McCann&Holt, 2009). From the perspective of a leader, developing and sustaining ethical culture requires the use of the prevailing culture in the organization as a foundation in order to determine theorganization status ethically (Brophy, 2010). According to Sekerka, Comer and Godwin (2014), positive ethics within the workplace requires a living code that involves cognitive, affective and behavioral manifestation of the organization’s ethical identity. Kohlberg claims to act in a morally high way, an individual must have a high degree ofreasoning; however, the reasoning does not guarantee moral behavior because various factors influence the action in moral reasoning. Nevertheless, Kohlberg identified various aims that include self-centered, community and universal principle aims in cognitive moral development. Ethical organizations exceed ethical compliance by considering moral strength as worthwhile and achievable; hence, the organizations empower and promote nurturing of ethical strength to not only prevent unethical behavior but also enhance virtuous behavior. By hiring people who comply with ethical regulations alone is a mere minimum it never yields in ethical excellence; therefore, organizational culture that strives for higher ethical behavior is the most essential because it cultivates the desire to do right (Leigh,2013). In order to create successful ethical organizations, there is need for support from the organization’s systems, processes and even the leadership. This an essential feature because once the management embraces the responsibility of promoting continuous ethical development and ethical strength in employees through establishment of an organizational culture and climate it becomes possible to enhance ethical manners. Therefore, in developing an ethical organization, the important factors include encouraging the leaders, managers and employees to develop an ethical climate and culture refer to Annex A(Sekerka, Comer and Godwin,2014). Personal integrity as well as ethics training It is often said that deterrent to unethical behavior within an organization is having ethical leaders because employees are very sensitive to situations that influence their workplace and their perceptions of the organizational culture. An individual has two essential virtues that include integrity and constancy that ensure the individual does not change with contexts but rather remains capable of pursuing objectives from time to time. Since personal values influence human behavior, developing and sustaining ethical organizations necessitates corporate leaders to convert the identified organizational values to behavioral standards within the organization. Leaders have to ensure that immediately after an employee enters the organization, the employee gets introduced to the internal culture that deals with ethical values.Upon employment, the employees have to undergo orientation of the prescribed model for ethical behavior and pointing out the zero tolerance to unethical conduct within the organization. This approach is essential in setting the tone of the organization and introducing the new employees to the organization’s internal culture, which supports mechanism of sustaining the ethical organization. Ethical education is an integral part in creating and sustaining an ethical organization because it serves to offer employees with the required tools for dealing with ethical dilemmas within the workplace (Quatro& Sims, 2008; Jondle, Ardichvili& Mitchell, 2014). Therefore, regardless of whether an employee is considered to be ethical at the time of hiring, the employee like all other employees has to be presented with ethics education that provide the employee with an overview of the organization’s ethical culture (Daft, 2010; Cummings & Worley, 2009). Ethical structure Ethical leadership in ethical organizations means that managers are honest, trustworthy, and fair when dealing with employees and customers; moreover, the leaders have to behave ethically in their private and professional lives. Managers and other leaders in an ethical organization are significant role models for ethical behavior because they heavily influence the ethical climate in the organization by sticking to high ethical standards within their decision-making and behavior. Within an ethical organization, codes of ethics state the behaviors expected and even those that cannot be tolerated and when the top management supports and enforces these codes as well as rewards for complying and discipline for violation, it boosts the organization’s ethical climate.Ethical structures in ethical organizations incorporate the various systems and programs the company undertakes to incorporate ethical behavior (Daft, 2010). Ethical capability within an organization involves the organization’sability to establish and respond efficiently to concerns of ethics. Ethical capability of an organization involves the organization’s knowledge and skills to comprehend its ethical framework and responding effectively. Moreover, an ethical organization’s capability includes leadership, teamwork and the organization’s culture that facilitate ongoing dialogue and learning regarding ethics of the organization (Buller&McEvoy, 1999). Shared understanding regarding ethical conduct in ethical organizations is considered a cultural sub element to the overall organizational culture. This aspect is part to the culture that distinguishes what is “right” and what is “wrong” in ethical organizations and is composed of shared knowledge related to the ethical and unethical conduct that reflect the norms of the organization (McDaniel, 2004). Apart from ethical leaders being moral role models who encourage followers to strive toward moral ideas and behaviors, the leaders promote moral efficiency through enabling followers to report any violations of the organization’s ethical standards (Schaubroeck, 2012).For instance, Singtelwas awarded as one of the ethical organizations in 2013 because the company not only promoted internal ethical standards in business but also exceeded the legal compliance minimum. This was anoteworthyaccomplishment for appreciation of the organization’s dedication to ethical management and conformity practices (Singtel.com,2013). Conclusion Creating and sustaining an ethical organization involves various factors as opposed to relying on one factor because development of ethical organizations requires determination from the leaders and employees. Among the various factors that are essential in developing and sustaining an ethical organization is the leadership that is capable of influencing the organization’s culture and the ethical climate within the organization. Ethical organizations mostly rely on leaders to convey and sustain the organization’s ethical culture because they act as role models to the employees. Moreover, ethical organizations require more than moral compliance in its members because mere compliance is never enough in sustaining the organization’s ethical culture. The ethical culture in business organizations are manifested through complex combinations and interplay between the formal and informal interaction between members of the organization. The formal ways in which the various members of the organization interact include structure of the organization, policies and the formal procedures of managing processes, while informal culture include values, norms and role models. Appendix References Brophy, J. R. (2010). Leadership essentials for emergency medical services.Sudbury, Mass, Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Buller, P, &McEvoy, G 1999, Creating and Sustaining Ethical Capability in the Multi-National Corporation, Journal Of World Business, 34, 4, pp. 326-343. Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2009).Organization development & change. Australia, South-Western/Cengage Learning. Daft, R. L. (2010). Management. Mason, Ohio, South-Western Cengage Learning. Ferrell, O. C. (2014). Business ethics: ethical decision making& cases. [S.l.], Cengage Learning. Friedland, J. (2009). Doing well and good: the human face of the new capitalism.Charlotte, N.C., Information Age Pub. Johnson, J. (2008). Creating an Ethical Organizational Climate.Availableat: [6 February 2014] Jondle, D, Ardichvili, A, & Mitchell, J 2014, Modeling Ethical Business Culture: Development of the Ethical Business Culture Survey and Its Use to Validate the CEBC Model of Ethical Business Culture, Journal Of Business Ethics, 119, 1, pp. 29-43. Kiyomiya, T 2012, Collaborative Organizational Communication and Its Impact on Ethical Dilemmas, International Studies Of Management & Organization, 42, 3, pp. 49-68. Leigh, A. (2013). Ethical leadership: creating and sustaining an ethical business culture. London: Kogan Page. McCann, J, & Holt, R 2009, Ethical Leadership and Organizations: An Analysis of Leadership in the Manufacturing Industry Based on the Perceived Leadership Integrity Scale, Journal Of Business Ethics, 87, 2, pp. 211-220. McDaniel, C. 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