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Louis P. White
Long W. Lam
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Means
The Means presented in Figure 1 are the rules,
policies and procedures in an organization, and
not limited only to those which refer specifically
to ethics. In this paper, however, we are primarily concerned with whether organizations
have provided clear rules and policies that safeguard unethical behavior. We also propose that
it is the organizational climate that determines
whether ethical rules and procedures will be
created and will actually be implemented. As
Hyman et al. (1990) suggested, organizational
climates are composed of the countless, every day
events, attitudes, policies, beliefs and culture no
matter. Organizational climate shapes individual
actions by providing explicit and implicit guidelines of acceptable behavior. In effect, the nature
of the organizations climate provides the
means for the emergence of an ethical
dilemma, and the blueprint for resolving any
emergent dilemmas.
Thus, while ethics is a question of an individuals judgment and behavior, the host organization must accept primary responsibility for
the means component of an ethical system.
Because the means are composed of all organizational policies, procedures and practices considered collectively, it is incumbent upon
managers to set clear expectations and standards
for the ethical conduct of every organizational
member and to model the highest ethical practices. Modeling ethical practices is not limited
to the exercise of moral judgment in areas where
there are obvious potential conflicts of interest.
It includes a proactive and continuous reassessment of all aspects of organizational life.
Motivation
Opportunity
Opportunity plays a unique role in the framework depicted in Figure 1 when compared to the
majority of discussions about organizational
ethics. This departure is highlighted by the
proposition that categories of ethical dilemmas
operate as a function of job position in the hierarchy. Specifically, different job positions create
their own unique sets of opportunities to engage
in ethical or unethical behavior. A corollary to
this proposition is that, given the heterogeneity
of job classifications and accompanying ethical
scenarios, effective ethics training would vary as
a function of job classification.
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This notion is grounded in the state of professional ethics and unique sets of standards.
Attorneys have a code of ethics geared to situations that confront the legal profession as do
psychologists and physicians. The same pattern
prevails in the model shown in Figure 1. The
CEO of an organization faces ethical dilemmas
unique to that position as does the human
resource employee and other job classes within
the organization. In a 1994 survey conducted by
the Ethics Resource Center, employees in technical positions, such as manufacturing and quality
control, felt the strongest pressure to commit
business misconduct. The prevailing method of
ethics training, however, assumes homogeneity of
ethical confrontations as reflected by ethics
training programs.
The literature also suggests that opportunity
for engagement in unethical conduct is a
function of occupational category. Bernheim
(1992), in a study of how MBA candidates and
executives view ethical situations, concluded that:
it appears that ethical priorities depend on
where you sit (p. 46). Further, a study by Kroll,
Wright and Theerathorn (1993) of insurers and
top managers found that when managers have
discretionary control . . . they are more likely to
absorb greater pecuniary and non-pecuniary
benefit and shirk responsibilities (p. 145). As
Cyriac (1992) has stated,
ethics therefore should be integrated into the functional and technical specialties of management.
Each function of management and each area of
business education should discuss extensively and
debate seriously on related ethical issues (p. 12).
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TABLE I
Proposed activities on using the infrastructural model of organizational ethics
Means
1. Lead by examples. To foster a positive organizational climate, top management should set the tone and serve
as role models of acceptable ethical behavior.
2. Involve employees of all levels. Include members from different job levels to formulate a companys rules and
procedures on ethical behavior.
Motivation
1. Restructure performance evaluation. Part of the evaluation criteria on employees should include adherence to
rules and procedures on ethical behavior.
2. Compensating for the right behavior. Pay and salary systems should tie monetary values to ethical performance
of employees.
Opportunity
1. Group ethical scenarios by job types. This activity can be accomplished by asking job occupants to describe the
types of ethical questions they confront.
2. Develop simulations from these critical incidents. These simulations will be used in subsequent ethics training
workshops.
3. Develop resolution strategies. These resolution strategies should include input and participation by employees
who experience the set of ethical situations that are part of a particular milieu.
4. Develop training programs. Design training programs based upon the information from these incidents and
simulation.
ethics codes, but of all the organizations practices. When discussing social responsibility of
organizations, De George (1995, p. 13) emphasized the need for social and moral audits such
that corporations are able to inform the public
as to where they stand on some social issues, and
to explain their policies and their impact on
society. The same principle can be applied to
ethics audits. This is inferred from the notion that
organizational practices serve as the means for the
emergence of ethical dilemmas, and the existence
of ethics audits can enhance or retard the individuals motivation to behave in an ethical
manner. In other words, organizations can implement ethics audits to determine if there are clear
rules and procedures that prevent unethical
behavior of employees.
Finally, the model points to the need for
training tailored to individual job classes. Such a
design may make ethics training more relevant
and effective than what has been practiced
by most organizations. We suggest that since
opportunity to commit unethical behavior
differs among job positions, organizations should
provide different training programs to employees
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References
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