Running head: ACTUALIZING BUSINESS & PROFESSIONAL ETHICS IN THE

WORKPLACE 1

Actualizing Business & Professional Ethics in the Workplace

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Actualizing Business & Professional Ethics in the Workplace

Why ethical treatment of employees creates positive workplace attitudes

Understanding what motivates employees to offer excellent service and be productive, as

well as perform optimally and achieve the objectives that have been set for them is crucial if an

organization is to create positive workplace attitudes. This entails attempting to answer questions

such as: what do employees require from their job? Are they only interested in higher wages or

salaries? Are they interested in job security, better relationships with their colleagues, or do they

want opportunities for development and growth? These are pertinent questions that are at the

core of employee motivation, which refers to the art of interacting with employees in a manner

that enables them give their best and all in their work. Apparently, these are the same questions

asked by Herzberg in the 50s and 60s in his attempt to understand what satisfies employees.

Herzbergs aim was to determine the impact of attitude on employee motivation. Herzberg was

asking employees to describe circumstances where they either felt very bad or felt very good

with regards to their jobs. He found out that those individuals who felt good about their jobs

responded in completely different manner from those who felt really bad.

The findings from Herzbergs motivation-hygiene theory showed that there are some

attributes of a job that are often related to a job being satisfying to employees. Those factors that

relate or result to job satisfaction are separate and different from those that result in job

dissatisfaction. These include factors such as advancement, responsibility, growth, achievement,

recognition, as well as the job itself. Treating employees ethically by motivating them will only

result in satisfaction if employees are given the jobs that they want, the one they are interested in,

as well as the one that they enjoy. Herzberg points out that creating positive workplace attitudes

satisfaction, requires that motivating factors associated with work must be addressed. Each job
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must be analyzed and examined to demonstrate how it can be made better, as well as more

satisfying for the employee. This means that certain factors must be considered including

offering the employees sufficient opportunities for achieving the set goals. An employer must

also endeavor to recognize the contribution of different people in the organization and rewarding

them accordingly. Further, it will be important to create jobs and tasks that are rewarding and

which match the abilities and skills of different people. All employees must be given as much

responsibility as they can handle, while at the same time providing abundance of opportunities

for growth and advanced in the organization via internal promotions.

It is critical to mention that creating positive workplace attitudes a satisfying workplace

environment in some instances will require remedying some of the factors that result in

dissatisfaction. Nevertheless, as Herzberg asserts, that alone will not be enough in creating

satisfaction. In case the work environment in an organization is hostile, ensuring employees

satisfaction will require treating employees ethically, which is more than just replacing factors of

dissatisfaction with those of satisfaction. Thus, looking only at hygiene factors suggested by

Herzberg will not be enough to ensure employees are inspired and motivated because they often

do very little in the long run.

What needs to be done to create an effective employee policy manual?

Most employees often consider and view typical employee policy manuals as boring;

they are not page-turners because most of them are designed as a catalog of previous workplace

challenges and in some cases to play defense on the part of the organization. However, this

should not be case; organizations need to tailor and design their employee policy manuals in a

manner that makes them be the blueprint for how employees operate in the firm. In fact, they

should be tailored to act as a preamble to the organizations culture, as well as a guide that all
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employees engage with regularly. Thus, one thing that should be done to create employee policy

manuals that are effective is to ensure that they include the firms vision, procedure, as well as

policies which all employees should be expected to read, as well as use. It is important for the

employee policy manual to begin with the organizations vision and mission. This is because an

organizations mission explicitly states why employees would wake up each morning and go to

work in a particular organization instead of all others out there. It is therefore important that the

organizations mission engages employees both on an intellectual and emotional level that

creates an exciting challenge that employees indeed care about. This should be at the beginning

of the employee policy manual. This does set the baseline for all the other company policies that

would follow, not only for the readers, but also for the organization.

Second, an effective employee handbook should be given a different name altogether;

names such as staff manual or employee handbook should be avoided. This is because they

signal to the staff that such documents will be arduous, long, and full of boilerplate. Thus, the

name that an employee policy manual is given should be one that piques employees curiosity,

engages them, as well as convey the culture of the organization right at the beginning.

Creating, developing, and sustaining an engaging, dynamic, as well as compelling

organizational culture can be a competitive edge for an organization in any sector. Therefore, it

is important to write and include in the manual policies that reflect and personify the values of

the organization. A company should use its employee policy manual as a platform for assisting

their employees to comprehend the organizations values and culture. One thing that must be

avoided at all costs is just copying and pasting of generic policies; instead, they should be

personalized for the organization. This implies explaining the companys policies and the

reasons for them in a manner and tone consistent with the way that the firms leadership
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communicates with employees. For example, an organizations dress code can code policy can

be drafted in a manner that articulates the companys image that is presented both to the clients

and internally. Additionally, job performance appraisal or vacancy policy should be written in a

way that explains the organizations commitment to developing and advancing, as well as

promoting employees internally.

In todays business world, companies, particularly small and medium enterprises are

become more creative when it comes to the perks and benefits that they offer. Therefore,

employee policy manuals should be designed in a manner that promotes the organizations perks

including sabbaticals, continued learning, appreciation of public service, and findings different

ways of making jobs appealing beyond just the remuneration. All perks and programs developed

by the company should be included in the employee policy manual; they should not be buried

deep in the manuals table of content, instead, they should be put up front, clearly and concise.

The remaining part of the employee policy manual is often filled with what is expected of

employees including what they are supposed to invest in the firm. Thus, the employee policy

manual should be converted into a dialogue in which employees are told what they should expect

from the company and how the organization plans to invest in them.

The key ethical concerns regarding privacy and bullying

Privacy can be understood in two different ways: first, it implies the right to be left alone

in your personal space; the other implies the right for one to take charge and control of

information regarding oneself. Privacy in the workplace must be respected since it serves to

create and maintain the boundaries between workers, as well as define a persons individuality. It

also does accord an employee the right to control certain decisions and information that are

deemed and considered very personal, and thus help an employee better establish their own
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professional identity. Privacy also does encourage and ensure that people are treated with dignity

in the workplace and enables enhances the ability of managers to assign staff duties and

responsibilities, as well as measure productivity and accountability. When privacy is not

preserved or is breached in the work place, certain legal problems can arise. In fact, failure to

preserve it can lead to other ethical concerns which will only work to dampen employees.