Ethical Climate

Ethical climate defines the moral values and practices in any organization. Positive ethical

environment is not just valuing and protecting the employees but also leads to the progress of

organization. Interest in the organizational climate has rooted from 1950s, It has been studies by

considering care and support (Field and Abelson, 1982) , payback of hard work (Schneider and

Reichers, 1983), irregularity (McKee, 1988), acceptability of aggression (Lewin et al., 1939),

Innovations (Abbey and Dickson, 1983), etc.

A lot of research is also done on the question how ethical climate affects the behavior of

employees (Schneider, 1975). A researcher Fleishman in 1953 said that supervisor in a

organization doesnt behave as they taught to behave in human relationship program but they

behave accordingly to the climate of the organization. Many other studies show that people

modify their job style by following the environment of a organization. (White and Lippitt, 1968).

Many of scientist provided evidence of a relationship between ethical climate and behavior of

employees (Dieterly and Schneider, 1974). Positive Ethical climate and even negative behavior

is directly linked to performance of organization. Behavior of any workplace depends upon the

behavior of predominant dimensions related to organization. Behavior of any dimension at

workplace affects the overall performance (Hegarty and Sims, 1978; 1979). Ethical climate is

multidimensional and it can classify to five dimensions. These dimensions include Caring, rules,

law, code, independence and instrumental (Victor and Cullen, 1988).

Ethical values are as much important to the organization as which profit is. This gives the better

understanding at each level makes enable to forecast the success of business. It is not only

appreciated by the buyer/customers but also to the employees, who can work better with self
respect and could contribute more to organization. It can also provide edge in this challenging

world over other competitors.

It is need of any organization to have a positive ethical climate and leaders of organization

should understand the importance of these standard values for longer run.

References

Field, R. G., & Abelson, M. A. (1982). Climate: A reconceptualization and proposed

model. Human Relations, 35(3), 181-201.

Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally

created social climates. The Journal of social psychology, 10(2), 269-299.

Wimbush, J. C., Shepard, J. M., & Markham, S. E. (1997). An empirical examination of the

relationship between ethical climate and ethical behavior from multiple levels of analysis. Journal

of Business Ethics, 16(16), 1705-1716.

Schneider, B., & Reichers, A. E. (1983). On the etiology of climates. Personnel psychology, 36(1),

19-39.

Abbey, A., & Dickson, J. W. (1983). R&D work climate and innovation in

semiconductors. Academy of Management Journal, 26(2), 362-368.

Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally

created social climates. The Journal of social psychology, 10(2), 269-299.

Dieterly, D. L., & Schneider, B. (1974). The effect of organizational environment on perceived

power and climate: A laboratory study. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 11(3),

316-337.

Victor, B., & Cullen, J. B. (1988). The organizational bases of ethical work

climates. Administrative science quarterly, 101-125.