Bus 5115 - Discussion Forum Unit 1

University of the People

 According to a school of thought, business ethics provides reasons for how things

ought to be in the economic world and this requires arranging values to guide

decisions, understanding the facts and constructing arguments (Brusseau, 2012).

Also according to Alexandra Twin business ethics centers its study on how

apposite business policies and practices concerning hypothetically scandalous issues

involving company governance, insider trading, corruption, discrimination, corporate

social responsibility, and fiduciary responsibilities are administered (Twin, 2020).

For me personally, I think that any idea(s) that has passed the test of fairness (in all

ramifications) to humanity in business can be accepted by a group of people as ethics

in their business.

So as a manager who is also part of management, business ethics must have

checked all “humanity treatment boxes” to be called or considered an ethical guide in

business. Also bearing in mind that some police may be incomplete and that for me, it

still doesn’t pass ethics for business (In order words, check all the boxes to avoid

loopholes (for managers to get shady) and unfairness to humanity).

A good manager (management) ensures that policies are well understood, put some

supervisory acts to check compliance, handle risk to the minimum level possible and

generally ensure total clean slate dealings. This is the ultimate role of ethics and also

an indication of what a management could do to help shape the values and ethics of an

organization.

For instance, I work in a TV house; it is ethical to say that if any equipment is

leaving the work premises, written and signed permission is supposed to be obtained.

That is great; but what happens when all assigned persons aren’t available to sign a

gate pass document for some reason, what happens. If that were not checked well,
both management and employee would make a mess of opportunities to get contents

and also must have created some rough relationships.

And again, if this aspect isn’t managed well fraudulent acts could be carried out

easily.

And when it comes to asking if an employee behavior, ethical or not is a by-

product of the organization's ethical climate, I would say yes in most cases and no in

the least cases.

According to an article, an ethical climate is recognition of what comprises the

right behavior, and ultimately becomes a mental system through which ethical issues

are managed (G. d’Annunzio, 2018).

The article went further to say that the construction of ethical climate approaches

the notion of good norms that drive what is understood as what is right and wrong

within groups and organizations. This refers to the fact that different organizations

cultivate diverse subcultures that oversee the relation of individuals among

themselves including regulating each other’s behavior (G. d’Annunzio, 2018).

The above explanation says it all about how the management of an organization

helps to shape the values and ethics of within the organization.

It reminds me of my previous course on “Organizational Theory and Behavior”

when we were discussing Organizational Culture and Change. We were opened to the

ideas of what an organizational culture can do in changing the employee and

ultimately the general output of a company.

Be it as it may, I am also of the view that, there are some employees who don’t

follow orders or policy; that just the way they are (you could call this descriptive

ethics).
 Using my professional experience there a few instances I want to share. I

remember sometime in the year 2019, a friend of mine who is in the same industry

said their station manager sent an email that more responsibilities have been added to

all producers. He said they waited for a corresponding mail of an increase in

remuneration but nothing happened.

They continued without attending to the new responsibilities up until they were all

summoned and was asked to do it and not expect an increase and if not, they should

pack up and leave. According to him, some left but for me, it’s a height of disrespect

and it was unethical.

I give you another point in my work where a camera operator walks out of

production because the production took time. He didn’t wait to finish his work and

that stood the recording still for some minutes, thanks to an amateur who volunteered.

The annoying part was that nothing was done to him after I had reported because

he’s a brother to a senior staff.

Finally, any policies or guidelines set aside to govern a set of people will have to

be fair, thoroughly understood and applicable to all before it is ethical. There is, of

course, the fact that people copy what wrong they see (from superiors) and even have

more courage to replicate it when they observe that those wrongs are common among

the superior.

Therefore a superior (management personnel) should know that much is expected

of him/her in carrying an organization on a good moral path.

 Haven said that we should not forget that some people are wired to be who they are

and won’t make an intentional effort to be better.

References

Brusseau, J. (2012, Dec 29). What Is Business Ethics? Retrieved from Business Ethics

: https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/business-ethics/s05-what-is-business-

ethics.html

G. d’Annunzio, L. V. (2018, Jun 12). On the Effects of Ethical Climate(s) on

Employees’ Behavior: A Social Identity Approach. (G. Topa, Editor) Retrieved

from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6008529/

Twin, A. (2020, Jan 16). Retrieved from:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/business-ethics.asp