Most of the employers in the world we live today are more concerned about how their employees behave at work. Often, business ethics are the social responsibility that a business is supposed to have or to show towards the members of the community especially the community in which they operate. A business showing high levels of ethics and morality both in work and towards the surrounding community is likely to enjoy a greater level of success compared to those organizations with no ethics and morality in their operations. Ethics is the personal choice, and as a result, the manner in which individuals or groups behave at work widely depends on the personal ethics of those who are in power over that workstation as well as those individuals who work in that environment (Resick, 2013). Ethics and morality in the organization are very crucial and paramount, and the effective management of ethics is a sound and an excellent business practice that should be adopted and practiced by all organizations as they go about their daily businesses. Through ethics and morality in the workplace, managers and supervisors stand a better platform and an opportunity to boost their morale, improve bottom-line performance. This assignment will focus on shedding more light on morality and ethics in the workplace.
Distinguishing what is right and what is wrong when there is large of individuals or group to consider is an absolute in life. Large Corporation and enterprises should be well aware of the consequences, both the positive and negative of doing the right and the wrong thing. However, one of the important lessons that these organizations need to understand in their course of operations is that doing the right thing does not always guarantee success in their business. On the other side, there is a high likelihood of these organizations failing if they compromise their ethical standards both at the workplace and to the surrounding environment communities included. Below are some of the reasons as to why morals and ethics are crucial in running a business.
One of the importance of maintaining high levels of ethics and moral standards in a workplace is to boost the trust of the employees. Without trust in the workplace, miscommunication, dishonesty and high employee turnover the business is likely to fail or stagnate. An untrustworthy employee keeps his or manager in doubts while a trustworthy employee makes their employees satisfied and secure that they will complete their responsibilities and duties with ease and on time (Cohen, 2014). Trust is always referred to as reliance on the integrity, strength, ability and surety of the employees and this prompts the employer or the manager to give trustworthy employees a degree of freedom as they perform their duties. Thus, through high levels of ethics and morals employees can develop trust amongst themselves as well as with their seniors.
Additionally, business corporations and organizations should have moral obligations towards the employees as well as the community in which they operate. The ethical duty of the business is honest with their customers about the quality and quantity of goods and services they sell to them and in the process forbid and eliminate perjury, robbery, forgery, fraud and defamation. As a result, there are certain laws, rules, and regulations that all business organizations are required to follow and adhere to ensure that they remain true and loyal to their esteemed customers. Despite the fact that these laws are almost similar to individuals’ laws, they hold great intensity and capacity and failure to perform in a lawful manner; the organization can be held accountable and be prosecuted. On the same note, business and enterprise have a moral obligation to honor all their promises both to the community and to their employees. This goes way beyond cooperative social responsibility considering that it is through these promises that the businesses and organizations can create a strong and bigger customer base.
Ethical and moral in the workplace are crucial in avoiding legal problems with the authority of the jurisdiction they operate. Most of the times, the company management is tempted to cut corners to increase the profits of the organization given the fact that the organization is out in the field to make a profit. In such cases, the organization may find itself in trouble of not complying with important legal requirements such as complying with environmental regulations or labor laws, ignoring work safety hazards or using substandard materials in their products. In some countries, the penalties and punishment for not fully complying with the law can be severe and can lead to losses in the form of legal fees and fines or sanctions by the government agencies and worst cases; the government can revoke the business permit (Ciulla, 2014). The resulting publicity is likely to cause long-term damage to the company’s reputation that is even more costly than the legal fees and fines considering that the business will no doubt lose their trusted customers. Companies and enterprises willing to maintain high levels of ethics and morals will always take their time to train their employees on what is needed of them and how to be ethical and moral in the workplace.
Besides, through ethics and moral the organizations stand a better chance to build and maintain customer loyalty. Consumers are likely to forgive their company and organization to slip once but not twice. Thus, any suspicion that the company is treating them unfairly or rather overcharging them, they are likely to lose their trust and loyalty to the company. Creating and maintaining a loyal customer base is one of the paramount keys to the success of any organization as well as guaranteeing an organization a long-term business success considering that serving existing customers is far much cheaper compared to new customers since there is no marketing involved. As a matter of fact, each customer is likely to enjoy any association with a company that has a good reputation which can only be created through ethical behavior which turns into a positive image in the marketplace bringing more and more customers through referral by the existing customers. On the other hand, a reputation for unethical behavior is likely to send more and more customers on their way which may cripple all the chances for the company to attract new customers especially in this current era where customers like using social platforms (Cohen, 2014). Thus, ethical behavior of the employees and the business, in general, is likely to affect its relationship with their customers in a significant manner.
Ethics and moral standards of any organization are crucial when it comes to making strategic decision making mainly because all their decisions have to be based on the code of conduct adopted by the organization. Through the code of ethics, the company stands a better chance and opportunity to make the right decisions affecting the company either internally or externally. All business organizations have a moral responsibility that goes beyond making profit considering that their decisions are likely to affect the lives of the employees working in the organizations as well as their customers. As a result, good and relevant strategic decisions are likely to guarantee the company a going concern as opposed to decisions that are made based on opinion. Corporations should have a responsibility not only to make a profit for their shareholders and stakeholders but also to obey the laws of the country and be truthful and straightforward to all their financial dealings. Any wrong move and decision made by the organization may signify trouble to the organization as it may fail to recover and expand regarding profitability, market share and customers.
In conclusion, it is correct to say that code of conduct and moral standards act as the blueprint of the behavior displayed by all employees in an organization. All employees have an obligation of strictly following this code of conduct to guarantee the success of the organization by attracting more and more customers as well as creating a public image and to avoid legal fines and sanctions. From the above discussion, it is easy and correct to point out that ethical and moral standards are part and parcel of any organization and they can determine the success or failure of any enterprise (Ciulla, 2014). The leadership of any organization should be on the front line to lead all other employees in acting and behaving in an ethical manner.
References
Ciulla, J. B. (2014). Ethics, the heart of leadership. ABC-CLIO.
Cohen, T. R. (2014). Moral character in the workplace. . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(5), , 943.
Resick, C. J. (2013). Ethical leadership, moral equity judgments, and discretionary workplace behavior. Human Relations, 0018726713481633.
