Assignment
Prompt: Ethical decision making is a necessary part of doing business. Discuss what influences ethical decision making. What are some practical steps that managers can take to improve ethical decision making? Support your response with information from the literature.
First response
In business there is a certain nature that has to be followed. This is called ethics and how we follow ethical principals is vital. Ethics are defined in our text as, "the set of moral principals or values that defines right and wrong for a person or group" (Williams, 2008, p. 68). Every business has rules that have to be put in place so that things move fairly and in order. A business has to ensue that there is no problems in their organization. Doing what is right or wrong is what Influences us as employees to follow the rules. When we follow the rules there are no consequences. Doing right ensures that the climate for trouble is low.
If problems arise, there are guidelines that can be used to make sure organizations stay in line. First, you can establish what is right and wrong within the organization. Second, you can assign upper management to be in charge and this way they can delegate authority to others. Next you have to have an open door policy where you can encourage employees to report violations. You can also train employees to not violate rules and enforce those rules. If these rules are broken, there are ways to improve these rules to make them easier to follow.
References
Second response
Ethical decision making aids managers in translating the organizational vision into reality. Through effective ethical guidelines, they can make decisions that propel organizations to success. In this case, Lawton & Páez (2014) argued that ethical leaders make the best managers Ethical dilemmas characterizing business decisions affect the desired outcomes. The dilemmas result from past experiences, individual differences, values, morals and biases (Lawton & Páez, 2014). For example, a past failure resulting from a potentially justifiable decision may create confusion to management teams. Similarly, a moral conflict may hinder ethical decision making through bias or prejudice. However, ethics goes beyond avoidance of corporate theft and corruption to include the creation of a balance between economic and social performance (Lawton & Páez, 2014).
To improve ethical decision making, managers should start by embedding ethics in their business models and strategies (Snellman, 2015). Formation of a suitable ethical policy constitutes the first step in this initiative. At this point, the senior managers should lead the ethical approach by example through integration of ethics at individual level (Snellman, 2015). They should also enhance clarity and transparency in the business operations to include remuneration. In addition, the top level managers should create a platform where middle level and other unit managers challenge assumptions in the proposed ethical policies. On the other hand, the adopted ethical policy should focus on environmental sustainability and other social factors that induce customer loyalty (Snellman, 2015). Its application must be structured in a gradual process bound to occur within defined timelines. In this case, the top managers ought to set benchmarks and performance indicators that guide the entire workforce in making ethical decisions. They should also indicate potential benefits that are likely to result from the ethical approach. Lastly, continuous improvement entails the use of training programs and seminars to ensure that the entire workforce remains updated to emerging ethical issues.
References
Lawton, A. & Páez, I. (2014). Developing a Framework for Ethical Leadership. Journal Of Business Ethics, 130(3), 639-649
Snellman, C. (2015). Ethics Management: How to Achieve Ethical Organizations and Management?. Business, Management And Education, 13(2).