Ethical
Behavior
This web
project focuses on the topic of ethical behavior. Ethical behavior is acting in ways that are
consistent with one’ personal values and the commonly held values of the
organization and society (Naran, 1992). The
Baldridge organization, which evaluates an organization’s overall quality,
presents an even more detailed definition of ethical
behavior.
Unethical behavior by employees can
affect individuals, work teams, and even the organization (Andrews, 1989). Organizations thus depend on individuals to
act ethically. One company recognized for
its comprehensive efforts to encourage ethical behavior is General
Dynamics. Several years ago, the company
launched a program to integrate its ethical standards into every day business conduct
(Wagel, 1987). It developed a booklet of
ethical standards, distributed it to all employees, and undertook a massive
training effort to express to all employees the importance of ethical
behavior.
Today’s
high-intensity business environment makes it more important than ever to have a
strong ethics program in place. In a survey
of more than 4,000 employees conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics Resource Center, one-third of the employees
said that they had witnessed ethical misconduct in the past year (Flynn, 1995).
The ethical
issues that individuals face at work are complex. A review of articles appearing in the Wall Street Journal during just one week
revealed more than sixty articles dealing with ethical issues in business
(Cherrington & Cherrington, 1992). However,
the perception of what constitutes ethical versus unethical behavior in
organizations varies among individuals.
Our website
deals with the following issues related to ethical behavior:
Value Systems (developed by Alicia Smith)
Locus
of Control (developed by Michael Jones)
Ethical
Decision Making (developed by Kimora Johnson)
For more
information on Ethical Behavior, we invite you to visit these organizations:
Institute
for Business Technology and Ethics
This web
page project was developed for Dr. Bane’s organizational
behavior class at Bloomfield College.
References:
K. R. Andrews, “Ethics in practice.” Harvard Business Review (Sept – Oct, 1989),
99-104.
J. O. Cherrington and D. J.
Cherrington, “A Menue of Moral Issues:
One Week in the Life of The Wall Street Journal,” Journal of Business
Ethics, 11 (1992), 255-265.
G. Flynn, “Make employee ethics your
business.” Personnel Journal (June
1995): 30-40.
F. Naran, “Your Role in Shaping
Ethics,” Executive Excellence, 9 (1992), 11 – 12.
W. H. Wagel, “A New Focus on Business
Ethics at General Dynamics,” Personnel (August 1987): 4 – 8
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Page Developed by Denise Bane, e-mail: Denise_Bane@bloomfield.edu