Introduction
In business, ethics is given a lot of attention, and many organizations strive to achieve the best. There is no doubt that a good company’s foundation is based on ethics; this is why many companies around the world anticipate commencing on a solid ethical background. A company whose business practices are deemed smart is always complimented by ethical behaviors, which are decent and good.
Nevertheless, what is ethics? According to Ellis (2007), ethics is a branch of philosophy that addresses issues concerning morality, for example, concepts of good and bad, wrong and right, and vices and virtues.
However, this could be simplified as principles of morality governing a group of people’s behavior or that of an individual. That said and understood then, we get to understood why many managers emphasize on building organizations, which are characterized by ethical values.
Description of an organization
This term nonetheless is used in large contexts and in our every day-to-day life mostly in line of business. However, let as look at the definition of an organization in comprehensive terms without speculating.
In defining an organization, we base on the elements that make it or are part of it, and thus according to Marshak (1987), an organization is a social group that has a task of distributing work with the intention of attaining a collective goal.
There are different categories of organizations ranging from governmental organizations, corporations and non-governmental organizations. They are operational in private, and public sectors to fulfill duties to the public and develop activities for the commercial market (Ellis, 2007).
For us to build an ethical organization, we, therefore, need to know what makes up an organization. This is an organizational structure, which determines how the organization runs and the organizational behaviors of the various stakeholders. In a well-built organization, you will always have the managers and administrators.
Managers are known to undertake massive decisions concerning various issues following the entire organization whereas the work of the administrators is to put these decisions into functional forms.
In this case, to shape an organization well into having the best ethical concepts, then it must have mission statements and values statements to emphasize the organizational goal. To realize this then a culture of organizational ethics must be first created.
As Professor Daniel Swartzman of the UIC School of Public Health put it, employees in an organization must be made to know that priorities of morality are just as important as those involving finances.
Therefore, to begin an ethical culture, moral values should be held high just as financial concerns. Review of the organizations aspiration statements, in this case, the mission and value statements should be anticipated in confronting difficult decisions that might prostrate (Swartzman, 2010).
Mission and value statements
A mission statement refers to the purposeful statement of an organization or a company that gives a guide and puts into summary the benefit that an organization intends to give to the world. The UIC School of Public Health’s value statement reads that the organization is a community of scholars together with staff and students who are dedicated to helping create a society that is healthy.
In order to achieve this goal, the organization is committed to the community as a basic unit of analyzing public health, knowledge, professionalism, stewardship, idealism, caring, justice, diversity, respect and humility.
No doubt, that employers and employees at the UIC School of Public Health will work in accordance with the above value statement in their daily duties. This will definitely add value to the organization’s goals and objectives; hence, it gives it high merit in comparison to other organizations whose value statements are not well defined.
According to Professor Mary Hill of Utah Valley University, School of Business, in a case study called Johnson and Johnson; Individuals have a perception that of what is profitable in a particular scenario (Ellis, 2007).
Professionals who are human resource managers tend to struggle with that dichotomy regularly as compared to operational personnel because of an increase in exposure to programs and discussions that give a green light on those choices.
The organization’s success in ethical matters is greatly based on the decisions, which the manager and the entire staff adopt over time. Values identification audit should be conducted, and during the trial changes are anticipated and conflicts that might come your way.
Values identification audit should be a continuous process, and commitment, therefore, in evaluating its success, solicit the periodic input from those involved. This should serve as a report card of ethics given out to an organization by managers, staff and other stakeholders, Swartzman, (2010).
Code of ethics
An organization adopts an ethical code to assist members called upon in an organization, in decision making, understanding the contrast between wrong, rights, and making full application in their various decisions.
According to the National Business Survey of 2000, about a percentage of ninety Americans expect their respective organizations not only to do what is profitable, but also what is right. In addition, other ethical considerations include a reduction in liabilities as well as financial risks and enhanced reputation.
In building an ethical organization, one has to establish ground rules that dictate to people how they should operate, and how they should make respective decisions on whatever is assigned to them. Ethical behavior standards and rules of ethics are also needed, and make sure that a policy document is present that highlights the organization values.
Thus, in some organizations ethics training is conducted, and this shows the commitment of an organization’s leadership of making moral choices; this helps employees who may violate the code of ethics, hence they will not give excuses that they were not aware that by indulging in such activities was wrong.
For organizations dealing in health care, they have availed ethics officers who provide answers and offer guidance to decision makers when it comes to complex matters. This, without doubt, creates coherence in ethical culture of an organization.
A code of ethics has a framework that helps in its formation and this include conflict of interest, treatment of employees, use of company’s property, and information by individuals, customer and public treatment and legal compliances (Marshak, 1987). The following are code of ethics of UIC School of Public Health;
- The health institution has to principally address fundamental causes of maladies with an aim of preventing health outcomes, which are adverse.
- The institution should strive to achieve health in the community, and this be done by respecting personal rights of the people in the community.
- The health organization has to develop health policies, priorities and programs thereafter be evaluated through procedures which guarantee input from members of the community.
- Works towards providing health to members of the community who are disenfranchised to enable them have access to health resources.
- The organization should protect the health by searching for appropriate information and implementation of policies as well as programs, which are effective.
- The health institution should propagate policies and health programs to the public by incorporating different approaches that respect diversification of beliefs, values and cultures from walks of life
- The institution should serve to protect the information that is confidential which may have an effect on an individual if made public.
- The health organization should ensure that its employees meet the professional competence of which they are expected.
- The health institution together with her employees should be collaborated and affiliated by enhancing the public’s trust and the effectiveness and efficiency of the institution.
- In addition, the health institution should implement health programs in a way enhancing the social and physical environment.
This code of ethics of UIC School of public health ensures that employees show a tangible outcome, since failure to do so can be interpreted as a way of going against the expected norms of the profession hence may attract penalty. For instance, the one that emphasizes that the institution should work towards protecting health through appropriate information and policies.
This makes doctors in the institution who still doubles as lecturers, managers and administrators to conduct thorough research in whatever health concern they are handling hence providing effective and adequate health care (Barth, 2003). This code of ethics simply expounds on the organization’s mission and value statement of providing a healthy community through diversification and diligence.
If members of an organization adhere to the code of ethics above then, the mission and value statements are met. However, this requires for relationship management through collaboration, honesty, diversity, openness and integrity among others.
The code of ethics, finally, is related to the mission and values of this organization in such way that it provides the mandate to protect public health and grants an aspect of power to enable carry out the intended mandate.
Organizational culture
This is the concept of a pattern of assumptions which are basically shared and are invented, developed and discovered by a particular group as it enlightens itself on how to manage its problems of adapting externally and integrating internally which have been fully functional thus being deemed valid, and therefore, to be disseminated to new members as a proper way of perception and thought as per those problems (Swartzman, 2010).
Leadership and members of an organization can instigate alteration and manipulation of culture. Thus, culture is seen by many scholars as the most difficult attribute of the organization to be changed.
There are several elements, which can influence the culture of an organization, for example, we have the paradigm which represents what a specific organization stands for, power structures, organizational structures and control systems.
In my organization, I would use the work hard, play hard culture since it will have faster feedback and risk the organization will be involved in will be low (Kennedy, 1995). This will also characterize the organization with actions of high speed hence recreating at a high speed also.
To foster this kind of organizational culture, I would encourage the organization to adopt performance contracts, which will enable employees to put in more input when it comes to service delivery, hence instant results will be realized. This can also be done through identifying which party in the organization is responsible for what; it is done by setting the standard and fully enforcing it.
Working hard as culture will help enhance the organization in terms of productivity and responsibility. When every member is involved, the institution is bound to profit more, since the input will always reflect the output (Marshak, 1987). Take note that this will also create an atmosphere of positive competition which will serve to profit the organization more in service delivery.
Leadership in an ethical organization
Leadership in an organization is seen as a propulsive force, which has motion because of purpose, and the effort, which is termed, as joint to accomplish it. Organizational leadership is the role of management in making sure that it has a meaningful and substantive core in which to create a formation of itself to help the organization advance towards its stated goals. However, who is a leader?
According to the General Electric Corporation, a leader refers to a person with vision and entailed with the ability of articulating the vision for the organization or team in a powerful and vivid manner, that it becomes an entire organizations vision.
The important role of an organizational leader is defining the goal of the organization, formulating its plans and help in organizing people to achieve the goals when the plans are executed (Kennedy, 1995).
In developing the organizational culture as a leader, you must dedicate leadership commitment and involvement. Serve as a role model by working hard yourself and showing great enthusiasm in whatever activity you undertake. This will influence those employees below you to also follow the same hence; the organization’s mission will be met.
For example, at UIC School of public health as the institution’s director you have to be involved in research issues and propagating solutions to various health problems (Barth, 2003). In addition, as leader remembers you have set the moral standard. The moral responsibility will be honesty and integrity in line of duty. This will be highly needed in the health organization, as it will ensure fairness to all in the organization.
As a leader, you also have to oversee that an ethical standard is maintained in the organization, and assessment of each employee’s conduct will be the way of gauging this.
Human resource managers should closely monitor the regular conducts of their employees in accordance with the defined code of ethics. You can still use the system of performance contracts to oversee this as it will give a definite scale of input versus output of individuals as well their conduct in their work area.
Conclusion
Integrity and openness are vital elements when it comes to building of an ethical organization. If the world in which you co-exist is corrupt, then this is not a go ahead to be corrupt, thus ethical behavior has to be encouraged all of the organization’s employees.
In order to accomplish this in an organization, it should be executed from the start. Therefore, entrepreneurs should always be concerned with their organizations, and it should start from the early years of establishment. Failure to do so is negligence and it might lead to the downfall of an organization.
Reference List
Barth, S.R. (2003). Corporate ethics: the business code of conduct for ethical employees. Boston, USA: Aspatore.
Ellis, C. (2007). Relational ethics in research with intimate others. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.
Marshak, T. (1987). Organization theory, the new palgrave: a dictionary of economics. New York: Harvard Design.
Swartzman, D. (2010). Building an ethical organization. Illinois: UIC.