Regarding the increased topicality of such issues as tolerance, democracy, and multiculturalism in the modern world, ethics becomes one of the crucial aspects that should be considered in decision making. One should realize the fact that individual lives in society, and all his/her actions might impact surrounding people and precondition the appearance of different processes. In this regard, moral becomes one of the landmarks a person should consider when solving a particular problem (Hoffman, Frederick, & Schwartz, 2014). Especially important this statement becomes for leaders who are engaged in strategic planning as their decisions affect a particular unit with all its workers and might either improve its functioning or precondition its collapse. Under these conditions, biased attitudes and perspectives among people responsible for planning might have a pernicious impact on future development and precondition the appearance of ethical dilemmas or other problematic situations.
Therefore, enhanced self-awareness could be considered one of the possible ways to improve decision-making and minimize errors. Realizing the most common biases, stereotypes, and the way they affect people, a leader, will be able to avoid ethical barriers and make appropriate decisions. However, if desired self-awareness is not attained, results could be crucial. For instance, using biased perspectives when looking for an efficient solution to a problem, a leader will not be able to choose the most appropriate approach because of the lack of tolerance, mistrust, etc. (Donaldson, Werhane, & Zandt, 2007). Second, the lack of self-awareness might also result in the deterioration of relations within a collective as its leader adheres to biased practices and uses stereotypes when delegating duties (Halbert & Ingulli, 2014). In such a way, his/her efficiency decreases significantly. Moreover, he/she destroys a team and contributes to the appearance of numerous conflicts based on ethical and cultural issues. Finally, poor understanding of the modern environment preconditioned by stereotyped thinking might result in the significant decrease of the leaders authority and deprive him/her of an opportunity to control the situation.
Therefore, the inability to overcome stereotypes also affects long and short-term strategic plans and outcomes. For instance, a leader responsible for strategic development might feel particular emotions, both positive and negative ones, towards a company or an actor. If these feelings serve as the basis for the decision-making or financial agreement, results will be unpredictable or even poor. Strategic thinking demands a comprehensive investigation of a situation, all factors that impact its development, and barriers that could deteriorate results (Jennings, 2011). That is why a leader should be able to ignore his/her emotions and use a lean approach to guarantee positive outcomes. Moreover, the current business environment requires innovative and revolutionary techniques to attain success and become a leading actor in a certain sphere. A person who uses common biases in his/her decision-making will not be able to elaborate a method that meets all demands of the modern world. For this reason, only balanced and well-thought-out decisions should be made.
Nevertheless, as we have already stated, leaders’ decisions impact not only him/her; a company or a team might also experience their consequences. In this regard, a broad range of ethical factors should be considered when making a particular decision. First, a leader should determine who will be affected by one or another act. It could also be described as the utilitarian approach, which considers all parties interests (Dagnino & Cinici, 2016). Moreover, one should also think if his/her particular decision might cause harm to involved people. Solutions that presuppose the deterioration of individuals positions could hardly be considered ethical and should be ignored by a leader. Finally, peoples rights become another important factor that affects decision-making. It is unacceptable to act in a way that violates peoples fundamental freedoms and rights. These factors become fundamental for a leader who wants to avoid ethical conflicts and align improved cooperation between parties.
Finally, moral issues become crucial for giant corporations because of their multi-national structure. The increased diversity of employees cultures and beliefs results in the creation of a specific working environment. Under these conditions, ethics becomes central for the improved cooperation between all staff members and companies further evolution. Therefore, the only way to adjust appropriate ethical standards is to outline a crucial necessity to respect all cultures and beliefs that are presented at the moment (Crane & Matten, 2016). It is impossible to elaborate a unified approach that will consider all employees peculiarities because of the multi-cultural nature of global concerns. Instead, it is crucial to create a framework that will cultivate these cultures enhanced cooperation, mutual respect, and tolerance.
Altogether, ethics becomes a fundamental issue in the modern world. Drastic alterations in peoples mentalities shifted priorities towards tolerance and multiculturalism. For this reason, biased thinking becomes inappropriate for the current business environment. A leader should cultivate self-awareness to eliminate barriers that prevent him/her from further rise. Only under these conditions he/she will be able to minimize errors and enhance the decision-making process. Furthermore, ethics becomes crucial for multi-cultural corporations as it creates a tolerant framework that helps all workers to cooperate efficiently. That is why ethical factors are central for the modern world and should be considered when making a particular decision.
References
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Dagnino, G., & Cinici, M. (Eds.). (2016). Research methods for strategic management. New York, NY: Routledge.
Donaldson, T., Werhane, P., & Zandt, J. (2007). Ethical issues in business: A philosophical approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Halbert, T., & Ingulli, E. (2014). Law and ethics in the business environment (Cengage Learning legal studies in business). Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Pub
Hoffman, M., Frederick, R., & Schwartz, M. (Eds.). (2014). Business ethics: Readings and cases in corporate morality. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Jennings, M. (2011). Business ethics: Case studies and selected readings (South-Western legal studies in business academic). Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College.