Questions And Topics We Can Help You To Answer

Abstract
      As a business organization in an ever-evolving market, the goal of an organization is to remain profitable and relevant. Consumer spending drives profits and if a given organization wants to remain profitable they must produce relevant products, possess cutting edge technology, and have superior customer service. Even if an organization has all these great qualities in their operation and profits are increasing, there still may still be a missing element that can eat away at the success of a company over a period of time, and that is ethics. Ethics are not about a good feeling or goose bumps, but rather about making the right choices (Curry, 2004). Ethics within the workplace are about what will he/she as an employee do when no one is looking?
      In the business world there are many choices and decisions that have to be made daily and some decisions are at the spur of the moment and there is little thought given; however even in the light of that good ethics will help guide he/she in the right direction to achieve the desired outcome.  The lack of ethics can lead to great scandals such as Enron. Enron was a great illustration of not doing what was right when no one was looking. If the CEO’s and other leaders had used ethics, Enron may possibly still be in existence and no scandal would have come to fruition (Curry, 2004). Companies invest great finances and man-hours in ensuring that their leaders are adhering to their company’s code of conduct and acting ethically in their decision-making daily.
      Unlike walking through scanners and being checked for weapons, ethics are not checked when an employee enters workplace but ethics are hidden within the mind of everyone who enters there given workplace (Curry, 2004). People are checked at security checkpoints for safety reason, but what if there were guards who screened employees for their ethical standards before work each day to ensure that employees were ethically correct before entering their workspace? To add to the ongoing evolution within the marketplace, there is now the threat of online ethical compromise.
      Businesses are faced with dilemmas on how to handle and store sensitive data that can be stolen or in some cases someone from the inside of a company may leak client’s personal data. It is beneficial in today’s information age to have safeguards in place that hold information technology employees and their leaders to higher standards of ethics. The expectations of any given company should be that each employee no matter what level they may operate from should be held accountable and to the same level of ethical standards (Goree, Bredeson, 2012). We all as American people come from different cultural backgrounds that cause us to view what’s right or wrong differently, so as a business the necessity to inform each employee with the same information is vitally important (Goree, Bredeson, 2012).
      Through my research I intend to explore the importance of ethics within the workplace. My goal is to use various peer-reviewed and scholarly articles to assist in my efforts. Through my findings my hopes are to find principles that will make me a better student, citizen, and entrepreneur that will ultimately elevate my thinking to a new level of ethical standards.
      Ethics can be affected by a person’s own personal experiences, the people he/she associates with, and many other factors (Goree, Bredeson, 2012).  According to Amico, S & Media, D, (2015) values and ethics are very important within the workplace to help maintain order, and ultimately ensuring that a company will run smoothly; and inevitably remain profitable (Amico, Media, 2015).  
      According to Prichard, J (2015) the mortgage crisis of 2007 was a direct result of too much borrowing and flawed financial modeling that was ultimately based upon poor ethical decision-making (Pritchard, 2015). If ethical standards were present and followed, this massive crisis could have been avoided.

Ethics in the workplace

      Work ethics refers to a set of moral standards or values about proper conduct in the workplace. It involves the use of integrity to make decisions and regulate actions in the workplace. Every business has set guidelines that employees follow as part of the organizational culture. Apart from teamwork, good leadership and high morale, work ethics is also an ingredient to productivity and success of an organization (Bredeson, 2011). Research has shown that an organization that supports ethical initiatives succeed more than those that consider it just as an issue of compliance in the business environment.
      Additionally, a business that carries out its activities in an ethical manner gains respect from both the employees and the surrounding environment. All employees in an organization should be aware of how to make good ethical decisions. Enron is a great example of everyone should have been fully aware of how to make good ethical decisions.
      GM or General Motors is an illustration of a company that is now doing the right thing ethically, but only after the deaths of a dozen or more people (Rupp, K, 2014). GM decided only they were in the spotlight for their faulty ignition switches. Every person in the organization has a role in ensuring that ethics is upheld in an organization. Employees have an equal responsibility of ensuring that they do not make ethical violations in the workplace. Additionally, they should be aware of the implications of inappropriate behavior in the organization, the legality of a conduct as well as whether or not off-duty behavior affects their employment. Training is an important element that ensures that the employees are empowered and encouraged to use ethics as well as maintain company ethics (Bredeson, 2011).
      There are various forms of training that may be done by an organization in relation to ethics. Some of these training activities include ethical classes that need to be attended by all employees and online training whereby the Internet serves as a link between the employees and the ethical standards. There are various trends that have occurred in relation to business ethics (Joseph, 2000). Today, the use of ethical programs in different organizations is becoming gradually common with 90% of employees saying that their organizations have ethical guidelines written down. Moreover, 65% of employees say that they undergo training in response to the use of ethical programs. This survey was done on non-profit making organizations in the country (Joseph, 2000), which shows that they are active towards the promotion of ethics in organizations.
      Such programs are used to create awareness to the employees, facilitate the acquisition of skills to the employees on the use of the programs as well as explain organizational values. Ethical systems should be accountable to someone in order to show employees that ethical matters are taken seriously by the organization thus the presence of the ethical tone. This means that the organization should have a person in charge of the ethics in order to enhance productivity and facilitate good practice. Other trends include; harassment in the workplace, inappropriate Internet use in the organization, social networking activities and blogs and the law on ethics and penalties that follow.
      In the workplace, some ethical violations may occur during the day-to-day activities of the organization. These are as a result of different factors that affect ethical behavior in the workplace. It is important to understand these factors so as to ensure that no conflict arises in the organization. Some of these factors include individual factors such as values, personality, individual goals, morals and knowledge of the employee. These are strong elements that determine how an individual behaves. Morals are the rules individuals’ follow as a result of their culture whereas values are the personal judgments of a person. Other factors include social factors such as friends, the Internet, family and cultural norms.
      Leadership in an organization also affects the ways in which employees behave. A leader that upholds ethics motivates employees to do the same through leading by example (Bredeson, 2011). Competitors also affect organizational ethics whereby it has to ensure that it maintains its market share by ensuring that it follows the code of conduct. Great benefits accrue to organizations that use ethical standards (Joseph, 2000). Organizations gain competitive advantage, attract more customers, and gain product integrity through the production of high quality goods as well as gain confidence from the employees. This is the reason why leaders in an organization need to motivate ethical behavior.
      Most unethical behavior goes unnoticed due to low motivation and policies that are unclear. Proper policies should be put in place, employees should be trained, support from management should be present, consequences of unethical behavior should be clear and a reporting system that allows employees to report ethical cases should be in place and should provide protection for those who report the incidences (Anaejionu, 2015). Additionally, the organizations should hold regular meetings as well as group discussions on rising ethical issues in the workplace (Anaejionu, 2015). Several disadvantages occur to organizations that do not have ethical standards.
      Such organizations have poor working conditions, high employee turnover, and high product prices and contribute to unemployment in the society leading to business failure. Business ethics is therefore important to organizations that wish to succeed. So, ethics within the workplace are a very important part of business and any given business could not function without them (Duska, R. 2000). Business in itself is about making profits, so people can become selfish in their pursuit of making more money (Duska, R. 2000).  Ethics must be present to set standards of honesty and integrity within the workplace so that making profits will not be at the expense of cheating, misusing employees, and cutting corners (Duska, R. 2000).

Reference:

Anaejionu, R. (2015). How to Motivate Ethical Behavior in the Workplace. California: Demand Media. Retrieved from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/motivate-ethical-behavior-workplace-11489.html
Bredeson, D. &. (2011). Ethics in the Workplace Cengage Learning.
Joseph, J. (2000). Ethics in the Workplace. Ethics Resource Center, Inc.

Retrieved from https://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13073

Duska, R. Business Ethics: Oxymoron or Good Business? Source: Business Ethics Quarterly. Jan2000, Vol. 10 Issue 1, p.111-129. 19p
Curry, Myron, (2004) Ethics in the Workplace retrieved from http://www.motivationalmagic.com/articles/pdf/article-90132.pdf
Prichard, Justin, 2015 Mortgage Crisis Overview retrieved from http://banking.about.com/od/mortgages/a/mortgagecrisis.htm
Goree, Keith, Bredeson, Dean, A. (2012) Ethics in the Workplace retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zWoKAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT4&dq=ethics+in+the+workplace&ots=zwkd_WWjRv&sig=sNq_dRsnMF_QO7qiEXO4zUPk5WQ#v=onepage&q=ethics%20in%20the%20workplace&f=false
Rupp. Keith, Lee., (2014) Where Were GM’s Ethics? Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/keith-rupp/2014/04/02/gms-recall-crisis-is-a-result-of-poor-corporate-decision-making
Amico, S., Media, D., (2015) Workplace Values & Ethics Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/workplace-values-ethics-4887.html