Ethics are moral principles that deal with right and wrong. Today, business encounter ethical issues that lead to baffling situations, and thus, it is important for the organization to come up with ethical principles that lead the corporate organization. Ethics and values are not only a moral responsibility but also an organizational priority. Since organizations are in the midst of complexity and a highly competitive world, managers should make ethics a priority or in other words, they should define ethical values as the most important factor in the organization. The importance of ethics and values is that they are the backbone of the decision-making and institutional culture. To achieve effectiveness in these areas, ethics and values must be aligned with mission, vision, and goals. In addition, ethics and values must align with internal relationships and external relationships so that an ethical culture can emerge. Ethics play a critical role in the organization as they help the member understand between right and wrong conduct, and fair and unfair decisions. On the other hand, values are the things that people perceive as important in life. In the organization, core values are the things which the organization believe to important. Example of core values is integrity, teamwork, loyalty, commitment, honesty, reliability, and more. The core values are believed as important and that they should be shared by organization members, and they should focus on these values when taking actions and when making decisions.
Today, ethics and values in the professional world need to be improved or in other words, they need to advance so that they may shape the future in a positive way. Organization leaders should improve ethics and values so that the organization can manage the challenges and failures that come across. The following are ways in which ethics and values can be improved;
Improve leadership-First, it is important to focus on leaders' behaviors since they will determine how the organizational members will behave. In other words, leaders should be ethical and should demonstrate the appropriate behaviors, and set the ethical tone and as a result, the followers will make an effort to ensure the organization success (Ferrell et al, 217). Note that followers look up to the organization leaders for guidance and this means that leaders may affect the ethical culture positively or negatively. Thus, to improve the ethics and values, the top leaders should uphold ethical ways so that the employees may observe the behaviors and be encouraged to behave diligently and ethically (Ferrell et al, 217). It is important to understand that the top-management-support is very important and leaders should in the forefront to demonstrate honesty and openness and show commitment to ethics and values so that employees can emulate the behaviors.
Improve training- in order to improve ethics and values, the organizational leaders should educate the followers about ethical behaviors. There should be ethics programs for the purpose of reminding the employees about ethical decision-making, laws and regulations, codes, and guidelines (Ferrell et al, 219). As a result, the employees will understand between the right and wrong and they make an ethical choice.
Improve communication- to improve ethics and values, managers need to communicate clearly and effectively. This is because much ethical concerns occur due to poor communication. Thus, it is important to provide enough information on both positive and negative things. Speaking up will play a significant role in solving ethical dilemmas and more importantly, build an ethical work climate (Ferrell et al, 226). Managers should also communicate clearly about the policies and procedures so that employees can know the expected ethical behaviors. It is also important to communicate the discipline and consequences so that employees can make ethical choices to avoid negative consequences.
Create explicit ethics policies-this means that leaders should come up with codes of ethics so that employees can understand the expected ethical behaviors, norms, and rules (Ferrell et al, 223). Employees will learn the specific guidelines, they will gain an ethical sensitivity, and as a result, they will build a positive ethical climate. The explicit ethics policies should state clear objectives and expectations so that employees can have a clear picture of what is expected from them.
Build a diverse network- to improve ethics and values, it is important to consider diverse opinions. In other words, managers should create a culture of diverse so that all members can participate in business practices and work in diverse teams (Ferrell et al, 224). As a result, diversity will be built a safety culture where members behave in an ethical way to achieve goals and objectives.
Work cited
Ferrell O.C., Fraedrich John., & Ferrell. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. Cengage
Learning, 2012
Fernando, A C. Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. Delhi: Dorling Kindersley (India), licensees of
Pearson Education in South Asia, 2010. Print.
