Ethics in the Workplace

We've all heard these rules to live: Not bad, not stealing, no lying, and the most famous "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In our personal lives, most people try to follow these rules. Ethics are often thought of by many as something that is related to the personal side of life and not to the business side. In some companies, the ethics can indeed be frowned upon. This is usually due to the fact that the business is to do what is best for the bottom line and not always do the right thing.

It 's commonly understood that there are ethics and then there's the work ethic. Often we do not stop to realize that there is no difference between personal ethics and ethics in the workplace, ethics is the same, whether work or personal life.

After all, ethics is to make choices that do not always feel good or seem like you can benefit. Ethical choices are the "right" choices to make and are examples of rules for living.

Practical impact
Managers usually want the answers to two fundamental questions about ethics in their offices: "How do ethics in the workplace apply to practical goals of my organization and work of my employees?" and "Is there reliable data to support these claims?" The Ethics Resource Center (www.ethics.org), a non-profit organization, assists leaders to impact their organizations by identifying ethical risks and establishing systems to emphasize higher standards of business conduct.

The Ethics Resource Center conducts an annual search of the National Business Ethics (NBES) - a rigorous telephone survey of 1,500 employees in the United States. The results are encouraging NBES for organizations that have a positive emphasis on ethics in the workplace. For example, employees have high expectations for ethics within their organizations. Nine out of ten respondents say they "expect their organizations to do what is right, not only what is profitable."

This suggests that most employees are not cynical about ethics at work, encouraging news when considering the creation or development of ethical initiatives such as the long-term success of any program to count on active support of employees.

Formal programs and informal ethics of ethical principles have been shown to influence some key findings. Employees who work in companies with active ethics programs who observe leaders modeling ethical behavior, and also observe the application of values ​​such as honesty, respect and trust applied frequently at work, report more positive experiences include the following:

* Less pressure on employees to compromise ethical standards
* Less observed misconduct at work
* Greater willingness to report misconduct
* Greater satisfaction with the response of your organization for misconduct, refer
* Increased overall satisfaction with their organizations
* Increased likelihood of "feeling valued" by their organizations

Findings of Concern
The NBES discovered a significant gap between senior and middle managers and lower-level employees. A result in line with the direction was the perception that their organizations have a positive ethical environment. This contrasts with the perception of lower-level employees, however. This suggests that executives may underestimate the importance of specific ethical issues and concerns facing employees.

This disconnect may also position executives not to address these issues adequately within the program of ethics of your organization. Therefore it is important for managers to include input from employees at lower levels in developing ethics programs and to continue to seek their input and feedback on a regular basis.

In addition to the communication gap between employees and managers, one in three employees believe that their colleagues perceive them as "spies" report if inappropriate behavior. This is roughly the same proportion of workers who believe that the management sees them as "troublemakers" for reporting ethical concerns. A key element to remove from this discovery is the need to address and eliminate retaliation systemically, at management level and equal throughout the organization.

Questions Answered
We return to our two key questions: "How do workplace ethics apply to practical goals of my organization and work of my employees?" and "Is there reliable data to support these claims?" There are a number of practical reasons for executives to focus on ethics in the workplace and reliable data that supports these efforts. The results consistently NBES link programs to more positive ethical organizations and greater employee satisfaction.

It would be naive to suggest that the emphasis on ethics will improve the work environment and solve society's problems overnight. In many cases, a well-developed and organized effort to address the key ethical issues sends an important message. It tells employees that your organization is moving in a positive direction, which is good for them as individuals.

Establishing an ethics program
Establishing an ethics program is not an exact science. As with any organizational program, will involve the input and collaboration of many people. The effectiveness of any organization depends on the characteristics that are unique to its culture, leadership styles, proper planning, and so on. Since some people may be uncomfortable talking about issues of ethics can be helpful if management first asks, considers, and then answers the following questions:

* Why might good people in this organization do unethical things?
* What are the values ​​of our organization?
* We have adequately articulated these values ​​internally and externally?
* Our organization have written ethics policies, procedures, or structures?
* To whom is our organization accountable?
* What do you mean by "success"?
* Does the leadership of our organization to support the idea of ​​an ethical work environment?

With the feedback obtained by discussing the questions above, management will have a better idea of ​​the perceptions of employees about how the company is performing ethically.

In the end, it's all starting our understanding of personal and collective ethics. The second step is awareness, and solutions for issues concerning ethics applied to the workplace. Many universities are now heavily applying the teaching of ethics to their curricula. Graduates of these programs take this information into the working world with the knowledge that ethics solid, positive results should be applied there as well as in the private sector.

In a perfect world, companies are better able to avoid embarrassing scandals that appear and reappear in both national and world news scandals. Small businesses will be able to attract and retain more customers and clients. Negotiations between businesses could be accomplished with increased consideration for the other company. This is something that we can all strive for .......