2.

Should managers attempt to inculcate ethical behaviours in employees or is

business ethics primarily a matter of personal integrity and autonomy?

Professional ethics are the guiding principles which an individual or the organisation needs to
adhere to while performing their business. All the business decisions have ethical and moral
implications associated with them as they have an effect on others, directly or indirectly. Thus
ethics can be defined as moral principles which outline a person’s behaviour at work. Since
morals are associated with one’s perception of how to act in a particular situation, they can vary
from person to person and depend on their roles or position within the organisation. In fact, an
individual’s principles and ethics are the reflections of the organisation’s vision and they are
interrelated to each other. Ethical decision making is the choice between right and wrong in
various difficult situations. Thus to behave ethically means to be consistent with the
organisation’s ethical values as it can have implications on the company’s reputation among the
customers and society on the whole.People always prefer companies that have a reputation of
doing clean business, especially when it comes to dealing with the banks, lawyers and financial
companies etc, so they need to keep high ethical work standards. Thus ethics indicate how a
company and its employees deal in day to day workings with fairness and honesty. A company’s
reputation is at stake when it comes to dealing with the customers and external stakeholders,
suppliers and financial institutions as they are always interested in the organisation's ethical
performance.Many professionals too do not want to associate with the companies which they
feel do not act ethically.Hence in today's competitive environment, it is important for businesses
to develop strong foundations on which they can make decisions based on honesty, integrity and
trust.

The organisations expect their employees to behave both ethically as well as morally.
Ethics are the moral codes of conducts which the people are expected to practice at the
workplace while morals and values are a person’s internal beliefs, developed over time by
experience and learning. According to Solomon and Hanson (1985), ethical decisions should be
legally and morally acceptable by all. There are many factors that influence an individual’s
ethical and moral values. While ethics depend on external factors like organisational culture,
workplace politics, etc, the morals are influenced by a person’s thinking and habits. Ethical
misconducts start from small breaches but over time, if they remain unchecked can become big
offences.For example, a salesman can make a few dollars more by producing raised mileage
report, but if unchecked can make false expenses report or can be involved in straight financial
embezzlement. It is also observed that people who seek more opportunities for unethical
behaviour are more likely to rationalise their misconduct as they become habitual of behaving
unethically. External factors and social perceptions require organisations to make adjustments in
their systems and as a part of ethical guidelines and programs, many companies formulate
policies to guide the ethical conducts of employees. Hence ethics can be inculcated or general
codes of conducts can be laid down but the morals and values of individuals are difficult to
change. From this perspective, an organisation's ethical codes highlight an organisation's
commitment to promoting ethical behaviour. In a research conducted by Murphy et al., (1992), a
fact was established wherein it was clear that there is a relation between ethical codes of conduct
and employees behaviour. Moreover, it was observed that the employees with formal codes of
ethics were more sensitive for wrong actions than the employees without ethical codes to guide
them. Researchers have also suggested that the organisations with formal codes of ethics have
facilitated ethical decision making thereby fostering environments of positive work attitudes and
high level of commitments. (Somers, 2001; Weeks and Nantel, 1992).Ethics set standards for all
employees. In fact, about 90 per cent of fortune 500 Companies has formal codes of ethics for
their employees. Thus the codes of conducts help employees to strike a balance between the ends
and means to achieve them which is, in fact, a challenging aspect of being ethical. In a survey
conducted by a leading research firm, around one-fourth of the 671 executives believed that
"ethics can impede a successful career and that over one-half of all the executives they knew
bent the rules to get ahead". Employees feel that if their peers are doing it, they can also do the
same without being caught. Sometimes people get influenced by the behaviour of others. People
tend to be unethical because they tend to perceive objectionable behaviours of their subordinates,
whom they feel are similar to them as acceptable. This is sometimes because of peer influence
also (O’Fallon & Butterfield, 2012). In 1990, another national survey concluded that "the
standards of ethical practices and moral leadership of business leaders merit at a significant low
and 65% of those surveyed believed that the unethical behaviour of executives is the primary
cause of the decline in business standards and productivity. Hence many researchers stress upon
this fact that it depends upon an individual’s own integrity and understanding to act ethically, but
the organisations must also recognise the impact of written codes of ethics on employees’
behaviour.They can develop strategies to promote positive behaviour throughout the
organisation, as reputation is the most important asset for them. If the companies set out to work
within their own ethical guidelines, there is less risk of being caught in ethical turmoil and hence
less likely degrade their public image. Businesses that do not follow any ethics or carry out their
responsibilities unethically can damage their reputation and make themselves less popular with
the stakeholders. They can be seen as socially unresponsive. For instance, if a company does not
care about where it disposes its waste or irresponsibly releases its toxic wastes in rivers etc, is
actually damaging the environment and affecting people's lives adversely.It, in fact, damages the
image of all the other companies. Thus, it becomes imperative for the managers to inculcate
ethical behaviour in employees and the organisations on the whole.

The managers need to create an ethical environment by imbibing training programs on

ethical decision-making, and by developing guidelines on how to enforce ethical codes when
violated. These programs should provide employees with the tools they need to identify ethical
issues at work and strategies to resolve them. The employees need to be taught how to respond
to situations involving ethics. A formal and effective code of ethics can prove helpful to establish
an ethical environment in the organisation. Code of ethics can also influence an employee's level
of commitment towards his work and discourage immoral activities. But sometimes mere
presence of a code of ethics is not sufficient in making the environment ethical. Sometimes,
employees tend to ignore the codes and decline to report wrongdoings or misconduct. They fail
to report or avoid reporting just for the fear of consequences. They simply don’t want to damage
their careers or fear the wrath of the offenders. Sometimes, they fail to report because of
communication hurdles on the organisation where they feel that they might go unheard. Thus the
managers should provide ethics training for employees involving procedures for reporting
unethical behaviour. It is the managers who are in a position that makes them accountable for the
ethical conduct of those employees who report to them. They must fulfil this responsibility by
making sure that the employees are aware of the organisation’s ethical codes and monitor the
employee’s behaviour so that they promptly meet the organisation's expectations in maintaining
the code of ethics. It is their duty to respond immediately to any deviations in the employee’s
behaviour or report any case of the ethical violation so as to minimise the impact of suspected
ethical misconduct. Not only this, the managers must keep an open door policy to make
themselves available to those employees who need counselling and assistance while facing
ethical dilemmas or want to report any suspected ethical breach.Although it is important to
establish a code of ethics in organisations to foster a culture of ethics, it is equally important to
have ethical employees in the first place itself. It is better to hire individuals who are inclined to
behave in an ethical manner and encourage others to also follow. Managers can thus play an
essential role in inculcating workplace ethics and are responsible for managing their own ethical
standards and decisions as well. It is generally observed that the team leaders influence the team
members; therefore the managers themselves need to strictly adhere to ethical decision making
in order to make the team follow their suit. For instance, the managers cannot expect the
employees to sit till late hours if he himself leaves the office early. It is the managers who can
motivate and guide them in choosing between right or wrong. Hence role modelling and setting
examples are necessary for imbibing the sense of ethical conduct in the organisations. If the
employees see a role model in their managers, it would be easier for them to adhere to the
company's codes of conduct. Since a senior behaving in the right manner will always set
examples for juniors to emulate. Sometimes unethical behaviour displayed by the management
can also create a situation where employees feel embarrassed by being a part of it. These feelings
can lead to mistrust and low morale. Low morale and unethical behaviour becomes a vicious
cycle and can be very difficult to break. It creates an atmosphere of isolation and lack of trust. It
can also lead to a feeling of isolation among the employees where they start feeling for
themselves and their interests only resulting in ethical lapses, small embezzlements and
sometimes defaming the organisation. Thus, in addition to establishing a code of ethics, hiring
ethical employees and encouraging the employees to report any breach, the key role of managers
in fostering the ethics and moral behaviour in any organisation include planning, implementing,
communication and monitoring the effectiveness of its ethics program as they reflect the
corporate values. The managers must monitor and evaluate the ethical codes and modify them as
needed or required to ensure their effectiveness. There has to be consistent enforcement of the
code of ethics at all the levels of the organisation. Moreover, the ethics programs or codes of
conduct are like an insurance policy. They help eliminate the worst ‘consequences' at times when
employees resort to unethical means and help ‘prevent incidents' by raising employee ‘safety'
through awareness.

Thus ethics are important by all means in the workplace and every employee
should make himself familiar with the company's rules and the expected behaviour at the
workplace. Since people from different backgrounds and beliefs come together to work in
organisations, there should be some universal laws of conduct to manage their behaviours.
Therefore, it becomes imperative for the organisations to conduct a moral check on the candidate
before hiring as it is suggestive from the essay that morality and ethics cannot be controlled, but
they equally important at the workplace and cannot be neglected. No one would like to work
with a person who is constantly gossiping or doesn't treat others with respect or constantly
breaks rules, even though he might possess a great professional experience. Thus we can
conclude that the managers are the ones who can implement and inculcate the ethics in
employees to a greater extent but to act ethically depends on is one’s own moral and mental
makeup and is his autonomous decision.

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