The Importance of Ethics in the Workplace
In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important role in business. Most large businesses have a written code of ethics, sometimes called a code of conduct to set the standards that employees are to follow.
In today's society, understanding and practicing the concepts of ethics is a key factor that many organizations stress among employees. In order for organizations to survive in such a competitive and changing environment, managers and supervisors must develop strong ethical standards that can be implemented throughout the company. Implementation of ethical programs can prevent and control misconduct among employees. Training management and employees in ethics compliance is the best way to address ethical issues. In the words of Roger L. Jenkins, Dean for graduate business programs at the University of Tennessee: "Today's marketplace calls for a business executive who is bold enough to build his [or her] reputation on integrity and who has a keen sensitivity to the ethical ramifications of his [or her] decision making."(Shaw & Berry, 1995, p. 4) ...