ETHICAL STANDARDS IN ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY (Research Paper Sample)

ETHICAL STANDARDS IN ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: Location: Date: Ethical Standards in Organizational Hierarchy Introduction Personal ethical standards are critical in organizational cultures because they determine the actions of people towards customers and other stakeholders hence playing an important role in the success of the organization. Leaders are tasked with huge responsibilities in organizations hence they should be at the forefront at implementing the proper ethical standards hence setting an example. By evaluating the different ethical standards and coming up with a viable plan of implementing such a strategy, an organization can be able to guide its employees to follow the corporate culture as they head up the organizational hierarchy. Developing Personal Ethical Standards The first step in identifying the relevant ethical values on a personal level is developing personal values that are aimed at guiding the individual when making decisions that may affect him/her in one way or the other. This means that a person has to develop values through a system that determines the relevant conduct and goals of the individual. According to William Hitt, instrumental values are the ones that lead an individual to his/her desired goals while terminal values are the goals that one sets to achieve and include ideals such as equality and recognition socially (Hitt, 1990, 75). Justice Theory properly explains that the action an individual takes reflect the comparative treatment of any other individual that may be affected by such an action to be taken. This theory hence suggests that a person has to make a decision knowing the consequences and how it may affect other people in the long run. In any organization, an individual has to compile the proper combination of these values based on their importance to their lives hence making the critical first step of building up a leader. Moreover, moving from this first step will require the application of the above mentioned values with the principles of the individual to build up on them. This is important because the values to be incorporated provide the basis for the individual ethical standards created but require principles to set conditions and qualifications that can be used to properly guide the values being implemented. Combining these two aspects creates a very critical foundation that can either build or destroy an individual in the path to leadership in an organization. Corporate culture can therefore help in creating the perfect balance in both values and principles to ensure that the person is able to identify with people across the organizational hierarchy by building proper relationships. Values require principles to provide the required specific decision making instruments that make up an ethical individual (Daft, 2012, 43). For instance, truthfulness is a value but it requires a principle such as ‘always be truthful’ to actualize it into an ethical standard that can be followed. Apart from that, morals also have to be established after the proper foundation has been laid by the individual. This means that an individual has to determine the difference between right and wrong in order to make the right decisions. Such ideals can only be learned from experiencing different situations and learning from them hence they cannot be taught in an organizational culture. Morals will ensure that an individual will make proper decisions in the organization and not bound by expectations and obligations only. Such actions ensure that a person is able to decipher actin according to their merits and demerits before taking any action. Such behavior in an organization sets an individual apart hence giving him/her an upper hand. Ethics are properly determined by the type of morals an individual has especially in an organization since they describe a person’s behavior when under different situations that require proper judgement. Corporate culture comes to mind when undertaking such decisions because an organization deals with various partners and individuals that have different ethical standards. Making sure that an individual is able to make the right decision for the organization while putting into consideration the needs of the other stakeholders is a very critical step insuring the future success of the organization. The final step in this process involves the creation of personal character traits that go hand in hand with the values, principles and morals of the individual to create a holistic individual able to undertake different tasks in the organization. These virtues enable the individual to link all the other ideals into a viable process that conforms to the ethical standards required in a particular position in the organization. The Virtue Theory explains that there are certain qualities that are able to define the appropriate behavior and course of action to take. This theory therefore does not lay down a particular set of criteria that has to be followed but is rather guided by commitment in an individual (Miles, 2012, 21). This therefore requires personal commitment since they are ideals that a person has set aside to follow and adapts to the ethical conduct that is required at the organization. All the above steps are aimed at ensuring that an individual develops a whole process of conforming to ethical standards that are required especially in moving up in an organizational hierarchy. Applying Ethical Standards in the Organizational Hierarchy Corporate culture can play an important role in shaping the individual employees in an organization to develop the right ethical conduct at the workplace. William Hitt suggested a process that can help individuals in an organization develop the right structure to induce ethical conduct in an organization (Miles, 2012, 38). This process involves different aspects namely basic information, orientation, seminars on ethics, participative decision making, open door policies, ethical reviews periodically and the discussion of ethical issues. By developing such a culture into an organization, it will be tailored to make the entire employee shave standards that are well reviewed and informative that guides them on how they behave different levels in the organization. Firstly, the organization should display the basic information including the mission and code of ethics that will help guide the employees in decision making. Making sure that such information is precise and elaborate will make it much easier to understand hence creating a strong backbone for ethical behavior in the different individuals. The mission statement plays an important role in creating a backbone for decision making that will guide actions of the employees (Ladkin, 2015, 112). Apa...