Manager's Ethical Behavior and the Effects They Can Have on an Organization

Many organizations have for long been known to practice various methods of hiring employees to their corporations. One of the most significant criteria involves ascertaining the ethical conduct of a prospective employee. It is, nevertheless, apparent that if a business does not uphold ethics, it may not be in a position to hire principled individuals. In addition to this, the ethical behavior of superiors within an organization`s context determines how the other employees will behave. In a number of cases, it has been observed that workers are willing to ignore some of the stipulated regulations in order to please a person within the management of the Company. It is also not surprising to see an employee being promoted, yet it is evident that they disregard ethical behavior and go against the Company`s code of conduct. In order to sustain good ethical behavior within an organization, it is imperative to influence the leadership. In turn, this is likely to reflect on other workers within the business. It is, hence apparent that a manager`s ethical behavior affects an organization.

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The level of comfort and ethical behavior clearly observable among the employees of a Company is likely to be influenced by the management. According to a study undertaken by Keith, Pettijohn & Burnett (2003), on an advertising firm, it was established that peer ethical behavior is influenced by the attitude portrayed by the manager. In addition to this, the issue of ethics has had a significant impact on many entities in the past and based on the knowledge that some of the businesses have, they are working towards ensuring that they are able to control this issue before it blows out of proportion (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2017). This contentious subject has emerged because the majority of the business executives have lower ethical standards compared to the rest of the employees. Besides, based on the fact that they have more authority within the firm, they use their influence to control other workers in order for them to fulfill their own selfish gains. Some do so knowingly, to an extent that people working within a certain institution end up disregarding all the statutes laid out to govern operations.

Hiring and getting to maintain a staff with high standards of ethics can often be a daunting task for any business. There are many instances that employees are faced with which require them to seek assistance from their superiors. Correspondingly, the manner in which an organization`s leader behaves determines how the other workers are going to conduct themselves (Cowart, Gilley, Avery, Barber & Gilley, 2014). For instance, if employees get to know that the manager is conducting illegal activities such as fraud, they will see no harm in doing so too. In the end, this may end up crippling the entire Company unless the necessary course of action is taken. Besides, some of the best employees are likely to relinquish their positions once they learn that the actions they are required to take may taint their ethical conduct. To avoid this, such individuals may end up seeking solace in other Companies where ethics are upheld.

Spirituality in the workplace (SWP) is a common phenomenon that has gained popularity in most organizations. It involves the integration of religious values in order to reinforce good ethical conduct among the employees. In addition to this, mindfulness is another major incentive for managers and other leaders within an organization. It entails a situation where one has to consider the repercussions of their actions. Following the plethora of recent events that have occurred within various entities, there is no doubt that the aforementioned variables present the required respite to solve complex ethical views (McGhee & Grant, 2015). Spirituality within the context of a business is believed to bear a lot of meaning. It is, nonetheless, important to note that four aspects can be used to elaborate on this. These are interconnectedness, meaning, transcendence, and innerness (McGhee & Grant, 2015).

The first aspect involves creating harmony within oneself and also while relating to others in a working environment. Meaning, on the other hand, refers to a scenario which demands that a person has to picture the world and get to perceive their specific purpose. Conversely, transcendence involves getting over the physical limitations which individuals are likely to have. Closely related to this is innerness whereby an individual is supposed to embrace spiritual wholeness in its entirety (McGhee & Grant, 2015). Adoption of this unique values is likely to assist leaders to portray the best form of behavior that is likely to have a positive effect on the workers.

Increased concern over the rise in incidents of corruption and bribery within many organizations have necessitated the need for organizations to adopt effective instruments likely to create an ethical management. Good ethical behavior can only be guaranteed by an administration that has strict policies on the observance of ethics. This notwithstanding, the leader of the business is expected to lead by example. Additionally, trust is one of the most fundamental components, however, recently, it has been observed that majority of the entities in the private sector employees among European Union countries have experienced decreased levels of trust (Snellman, 2015). They lack general confidence in the authorities because they have observed their leaders engaging in unethical behavior numerous time. In order to deal with such change, it is crucial for organizations to adopt mechanisms that will engender a culture of ethics, which will, in turn, manage to gain the employees` trust.

The subject of ethics has turned into a controversy that each and every social setting seeks to address. It is apparent that the workers are capable of adopting the behavior portrayed by the authorities at work since leaders are expected to act as role models. According to past theoretical work on the subject of ethics, whenever a manager sets standards, it leads the workers to continually seek to work with respect to the prescribed principles (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2017). This can, however, only be resourceful where the leader is engaged in ethical behavior in the workplace. Some of the components that ethical discipline among leaders has long been known to influence are work deviance, the willingness of workers to report problems, and the turnover intention (Pastoriza & Arino, 2013). Contrary to this, unethical behavior has been observed to decrease the psychological safety of employees, and the willingness of individuals to offer extra effort in their work (Pastoriza & Arino, 2013). Majority of the workers will most likely induce laxity in their work whenever they observe that their leader is doing the same thing. The situation may even escalate to a point where the employee may have some form of leverage over their supervisor who is forced to overlook his behavior at work.

Initially, performance appraisals were commonly used by most organizations. Workers would get an opportunity to rate their managers based on their performance, and hence it would be easier for the employers to ascertain whether performance may have resulted from poor leadership. The ethical doctrines laid out by various firms enable them to control the behavior of workers within the working environment leading to a smooth workflow. This emerged after it was reported that the existence of formal rules is likely to impact on the behavior and attitudes of individuals (Kantor & Weisberg, 2002). Further still, the existence of ethical dilemmas has proved to be an issue which has affected various organizations, especially those in the public domain. The latter involves a situation where power is unequally distributed among few individuals and this, in turn, leads them to misuse such power by engaging in unethical behavior (Kantor & Weisberg, 2002). When this occurs, other workers within the business cannot reprimand them for the actions and, therefore, some of them end up being supportive of their immoral behavior. Concurrently, a wide gap exists between what the manager believes they are supposed to do in a situation that warrants ethical decision making and what they actually do (Kantor & Weisberg, 2002). It is, thus, necessary to integrate strict ethical codes since this is likely to regulate the behavior of managers and in turn influence employees` attitudes at work.

According to Deshpande, & Joseph (2010), the propensity of students to cheat in exams is a significant contributor to unethical behavior at work. This occurs owing to the fact that the learners are rarely reprimanded or punished for such involvement and, therefore, they hold the idea that the same can be done at work. This clearly shows that unethical behavior of managers does not necessarily begin at work. In most cases, such attitudes were adopted by individuals long before they join formal employment. It is, therefore, necessary for the employers to continually involve a critical assessment of the ethical conduct of individuals whenever they are seeking to join their organization. Besides certain factors such as the age and sex of individuals determine the level of ethical behavior among the managers (Deshpande & Joseph, 2010). In some age groups, it is generally perceived that certain behaviors are ethical whereas this is not the case. For instance, some people justify their actions of stealing money from the Company by citing reasons such as meager earnings. According to recent research, it has been observed that majority of the managers appear to favor one form of ethical reasoning over the other (Deshpande & Joseph, 2010). Besides, there are two significant types of individuals, one involves an individual who is caring whereas another entails a person who is principled. It has emerged that the former individual is easier to influence as opposed to the latter based on the utilitarian form of reasoning (Deshpande & Joseph, 2010).

Some of the most influential aspects of any form of management involve; corporate social responsibility, which is the duty that a Company has to the community and its Corporate image. Because of this, the values portrayed by a manager are essential since they offer the required moral framework required to create an enviable reputation in any corporate entity (Demirtas & Akdogan, 2015; 2014). An ethical leader is one who displays good behavior in their relations with other individuals and also stands by the laid out doctrines within the organization. Reasonable moral attitudes in any working environment define the ethical climate likely to be experienced. The ethical behavior depicted in a leader is quite fundamental in leading to the establishment of an ethical business (Demirtas & Akdogan, 2015; 2014). This is, nevertheless not sufficient since managers are required to act as virtuous entities by promoting an ethical climate. Affective commitment also has to be enforced among the workers in the Company. By exhibiting such commitment it implies that the employees will have accepted the laid out values and beliefs within the Company and used them positively to improve their performance. Also, through affective commitment, an employee is able to establish a formidable bond with the Company they are working for and hence making it easy for them to display high ethical conduct.

The sales profession is one of the most susceptible areas in regards to the ethical conduct of managers. Unethical behavior among the leaders of the organization is tantamount to failure within an institution. A good example of such an instance is Wells Fa...