Excerpt of Ethics and Communication in the Workplace

The following is a topic I have recently become intrigued with and will continue to pursue. Here is an excerpt from a paper sourced as follows:

Belin, B (2013). Organizing Your Paper. Walden University - Foundations in Management Course. Vol 1, p. 1-7.

Excerpt with additional sources:

Effective communication within an organization is often the area where the most error or inefficiency occurs. Members of management are often blind-sided by compensation rather than results. “Rather than simply seeing people in traditional business roles, such as customers, employees, or suppliers, moral imagination means going further, and “searching out places where people are likely to be hurt by decision making or behaviors of managers” (as cited in Mahoney and Litz, 2000, p. 256). The lack of this is evident for most organizations, internally (between management to management or management to employee and vice versa) and externally (interactions between members of the organization and customers or members of society). “Moral imagination means proactively putting oneself in another’s position: however, it also means imagining and feeling even that which disgusts us. Furthermore, it means understanding what is but, more important, envisioning what could be” (Mahoney and Litz, 2000, “Toward Moral Imagination in Management Decision Making: Werhane’s Conceptualization,” p. 257). The opposite approach will inevitably lead to unethical codes of conduct.

The interests of the consumer and or employee have often been in the forefront for most organizations. Most owners realize that without these components the organization would not exist. “The main differences of handling values can be seen in the way values are communicated: as a fixed part of their structure or as a medium for ethical communication to create an organizational framework” (Schnebel and Beinert, “Value communication in organizational processes,” para. 1). Employees are more likely to stay with an organization if management practices ethical behavior. This is evident in how tasks are delegated, compensation is dispersed to employees, etc. “Organizations push their values in the direction of their tasks” (Schnebel and Beinert, 2004, p. 209). If these values lack morality then the ethical commitment of the company and all associated members will be unethical. “Ethical commitment is the acceptance of values of the company (or team) for you and your colleagues to build a social group” (Schnebel and Beinert, 2004, “Ethical commitment as a process of communication,” p. 210) In order to fit in you either accept the ethical standards of the group or you do not. If those standards lack moral values, the code of ethics will reflect the same and remain unethical.

Resources:

Mahoney, J., Litz, R. (2000). Moral Imagination and Management Decision Making. Academy of Management Review. 25(1), p. 256-259.

Schnebel, E., Beinert, M. (2004). Implementing Ethics in Business Organizations. Journal of Business Ethics. 53(1/2), p203-211. 

Thanks for reading!