Philosophy
Introduction
Judging from the common notions about ethical policies, it appears that there are two prominent clusters of stories of ethical issues in the workplace. The first group of issues pertains to the issues of fraud, corruption, cronyism, influence, nepotism, peddling, and so on. On the other hand, ethical issues are being drawn from the vexing questions pertaining to human rights, personal relationships, social justice, environmental considerations, and so on. Workplace ethics seems to be a category by itself. The ethical issues resulting from the lack of policy or non-adherence to policies in the workplace constitutes a question whether such policies encompasses a fundamental importance. The discussion will highlight the perceived importance of ethical policies in the workplace. This includes examining situations that encompasses consideration to ethical policies and determines the importance of such policies in mitigating circumstantial issues. It can be assumed that ethical policies were put forth not only as a regulating mechanism to deter conflicting workplace behavior, but also as workplace culture that embodies the core values that defines how the members of the organization in doing the right thing.
Importance of Ethical Policies
The workplace is a diverse environment where one a collective values creates friction with another. At some point, lack of consideration to other’s ethical position results to a clash, which subsequently leads to conflict in the workplace. In an article by Cohen (2010), a situation wherein a professor teaching a film class is having difficulties due to student disengagement agreed to swap classes with another teacher for an English class. The prior was not informed by the former of the current situation of the students in the English class where a majority of the students needs special care and attention. The decision demonstrates a lack of proper disclosure of information between the two parties. Furthermore, the decision has created a more difficult situation not only for the teacher who asked to be transferred to another class, but also to the English class students.
It is apparent that there was a breach of trust between the teachers and the students. Moreover, ethical values were damaged because apparently, the students with specific teaching needs will be handled by less experienced teacher or someone not specialized to handle students with special needs. The importance of ethical policies in the described situation is to regulate the decision-making among professionals. The practice of ethical standards within the workplace constitutes a culture of decision-making that puts an utmost consideration to the ethical aspects of the decision outcome. When strongly integrated into organizational policies, ethics becomes a mechanism for transparency and accountability. In the given situation, both teachers lacked the sense of accountability and transparency. The teacher originally handling the English class tends to have no transparency in terms of disclosing critical information to the fellow teacher. As for the teacher handling the film class, there was no accountability because it was apparent that he does not own to his responsibilities as a teacher. With ethical policies in place, the film class teacher could have done everything in his power to address the classroom situation.
In an article by Meinert (2014), he emphasized that business decision-making is not always black and white and trusting co-workers to do the right thing encompasses several uncertainties. This is when ethical culture in the work becomes most important. Though culture is often perceived as an abstract subject to describe an organizational characteristic, it is a description that defines how things should be done as a whole. Workplace culture constitutes an organizational identity such as how the employees should work, behave, or do things within the workplace environment. It is different from organizational policies that govern processes and procedures because ethical policies encompass equality, employee rights, and promotion of tolerance, honesty, loyalty, and employee rights. When employees demonstrate respect to fairness, law, and diversity, employees begin to build trust towards the management and will be able to internalize the organization’s values as their own.
Organizations whether private or government establish ethical policies because of the fundamental benefits that it provides. One example is asset protection, because safeguarding assets ensures the continuum of the organization’s operations for long-term. Employees who are closely adhering to the workplace ethics reinforced by policies are able to respect and protect the organization’s assets. A few examples include avoiding making private phone calls that will cost the organization to pay higher phone bills. In addition, employees would be able to respect organizational properties because the management respects the employees in return. Furthermore, ethical policies are important because it helps to create teamwork and, therefore, increases productivity. A strong ethical policy conveyed to the public helps the organization to establish a public image. If employees tend to disregard the ethical standards of the organization, it affects the overall identity of the organization because employees are likely to demonstrate negative conduct to other stakeholders.
Conclusion
The importance of ethical policies in the workplace is not limited to streamlining the universal behavior that employees and other members of the organization demonstrate. Ethical policies are important because it sets values expectations within the organization. With ethical policies in place, employees are able to establish a harmonious existence in the organization that can be defined as an organizational culture. Ethics is about respect and earning it by giving back. The policies itself serves as a guideline on how things should be done.
References
Cohen, R. (2010, October 15). The Ethicist - The Anesthesiologist’s Game - Question - NYTimes.com. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/17FOB-Ethicist-t.html?_r=0
Meinert, D. (2014). Creating an Ethical Workplace. Society for Human Resource Management, 59(4). Retrieved from http://www.shrm.org/publications/hrmagazine/editorialcontent/2014/0414/pages/0414-ethical-workplace-culture.aspx
