Ethical Theory
An ideal ethical organization will have an ethically oriented culture. It will not only be based on a belief system, and it will be a system or design within the organizational culture (Golson, 2017). Intrinsically, employees are required to act morally through their behavior, actions, or decisions. The organization will thrive on four pillar mantras that include explicit values, incentives, cultural norms, and thought-process judgment centered on wrong and right. Accordingly, the ideal ethical organization will have strict strategies and practices that anchor on the principle of doing good and averting bad (Golson, 2017). It will be emphasized through a mission statement that emphasizes honesty, veracity, and nobleness. The mission and vision statement will be simple, tailored with regulators for day-to-day activities.
An ideal ethical company will have incentives that reward good ethical outcomes to the employees. Incentive programs can be set-up to provide for incentives in rewarding obedient and good employees (Bañón-Gomis 2015). The reward system will be both cash-based and moral-based. For the former, employees who are categorized as being good will be awarded on a cash bonus system (Golson, 2017). For the moral-based program, campaigns on how to conduct oneself within the business environment will be done. It can include “caring is sharing” or “how is your work partner doing today?” The idea is to make the personnel more aware of their workmates and develop a community of good neighborliness and good conduct.
Characteristics of the Organization
From a leadership platform, leaders or management officials will have a strict guiding tool on how the company’s strategic principles are addressed to the employees by reinforcing an ethical system. In turn, employees are required to follow the company’s practices. For instance, it is required that every employee provide the stipulated price of goods without raising the cost to defraud customers.
As for employees, ethical considerations revolve around their behaviors and judgment process. Within each action, employees are required to do what is right regardless of the outcome (Bañón-Gomis 2015). Engaging in negative or wrong actions goes against the ethical stipulations of the business and may warrant retribution for their actions through the human resource department. Simultaneously, it will be required that employees treat each other with respect and dignity regardless of their background (Bañón-Gomis 2015). Any issues will be handled by the right authority under the human resource department. Through teamwork, employees are required to be their brother’s keeper. It entails ensuring that employees always speak the truth, engage with the truth, and obey the regulations of the company policy.
For training purposes, the ideal ethical organization will have semi-annual retreats or training programs that emphasize the importance of the company culture. It will include the attitude, tone, and ethical standard factors that each employee has to associate with throughout their tenure (Bañón-Gomis 2015). Workers will be trained on which behaviors are acceptable alongside actions and decisions. Training, therefore, ensures that workers follow the guidelines on company culture.
For an existing company with corruption issues, putting ethical considerations into practice will be ideal. The company will promote good behavior by rewarding those who conduct themselves well (Epley and Kumar, 2019). For those who do not, there has to be written repercussions that have to ensure that no other employee engages in such behaviors. The ideal ethical company will have austere policies on moral conduct in acknowledging what is right and what is wrong (Epley and Kumar, 2019). Each employee will be required to act or decide according to the ethical stipulations of the company. For instance, the hiring process would require human resource employees to scrutinize each candidate and not have a preference for family members, relatives, or friends.
References
Bañón-Gomis, A. J. (2015). Ethical healthiness: A key factor in building learning organizations. In Handbook of research on business ethics and corporate responsibilities (pp. 356-372). IGI Global.
Golson, H. L. (2017). Building an Ethical Culture. Retrieved from https://www.managementpsychology.com/resources/building-an-ethical-culture/
Epley, N. & Kumar, A. (2019). How to Design an Ethical Organization. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2019/05/how-to-design-an-ethical-organization