Ethics - Factors that Affect Ethical and Unethical Behaviour

What is ethics? 

Ethics means principles, values, and beliefs that define what is right and wrong behavior of an individual. It is a human behavior that how someone sees something and how an individual makes decision depend on the situation. Ethics is very important in our daily life as well as in Business to do the right things.

Some factors determine the Ethical and Unethical behavior of a person. People are influenced by several things which they face throughout their life and make them behave ethically and unethically. In a company, ethical behavior is very important for the betterment of the company. An individual who ought to follow rules, policies and job descriptions in a company may do less wrong things or behavior who lack a strong moral sense. In other words, people who have a strong sense of right or wrong actually will not do what a company wants them to do. In a way who lacks strong moral sense can be corrupted easily by a company through the organization culture and structure that will encourage the individual to do unethical practices or may not permit them to do ethical work. 

What is an Ethical Dilemma? How much Ethics mean to a Manager or Employees?

Ethical Dilemma is a situation when an individual has to make difficult choices between some courses of action. When an individual face such an Ethical Dilemma then they behave ethically or unethically. Ethical and Unethical Behavior is influenced by many factors or 5 types of ethics such as an individual stage of moral development, Individual Characteristics, Structural Variables, Organizational Culture, and Issue Intensity.

Organization Culture

Some managers depend on the organization’s culture and this is how they direct the employee. Organization Culture is the sharing of value and principle and the way a company does the thing which is different from other organization. These values led the organization to stand for and what the organization believes in to do what is right for the company and create such an environment that influences the individual to behave ethically or unethically. To do ethical Behavior the company may tolerate employee's risks, the company may be very good at controlling things or tolerate conflict between employees and resolve it. Employees are encouraged to be aggressive and Innovative in such culture and there might be unethical behavior that they have to deal with. The managerial role is very important when dealing with culture as they must influence values to the employees to make better decisions. That is why Organizations are using values-based management where the organization’s values guide employees to do their jobs. That is why Strong Culture is very important because it has a Powerful and Positive influence on the employees to act ethically. 

Individual Characteristics

Ethical or Unethical Behavior of a person is determined by individual values and personality. Everyone is different and each person has their own morality to know what is right or wrong. From a young age what we see or hear from the environment especially from parents, friends, religion, and teacher help us to develop our values. This is how we learn and act toward the situation and that is why employees in Organization has different values.

Personality is two types for every individual. This is what a person believes to make a judgment about a situation. The first one is Ego Strength, this type of person follow their own rules and do what they think. They are very strict and consistent with their judgment and actions. The second one is Locus of Control where an individual believes that they control their own fate and destinies. They believe what is happening is due to luck and they make decisions depending on consequences. 

Structural Variables

Some Company depends on the organization’s structural design to influence employee's ethical behavior. The company follows formal rules and regulations to ensure ethical behavior from employees. The structure of the company will minimize ambiguity and uncertainty. Employees are encouraged to act ethically by showing rewards, the company’s goals, and the performance of their tasks. When a company motivates employees by setting goals then it may lead to unethical behavior to finish the task to accomplish the goal. This occurs when they face problem to reach goals. An organization’s performance appraisal may influence ethical Behavior but the company only focus on Outcome then it may lead to Unethical Behavior because Company may only focus on the result rather than how the task is done. More danger is that If the manager does not correct unethical behavior then the other employees will follow them too. 

Stage of moral development

Stage of moral development occurs when someone is independent of outside influences. There are 3 levels and each level has 2 stages. In the pre-conventional level, people follow the rules to avoid physical punishment and when it is the individual’s immediate interest then they follow the rules. At the conventional level, people Live in a way that close people expect from them to like in that way and normally fulfill the duties that they have agreed. In principled level, people value the rights of others and support the values and rights without knowing opinion and they choose their own ethical principles even if they break the law. 

Issue intensity

Issue intensity means how important an ethical issue is to an individual. It is the force of an individual’s ethical or unethical behavior that affects others. This way they will understand what they can do to do the right things. There are mainly six characteristics of issue intensity.

Probability of harm - Individuals will see how likely is it that this action will cause harm. They will do little analysis to understand the chances that individuals will harm others with their actions. So, employees may behave ethically when there is a greater likelihood that the action cause harm.

The Immediacy of consequences – Individual will try to understand that the action they are taking will it harm immediately or after some period. They will try to figure out the time period that when someone will be harmed by the action they want to take. When an individual can find out the people will be harmed more immediately then they may behave ethically.

Proximity to victims – The Company’s action may harm someone but it is also necessary to figure out how close are they. If they can figure out the nearness of the potential victims then they can take immediate action to behave ethically. 

The Concentration of effect – It measures the concentration effect of the actions on the victims. If the individual can figure out that the action they will take has more concentration effect on the victims then they may behave ethically.

The Greatness of harm – It measures the number of people will be harmed by the actions of the individual. It actually finds the potential victims who will be affected by the action of the individual. Employees may behave ethically when more number of people are harmed by their actions.

The Consensus of wrong – Employees or individuals will try to figure out how much agreement there is that the action is wrong. They may try to know their unethical behavior in terms of agreements or opinions. When there is more agreement that their action is wrong then they may try to behave ethically.

In the book "Business Ethics: Best Practices for Designing and Managing Ethical Organizations" can help you to learn more about Ethics and people's behavior.
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