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Workplace ethics

The document elaborates on professionalism and ethics in the workplace, emphasizing the characteristics of a profession, core values, and codes of ethics that guide behavior. It also discusses the consequences of unethical practices by employers and employees and provides examples of misconduct, highlighting the need for adherence to ethical standards. Additionally, it points out the importance of ethical behavior in fostering a positive work environment and maintaining trust within organizations.

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Module - 2 Professionalism at the workplace
The Centre for Professional ethics was established at Case Western Reserve University, Canada. • A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized high educational training, the purpose of which is to supply objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation. • Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals.
WHAT IS A PROFESSION? A profession as a vocation requiring advanced education and training. According to Roscoe Pound he defined profession as a group pursuing a learned art as a common calling in the spirit of public service. Characteristics of a profession?  Skill based on theoretical knowledge  Professional association  Extensive period of Testing of competence  Institutional training  Licensed practitioners  Work autonomy  Code of professional ethics and conduct
•Self regulation •Public service •Exclusion •Control of remuneration and advertising •High status and reward •Granting of legitimacy
Core Values • Integrity • Honesty • Professionalism • Commitment • Teamwork • Leadership • Competence • Cooperation
• Efficiency • Flexibility • Initiative • Mutual Accountability • Community Involvement • Openness • Mutual Respect
Code of ethics • A code of ethics is there for each profession like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers and other professions. • People of a particular profession are expected to follow it. • Eg. Hippocrates oath for doctors.
• Integrity • Live with dignity at all times in all places. • Not accept favours or gifts from learners, their parents or others in their behalf in exchange for requested concessions. • Not accept, directly or indirectly, any remuneration from tutorials other than what is authorized for such service.
• Honesty • Not entitled to claim credit or work not of his own. • Not make false accusations or charges. • Transact all official business through channels. • Maintain good reputation with respect to financial matters. • Avoid conflict of interest.
Professionalism • Organize records and other data before leaving the post. • Should not violate any confidential information by leaking it out. • Where mutual attraction and subsequent love develop between teacher and learner, the teacher shall exercise utmost professional discretion to avoid scandal.
Commitment • Possess and actualize a full commitment and devotion to duty. • Contractual obligations to live up to contract, assuming full knowledge of employment terms and conditions.
Teamwork • Support one another when the best interest of the learners, the school, or the profession is at stake in any controversy.
Leadership • A facilitator of learning and development of the youth. • Be an intellectual leader in the community.
Competence • Physically, mentally and morally fit. • Participate in Continuing Professional Education program of the profession and pursue other studies.
Cooperation • Understand and support the legitimate policies of the school and the administration.
Efficiency • Uphold the highest possible standards of quality of education, make the best preparations, and be at his best at all times. • Flexibility : Ensure that conditions contribute to the maximum development of learners are adequate. • Extend needed assistance in preventing or solving learner’s problems and difficulties.
Initiative • Help the school keep the people in the community informed about the school’s work and accomplishments, its needs and problems. • Mutual Accountability : Actively ensure that teaching is the noblest profession. • At all times be imbued with the spirit of professional loyalty, mutual confidence, and faith in one another, self-sacrifice for the common good, and full cooperation with colleagues.
Community Involvement • Provide leadership and initiative to actively participate in community movements for moral, social, educational, economic and civic betterment. • Openness : Not be prejudiced or discriminate against a learner. • Hear parent’s complaints with sympathy and understanding and discourage unfair criticism.
Mutual Respect • Maintain harmonious and pleasant personal and official relations with other professionals, with government officials, and with the people, individually or collectively. • Show professional courtesy, helpfulness, and sympathy towards teachers and other personnel.
Ethical and Unethical Behavior • Ethical behavior is good, right, just, honorable, and praiseworthy • Unethical behavior is wrong, reprehensible, (hated) or fails to meet an obligation • Judgment of behavior is based on a specific moral philosophy or ethical theory Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 20
• Professional and ethical behavior can improve the working environment and benefit an employee’s career. • In order to develop effective work habits, it is better to understand examples of professional and ethical behavior. • Be conscious of how you treat co-workers and your workplace attitude and you can become more productive and effective. • The employees are expected to follow such kind of professional behavior. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 21
• Ethics is the most debated topic of our times and it is the difference from doing the right thing from doing the wrong thing. • Ethics is all about moral values and principles which govern our conduct at the workplace. • Business makes use of the society for its resources and functions, so it is obligated to society to take care of the welfare of the society. The main objective of business is to make profits. But in the process, it should not forget to give back to society also by way of various welfare measures.
• However, greed in the present business scenario has led to many unethical practices, legal complications and mistrust amongst the business people. • Most of the organizations have a code of ethics today which lists the values and beliefs of the organization. This is part of their company policy and is implemented during induction and regular training. • Some of the ethical practices which companies should follow to build a honest reputation and ensure smooth running of the organization.
• To employees – provide good working environment, opportunities for promotions and training and timely payment of salaries. • To investors – ensure safety of their money and timely payment of interest. • To customers – give complete information about product and service to them. Don’t use personal information of customers for personal gain. • To competitors – do only fair competition with them. Don’t use unlawful tactics to beat competition.
• To government – follow the rules and regulations of the government. Pay taxes, duties and follow legal trade practices. Avoid unlawful practices like bribery and corruption. • To environment – preserve the environment by following the anti-pollution laws of the government regarding air, water, soil and noise levels. • Today, a free environment exists where companies can break the rules openly and follow unethical practices.
• Some of the unethical practices followed are – Trickery, deception Falsifying records, accounts Greed to gain more profits. Changing facts to confuse or mislead Manipulating people to exploit them Very few businesses are ethical today. There is a severe lack of business ethics in the market today. This has led to the crises in the world economy today.
• Today, organizations recognize the benefit of being ethical, humane and considerate in their business. Because of being honest, companies are able to survive and succeed in the competition. • Because of their honest ethical reputation companies are able to attract better qualified staff and are able to retain them also. • By following ethical practices, companies are able to do self monitoring, transparency and accountability too. Anyways it is better to change than risk getting punished.
Integrity is most wanted • We all must create an environment of strictest philosophy of clean honest business. • Each one of us is accountable and responsible to stop unethical business practices.
Unethical behavior • Lacking moral principles; • Unwilling to adhere to proper rules of conduct. • Unethical behavior means harassing people at the environment, inappropriate use of the Internet, outside-of-work activities etc. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 29
• Employees should be aware of workplace ethics. They should be aware of key ethical issues and should be taught how to make good decisions based on ethical principles. • Also, employees should report on any unethical issue or any ethical violation happening at their workplace. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 30
EMPLOYER
Employer misconducts • We’ve all heard horror stories about “monster” bosses. • An employer can commit the following illegal acts- Failure to follow Wage and Hour Laws Employment Discrimination Breach of Contract Willful and Serious Misconduct Sexual Harassment Retaliation
Failure to follow Wage and Hour Laws • Employers have to follow the law of the country regarding wages and number of hours of work. • They have to pay minimum wages as per the minimum wages act of 1948 to skilled and unskilled labor. • A minimum wage is such a wage that it not only guarantees bare subsistence and preserves efficiency but also provides for education, medical requirements and some level of comfort. • Employers also have to pay overtime charges if employees work more than 8 hours.
• Working Hours in India: As per the Factories Act 1948, every adult (a person who has completed 18 years of age) cannot work for more than 48 hours in a week and not more than 9 hours in a day. According to Section 51 of the Act, the spread over should not exceed 10-1/2 hours. • Under Sec. 59 it is mentioned that where a worker works in a factory for more than 9 hours in any day or for more than 48 hours in any week, he/she shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to receive wages at the rate of twice his/her ordinary rate of wages.
• An employer should give a minimum lunch break of 30 mins. • If an employer violates any of these regulations an employee can consult an employment lawyer to file a case against that employer.
Employment Discrimination • Employees are protected from being threatened, harassed, demoted, fired, or otherwise punished for engaging in certain protected activities. • These protected activities include filing a wage claim, taking time off to serve on a jury, refusing to perform hazardous work, reporting corporate fraud, or reporting an unsafe working condition. • Retaliation for these activities is another type of employer misconduct.
• Under the law, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against his employee through hiring, promotion, giving of benefits, compensation, and termination on the basis of the employee’s disability, age, nationality, religion, race, gender and even genetic information. • Some states like California even have anti- discrimination laws against sexual orientation and status. • it’s also among the most common types of cases that an employment lawyer might investigate. Discrimination against employees because of their age, national origin, religion, disability, gender, race, or genetic information is prohibited under federal law.
Breach of Contract • Not all employees have contracts. However, if you were asked to sign an employment agreement and you believe your employer may have violated one or more of its provisions, you have the right to consult an employment lawyer. Both you and your employer are legally bound by the terms of the agreement. • Employment contracts are legally binding on both the employer and the employee so any violation of its provisions can give rise to a lawsuit
Willful and Serious Misconduct • An employer may be held liable for “serious and willful misconduct” if he was aware of a dangerous condition at work yet deliberately failed to take corrective action, which resulted to an employee’s injury. • More than gross negligence, such actions/conduct is quasi-criminal in nature. The employer may and be held liable to pay an amount equal to half the value of all benefits paid as a result of the injury which would include temporary permanent disability, medical and vocational rehabilitation benefits.
Sexual Harassment • Sexual harassment is one of the most pervasive employer misconduct to this day – the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)received as many 12,696 cases of sexual harassment in 2009 alone. • Under the law, it is unlawful for an employer to sexually harass employees (whether male or female) through actions/misconduct like making unwanted sexual advances or requests, verbal and physical of a sexual nature, or a hostile work environment.
Retaliation • An employer may be sued for retaliation if he fires, demotes, threatens to terminate, harasses, or punishes an employee who has engaged in a “protected activity”. The following are examples of protected activities under the law: reports corporate fraud and/or illicit activity, files a wage claim, time off to serve on a jury, reports to the authority about a safety or health hazard or refuses to perform hazardous work. Retaliation for these activities is another type of employer misconduct.
• Ethics is based on certain human rights –  a person has the right not to be deliberately deceived.  a person has the right not to be forced to do anything against his conscience.  He has the right to expect others to behave according to the law.  Employers expect their employees to behave according to the company policy.
Example of company that practices unethical business practices. Nike Nike practices two aspects of unethical trade practices; • refusal to fully compensate its workers with fair wages - an Indonesian factory worker from PT Hasi Nike factory, Jakarta revealed that he was paid less than the amount that he should have get. He worked on an average of 40 overtime hours a week to survive. - This is one of the examples of unethical practices that is practised by Nike. Nike cannot continue to support this kind of labour - the idea of someone working eighty plus hours a week, just to survive, should not be acceptable in the twenty first century.
• They also used child labour - Children as young as 4 and 5 years of age are involved in the production line - The disparity in wealth between nations is so great that children in one country produce the toys for another country’s children. - Nike success story is not based on good name and advertising alone but also attached to it is the tears of tortured workers and child labour.”
EMPLOYEE
Employee misconducts at the office • Working less hours and showing that one has worked full time. • Lying to supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors or the public. • Misuse of employer’s assets • Giving false reports or making false records. • In such cases there is widespread need for ethics in your workplace. • A code of ethics is needed to provide guidelines to employees and improve the working atmosphere at the workplace. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 46
Deliberate Deception • Deliberate deception at the workplace means –  one person takes credit for the work done by someone else.  calling in sick to go to the beach.  sabotaging the work of another person. (deliberately destroy/damage)  In sales misrepresenting the product to achieve sales. • So, deliberate deception can lead to conflict & retaliation at the workplace. If it is in sales, deceived customers can file a lawsuit against the company.
Violation of Conscience • It means coercion (forced) of employees to do something against their conscience. Example – Your sales manager calls you and tells you to sell 50 large toasters or he will fire you from your job. You know they are inferior products, so you are selling the small toasters. To keep your job, you violate your conscience and sell large toasters to customers. Your boss is engaging in unethical behavior by forcing you do this. He must have been threatened by the top management to do so. By such unethical behavior, your risk loosing valuable customers and also invite lawsuits from this. Such behavior causes more unethical behavior, may lead to sexual harassment.
Failure to Honor Commitments • Your boss promises you an extra day off, if you finish the project by the deadline date. You work late hours and finish the project before the deadline. You ask your boss for the day off, he responds by saying he cannot as much work needs to done. Your boss has engaged in unethical behavior and in future you will not trust his promises and will not offer to do extra work. You will tell this to your coworkers also. You will not do extra work during emergencies and you will mistrust your boss’s promises in future.
Unlawful Conduct • Unlawful conduct means adding false expenses to your expense accounts, taking home office stationary, passing around unregistered software are all unlawful conduct at the workplace. Such persons who steal money or things from office risk loosing their jobs. Such employees will encourage other coworkers to do the same. If software manufacturer finds company is using counterfeit software, company may have to face lawsuits and fines.
Disregard of Company Policy • Disregarding company policy means to do illegal activities in the company. Companies will try to avoid lawsuits and angry customers because it would negatively affect their profits. Most employers have clear company polices against deception, coercion and other illegal activities. Companies try to convey an image of trustworthiness to their customers and employees in order to increase profits and to retain them. • Disregarding company policy is unethical for employees and harms both company’s reputation and its employees.
Common Workplace Ethics Violations • Employer Intimidation (threatening) • Safety Violations • Time Theft • Stealing • Misconduct A common thing most employers do is having a code of ethics. This is to avoid unethical behavior which ranges from stealing office supplies to cheating company of large sums of money.
Employer Intimidation • The 2005 National Business Ethics Study listed employer intimation as the most common unethical behavior at the workplace.
REASONS FOR ETHICAL PROBLEMS • Personal gain • Dubious character • Individual values in conflict with organizational goals • Managers’ attitudes and values • Competitive pressures • Cross-cultural contradictions • Not much of Self-regulation and standard setting by organizations • Individual behavior is strongly influenced by incentive Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 54
Personal gain • Sometimes business employs people who have not so good personal values. This causes ethical problems. • Sometimes people become greedy, put their welfare above all others ( fellow employees, company or society). • Ethical qualities are difficult to measure at the time of recruitment. The people who steal (embezzle), gives false expense accounts, chronic sick leave taker or bribe taker may join the company.
• Business should have a perfect screening system to screen out such applicants. But at the same time company has to take care of individual rights too. Dubious character Some people do not have good character, who may steal or lie a lot or avoid work etc. Such people should be carefully screened out by the company. For eg. One marketing officer of a company, was of dubious character. He used to make a lot of money apart from getting a high salary. The top management was aware of this. But tolerated it because the manager was very good in his work. In the long run companies image was affected.
Individual values in conflict with organizational goals • A company which achieves its goals in ways which are not acceptable to employees leads to ethical conflicts or ethical dilemma in the company. • ‘whistle blowing’ will be the outcome when the employee goes public about the company’s wrong doings. After he has failed to convince the company to correct its ways. • Eg. Of an ethical dilemma – an officer, who had worked abroad, had good qualifications and vast experience was recalled suddenly and made to work under a director in India. The methods,
procedures followed by the director, was not acceptable to the officer. There used to be arguments and the officers good suggestions was not accepted by the director. He was made to work in an isolated place and finally the officer was forced to resign on his own. The officer was not a trouble maker, he only wanted to correct the internal company procedures. He felt the company’s present methods would harm everyone including customers and the general public. The director, felt he was right and the officer was wrong and unethical. This is called ethical dilemma.
• The employees who do not like the company’s practices would ‘blow whistle’ by revealing the situation to the general public.
Managers’ attitudes and values • Managers have more opportunities to take ethical decisions and set the ethical systems within the company. Usually, top level employees provide ethical guidance to lower level employees. The values top managers have is important in promoting ethical activities. • Managers usually ask three key questions before making a decision: Will it work? (practical), Is it right?(ethical), Is it pleasant? (affective). • A 1982 survey on 1400 corporate executives rated values as follows:-
 responsibility and honesty 88% Capable 66% Imaginative 55% Logical 49%  Ambitions 37% • This shows managers feel more professional responsibility towards their jobs. Making organization effective is their central goal. Their other goals are organization efficiency, reputation, high morale, high productivity, growth, stability, profits etc. • For managers to take ethical decisions, the following points should be fulfilled – He should be of Moral Behavior
Proper Behavior of one’s equals Industry’s ethical climate should be there Society’s moral climate should be good Formal company policy should be there Personal financial need should be less These above points show that values and attitudes of managers are a critical element in a company’s ethical performance.
Competitive pressures • When companies compete for a similar product, they may engage in unethical activities in order to wipe out competitors from the market. • Rivalry amongst employees for promotion, raises or any other type of advancement can motivate some kind of unethical behavior. • When employees face pressure from top level managers, they may be forced to do unethical acts.
Cross-cultural contradictions • Ethical problems occur when some corporations do business outside their home countries where ethical standards are different. At home, they cannot sell unsafe products as their home countries do not permit. But these products are sold in other countries where demand is there and less of ethical standards permit use of such products. • Acceptable safety standards differ from country to country. Some companies have build factories in countries where pollution control laws are less
These companies have been accused of ‘exporting pollution’. • What one nation thinks is ethically acceptable is considered unethical by another nation. This results in ethical dilemmas which firms and managers find difficult to solve. • Business should have a responsibility towards four groups – society employees customers investors
Not much of Self-regulation and standard setting by organizations • When organizations are not able to self regulate themselves, do self check or self audit than ethical problems arise. • When organizations are not able to set any standards for themselves be it quality standards, production standards etc. Than ethical problems arise.
Individual behavior is strongly influenced by incentive • Employees in organizations are influenced mainly by the incentives they get. • Their work performance depends on the number or amount of incentives they get. • Individual employees will also influence other employees about the incentives offered. • So, employees will work only if they receive an adequate amount of incentives.
• Non-job failures: – Cheating on your expense accounts – Stealing supplies – Sandbagging • Job failures: – Superficial performance appraisal – Not confronting expense account – Cheaters – Falsely praising poor performers – Denial of training opportunities – Undermine management
• Job distortions: – Bribery – Manipulation of suppliers/buyers – Differential pricing – Falsifying information • Job “creation”: – Bending policies for certain customers – Bending policies for salespeople – Caught violating rules – Arranging for promotions
Why people behave Unethically ? • Pressure can drive people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. • Some people make unethical choices because they are not sure about what really is the right thing to do. • Self-interest, personal gain, ambition, and downright greed are at the bottom of a lot of unethical activity in business. • Misguided loyalty. • Then there are those who simply never learned or do not care about ethical values. • Ignorance • Competition Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 70
Common unethical behaviors at workplace Harassment Inappropriate internet use Harassment – is a violation of your employer’s ethics policy and may also violate the law. Illegal harassment can be based on sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or age. Sexual harassment is more widespread in today’s workplace. Such problems occur usually between supervisor/manager and subordinate.Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 71
Inappropriate internet use • It is a common unethical act done in offices today. Which is misusing your employer’s internet usage policy. An employee could commit the following actions – Surfing the web during your work day. Addicted to news. gambling, shopping or social networking sites. Employees should follow the guidelines – Blog or use social networking sites on your own personal time and not on your employer’s time or on your employer’s equipment.Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 72
Don’t disclose any of your employer’s confidential information or any trade secrets when using internet. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 73
The Root Causes of Unethical Behavior • Psychological traps are the root causes of unethical behavior. • Primary Traps (External Stimuli) »“Obedience to Authority” • Personality Traps(Internal stimuli) »“Need for Closure,” • Defensive Traps(Two internal stimuli: guilt and shame) »“False Consensus Effect.” Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 74
PREVENTING UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 75 Hiring the right employees Regularly check and audit unethical behaviour Implement the policies into their practices Incentives and punishments Open and transparent business practices
• Unethical behavior can infect a workplace, either if an executive steals money from the company or an associate falsifies documents. The unethical behavior can damage the credibility of a company, making the business lose customers and eventually spoil the reputation of an organization. • However, entrepreneurs and their management teams can work with employees to prevent unethical behavior. When employees work together for the good of their workplace, both of them benefit immensely. Following are the measures to control unethical behavior in the workplace so that the public image of the company would be adequately protected from time to time.
Measures to control unethical behaviors • Create Policies and Practices • Create Code of conduct • Hire Right • Develop People's Understanding • Incent the Right Thing • Put Controls in Place • Build a Culture of Transparency, Openness, and Communication • Leadership Must Walk the Talk • Lead by example
• Reinforce the consequences • Show appreciation for employees • Organize ethics lectures • Create checks and balances
Policies and Practices • Organizations must research, develop, and document policies and processes around defining, identifying, and reporting ethics violations. • These policies should be mentioned in the employee handbook and protections should be put into place for those who raise ethical issues. • Just having a policy is not enough, employers should practice what they preach. The policy should not be just on paper and the management is not implementing that policy in their organization.
Create a written code of conduct • Top management should develop a written code of conduct. • It provides employees and managers an overview of the type of behavior and conduct that the company expects. • The written code of conduct describes what behaviors are acceptable and what measures will be taken if an employee violates the code of conduct. • When the code of conduct is stated well than it would be effective in punishing erring employees. • This strengthens the rules in the code of conduct.
Use value-based scale when hiring employees • That is organizations should ‘Hire Right’. • Companies should select ‘Quality’ people into their organization. This helps to implement and maintain ethics in the organization. • Some organizations do background checks, purchase screening soft wares or conduct behavior-based interviews. Where they would ask candidates to describe situations where they have acted ethically, even though it was against social or cultural norms.
• When employers hire employees, they want to hire people with education and experience. Which shows that they are qualified to handle the work given to them. • Employers who want to prevent unethical behavior have to also consider the value based scale of the candidate to see whether he will fit into the organizational culture. • Here most companies take the help of recruitment consultant, who uses every tool to make sure the candidate hired has the right qualifications and also the right values.
• If companies follow these guidelines, the public image of the company will be maintained, its reputation will increase. The trust and credibility ratings of the company will always be high. • This way companies can root out unethical behavior.
Develop People's Understanding • Most HR professionals will tell you that training people to act "ethically" will not have much of an impact. • Instead, developing a process for reporting ethics violations and building staff understanding about ethics expectations is important.
Induce the Right Thing • Schools and social communities should not induce people to cheat or act unethically by giving more importance to marks and not to character development. • Before introducing new measures in schools or in any industry, leaders should make sure it encourages the right behaviors amongst people. If it may tempt people to behave unethically, enough checks and balances should be put into place to control such type of unethical behaviors. For eg. Strict punishment if any one breaks the rules.
Put Controls in Place • Control mechanisms like auditing and disclosure should be there to reduce opportunities of employees doing anything unethical. • Catch unethical issues which have happened by accident. • Counsel those employees who have behaved unethically.
Build a Culture of Transparency, Openness, and Communication • Top management and business leaders should create a culture of transparency, openness and communication within their organizations. • To make a true success of organizational ethics, employees should see and hear what is going on around them and they should also feel comfortable to stand up and speak out if they see anything unethical going on around them.
Leadership Must Walk the Talk • Leaders must not only talk about the importance of policies, processes, incentives, openness and communication. They should also practice what they preach. • If a leader just talks ethics but behaves unethically, his staff will also follow him. This will create suspicion and destroy the trust amongst employees. • Organization must make sure it has not only strong policies to increase understanding of ethics amongst employees but also make sure these policies are put into practice in day to day matters by the employees and leaders.
Reinforce the consequences • Business owners must tell employees about the code of conduct during counseling sessions. • They should tell them about the consequences (outcomes), if the employees do anything unethical. The employees alone are responsible. • If still the employees behave unethically, management should fire them or punish them. • Business leaders should not tolerate such unethical acts and should always reinforce the consequences of being unethical.
Show appreciation for employees • Loyal employees are always working hard. They know their company values the hard work they put in. • Loyal employees show less chance of doing anything unethical. • So, managers should show visible appreciation towards such loyal employees. • Showing appreciation to employees for a job well done on a daily or monthly basis builds loyalty amongst them.
Create checks and balances • Instead of putting full responsibility in the hands of your employees. • It is better to create a system of checks and balances to reduce the chances of unethical behavior. • Checks and balances help to measure accountability of each section in your company. • For eg. After a customer purchases, at the counter he has to pay. The counter maintains stock of products sold, checks and records the payments received.
Organize ethics lectures • Organize an ethics lecture and invite an ethics trainer to come to your workplace and talk about ethical behavior and why it is important in any organization regardless of its size or the industry it deals with. • Ethics trainers use role plays, motivational talks, videos and brochures to talk about the importance of ethics in your workplace. • Such lectures can help build ethnic value in your workforce. It can also help to develop your workforce.
Meetings Communication Time management Employee safety Ethical standards guide individuals and the company to act in an honest and trustworthy manner in all their workplace interactions. These standards encourage employees to make the right decisions for the company and not for the individual. Give them the courage to come forward when they notice any dishonest and unethical behavior. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 95
• Company programs should be based on such ethical standards. So that they provide clear guidance on common ethical dilemmas, such as using the work phone for personal long-distance calls or using company software programs for personal projects. • Corporates core values should be based on ethical standards in order to develop a working culture of respect, trust and honest communication. This helps to maintain ethical business operations. If corporates insist on doing the right thing, employees will also follow and behave ethically. They should reward employees for consistently being ethical.Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 96
• According to OECD principles of corporate governance – incentive schemes should be aligned to the ethical and professional standards. So that those who follow ethical and professional behavior reward them and those who break the rules, punish them.
Rewarding ethical behaviors • For years, discussion has been going on in management circles about ‘rewarding’ ethical behavior. • People can be punished for doing the wrong thing. • But why and how people should be rewarded for doing the right thing? • Should people be rewarded for ethical behavior?
• The link between rewards and ethical behavior is very clear and strong. • Ignoring it will lead to serious problems. • For eg. Sears Auto center case • Profit margins has come down in the center because of competition. In order to improve performance, Sears introduced a cost-cutting and productivity enhancing program that included among other things giving a productivity incentive to auto mechanics. Mechanics base pay was reduced and a fixed amount of money would be paid for completing a specific job in time. This type of pay is also known as “piece rate”.
• Mechanics were given quotas, a certain number of jobs. Service advisors, were put on base pay + commission pay. They also had to meet certain sales quotas. • In 1992, the California Department of Consumer affairs Bureau of Auto Repair gave the result of 18 month investigation into the practices of Sears Auto Centers. • It was found that these auto centers were regularly overcharging customers for repairs, unnecessary repairs were recommended and customers were charged for repairs not done. It was found that Sears commission and quota compensation system was at fault.
• Sears Auto had to pay compensation to customers and the CEO apologized to customers in full page newspaper ads. • It was the well-designed reward system that encouraged unethical behavior and damaged the reputation of the company.
• Many Smart companies have developed motivational vision statements, clear corporate policies, lengthy code of conduct, hotlines for employees and have developed good training and communication around ethics. • They talk about their high ethical standards in employee publications, in offices boards, on their websites, in consumer advertising. • But they have widespread unethical practices within their company.
• Ethical behavior from employees depends on how it is encouraged and rewarded by company. • If the company is really serious about ethics, they have to have proper infrastructure and real commitment to ethics right from the leader’s level to lower levels. • Also, companies need to have a strategy on how to reward behaviors. • Most of the employees want to behave ethically, but they do not know the ‘rules’. The employee may be new to the job or new to the particular industry.
• So, biggest challenge for companies is communicating the ‘rules 'to employees. • Ethical behavior can be driven depending on how it is encouraged and rewarded in the organization. If companies want to seriously implement ethics in their organizations, they should have an ethical infrastructure. They also need to define ethical behavior in relation to their industry and develop a real strategy to reward desired behaviors.
Defining ethical behaviors • Based on experience, most employees want to behave ethically. But often, they don’t know the rules. Even after knowing the rules, employees need to have a clear description of what ethical behaviors are applicable in their industry, organization or job. They need to see managers exhibiting such ‘ethical behaviors’.
• Suppose they know the rules but they still need to know how ethical behavior looks like. They need clear description of ethical behavior in relation to their job, company and industry. • They need to see managers modeling these behaviors. • Companies have invested money and time to define competencies. These competencies are used as criteria for selection, recruitment, performance management and for rewards too.
• Same way companies can define criteria for ethical behavior. This will help employees understand what are the right ethical behaviors in context with their job, organization and industry. • Companies should also understand which are the common ethical dilemmas in their business. And they should describe clearly what employees should do to act ethically. Common ethical behavioral terms can be:-
• Maintains confidentiality • be truthful • Confronts potentially unethical behaviour (does not look the other way) • Avoids conflicts of interest. For example in healthcare, ethical behavior is strictly required. • Maintains confidentiality of patient and other sensitive information. • Is truthful in recordkeeping and reporting
• Confronts and counsels those who are doing wrong things to a patient. (does not look the other way) • Treats all patients equally according to the level of care needed for their condition, regardless of who they are or who they know.
Developing a strategy for ethical behavior • Ethical behaviors are observable, people can be seen doing them. Since it is observable, people showing such behaviors can be rewarded and people not showing such behaviors can be given corrective feedback. • In short, people can be held accountable and rewarded for both their achievements and correct behaviors. • Companies can link ethical behavior with rewards by building ethical standards into their incentive programs.
• That means, if employees shows ethical behavior he will be rewarded or if he does not show ethical behavior he will be punished or given corrective feedback. • Other ways of linking ethical behavior to rewards is – when doing performance evaluation see whether ‘results’ have been achieved and also see ‘how’ it has been achieved. Is it achieved by using ethical values like ‘teamwork’ ‘open communication’ etc. • Also build ethics and other values into the non- cash rewards programs. For example, a courageous act of whistle blowing on suspicious
Accounting practice or suggesting a novel way to safeguard confidential data are both worthy of getting a non-cash award. • Ensure managers always show ethical behavior, encourage them and rewards those employees who show ethical behavior. • As performance and reward professionals, when managing compensation we should maintain ethical standards. • When deciding pay, especially for executives make sure it is reasonable and competitive. Build a performance culture in the organization.
• The process for evaluating performance should be through and transparent. • Present complete and easy to understand information to the Board.
Ethical and Unethical Behavior (Cont.) Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 114 Find 1 cent Find $1 Find wallet with $1,000 and no identification. Find wallet with $1,000 and identification. Ethical dilemmas
Legal Versus Ethical Behavior: The Issue of Lying Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 115 unEthical behavior Legal behavior Testifying under oath in court. Lying: deliberate misrepresentation of the truth. Lying to a customer about the safety of a product. “How does my hair look?”
Module - 3 • Overview of Business Ethics – • Business • Business is a commercial activity to make profit • It includes trade and all institution supporting trade like banking insurance, transportation etc. • Transacting of goods to earn profit. • Selling product for money. • Providing service to earn income. Example Banking and educational institution.
• Two parties involved one is seller and another one is buyer • Transfer of goods against money • Business may be a small, medium and large. • Business may be various types like sole trader, partnership and company form of business
WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS? • Business ethics is the application of general ethical rules to business behavior. • Business ethics tell the business how to conduct itself. • In business, ethical decision making is to know right from wrong and be committed to do what is right. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 118
Business Ethics • Business Ethics is about: –Decision-Making –By People in Business –According to Moral Principles or Standards The business leaders, managers should exhibit high ethics in business decision making. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 119
• The business decision maker should be morally sound, as higher the level of the decision maker, the greater impact the decision has on others in the industry. • Business people should be motivated internally to be ethical. External motivation has only limited value, as punishment and fear is effective only for the short term. • Organizations should have a clear vision, should support individual integrity. Such an organization becomes a great place to work and attracts good employees.
METHODS OF ETHICAL REASONING • Utilitarian: Compares the costs and benefits of a decision, policy, or an action. • Rights: Respecting basic human rights. • Justice: Justice or fairness exists when benefits and burdens are distributed equitably and according to some accepted rule.
METHODS OF ETHICAL REASONING METHOD CRITICAL DETERMINING FACTOR AN ACTION IS ETHICAL WHEN…. LIMITATIONS UTILITARIAN Comparing benefits and costs Net benefits exceed net costs Difficult to measure some human and social costs. Majority may disregard rights of minority RIGHTS Respecting rights Basic human rights are respected Difficult to balance conflicting rights JUSTICE Distributing fair shares Benefits and costs are equally distributed Difficult to measure benefits and costs. Lack of agreement on fair shares
AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS Ask UTILITY Do benefits exceed costs? RIGHTS Are human rights respected? JUSTICE Are benefits and costs fairly distributed? STEP 1
AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS Compare results If yes is the answer to all three questions, it is probably ethical. If yes and no are mixed, it could be either ethical or unethical. If no is the answer to all three questions, it is probably unethical. STEP 2
AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS ASSIGN PRIORITIES TO UTILITY RIGHTS JUSTICE STEP 3
Corporate Governance • Corporate means a legal body that acts as an individual. • Governance – is control or direction. • To make sure corporate takes only ethical decisions, they need to governed. • Through corporate governance, then different groups in a corporate are brought together to conduct business ethically.
Relationship between corporation and business • Corporation different groups business for the purpose Different group – managers, employees, suppliers, customers and investors.
Ethical issues in HRM • Ethical issues in job design • Human resource planning • Recruitment and selection
Ethical issues in job design • Job designs options – Work simplification – work is oversimplified, this makes the job boring, tend to commit mistakes and resigning. Unethical issue here is over simplification of jobs. Job rotation – unethical issue here is jobs do not improve from innovative viewpoint and workers feel they are having no connection with any particular department.
Job enlargement – even though it is motivational. It results in making the job boring. Job enrichment – this option is more ethical than other options, as it tends to increase motivation and reduces absenteeism. It enables the employees to meet their psychological needs and brings out empowered teams. Autonomous work teams – this option involves employees in decision making, execution, coordination and controlling fully. It enables workers to use their human resources the maximum and benefit the organization. So designing jobs based on this option is ethical.
High performance work design – this option gives complete freedom to workers and encourages them to be innovative and creative. Empowerment – this option helps the employee to acquire skills and knowledge and enables him to do the jobs in which he has aptitude. De-jobbing – this option is more suitable for competitive markets. It checks the companies from overstaffing and also prepares committed employees. Empowerment and de-jobbing are more ethical to design jobs upon. Especially under the liberalized and competitive global environment.
So, job design options which benefit both the organization and employees by utilizing the human resources is considered ethical.
Ethics in Human Resource Planning • Human resource planning means companies should plan for future HR requirements, in such a way there is always enough supply of developed and motivated people to perform the work.  recruitment and selection – the competitive environment in industry is such that highly skilled and talented candidates are always required. If candidates are not available internally, company will search for candidates outside. Such actions are considered unethical as promotional opportunities will be less for existing employees.
So, it is more ethical to recruit internal employees after the required training and development. But it is unethical, if company recruits unsuitable candidates from inside the company.
Module -3 “Whistleblowing”
“Whistleblowing” • A whistleblower is a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department or private company or organization. • A whistleblower is a person who raises concern about frauds, corruptions, wrongdoings and mismanagement.
“Whistleblowing” • A government employee who exposes corruption practices within his department is a whistleblower. So is an employee of a private organization, who raises his voice against misconduct, within the company. The misconduct can be classified in several ways, such as: • Violation of Indian laws. • Posing direct threat to public interest(Fraud, corruption) • Violation of health or safety norms. • Deceptive practices.
DIMENSIONS OF ETHICS ( 3 “R’s” of Ethics) – RULES – RESPONSIBILITY – RESPECT 138
Thank you Whatever you do just do it with all your heart…..

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Workplace ethics

  • 1.
  • 2.
    The Centre forProfessional ethics was established at Case Western Reserve University, Canada. • A profession is a vocation founded upon specialized high educational training, the purpose of which is to supply objective counsel and service to others, for a direct and definite compensation. • Professional ethics encompass the personal and corporate standards of behaviour expected of professionals.
  • 3.
    WHAT IS APROFESSION? A profession as a vocation requiring advanced education and training. According to Roscoe Pound he defined profession as a group pursuing a learned art as a common calling in the spirit of public service. Characteristics of a profession?  Skill based on theoretical knowledge  Professional association  Extensive period of Testing of competence  Institutional training  Licensed practitioners  Work autonomy  Code of professional ethics and conduct
  • 4.
    •Self regulation •Public service •Exclusion •Controlof remuneration and advertising •High status and reward •Granting of legitimacy
  • 5.
    Core Values • Integrity •Honesty • Professionalism • Commitment • Teamwork • Leadership • Competence • Cooperation
  • 6.
    • Efficiency • Flexibility •Initiative • Mutual Accountability • Community Involvement • Openness • Mutual Respect
  • 7.
    Code of ethics •A code of ethics is there for each profession like doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers and other professions. • People of a particular profession are expected to follow it. • Eg. Hippocrates oath for doctors.
  • 8.
    • Integrity • Livewith dignity at all times in all places. • Not accept favours or gifts from learners, their parents or others in their behalf in exchange for requested concessions. • Not accept, directly or indirectly, any remuneration from tutorials other than what is authorized for such service.
  • 9.
    • Honesty • Notentitled to claim credit or work not of his own. • Not make false accusations or charges. • Transact all official business through channels. • Maintain good reputation with respect to financial matters. • Avoid conflict of interest.
  • 10.
    Professionalism • Organize recordsand other data before leaving the post. • Should not violate any confidential information by leaking it out. • Where mutual attraction and subsequent love develop between teacher and learner, the teacher shall exercise utmost professional discretion to avoid scandal.
  • 11.
    Commitment • Possess andactualize a full commitment and devotion to duty. • Contractual obligations to live up to contract, assuming full knowledge of employment terms and conditions.
  • 12.
    Teamwork • Support oneanother when the best interest of the learners, the school, or the profession is at stake in any controversy.
  • 13.
    Leadership • A facilitatorof learning and development of the youth. • Be an intellectual leader in the community.
  • 14.
    Competence • Physically, mentallyand morally fit. • Participate in Continuing Professional Education program of the profession and pursue other studies.
  • 15.
    Cooperation • Understand andsupport the legitimate policies of the school and the administration.
  • 16.
    Efficiency • Uphold thehighest possible standards of quality of education, make the best preparations, and be at his best at all times. • Flexibility : Ensure that conditions contribute to the maximum development of learners are adequate. • Extend needed assistance in preventing or solving learner’s problems and difficulties.
  • 17.
    Initiative • Help theschool keep the people in the community informed about the school’s work and accomplishments, its needs and problems. • Mutual Accountability : Actively ensure that teaching is the noblest profession. • At all times be imbued with the spirit of professional loyalty, mutual confidence, and faith in one another, self-sacrifice for the common good, and full cooperation with colleagues.
  • 18.
    Community Involvement • Provideleadership and initiative to actively participate in community movements for moral, social, educational, economic and civic betterment. • Openness : Not be prejudiced or discriminate against a learner. • Hear parent’s complaints with sympathy and understanding and discourage unfair criticism.
  • 19.
    Mutual Respect • Maintainharmonious and pleasant personal and official relations with other professionals, with government officials, and with the people, individually or collectively. • Show professional courtesy, helpfulness, and sympathy towards teachers and other personnel.
  • 20.
    Ethical and Unethical Behavior •Ethical behavior is good, right, just, honorable, and praiseworthy • Unethical behavior is wrong, reprehensible, (hated) or fails to meet an obligation • Judgment of behavior is based on a specific moral philosophy or ethical theory Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 20
  • 21.
    • Professional andethical behavior can improve the working environment and benefit an employee’s career. • In order to develop effective work habits, it is better to understand examples of professional and ethical behavior. • Be conscious of how you treat co-workers and your workplace attitude and you can become more productive and effective. • The employees are expected to follow such kind of professional behavior. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 21
  • 22.
    • Ethics isthe most debated topic of our times and it is the difference from doing the right thing from doing the wrong thing. • Ethics is all about moral values and principles which govern our conduct at the workplace. • Business makes use of the society for its resources and functions, so it is obligated to society to take care of the welfare of the society. The main objective of business is to make profits. But in the process, it should not forget to give back to society also by way of various welfare measures.
  • 23.
    • However, greedin the present business scenario has led to many unethical practices, legal complications and mistrust amongst the business people. • Most of the organizations have a code of ethics today which lists the values and beliefs of the organization. This is part of their company policy and is implemented during induction and regular training. • Some of the ethical practices which companies should follow to build a honest reputation and ensure smooth running of the organization.
  • 24.
    • To employees– provide good working environment, opportunities for promotions and training and timely payment of salaries. • To investors – ensure safety of their money and timely payment of interest. • To customers – give complete information about product and service to them. Don’t use personal information of customers for personal gain. • To competitors – do only fair competition with them. Don’t use unlawful tactics to beat competition.
  • 25.
    • To government– follow the rules and regulations of the government. Pay taxes, duties and follow legal trade practices. Avoid unlawful practices like bribery and corruption. • To environment – preserve the environment by following the anti-pollution laws of the government regarding air, water, soil and noise levels. • Today, a free environment exists where companies can break the rules openly and follow unethical practices.
  • 26.
    • Some ofthe unethical practices followed are – Trickery, deception Falsifying records, accounts Greed to gain more profits. Changing facts to confuse or mislead Manipulating people to exploit them Very few businesses are ethical today. There is a severe lack of business ethics in the market today. This has led to the crises in the world economy today.
  • 27.
    • Today, organizationsrecognize the benefit of being ethical, humane and considerate in their business. Because of being honest, companies are able to survive and succeed in the competition. • Because of their honest ethical reputation companies are able to attract better qualified staff and are able to retain them also. • By following ethical practices, companies are able to do self monitoring, transparency and accountability too. Anyways it is better to change than risk getting punished.
  • 28.
    Integrity is mostwanted • We all must create an environment of strictest philosophy of clean honest business. • Each one of us is accountable and responsible to stop unethical business practices.
  • 29.
    Unethical behavior • Lackingmoral principles; • Unwilling to adhere to proper rules of conduct. • Unethical behavior means harassing people at the environment, inappropriate use of the Internet, outside-of-work activities etc. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 29
  • 30.
    • Employees shouldbe aware of workplace ethics. They should be aware of key ethical issues and should be taught how to make good decisions based on ethical principles. • Also, employees should report on any unethical issue or any ethical violation happening at their workplace. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 30
  • 31.
  • 32.
    Employer misconducts • We’veall heard horror stories about “monster” bosses. • An employer can commit the following illegal acts- Failure to follow Wage and Hour Laws Employment Discrimination Breach of Contract Willful and Serious Misconduct Sexual Harassment Retaliation
  • 33.
    Failure to followWage and Hour Laws • Employers have to follow the law of the country regarding wages and number of hours of work. • They have to pay minimum wages as per the minimum wages act of 1948 to skilled and unskilled labor. • A minimum wage is such a wage that it not only guarantees bare subsistence and preserves efficiency but also provides for education, medical requirements and some level of comfort. • Employers also have to pay overtime charges if employees work more than 8 hours.
  • 34.
    • Working Hoursin India: As per the Factories Act 1948, every adult (a person who has completed 18 years of age) cannot work for more than 48 hours in a week and not more than 9 hours in a day. According to Section 51 of the Act, the spread over should not exceed 10-1/2 hours. • Under Sec. 59 it is mentioned that where a worker works in a factory for more than 9 hours in any day or for more than 48 hours in any week, he/she shall, in respect of overtime work, be entitled to receive wages at the rate of twice his/her ordinary rate of wages.
  • 35.
    • An employershould give a minimum lunch break of 30 mins. • If an employer violates any of these regulations an employee can consult an employment lawyer to file a case against that employer.
  • 36.
    Employment Discrimination • Employeesare protected from being threatened, harassed, demoted, fired, or otherwise punished for engaging in certain protected activities. • These protected activities include filing a wage claim, taking time off to serve on a jury, refusing to perform hazardous work, reporting corporate fraud, or reporting an unsafe working condition. • Retaliation for these activities is another type of employer misconduct.
  • 37.
    • Under thelaw, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against his employee through hiring, promotion, giving of benefits, compensation, and termination on the basis of the employee’s disability, age, nationality, religion, race, gender and even genetic information. • Some states like California even have anti- discrimination laws against sexual orientation and status. • it’s also among the most common types of cases that an employment lawyer might investigate. Discrimination against employees because of their age, national origin, religion, disability, gender, race, or genetic information is prohibited under federal law.
  • 38.
    Breach of Contract •Not all employees have contracts. However, if you were asked to sign an employment agreement and you believe your employer may have violated one or more of its provisions, you have the right to consult an employment lawyer. Both you and your employer are legally bound by the terms of the agreement. • Employment contracts are legally binding on both the employer and the employee so any violation of its provisions can give rise to a lawsuit
  • 39.
    Willful and SeriousMisconduct • An employer may be held liable for “serious and willful misconduct” if he was aware of a dangerous condition at work yet deliberately failed to take corrective action, which resulted to an employee’s injury. • More than gross negligence, such actions/conduct is quasi-criminal in nature. The employer may and be held liable to pay an amount equal to half the value of all benefits paid as a result of the injury which would include temporary permanent disability, medical and vocational rehabilitation benefits.
  • 40.
    Sexual Harassment • Sexualharassment is one of the most pervasive employer misconduct to this day – the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)received as many 12,696 cases of sexual harassment in 2009 alone. • Under the law, it is unlawful for an employer to sexually harass employees (whether male or female) through actions/misconduct like making unwanted sexual advances or requests, verbal and physical of a sexual nature, or a hostile work environment.
  • 41.
    Retaliation • An employermay be sued for retaliation if he fires, demotes, threatens to terminate, harasses, or punishes an employee who has engaged in a “protected activity”. The following are examples of protected activities under the law: reports corporate fraud and/or illicit activity, files a wage claim, time off to serve on a jury, reports to the authority about a safety or health hazard or refuses to perform hazardous work. Retaliation for these activities is another type of employer misconduct.
  • 42.
    • Ethics isbased on certain human rights –  a person has the right not to be deliberately deceived.  a person has the right not to be forced to do anything against his conscience.  He has the right to expect others to behave according to the law.  Employers expect their employees to behave according to the company policy.
  • 43.
    Example of companythat practices unethical business practices. Nike Nike practices two aspects of unethical trade practices; • refusal to fully compensate its workers with fair wages - an Indonesian factory worker from PT Hasi Nike factory, Jakarta revealed that he was paid less than the amount that he should have get. He worked on an average of 40 overtime hours a week to survive. - This is one of the examples of unethical practices that is practised by Nike. Nike cannot continue to support this kind of labour - the idea of someone working eighty plus hours a week, just to survive, should not be acceptable in the twenty first century.
  • 44.
    • They alsoused child labour - Children as young as 4 and 5 years of age are involved in the production line - The disparity in wealth between nations is so great that children in one country produce the toys for another country’s children. - Nike success story is not based on good name and advertising alone but also attached to it is the tears of tortured workers and child labour.”
  • 45.
  • 46.
    Employee misconducts atthe office • Working less hours and showing that one has worked full time. • Lying to supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors or the public. • Misuse of employer’s assets • Giving false reports or making false records. • In such cases there is widespread need for ethics in your workplace. • A code of ethics is needed to provide guidelines to employees and improve the working atmosphere at the workplace. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 46
  • 47.
    Deliberate Deception • Deliberatedeception at the workplace means –  one person takes credit for the work done by someone else.  calling in sick to go to the beach.  sabotaging the work of another person. (deliberately destroy/damage)  In sales misrepresenting the product to achieve sales. • So, deliberate deception can lead to conflict & retaliation at the workplace. If it is in sales, deceived customers can file a lawsuit against the company.
  • 48.
    Violation of Conscience •It means coercion (forced) of employees to do something against their conscience. Example – Your sales manager calls you and tells you to sell 50 large toasters or he will fire you from your job. You know they are inferior products, so you are selling the small toasters. To keep your job, you violate your conscience and sell large toasters to customers. Your boss is engaging in unethical behavior by forcing you do this. He must have been threatened by the top management to do so. By such unethical behavior, your risk loosing valuable customers and also invite lawsuits from this. Such behavior causes more unethical behavior, may lead to sexual harassment.
  • 49.
    Failure to HonorCommitments • Your boss promises you an extra day off, if you finish the project by the deadline date. You work late hours and finish the project before the deadline. You ask your boss for the day off, he responds by saying he cannot as much work needs to done. Your boss has engaged in unethical behavior and in future you will not trust his promises and will not offer to do extra work. You will tell this to your coworkers also. You will not do extra work during emergencies and you will mistrust your boss’s promises in future.
  • 50.
    Unlawful Conduct • Unlawfulconduct means adding false expenses to your expense accounts, taking home office stationary, passing around unregistered software are all unlawful conduct at the workplace. Such persons who steal money or things from office risk loosing their jobs. Such employees will encourage other coworkers to do the same. If software manufacturer finds company is using counterfeit software, company may have to face lawsuits and fines.
  • 51.
    Disregard of CompanyPolicy • Disregarding company policy means to do illegal activities in the company. Companies will try to avoid lawsuits and angry customers because it would negatively affect their profits. Most employers have clear company polices against deception, coercion and other illegal activities. Companies try to convey an image of trustworthiness to their customers and employees in order to increase profits and to retain them. • Disregarding company policy is unethical for employees and harms both company’s reputation and its employees.
  • 52.
    Common Workplace EthicsViolations • Employer Intimidation (threatening) • Safety Violations • Time Theft • Stealing • Misconduct A common thing most employers do is having a code of ethics. This is to avoid unethical behavior which ranges from stealing office supplies to cheating company of large sums of money.
  • 53.
    Employer Intimidation • The2005 National Business Ethics Study listed employer intimation as the most common unethical behavior at the workplace.
  • 54.
    REASONS FOR ETHICALPROBLEMS • Personal gain • Dubious character • Individual values in conflict with organizational goals • Managers’ attitudes and values • Competitive pressures • Cross-cultural contradictions • Not much of Self-regulation and standard setting by organizations • Individual behavior is strongly influenced by incentive Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 54
  • 55.
    Personal gain • Sometimesbusiness employs people who have not so good personal values. This causes ethical problems. • Sometimes people become greedy, put their welfare above all others ( fellow employees, company or society). • Ethical qualities are difficult to measure at the time of recruitment. The people who steal (embezzle), gives false expense accounts, chronic sick leave taker or bribe taker may join the company.
  • 56.
    • Business shouldhave a perfect screening system to screen out such applicants. But at the same time company has to take care of individual rights too. Dubious character Some people do not have good character, who may steal or lie a lot or avoid work etc. Such people should be carefully screened out by the company. For eg. One marketing officer of a company, was of dubious character. He used to make a lot of money apart from getting a high salary. The top management was aware of this. But tolerated it because the manager was very good in his work. In the long run companies image was affected.
  • 57.
    Individual values inconflict with organizational goals • A company which achieves its goals in ways which are not acceptable to employees leads to ethical conflicts or ethical dilemma in the company. • ‘whistle blowing’ will be the outcome when the employee goes public about the company’s wrong doings. After he has failed to convince the company to correct its ways. • Eg. Of an ethical dilemma – an officer, who had worked abroad, had good qualifications and vast experience was recalled suddenly and made to work under a director in India. The methods,
  • 58.
    procedures followed bythe director, was not acceptable to the officer. There used to be arguments and the officers good suggestions was not accepted by the director. He was made to work in an isolated place and finally the officer was forced to resign on his own. The officer was not a trouble maker, he only wanted to correct the internal company procedures. He felt the company’s present methods would harm everyone including customers and the general public. The director, felt he was right and the officer was wrong and unethical. This is called ethical dilemma.
  • 59.
    • The employeeswho do not like the company’s practices would ‘blow whistle’ by revealing the situation to the general public.
  • 60.
    Managers’ attitudes andvalues • Managers have more opportunities to take ethical decisions and set the ethical systems within the company. Usually, top level employees provide ethical guidance to lower level employees. The values top managers have is important in promoting ethical activities. • Managers usually ask three key questions before making a decision: Will it work? (practical), Is it right?(ethical), Is it pleasant? (affective). • A 1982 survey on 1400 corporate executives rated values as follows:-
  • 61.
     responsibility andhonesty 88% Capable 66% Imaginative 55% Logical 49%  Ambitions 37% • This shows managers feel more professional responsibility towards their jobs. Making organization effective is their central goal. Their other goals are organization efficiency, reputation, high morale, high productivity, growth, stability, profits etc. • For managers to take ethical decisions, the following points should be fulfilled – He should be of Moral Behavior
  • 62.
    Proper Behavior ofone’s equals Industry’s ethical climate should be there Society’s moral climate should be good Formal company policy should be there Personal financial need should be less These above points show that values and attitudes of managers are a critical element in a company’s ethical performance.
  • 63.
    Competitive pressures • Whencompanies compete for a similar product, they may engage in unethical activities in order to wipe out competitors from the market. • Rivalry amongst employees for promotion, raises or any other type of advancement can motivate some kind of unethical behavior. • When employees face pressure from top level managers, they may be forced to do unethical acts.
  • 64.
    Cross-cultural contradictions • Ethicalproblems occur when some corporations do business outside their home countries where ethical standards are different. At home, they cannot sell unsafe products as their home countries do not permit. But these products are sold in other countries where demand is there and less of ethical standards permit use of such products. • Acceptable safety standards differ from country to country. Some companies have build factories in countries where pollution control laws are less
  • 65.
    These companies havebeen accused of ‘exporting pollution’. • What one nation thinks is ethically acceptable is considered unethical by another nation. This results in ethical dilemmas which firms and managers find difficult to solve. • Business should have a responsibility towards four groups – society employees customers investors
  • 66.
    Not much ofSelf-regulation and standard setting by organizations • When organizations are not able to self regulate themselves, do self check or self audit than ethical problems arise. • When organizations are not able to set any standards for themselves be it quality standards, production standards etc. Than ethical problems arise.
  • 67.
    Individual behavior isstrongly influenced by incentive • Employees in organizations are influenced mainly by the incentives they get. • Their work performance depends on the number or amount of incentives they get. • Individual employees will also influence other employees about the incentives offered. • So, employees will work only if they receive an adequate amount of incentives.
  • 68.
    • Non-job failures: –Cheating on your expense accounts – Stealing supplies – Sandbagging • Job failures: – Superficial performance appraisal – Not confronting expense account – Cheaters – Falsely praising poor performers – Denial of training opportunities – Undermine management
  • 69.
    • Job distortions: –Bribery – Manipulation of suppliers/buyers – Differential pricing – Falsifying information • Job “creation”: – Bending policies for certain customers – Bending policies for salespeople – Caught violating rules – Arranging for promotions
  • 70.
    Why people behaveUnethically ? • Pressure can drive people to do things they wouldn’t normally do. • Some people make unethical choices because they are not sure about what really is the right thing to do. • Self-interest, personal gain, ambition, and downright greed are at the bottom of a lot of unethical activity in business. • Misguided loyalty. • Then there are those who simply never learned or do not care about ethical values. • Ignorance • Competition Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 70
  • 71.
    Common unethical behaviorsat workplace Harassment Inappropriate internet use Harassment – is a violation of your employer’s ethics policy and may also violate the law. Illegal harassment can be based on sex, race, color, religion, national origin, disability or age. Sexual harassment is more widespread in today’s workplace. Such problems occur usually between supervisor/manager and subordinate.Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 71
  • 72.
    Inappropriate internet use •It is a common unethical act done in offices today. Which is misusing your employer’s internet usage policy. An employee could commit the following actions – Surfing the web during your work day. Addicted to news. gambling, shopping or social networking sites. Employees should follow the guidelines – Blog or use social networking sites on your own personal time and not on your employer’s time or on your employer’s equipment.Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 72
  • 73.
    Don’t disclose anyof your employer’s confidential information or any trade secrets when using internet. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 73
  • 74.
    The Root Causesof Unethical Behavior • Psychological traps are the root causes of unethical behavior. • Primary Traps (External Stimuli) »“Obedience to Authority” • Personality Traps(Internal stimuli) »“Need for Closure,” • Defensive Traps(Two internal stimuli: guilt and shame) »“False Consensus Effect.” Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 74
  • 75.
    PREVENTING UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR TanujaNair Assot prof AMCEC 75 Hiring the right employees Regularly check and audit unethical behaviour Implement the policies into their practices Incentives and punishments Open and transparent business practices
  • 76.
    • Unethical behaviorcan infect a workplace, either if an executive steals money from the company or an associate falsifies documents. The unethical behavior can damage the credibility of a company, making the business lose customers and eventually spoil the reputation of an organization. • However, entrepreneurs and their management teams can work with employees to prevent unethical behavior. When employees work together for the good of their workplace, both of them benefit immensely. Following are the measures to control unethical behavior in the workplace so that the public image of the company would be adequately protected from time to time.
  • 79.
    Measures to controlunethical behaviors • Create Policies and Practices • Create Code of conduct • Hire Right • Develop People's Understanding • Incent the Right Thing • Put Controls in Place • Build a Culture of Transparency, Openness, and Communication • Leadership Must Walk the Talk • Lead by example
  • 80.
    • Reinforce theconsequences • Show appreciation for employees • Organize ethics lectures • Create checks and balances
  • 81.
    Policies and Practices •Organizations must research, develop, and document policies and processes around defining, identifying, and reporting ethics violations. • These policies should be mentioned in the employee handbook and protections should be put into place for those who raise ethical issues. • Just having a policy is not enough, employers should practice what they preach. The policy should not be just on paper and the management is not implementing that policy in their organization.
  • 82.
    Create a writtencode of conduct • Top management should develop a written code of conduct. • It provides employees and managers an overview of the type of behavior and conduct that the company expects. • The written code of conduct describes what behaviors are acceptable and what measures will be taken if an employee violates the code of conduct. • When the code of conduct is stated well than it would be effective in punishing erring employees. • This strengthens the rules in the code of conduct.
  • 83.
    Use value-based scalewhen hiring employees • That is organizations should ‘Hire Right’. • Companies should select ‘Quality’ people into their organization. This helps to implement and maintain ethics in the organization. • Some organizations do background checks, purchase screening soft wares or conduct behavior-based interviews. Where they would ask candidates to describe situations where they have acted ethically, even though it was against social or cultural norms.
  • 84.
    • When employershire employees, they want to hire people with education and experience. Which shows that they are qualified to handle the work given to them. • Employers who want to prevent unethical behavior have to also consider the value based scale of the candidate to see whether he will fit into the organizational culture. • Here most companies take the help of recruitment consultant, who uses every tool to make sure the candidate hired has the right qualifications and also the right values.
  • 85.
    • If companiesfollow these guidelines, the public image of the company will be maintained, its reputation will increase. The trust and credibility ratings of the company will always be high. • This way companies can root out unethical behavior.
  • 86.
    Develop People's Understanding •Most HR professionals will tell you that training people to act "ethically" will not have much of an impact. • Instead, developing a process for reporting ethics violations and building staff understanding about ethics expectations is important.
  • 87.
    Induce the RightThing • Schools and social communities should not induce people to cheat or act unethically by giving more importance to marks and not to character development. • Before introducing new measures in schools or in any industry, leaders should make sure it encourages the right behaviors amongst people. If it may tempt people to behave unethically, enough checks and balances should be put into place to control such type of unethical behaviors. For eg. Strict punishment if any one breaks the rules.
  • 88.
    Put Controls inPlace • Control mechanisms like auditing and disclosure should be there to reduce opportunities of employees doing anything unethical. • Catch unethical issues which have happened by accident. • Counsel those employees who have behaved unethically.
  • 89.
    Build a Cultureof Transparency, Openness, and Communication • Top management and business leaders should create a culture of transparency, openness and communication within their organizations. • To make a true success of organizational ethics, employees should see and hear what is going on around them and they should also feel comfortable to stand up and speak out if they see anything unethical going on around them.
  • 90.
    Leadership Must Walkthe Talk • Leaders must not only talk about the importance of policies, processes, incentives, openness and communication. They should also practice what they preach. • If a leader just talks ethics but behaves unethically, his staff will also follow him. This will create suspicion and destroy the trust amongst employees. • Organization must make sure it has not only strong policies to increase understanding of ethics amongst employees but also make sure these policies are put into practice in day to day matters by the employees and leaders.
  • 91.
    Reinforce the consequences •Business owners must tell employees about the code of conduct during counseling sessions. • They should tell them about the consequences (outcomes), if the employees do anything unethical. The employees alone are responsible. • If still the employees behave unethically, management should fire them or punish them. • Business leaders should not tolerate such unethical acts and should always reinforce the consequences of being unethical.
  • 92.
    Show appreciation foremployees • Loyal employees are always working hard. They know their company values the hard work they put in. • Loyal employees show less chance of doing anything unethical. • So, managers should show visible appreciation towards such loyal employees. • Showing appreciation to employees for a job well done on a daily or monthly basis builds loyalty amongst them.
  • 93.
    Create checks andbalances • Instead of putting full responsibility in the hands of your employees. • It is better to create a system of checks and balances to reduce the chances of unethical behavior. • Checks and balances help to measure accountability of each section in your company. • For eg. After a customer purchases, at the counter he has to pay. The counter maintains stock of products sold, checks and records the payments received.
  • 94.
    Organize ethics lectures •Organize an ethics lecture and invite an ethics trainer to come to your workplace and talk about ethical behavior and why it is important in any organization regardless of its size or the industry it deals with. • Ethics trainers use role plays, motivational talks, videos and brochures to talk about the importance of ethics in your workplace. • Such lectures can help build ethnic value in your workforce. It can also help to develop your workforce.
  • 95.
    Meetings Communication Time management Employee safety Ethicalstandards guide individuals and the company to act in an honest and trustworthy manner in all their workplace interactions. These standards encourage employees to make the right decisions for the company and not for the individual. Give them the courage to come forward when they notice any dishonest and unethical behavior. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 95
  • 96.
    • Company programsshould be based on such ethical standards. So that they provide clear guidance on common ethical dilemmas, such as using the work phone for personal long-distance calls or using company software programs for personal projects. • Corporates core values should be based on ethical standards in order to develop a working culture of respect, trust and honest communication. This helps to maintain ethical business operations. If corporates insist on doing the right thing, employees will also follow and behave ethically. They should reward employees for consistently being ethical.Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 96
  • 97.
    • According toOECD principles of corporate governance – incentive schemes should be aligned to the ethical and professional standards. So that those who follow ethical and professional behavior reward them and those who break the rules, punish them.
  • 98.
    Rewarding ethical behaviors •For years, discussion has been going on in management circles about ‘rewarding’ ethical behavior. • People can be punished for doing the wrong thing. • But why and how people should be rewarded for doing the right thing? • Should people be rewarded for ethical behavior?
  • 99.
    • The linkbetween rewards and ethical behavior is very clear and strong. • Ignoring it will lead to serious problems. • For eg. Sears Auto center case • Profit margins has come down in the center because of competition. In order to improve performance, Sears introduced a cost-cutting and productivity enhancing program that included among other things giving a productivity incentive to auto mechanics. Mechanics base pay was reduced and a fixed amount of money would be paid for completing a specific job in time. This type of pay is also known as “piece rate”.
  • 100.
    • Mechanics weregiven quotas, a certain number of jobs. Service advisors, were put on base pay + commission pay. They also had to meet certain sales quotas. • In 1992, the California Department of Consumer affairs Bureau of Auto Repair gave the result of 18 month investigation into the practices of Sears Auto Centers. • It was found that these auto centers were regularly overcharging customers for repairs, unnecessary repairs were recommended and customers were charged for repairs not done. It was found that Sears commission and quota compensation system was at fault.
  • 101.
    • Sears Autohad to pay compensation to customers and the CEO apologized to customers in full page newspaper ads. • It was the well-designed reward system that encouraged unethical behavior and damaged the reputation of the company.
  • 102.
    • Many Smartcompanies have developed motivational vision statements, clear corporate policies, lengthy code of conduct, hotlines for employees and have developed good training and communication around ethics. • They talk about their high ethical standards in employee publications, in offices boards, on their websites, in consumer advertising. • But they have widespread unethical practices within their company.
  • 103.
    • Ethical behaviorfrom employees depends on how it is encouraged and rewarded by company. • If the company is really serious about ethics, they have to have proper infrastructure and real commitment to ethics right from the leader’s level to lower levels. • Also, companies need to have a strategy on how to reward behaviors. • Most of the employees want to behave ethically, but they do not know the ‘rules’. The employee may be new to the job or new to the particular industry.
  • 104.
    • So, biggestchallenge for companies is communicating the ‘rules 'to employees. • Ethical behavior can be driven depending on how it is encouraged and rewarded in the organization. If companies want to seriously implement ethics in their organizations, they should have an ethical infrastructure. They also need to define ethical behavior in relation to their industry and develop a real strategy to reward desired behaviors.
  • 105.
    Defining ethical behaviors •Based on experience, most employees want to behave ethically. But often, they don’t know the rules. Even after knowing the rules, employees need to have a clear description of what ethical behaviors are applicable in their industry, organization or job. They need to see managers exhibiting such ‘ethical behaviors’.
  • 106.
    • Suppose theyknow the rules but they still need to know how ethical behavior looks like. They need clear description of ethical behavior in relation to their job, company and industry. • They need to see managers modeling these behaviors. • Companies have invested money and time to define competencies. These competencies are used as criteria for selection, recruitment, performance management and for rewards too.
  • 107.
    • Same waycompanies can define criteria for ethical behavior. This will help employees understand what are the right ethical behaviors in context with their job, organization and industry. • Companies should also understand which are the common ethical dilemmas in their business. And they should describe clearly what employees should do to act ethically. Common ethical behavioral terms can be:-
  • 108.
    • Maintains confidentiality •be truthful • Confronts potentially unethical behaviour (does not look the other way) • Avoids conflicts of interest. For example in healthcare, ethical behavior is strictly required. • Maintains confidentiality of patient and other sensitive information. • Is truthful in recordkeeping and reporting
  • 109.
    • Confronts andcounsels those who are doing wrong things to a patient. (does not look the other way) • Treats all patients equally according to the level of care needed for their condition, regardless of who they are or who they know.
  • 110.
    Developing a strategyfor ethical behavior • Ethical behaviors are observable, people can be seen doing them. Since it is observable, people showing such behaviors can be rewarded and people not showing such behaviors can be given corrective feedback. • In short, people can be held accountable and rewarded for both their achievements and correct behaviors. • Companies can link ethical behavior with rewards by building ethical standards into their incentive programs.
  • 111.
    • That means,if employees shows ethical behavior he will be rewarded or if he does not show ethical behavior he will be punished or given corrective feedback. • Other ways of linking ethical behavior to rewards is – when doing performance evaluation see whether ‘results’ have been achieved and also see ‘how’ it has been achieved. Is it achieved by using ethical values like ‘teamwork’ ‘open communication’ etc. • Also build ethics and other values into the non- cash rewards programs. For example, a courageous act of whistle blowing on suspicious
  • 112.
    Accounting practice orsuggesting a novel way to safeguard confidential data are both worthy of getting a non-cash award. • Ensure managers always show ethical behavior, encourage them and rewards those employees who show ethical behavior. • As performance and reward professionals, when managing compensation we should maintain ethical standards. • When deciding pay, especially for executives make sure it is reasonable and competitive. Build a performance culture in the organization.
  • 113.
    • The processfor evaluating performance should be through and transparent. • Present complete and easy to understand information to the Board.
  • 114.
    Ethical and Unethical Behavior(Cont.) Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 114 Find 1 cent Find $1 Find wallet with $1,000 and no identification. Find wallet with $1,000 and identification. Ethical dilemmas
  • 115.
    Legal Versus EthicalBehavior: The Issue of Lying Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 115 unEthical behavior Legal behavior Testifying under oath in court. Lying: deliberate misrepresentation of the truth. Lying to a customer about the safety of a product. “How does my hair look?”
  • 116.
    Module - 3 •Overview of Business Ethics – • Business • Business is a commercial activity to make profit • It includes trade and all institution supporting trade like banking insurance, transportation etc. • Transacting of goods to earn profit. • Selling product for money. • Providing service to earn income. Example Banking and educational institution.
  • 117.
    • Two partiesinvolved one is seller and another one is buyer • Transfer of goods against money • Business may be a small, medium and large. • Business may be various types like sole trader, partnership and company form of business
  • 118.
    WHAT IS BUSINESSETHICS? • Business ethics is the application of general ethical rules to business behavior. • Business ethics tell the business how to conduct itself. • In business, ethical decision making is to know right from wrong and be committed to do what is right. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 118
  • 119.
    Business Ethics • BusinessEthics is about: –Decision-Making –By People in Business –According to Moral Principles or Standards The business leaders, managers should exhibit high ethics in business decision making. Tanuja Nair Assot prof AMCEC 119
  • 120.
    • The businessdecision maker should be morally sound, as higher the level of the decision maker, the greater impact the decision has on others in the industry. • Business people should be motivated internally to be ethical. External motivation has only limited value, as punishment and fear is effective only for the short term. • Organizations should have a clear vision, should support individual integrity. Such an organization becomes a great place to work and attracts good employees.
  • 121.
    METHODS OF ETHICALREASONING • Utilitarian: Compares the costs and benefits of a decision, policy, or an action. • Rights: Respecting basic human rights. • Justice: Justice or fairness exists when benefits and burdens are distributed equitably and according to some accepted rule.
  • 122.
    METHODS OF ETHICALREASONING METHOD CRITICAL DETERMINING FACTOR AN ACTION IS ETHICAL WHEN…. LIMITATIONS UTILITARIAN Comparing benefits and costs Net benefits exceed net costs Difficult to measure some human and social costs. Majority may disregard rights of minority RIGHTS Respecting rights Basic human rights are respected Difficult to balance conflicting rights JUSTICE Distributing fair shares Benefits and costs are equally distributed Difficult to measure benefits and costs. Lack of agreement on fair shares
  • 123.
    AN ANALYTICAL APPROACHTO ETHICAL PROBLEMS Ask UTILITY Do benefits exceed costs? RIGHTS Are human rights respected? JUSTICE Are benefits and costs fairly distributed? STEP 1
  • 124.
    AN ANALYTICAL APPROACHTO ETHICAL PROBLEMS Compare results If yes is the answer to all three questions, it is probably ethical. If yes and no are mixed, it could be either ethical or unethical. If no is the answer to all three questions, it is probably unethical. STEP 2
  • 125.
    AN ANALYTICAL APPROACHTO ETHICAL PROBLEMS ASSIGN PRIORITIES TO UTILITY RIGHTS JUSTICE STEP 3
  • 126.
    Corporate Governance • Corporatemeans a legal body that acts as an individual. • Governance – is control or direction. • To make sure corporate takes only ethical decisions, they need to governed. • Through corporate governance, then different groups in a corporate are brought together to conduct business ethically.
  • 127.
    Relationship between corporationand business • Corporation different groups business for the purpose Different group – managers, employees, suppliers, customers and investors.
  • 128.
    Ethical issues inHRM • Ethical issues in job design • Human resource planning • Recruitment and selection
  • 129.
    Ethical issues injob design • Job designs options – Work simplification – work is oversimplified, this makes the job boring, tend to commit mistakes and resigning. Unethical issue here is over simplification of jobs. Job rotation – unethical issue here is jobs do not improve from innovative viewpoint and workers feel they are having no connection with any particular department.
  • 130.
    Job enlargement –even though it is motivational. It results in making the job boring. Job enrichment – this option is more ethical than other options, as it tends to increase motivation and reduces absenteeism. It enables the employees to meet their psychological needs and brings out empowered teams. Autonomous work teams – this option involves employees in decision making, execution, coordination and controlling fully. It enables workers to use their human resources the maximum and benefit the organization. So designing jobs based on this option is ethical.
  • 131.
    High performance workdesign – this option gives complete freedom to workers and encourages them to be innovative and creative. Empowerment – this option helps the employee to acquire skills and knowledge and enables him to do the jobs in which he has aptitude. De-jobbing – this option is more suitable for competitive markets. It checks the companies from overstaffing and also prepares committed employees. Empowerment and de-jobbing are more ethical to design jobs upon. Especially under the liberalized and competitive global environment.
  • 132.
    So, job designoptions which benefit both the organization and employees by utilizing the human resources is considered ethical.
  • 133.
    Ethics in HumanResource Planning • Human resource planning means companies should plan for future HR requirements, in such a way there is always enough supply of developed and motivated people to perform the work.  recruitment and selection – the competitive environment in industry is such that highly skilled and talented candidates are always required. If candidates are not available internally, company will search for candidates outside. Such actions are considered unethical as promotional opportunities will be less for existing employees.
  • 134.
    So, it ismore ethical to recruit internal employees after the required training and development. But it is unethical, if company recruits unsuitable candidates from inside the company.
  • 135.
  • 136.
    “Whistleblowing” • A whistlebloweris a person who tells the public or someone in authority about alleged dishonest or illegal activities occurring in a government department or private company or organization. • A whistleblower is a person who raises concern about frauds, corruptions, wrongdoings and mismanagement.
  • 137.
    “Whistleblowing” • A governmentemployee who exposes corruption practices within his department is a whistleblower. So is an employee of a private organization, who raises his voice against misconduct, within the company. The misconduct can be classified in several ways, such as: • Violation of Indian laws. • Posing direct threat to public interest(Fraud, corruption) • Violation of health or safety norms. • Deceptive practices.
  • 138.
    DIMENSIONS OF ETHICS (3 “R’s” of Ethics) – RULES – RESPONSIBILITY – RESPECT 138
  • 139.
    Thank you Whatever youdo just do it with all your heart…..