Running Head: ETHICS AND CORPORATE CULTURE 1

Ethics as a Component of Organizational Culture

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ETHICS AND CORPORATE CULTURE 2

Ethics as a Component of Organizational Culture

Introduction

Ethics is a philosophical term that describes the moral principles that are set in place to

regulate the behavior of workers of an organization. In most cases, each organization develops its

own culture by considering the values that its founders wish to transmit in workplaces.

Therefore, this indicates that each and every organization contain its own organizational culture

according to which it carries out its operations. An organization with a strong ethical rules' and

culture is likely to result in a positive ethical behavior among its managers and other workers. On

the other hand, ineffective organization culture can lead to unethical behavior in an organization.

Hence, ethical culture is composed of the shared assumptions and values of an organization that

provides the overall behavior direction to the organization and its members (Daft, 2001).

Ethical rules

My employer is a corporation in the hospitality industry known as Copthorne Hotels. The

organization contains very strict ethical rules according to which employees should carry out

their duties and responsibilities. As an ethical rule, all employees shall provide the necessary

services to clients without regard to sex, color, national origin, ethnicity, race, religion, disability,

sexual orientation, or age. Therefore, the employees are expected to treat every involved

stakeholder who include; families, clients, co-workers, suppliers, and society members with

courtesy, compassion, and respect. In other words, all employees must respect the rights of each

and every stakeholder like; access to care, respect and dignity, and privacy and confidentiality of

the clients (Feldman, 2002).

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Concerning laws and regulations, each and every employee shall execute his/her duties

ethically by complying with all the government laws and regulations. As far as the organization's

employees are working within the internal rules, there is a need for them also to consider

external rules. The company also has highlighted very strict rules in the employment of workers.

The process must be free and fair without cases of favorableness. Another rule that the company

implements is that ever worker is eligible for regular training ("Organizational Culture - Geert

Hofstede," n.d.).

Ethics and Organization Culture

The leadership of Copthorne Hotels clearly defines what is contained in the company's

ethical orientation in the form of codes of ethics. The code of ethics precisely outlines the

acceptable and unacceptable behavior in the organization. This kind of document does not only

outline the wrong deeds but also, how the organization will prosper when every worker is

operating in the right way. The organization considers ethics as a standard operating condition

thereby formulating codes at all times. This is a clear indication that ethics does not only arise

during the trouble periods but exists throughout the operational period. The company highly

values the code as a strategic component of its culture that drives it towards success. The

companys perspective is so different from most of us who view the codes as a satisfaction to the

company regulators and critics. The company integrates ethical rules in its culture like hiring of

new employees, employee job description, and training and development programs among other

areas (Llopis, Reyes, & Gasco, 2007).

Ethics in Employee Hiring Process

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It's the organization's culture to include the ethical code as part of the new employee

selection process. The code of ethics is usually provided to all the prospective candidates before

they face the selection panel for an interview. In the course of the interview, the prospective

employees are given an opportunity to discuss clearly the extent to which the ethical code aligns

with their own personal ethics. Besides, the candidates are asked to give specific examples as

they ultimately commit themselves towards accepting the code. It's from this discussion that a

candidate increases or decreases his/her chances of being absorbed as the company's employee.

Upon, passing the interview, the company adores to the culture of engaging the newly employed

individuals in an onboarding session that takes a period of three days. In this process, the newly

employed workers are introduced to the company's behavioral context. They are taught how to

handle themselves in the organization by expressing high ethical conduct as they execute their

duties. This is an indication that ethics is a crucial element of the organizations culture that

determines the success of the company (Daft, 2001).

Ethics and Role Descriptions

The employee's job descriptions are clearly linked to the code of ethics, and it's to the

expectation of the company's leadership that each and every employee should adhere to it. The

company has initiated a culture whereby every employee signs for both understanding and due

acceptance of the well-drafted organization's ethical code at the start of every financial year. The

intent of this is to make it clear for every employee on what they should do in order to adhere the

codes and for them to realize the reason behind such a behavior. Once employees are closely

guided on what they should do, there are high chances of them delivering a quality output. Its

through ethics that the employees are able to understand their specific roles and the limit to
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which they are allowed to execute them. The employees should be committed to ensuring that

their daily duties are perfectly executed (Kerns, 2005).

Ethics in Training and Development

The company highly values regular training for its employees on key ethical issues in

organizational culture. With the current trends, many changes are occurring in various aspects of

the organization. The company has developed a culture of exposing each of its employees to

these changes. Through a comprehensive and aggressive program of training, the company

ensures that every employee benefits from every value contained in the code of ethics. Taking up

roles and the use of case examples are among the strategies used in demonstrating the

organization's commitment to the ethical code. Its clear that the training and development

programs carried out by the organization highly considers the key ethical issues. Therefore, it's

ethical for each and every worker to attend these training as they enrich him/her with the

required information for the attainment of efficiency (Llopis, Reyes, & Gasco, 2007).

Ethics in the environment

The company embraces a healthy organization culture as a way of increasing its

efficiency and growth as it reduces turnover of employees and counterproductive behaviors. At

the organization, every employee is expected to respect his/her coworkers so as to enhance

teamwork that will aid in improving the productivity of the company. Besides the employees

should receive equal opportunities so as to enable every individual realize his/her potential

within the companys environment. The employees are also expected to exhibit high levels of

discipline when handling clients so as to portray the highly emphasized components of the

ethical code (Feldman, 2002).

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Personal Perspective

Most of the company's ethical rules that are implemented under its culture are in tune

with my personal ethical standards. As an individual, I should respect my colleagues so as to

create a friendly environment. Besides it's my ambition to treat every individual equally without

any favor. Am committed to acting in good faith in any job that am allocated. I too wish to stay

and work in a healthy environment free from various destructors. Also, I am a loyal citizen who

abides by any set of law. Upon considering this portion of rules that guide my ethical conduct,

it's clear that they match with the company's ethical rules. This acts as one of the reasons why I

enjoy carrying out my duties in the company. For instance, its my compatibility with the

companys ethical rules that led to my quick assimilation into the organizations culture.

Conclusion

Its clear that ethics and the organization culture of an organization have a close

relationship. There will be no organization culture that does not exhibit ethical standards. Ethics

is the key theme of most organization culture. It is through ethics that employees are able to

understand how they should relate among themselves or with clients. It's ethics that guide

employees on what is right and what is wrong, In other words, its ethics that determines the

organization culture of any given company. Therefore, companies should develop and establish

strong ethical cultures that should allow employees to work effectively towards achieving the

company's goals. Therefore, upon consideration the above relationship between ethics and

organizational culture, it is evident that one is a component of the other.

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References

Daft, R. L. (2001). Organization theory and design. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College

Publishing.

Feldman, S. P. (2002). Memory as a moral decision: The role of ethics in organizational culture.

New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Kerns, C. D. (2005). Value-centered ethics: A proactive system to shape ethical behavior.

Amherst, MA: HRD Press.

Llopis, J., Reyes, M., & Gasco, J. (2007, March 20). Corporate governance and organizational

culture: The role of ethics officers. Retrieved from

https://rua.ua.es/.../3/corporate_Governance_and_organi.._Ethic_officer.pdf

Organisational Culture - Geert Hofstede. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://geert-

hofstede.com/organisational-culture.html