...Mitzi N. Harvey Liberty University Abstract This literature review examines the concepts of business ethics and how it is related to the organizational design of a corporation. The first section of this review defines the concepts of business ethics and organizational design to establish their meaning and use throughout this paper. The second aspect of understanding the relationship between business ethics and organizational design comes from understanding how and/or why ethics is important to organizational design. This will illustrate any underlying influences ethics has on business structure and design. The third section of this paper reviews and groups the literature found linking ethics and organizational design. Literature is grouped together based on the similarities found in authors’ opinions, research and/or results. The next section discusses the ideas of micro and macro ethics; first defining them, illustrating the differences and then explaining how they come into play when examining the link between ethics and design. The following sections of the review, provides examples of formal organizational structures, ethical programs, and the ethical decisions that impacted them. Finally, in the conclusion of the review it summarizes the relationship between business ethics and organizational design, how this relationship impacts business, and what this means for business managers. Introduction To sustain in a global economy, organizations must strategically...
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...Mitzi N. Harvey Liberty University Abstract This literature review examines the concepts of business ethics and how it is related to the organizational design of a corporation. The first section of this review defines the concepts of business ethics and organizational design to establish their meaning and use throughout this paper. The second aspect of understanding the relationship between business ethics and organizational design comes from understanding how and/or why ethics is important to organizational design. This will illustrate any underlying influences ethics has on business structure and design. The third section of this paper reviews and groups the literature found linking ethics and organizational design. Literature is grouped together based on the similarities found in authors’ opinions, research and/or results. The next section discusses the ideas of micro and macro ethics; first defining them, illustrating the differences and then explaining how they come into play when examining the link between ethics and design. The following sections of the review, provides examples of formal organizational structures, ethical programs, and the ethical decisions that impacted them. Finally, in the conclusion of the review it summarizes the relationship between business ethics and organizational design, how this relationship impacts business, and what this means for business managers. Introduction To sustain in a global economy, organizations must strategically...
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...The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture Laurita M Jones, MBA, MSA Walden University The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture Leaders have a profound impact on their organization and how well their teams perform. Thus, organizational leadership plays an influential role in shaping culture and culture in return forms administration. As a leadership perception, corporate culture has been acknowledged as one of the various elements that leaders can utilize to enhance a dynamic business. The process of establishing the cultural foundation of a company begins with the appointed leadership of organizations. They do so by enforcing their assumptions and expectations of organizational culture onto their followers. High-level superiors are the major sources for communicating norms and core values in organizations. Therefore, it is imperative that leaders convey the organization leadership and cultural principles to their followers for utilizing their leadership powers to support and preserve an organizational culture that is ethical and healthy. With the attentiveness to culture in today’s business entities, and its resilient influence on the behavior of subordinates, leaders in company’s can produce a culture that supports high moral and ethical behavior. The subsequent analysis of leadership and organizational culture will attempt to discuss several mechanisms of leadership, and the role leadership plays in shaping the culture of an organization...
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...Leadership, Trustworthiness, and Ethical Stewardship Abstract The problem to be investigated in Caldwell et al.’s (2010) paper is the relationship between leadership, perceptions of interpersonal trustworthiness, and elements of ethical stewardship. With an increasing competition amongst businesses today, the role of leadership and trust into leaders by their followers (i.e., stakeholders, employees) plays an increasing role in the successful operation of business organizations. Moreover, the role of ethical stewards and their impact on successfully lead organizations has become more important in recent years. Understanding the impact and importance of these three key factors regarding to the success of business organizations is fundamental. Therefore, in this paper the key terms leadership, trustworthiness, and ethical stewardship are defined based on recent literature and their relationship to each other is discussed based on the findings of Caldwell et al.’s paper. Moreover, the effect of leadership and trustworthiness in today’s world of business is outlined, and the role of ethical stewardship is examined. Finally, it is addressed how these, partly subjective factors can be improved and successfully applied in today’s world of business. Terminology: Leadership, trustworthiness, ethical stewardship Leadership Leadership is fundamental in a successfully run business and seen in the hierarchical structure (i.e., CEO, management, departments, supervisors, employees)...
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...The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture Douglas E. Kronk Walden University Abstract Leadership’s role in shaping a healthy organizational climate has many facets. Both leadership and organizational culture are difficult concepts to define, as many researchers have chosen to define each in various ways. For the purposes of this paper, I examine leadership as a process that guides both leaders and followers to a common goal, that being a shared culture that binds the members together in a healthy and productive climate. I present several leadership factors that play an important role in shaping a healthy organizational culture. The Role of Leadership in Shaping Organizational Culture One of the most critical roles of a leader is to create and maintain a healthy culture in his or her organization. This needs to happen at all levels of an organization, so the responsibility rests with all levels of leadership, from the most senior executives down to the first line supervisor. Culture represents the organization’s personality and has a critical influence on both employee satisfaction and organizational success. While every organization has a culture, it is often misunderstood by the members of the organization due to various interpretations between departments or divisions, both laterally and hierarchically. While some variation may be necessary to meet business demands in larger organizations, it is important for all organizations, both large...
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...Ethics and Organizational Design- A Literature Review Abstract This literature review observes the views of organizational design and business ethics as they relate to one another in business. The first portion of this paper defines organizational design and business ethics to establish their importance and also examines managerial ethics and corporate social responsibility, sources of ethical principles. The second portion pursues to explain the relationship between business ethics and organizational design and how managers shape ethics through use of value-based leadership and formal structure systems. The third portion pursues to review the importance of ethics to organizational design and the structures that support or enforce ethical behavior in organizations. The fourth portion links literature reviewed and published over the past few years together based on their reference to ethics and organizational design. The literatures are linked together based on commonalities found in the opinions of the authors relating to a spiritual perspective, ethics and corporate structure, organizational and ethical theories, and ethical strategy. Last but not least, the review concludes with a summary of the important role that ethics plays in the organizational design and structure of a business and how it applies to members of management. Keywords: business ethics, organizational design, corporate social responsibility Outline INTRODUCTION I. Organizational Design/Business...
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...essay will examine and analyze whether hiring ethical people is the key factor in encouraging and producing an ethical organization. Ethics refer to the moral standards set that enables an individual to tell what is right from wrong and what is good and bad. In today’s organizations, the importance of the code of ethics is more prevalent than ever. Code of ethics consists of various factors such as being honest, building trust, and upholding the ethical standards. Organizations that exercise ethical codes not only feel that it is a way to portray a positive image to the stakeholders, but also because it highlights its own organizational virtues and values. It is believed that such culture could cultivate and encourage more ethical behavior for the employees in the organization (Stevens, 2008).Code of ethics are also used to articulate the restrictions for the organization, and to set a benchmark of what is acceptable and unacceptable, boosting responsibility, and conveying the standard expectations demanded from the employees as well as the leaders in the organization (Stevens, 2008).The ethical codes can be described as an effective tool to promote ethical behavior in the organization(Stevens, 2008).However, researchers have came up with reports that hints that the practice of ethical codes are unproductive and they have failed to create an impact in an employee’s behavior(Stevens, 2008). One of the studies suggested that ethical codes are not suitable and were ineffective especially...
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...Managing Justly Across Cultures: The Problem of Fairness in International Business Rolf D. Dixon (Corresponding author) Weber State University 3802 University Circle, Ogden, Utah 84408, USA Tel: +1-(801)-626-7542 E-mail: rddixon@weber.edu Cam Caldwell University of Georgia G-2 Brooks Hall, Athens, GA 30602-6256, USA Tel: +1-(318)-446-0129 E-mail: camcaldw@uga.edu Apichai Chatchutimakorn College of Business, McNeese State University Kayla Gradney College of Business, McNeese State University Kochakan Rattanametangkul McNeese State University katekochakan@yahoo.com Received: September 14, 2010 Abstract The aim of this paper is to examine the relationships between organizational justice and the factors that characterize cultural differences. This paper begins by briefly summarizing the nature of organizational justice and by identifying how justice is perceived. Hofstede’s five factors of cultural dimension model, which he developed in his seminal 1980 research on national cultures, is utilized to present characteristics of cultural differences. Ten propositions are then offered which relate to organizational justice and differences in cultural perspectives. These propositions suggest specific management approaches that organizational leaders can adopt to be more effective in dealing with employees from respective cultures. This paper concludes by identifying the importance of understanding the relationship between organizational justice and national culture and suggests research...
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...injured as well as a tremendous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, this case has been described as a complex accident including a variety of issues ranging from environmental to economic, politics and even ethical issues. The goal of our research is to find any ethical issues since this disaster happened is closely related to ethics which is concerned with moral obligation, social responsibility and justice (Carolyn Wiley, 1997) either individual (‘bad apples’) or organizational (‘bad barrels), which should be evaluated to verify this case. Firstly, the ethical issues can largely be divided into three categories, namely (1) technical design which has had some testing flaws before the actual usage and insufficient guidelines against the negative pressure test, (2) human factors including misjudgment, errors and a failure in duty, (3) organizational system such as taking risk procedures to save time and money and refusing the advice of staff and contractors as well as slowness to react in the accident. Thus, the ethical issues in BP oil spill case relevant to the individuals or the organization will be classified in each factor mentioned above by distributing whether it belongs to the individual level or the organizational level based on our judgments along with ethical theory to support our conclusion. 2. The importance of ethics in business world It is easy...
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...Leadership – The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals ➢ Management – Use of authority inherent in designated formal rank to obtain compliance from organizational members ➢ Both are necessary for organizational success A leader does not have to be someone who holds a formal position or title. They can emerge from a group and provide vision and motivation to those around them. Management deals with the complexity of the organization and works with planning, organizing, leading and controlling to bring about order and consistency in the organization. Trait Theories of Leadership ➢ Theories that consider personality, social, physical, or intellectual traits to differentiate leaders from nonleaders ➢ Not very useful until matched with the Big Five Personality Framework ➢ Essential Leadership Traits – Extroversion – Conscientiousness – Openness – Emotional Intelligence (Qualified) ➢ Traits can predict leadership, but they are better at predicting leader emergence than effectiveness. Behavioral Theories of Leadership ➢ Theories proposing that specific behaviors differentiate leaders from nonleaders ➢ Differences between theories of leadership: – Trait theory: leadership is inherent, so we must identify the leader based on his or her traits – Behavioral theory: leadership is a skill set and can be taught to anyone, so we must identify...
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...Chapter 5 – Business Ethics and Ethical Decision Making – Summary Business ethics comprises principles and standards that guide individual and work group behavior in the world of business. Stakeholders determine these conventions, and they may change over time. The most basic of these standards have been codified as laws and regulations. Business ethics goes beyond legal issues. Because individuals and groups within a company may not have embraced the same set of values, ethical conflict may occur. Questionable decisions and actions may result in disputes that must be resolved through some type of negotiation or even litigation. Codifying ethical standards into meaningful policies that spell out what is and is not acceptable gives businesspeople an opportunity to reduce the possibility of behavior that could create legal problems. Business decisions involve complex and detailed discussions in which correctness may not be clear-cut. It is important that a shared vision of acceptable behavior develop from an organizational perspective to create consistent and reliable relationships with all concerned stakeholders. Understanding the ethical decision-making process can help individuals and businesses design strategies to prevent misconduct. Three of the important components of ethical decision making are individual factors, organizational relationships, and opportunity. Significant individual factors that affect the ethical decision-making process include personal moral...
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...Chapter 5 – Business Ethics and Ethical Decision Making – Summary Business ethics comprises principles and standards that guide individual and work group behavior in the world of business. Stakeholders determine these conventions, and they may change over time. The most basic of these standards have been codified as laws and regulations. Business ethics goes beyond legal issues. Because individuals and groups within a company may not have embraced the same set of values, ethical conflict may occur. Questionable decisions and actions may result in disputes that must be resolved through some type of negotiation or even litigation. Codifying ethical standards into meaningful policies that spell out what is and is not acceptable gives businesspeople an opportunity to reduce the possibility of behavior that could create legal problems. Business decisions involve complex and detailed discussions in which correctness may not be clear-cut. It is important that a shared vision of acceptable behavior develop from an organizational perspective to create consistent and reliable relationships with all concerned stakeholders. Understanding the ethical decision-making process can help individuals and businesses design strategies to prevent misconduct. Three of the important components of ethical decision making are individual factors, organizational relationships, and opportunity. Significant individual factors that affect the ethical decision-making process include personal moral...
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...Organization Culture DQ1) 1. Who defines what the culture is in an organization and what are the components of a culture? Most successful businesses develop strategies that include their mission, vision, and values, with the confidence that their employees follow the organization's standards. These guidelines should define the culture the organization would like to establish. The leaders who hope to implement an essential retreat from the "norm" in an organization will must influence and lastly amend the culture of an organization. The main components of culture include language and communication style, customs, land, family relationships, gender roles, religion, political power, racism, scarceness and economic concerns. 2. What role does the organization’s culture play in defining, encouraging, and maintaining an ethical standards model? The culture role in defining, encouraging and maintaining an ethical culture within an organization is supreme and paramount. If one admits the role of a manager or leader in an organization, he or she should expect to be held to the highest principles of honesty and ethical behavior. Organization’s administrators are responsible for emerging and maintaining the ethical culture through, effective leadership, severe-hiring practices, ethical based training, well-expressed programs, responsibility, and the identification and recognition of insubordinate subcultures. 3. Review the attached file diagram for Sequential Theory. Does...
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...report among reporters and society. As we know, integrity is a part of ethical values that shows the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. It is important to be integrity person to ensure the task or jobs are more honest and there is no abuse of power among the public or private employees. The situation can be seen in several countries, there are a lot of unethical behaviors from employer or employees. There must be a reason unethical behavior happened. So, whistle-blowing protection was introduced in order to prevent any unethically behaviors in organization such as fraud, corruption, abuse of power and so on. Whistle-blowing has been defined as ‘disclosure by a current of former organization member of illegal, inefficient, or unethical practices in a organization to a person or parties who have the power or resources to take action ( Near and Meceli, 1985). It continues to receive media intention (Vinten, 1997). Whistle blowing is a deliberate non-obligatory act of disclosure, which gets onto public record and is made by a person who has or had privileged access to data or information of an organization, about non-trivial illegality or other wrongdoing whether actual, suspected or anticipated which implicates and is under the control of that organization, to an external entity having potential to rectify the wrong doing. Whistleblowing is presented as dissent, in response to an ethical dilemma, in the form of a public accusation against an organization...
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...Apel Ethics have become an organizational priority. In the 21st century, ethics is neither a luxury nor an option. There is a growing impatience within society with selfish and irresponsible actions that impoverish some, while enriching the crafty. Hewlett Packard demonstrated its commitment to ethical integrity under the leadership of Carly Fiorina. The former CEO of Hewlett-Packard said of her six-year tenure, “Some of the most important choices I ever made were firing people who weren't conducting themselves with integrity” (Weil, 2007). In contrast, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was caught covering up knowledge about the addictiveness of nicotine. Tolerating bad behavior to improve the bottom line and justifying it as “not really illegal” creates a climate that ultimately becomes corrosive. In addition to social responsibility, there are other compelling motivations for 21st century organizations to make ethical values a priority. More than simply a legal or moral responsibility, ethics need to become an organizational priority. Organizational leaders have a lot on their minds in today’s highly competitive world. They must keep abreast of rapid technological advancements, competitor’s products and services, the effects of globalization, and opportunities and threats within their own industry, to name the most obvious. Leaders must also keep a constant eye on the mission, vision, values, culture, strategy and goals of their own organizations. In...
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