How does opportunity influence the level of ethical behavior in the workplace?

Conditions in an organization that limit or permit ethical or unethical behavior is opportunity. Organizations that provide rewards or fail to draw barriers against unethical behavior will result in opportunity. Business ethics evaluations and intentions are the last step in the process of ethical decision-making.

How does opportunity influence the level of ethical behavior in the workplace?

The third major factor that can influence ethical behavior in the workplace are situational opportunities. These opportunities can provide an unethical employee with the freedom of choice that can lead to bad decisions. Most companies establish policies and procedures to provide ethical guidelines to employees.

What are the main reasons for unethical business behavior?

Lacking a code of ethics and bad leadership example are two causes of ethical misconduct in the workplace.

• No Code of Ethics. Employees are more likely to do wrong if they don’t know what’s right.
• Fear of Reprisal.
• Impact of Peer Influence.
• Going Down a Slippery Slope.
• Setting a Bad Example.

What causes people to make unethical decisions?

There is excessive pressure to reach unrealistic performance targets. Significant research from Harvard Business School suggests unfettered goal setting can encourage people to make compromising choices in order to reach targets, especially if those targets seem unrealistic.

What factors influence decision making?

There are several important factors that influence decision making. Significant factors include past experiences, a variety of cognitive biases, an escalation of commitment and sunk outcomes, individual differences, including age and socioeconomic status, and a belief in personal relevance.

Why the most significant influence on ethical behavior in an organization is the opportunity to engage in un ethical behavior?

The most significant influence on ethical behavior in the organization is the opportunity to engage in unethical behavior. Ignorant others have more impact on ethical decisions within the organization. The stakeholder perspective is useful in managing social responsibility and business ethics.

What are ways of encouraging ethical behavior among employees?

Promoting Workplace Ethics

• Be a Role Model and Be Visible. Employees look at top managers to understand what behavior is acceptable.
• Communicate Ethical Expectations.
• Offer Ethics Training.
• Visibly Reward Ethical Acts and Punish Unethical Ones.
• Provide Protective Mechanisms.

What is an unethical business decision?

Unethical decisions can ruin a business. Dishonest behaviors, such as falsifying financials, overbilling or misleading marketing, can tarnish a company’s reputation, causing loss of customers and revenue. In some cases, unethical behavior is also illegal and can result in fines and even jail time for executives.

How does unethical behavior affect the company?

Unethical behaviour has serious consequences for both individuals and organizations. You can lose your job and reputation, organizations can lose their credibility, general morale and productivity can decline, or the behaviour can result in significant fines and/or financial loss.

Why would a company ever decide to make an unethical decision?

Employees may choose to act unethically based on unrealistic expectations to succeed. For example, a salesperson may make false claims to secure a deal to meet their quota. With Wells Fargo, employees opened up fake accounts and credit cards in their client’s name to make quota.

What factors influence people to make ethical decisions in their business?

There are three important factors that can influence ethical decision making, which are individual, organizational, and opportunity factors. All three of these factors can weigh heavily on a person during the decision making process, especially in the work place.

What should be done about unethical business behavior?

Researchers do agree that it is important to have stringent policies in place to curb unethical behavior, but organizations should focus more on instilling ethical values in its employees. In the book, The Ethical Traps, Robert Hoyk and Paul Hersey have extensively enlisted the reasons that cause employees to err and do things that are malicious.

How does unethical behavior affect the morale of an employee?

Unethical behavior by fellow employees, especially if it goes unpunished or is condoned by management, prevents cooperation and trust among employees, which also creates low morale. This negative effect is magnified if the unethical behavior by the company or employees results in harm to others.

What are the root causes of unethical behavior?

The Root Causes of Unethical Behavior 1 Primary Traps. Primary traps are predominantly comprised of external stimuli. 2 Personality Traps. Personality traps consist exclusively of internal stimuli in the form… 3 Defensive Traps. Defensive traps are a very different category.

How to break the cycle of unethical behavior?

However, changes can be made to break the cycle. A firm and unwavering push for company-wide ethical behavior, with third-party oversight and accountability, helps immensely. The selection of, and commitment to, a company vision and mission statement provides clarity and a sense of purpose.

Related

Ethical people are those who recognize the difference between right and wrong and consistently strive to set an example of good conduct. In a business setting, ethical behavior is behavior that means applies the principles of honesty and fairness to relationships with coworkers and customers. Ethical individuals make an effort to treat everyone with whom they come in contact as they would want to be treated themselves.

The advantages of ethical behavior in business include helping your business to build customer loyalty, avoid legal problems and attract and retain talented employees.

Consumers may let a company take advantage of them once, but if they believe they have been treated unfairly, such as by being overcharged, they will not be repeat customers. Having a loyal customer base is one of the keys to long-range business success, since serving an existing customer does not involve marketing costs, whereas acquiring a new one does.

A company’s reputation for ethical behavior can help it create a more positive image in the marketplace, which can bring in new customers through word-of-mouth referrals. Conversely, a reputation for unethical dealings hurts the company’s chances to obtain new customers, particularly in this age of social networking when dissatisfied customers can quickly disseminate information about the negative experience they had.

Talented individuals at all levels of an organization want to be compensated fairly for their work and dedication. They want career advancement within the organization to be based on the quality of the work they do and not on favoritism. They want to be part of a company whose management team tells them the truth about what is going on, such as when layoffs or reorganizations are being contemplated.

Companies that are fair and open in their dealings with employees have a better chance of retaining the most talented people. For instance, employees who do not believe the compensation methodology is fair are often not as dedicated to their jobs as they could be.

Employees have a responsibility to be ethical from the moment they have their first job interview. They must be honest about their capabilities and experience. Ethical employees are perceived as team players rather than as individuals just out for themselves. They develop positive relationships with coworkers. Their supervisors trust them with confidential information, and they are often given more autonomy as a result.

Employees who are caught in lies by their supervisors damage their chances of advancement within the organization and may risk being fired. An extreme case of poor ethics is employee theft. In some industries, this can cost the business a significant amount of money, such as restaurants whose employees steal food from the storage locker or freezer. One approach ethical companies take to avoid this type of behavior is to take the time to train every member of the organization about the conduct that is expected of them.

At times, a company’s management may be tempted to cut corners in pursuit of profit, such as by not fully complying with environmental regulations or labor laws, ignoring worker safety hazards or using substandard materials in their products. The penalties for being caught can be severe, including legal fees and fines or sanctions by governmental agencies. The resulting negative publicity can cause long-range damage to the company’s reputation that is even more costly than legal fees or fines.

The advantages of business ethics become crystal clear in these situations since companies that maintain the highest ethical standards are very unlikely to find themselves in such situations.