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Ethical behavior at the workplace seems to be one of the top topics in the world agenda, considering the number of scandals occurring in the world-known enterprises. The trend of the ethical workplace spread is still in process: the developing countries are still getting acquainted with the new ethical standards while developing their ones. It seems that the long history of the business world ignoring the ethical needs of their employees or community is not over. However, such misconduct does negatively influence companies today. Nevertheless, it is fair to state that there are various ways businesses could fight against the tendencies, but these steps must be strategic and originate from the top management.
To begin with, the problem lies in the fact that real individuals suffer from the unethical behavior of a company. On the one hand, it concerns employees: for instance, as demonstrated in the TV series The Morning Show (Leder, 2019). The staff belonging to the unprivileged groups may go through traumatic experiences due to harassment and discrimination if present in a company, as happened in the series (Leder, 2019). In other words, if one values the mental health and dignity of their employees, they should guarantee movement towards ethical corporate culture. Another point to be made deals with ideals that management believes in: whether it is necessary to take care of the environment or maintain inclusive space at the workplace.
However, there seems to be another dimension of unethical behavior influence on any company, namely its shareholders. The problem is that incidents demonstrating ethically inappropriate corporate culture in an enterprise do much harm to a firms reputation. One of the most prompt examples in the history of business has to do with JPMorgan Chase. In 2014, the company paid the U.S. government 13 billion dollars to settle charges involving conduct that prosecutors say contributed to the mortgage meltdown (Meinert, 2014). Such scandals tend to be always covered by media, forming the popular vision of a brand. According to the Deloitte Millennial Survey (2016), 56% of up-to-date consumers are likely to exclude a company from a shopping list if it does not suit their ethical criteria, and this trend is intensifying. Thus, the way such a trend affects shareholders seems evident, considering how vital reputation can be at the age of information and social media.
Meanwhile, there are many strategies to implement in the company to make it a more ethical workspace. The first step is explaining to the management of any level that it is its responsibility to maintain a favorable culture within a team. In 2014, managers were estimated to be responsible for 60 percent of workplace misconduct (Meinert, 2014). As in the show mentioned above, the victim of sexual harassment went to her boss to get the situation managed, but there was no reaction (Leder, 2019). In other words, the primary goal lies in inspiring the management to implement an ethical culture in the team.
Moreover, written rules can contribute to the maintenance of the ethical workplace. Typically, they are presented in the form of an ethical code. It is sometimes debated that this measure articulates imposing the specific moral grounds, not necessarily shared by all the members of a team. Nevertheless, most professions and social spaces educational and medical institutions, army or police have the codes constituting the ethical ideals of a community. The same works for the business world and such codes make it newcomers easier to adapt to the ethical environment. The precise rules also become the source of argumentation in case of conflict situations. Hence, a code of ethics appears to be a must for the workplace seeking an ethical environment.
Finally, the last point to be made lies in the remuneration and punishment system. In case the code of ethics is introduced, the management must also articulate the sticks and carrot scheme for our staff. On the one hand, this step could create several incentives in case a specific employee does not share the ideas supported in the company. On the other hand, the sanctions system is supposed to provide the team with visible and effective punishments. It also allows us to prevent further violations from saying nothing of the fact that it, in a way, make up for injustice caused by unethical behavior.
To conclude, having an ethical workplace is essential for up-to-date companies seeking widespread approval and caring about the social or environmental agenda. The plan to take up to transform and develop the corporate culture lies in three steps: first, empowering the management to take responsibility for the unethical behavior of their employees. Secondly, the introduction of a code of ethics would be comprehensible for the entire staff and would make the adaptation of the new members much more comfortable. Thirdly, but for the code, special attention must be paid to the punishment and remuneration system that would contribute to the maintenance of the new rules.
References
Deloitte. (2016). The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey. Deloitte. Web.
Leder, M. (2019). The morning show [Series]. Apple TV+.
Meinert, D. (2014). Creating an ethical workplace. SHRM. Web.
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