Good leaders strive to create a better and more ethical organization. Promoting an ethical climate in an organization is critical, since it is a key component in addressing many other issues facing the organization.
These morals are shaped by social norms, cultural practices, and religious influences. All decisions have an ethical or moral dimension for a simple reason—they have an effect on others. Managers and leaders need to be aware of their own ethical and moral beliefs so they can draw on them when they face decisions.
They can then effectively think through an ethical issue with the same types of approaches they use for other decisions. Decision trees are graphical representations of alternatives and possible outcomes. The decisions are represented by the branches of the tree. Organizations and individuals often use decision trees as part of their decision-making process because they are a means for adding formal structure to information about a decision.
Identifying the range of possibilities and their potential consequences helps clarify the decision and facilitates selection of an alternative. Decision trees can be applied to ethical matters as well. If confronted with an ethical dilemma, creating a decision tree is a useful method for analyzing what the potential outcomes of each action would be, and ultimately, how to proceed.
It is a particularly useful tool for considering stakeholders such as employees, customers, shareholders, and communities. The answers to questions about what stakeholders will be affected and what the effects will be help build the case for or against each alternative. Often there will be competing interests, or situations in which two different values are in competition. For instance, a decision to close a coal mine because coal contributes to global warming may be positive for society at large, but it imposes high costs on the employees who will lose their jobs.
Decision-tree analysis can help identify or uncover the potential impacts of alternatives so that a decision maker can select the one that is most consistent with her ethical and moral beliefs. Express decision factors in an organized and structured view, allowing for systematic, ethical, and logical decision making.
Decision tree analysis provides a visual tool to help individuals quantify and weigh options against one another when making a decision. A decision tree calculates the expected values of competing alternative.
This tells the decision maker which decision has the highest utility i. Decision tree : This example of a decision tree shows the decision maker trying to choose where to go on vacation. Decision trees can be applied to ethical considerations. Consider an ethical dilemma involving a colleague. You are considering three options: report your colleague to a superior, confront the colleague yourself, or ignore the situation completely. Your reputation matters — your customers and community like to see that you are more than just a money maker.
People will want to buy from you or use your services if they believe you are a good and ethical person. Be honest and fair with those you interact with and that is the reputation you will build for yourself. It can bring you business — when you make ethical decisions you consider the feelings and needs of others. Treating your customers with respect is an ethical decision you can make. In many cases this will return to by having others refer you.
Being ethical helps build trust. You feel good about it — by being true to yourself you will feel good about the ethical decisions you make. Many people report that they find gift giving more rewarding than receiving a gift. Though that is not an ethical analogy it does speak to the importance of doing good for others. Being honest is part of being ethical and you will likely feel good about being an ethical business person. There are many areas in business where we can choose to make ethical decisions.
Consider what is important to you and what you stand for as a business. Some areas you can consider when making either business decisions are:. But ethical decisions can be made in nearly every area of your business. Part of ethical decision making is doing the right thing for yourself. How you define success is an important part of becoming successful. This articles might help you find perspective on what matters to you and guide you in making ethical decisions.
They designed it as a means to help legislators consider the moral soundness of laws. With this Kantian approach to business ethics, decisions will be considered ethical if they do not impact on the human rights of employees, clients, consumers or stakeholders involved. In a nutshell: In a fair world or organisation does everyone get treated the same?
Or should they be treated differently, according to their needs and circumstance? Does fairness mean everyone gets treated the same? Or does a truly fair company policy show positive discrimination, as in the case of diverse hiring practices?
There is the argument that favouritism singles people out for success without ethical justification, and negative discrimination holds back people who are marginalised. There is also the argument that positive discrimination levels the playing field, helping those who are marginalised access training, experiences and opportunities that they would not otherwise have had, leading to a reduced need for positive discrimination in the future. In a nutshell: The good of the individual is linked to the good of the organisation.
Leaders who make ethical decisions for the common good of all appeal to colleagues to view each other as members of a greater whole. In an organisation that works towards the common good, we are asked to consider what kind of organisation we want to become, and how we can collectively achieve that goal. In a nutshell: Develop ethical traits as an individual using self-reflection and resilience. Virtue is a state of mind or character trait that an individual can develop to act in ways that will help a person fulfil their highest potential.
In a business environment, virtues might include integrity, courage, prudence, altruism and fairness. Ethics can be used in combination with technical decision making techniques to help leaders come to informed, ethically sound conclusions about next steps.
No-one said it would be easy - but if you're reading this article, your intention is to explore and challenge possibilities, not take the path most trodden. And it's that kind of virtue, or trait, that indicates your perspective is what an organisation needs. By Changeboard team Published: 01 Aug View more jobs. Back to articles listing. Written by Changeboard team Published 01 Aug Share.
0コメント