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what is ethical behavior and why is it important in the workplace

by Robyn Flatley Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Ethical behavior guides individuals and companies to interact with people in a proper and helpful way. Ethical behavior ensures honesty and trustworthiness in the workplace and society. Ethical behavior in a workplace increases honesty and valued relationship among employees, customers, business partners and other stakeholders (Long, 2016).

Every organization has an ethical code that guides its decision making and activities to have effective productivity and maintain its reputation. Ethical behavior ensures that staff completes work with honesty and integrity and meets the aim of an organization by adhering to rules and policies.

Full Answer

What are some ethical values in the workplace?

  • Honesty; don't mislead customers, superiors or subordinates by lying, including partial truths and omissions.
  • Integrity; do what's right, even when doing the wrong thing benefits you.
  • Work hard
  • Keep your word
  • Respect others
  • Obey the law
  • Appreciate the people who help and support you
  • Take responsibility for your actions, including your mistakes

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What is the importance of ethics in the workplace?

Tips for Managing Ethics in the Workplace

  1. Define your values. If you haven’t done so already, define your values and include honesty as a core value. ...
  2. If you post it, you must practice. Posting values and then not actively demonstrating them can be very damaging to an organization’s culture. ...
  3. Integrate ethical workplace behavior into performance criteria. ...

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What are some examples of ethics in the workplace?

Here are a few examples of common ethics organizations may establish in the workplace:

  • Accountability
  • Responsibility
  • Equality
  • Transparency
  • Trust
  • Fulfilling promises
  • Loyalty
  • Fairness
  • Cooperation
  • Dedication

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Why is work ethics so important?

Workplace ethics leads to happy and satisfied employees who enjoy coming to work rather than treating it as a mere source of burden. Employees also develop a feeling of loyalty and attachment towards the organization. Organizations need to have fool-proof systems to measure the performances of individuals.

What is ethical behaviour in the workplace?

Examples of ethical behaviors in the workplace includes; obeying the company's rules, effective communication, taking responsibility, accountability, professionalism, trust and mutual respect for your colleagues at work. These examples of ethical behaviors ensures maximum productivity output at work.

What is ethical behavior and why is it important?

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.

What is ethical behavior?

Ethical behaviour is characterized by honesty, fairness and equity in interpersonal, professional and academic relationships and in research and scholarly activities. Ethical behaviour respects the dignity, diversity and rights of individuals and groups of people.

Why is ethics important in the workplace essay?

Workplace ethics ensures positive ambience at the workplace. Workplace ethics leads to happy and satisfied employees who enjoy coming to work rather than treating it as a mere source of burden. Employees also develop a feeling of loyalty and attachment towards the organization.

What are some examples of ethical behavior in the workplace?

EXAMPLES OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN THE WORKPLACE Some common workplace ethics include trustworthiness, accountability, respect, transparency, and integrity. Trustworthiness. Companies rely on trust within their organization as well as between their clients in order to foster dependable relationships.

What is ethical behaviour and what are some examples?

What are examples of ethical behavior? Ethical behavior includes honesty, integrity, fairness and a variety of other positive traits. Those who have others' interests in mind when they make decisions are displaying ethical behavior.

What are the most important ethics in the workplace?

5 most sought-after workplace ethics and behaviourIntegrity. One of the most important workplace ethics is integrity. ... Honesty. Being an honest individual means you do not deceive others by giving out misleading information. ... Discipline. ... Fair and respect. ... Responsible and accountable.

How do you promote ethical behavior in the workplace?

Promoting Workplace EthicsBe 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.

How does ethical behavior affect the workplace?

This can help significantly improve workplace culture overall. For instance, if an organization expresses their ethical commitment to diversity, inclusion and equality, stakeholders may feel responsible for upholding the same ethical standard. They may begin to hold organizational leaders accountable for ethically discrepant actions or start to examine their own behaviors more closely. This type of interaction can help organizations strengthen their initiatives overall and create a robust ethical culture for their workforce where stakeholders feel safe, protected and engaged.

Why is it important to have an ethical workplace?

Workplace ethics are an incredibly important part of forming a successful organization with satisfied and loyal team members. High ethical standards can help stakeholders, like employees, investors, customers and other individuals involved with workplace operations feel that the organization is safeguarding their interests. By purposefully building ethical guidelines in their structure, organizations can keep their employees' best interests in mind while maintaining a positive influence on those they impact through their processes.

What are ethics in the workplace?

Workplace ethics refers to a specific set of moral and legal guidelines that organizations may abide by. These guidelines typically influence the way employees and customers alike interact with an organization—in essence, workplace ethics guide how organizations serve their clients and how they treat their employees.

Why are ethical codes important?

These ethics may help organizations maintain specific standards of accountability, responsibility, professionalism and more as they navigate challenges and different day-to-day circumstances. By maintaining these guidelines in their work, organizations often experience a variety of significant benefits that can improve the lives of employees, customers, leaders and the general public. In this article, we outline what ethics in the workplace are, why they're important to establish and what specific benefits organizations and stakeholders may enjoy from initiating an ethical code of conduct.

Why do organizations use ethics?

In most cases, organizations employ workplace ethics to improve the lives and productivity of stakeholders specifically. In some situations, though, organizations may create ethical codes that simultaneously benefit the public's perception of their operations. Here are a few examples of common ethics organizations may establish in the workplace:

Why is it important to act ethically?

Therefore, acting ethically can significantly improve an organization's public image and avoid potential criticisms that would arise through unethical behavior.

Why is it important to maintain high ethical standards?

When organizations express their commitment to maintaining high ethical standards, they usually treat employees better and encourage staff to act laterally under the same premises. These ethical standards help establish a certain expectation for how organizational operations affect stakeholders' wellbeing and personal interests. When organizations and stakeholders follow through in upholding ethical standards, they can create a workplace environment where individuals feel respected, heard and satisfied in their roles. With this higher rate of satisfaction, organizations can often reduce staff turnover and more easily attract new, talented candidates to work for them.

Why is ethical behavior important?

Ethical behavior in the workplace is important for many reasons. People and customers feel safe when working with a company if they know people are following morally sound guidelines. It builds the reputation of the business and doing "clean business" or keeping "customers as a priority.".

Why is workplace ethics important?

Workplace ethics is important as it enables management to treat all employees as equal and think from their perspective as well. Management needs to make employees feel secure about their job and career. Unnecessary favouritism is against workplace ethics.

What is ethical behavior?

Ethical behavior is good for business and involves demonstrating respect for key moral principles that include honesty, fairness, equality, dignity, diversity and individual rights.

Why is ethics important in business?

Business ethics are vital because they help maintain a great reputation, help avoid significant financial and legal issues, and they ultimately benefit everyone involved.

Why is ethical behavior important?

Ethical behavior guides individuals and companies to interact with people in a proper and helpful way. Ethical behavior ensures honesty and trustworthiness in the workplace and society. Ethical behavior in a workplace increases honesty ...

Why is ethics important in business?

A human resource team with full ethics is the best asset for the organization. Because committed and learned employee and the trustworthy employee is the key to success to the organization.

What is ethical behavior in the workplace? How does HRM enforce ethical policies?

Ethics involves systematizing, shielding, and advising assumption of exact and erroneous behavior. The workplace is the most time spending place of a man’s life. Man must spend his valuable time in the workplace. A workplace is a place where one can make his ethics. Ethical behavior means that what should be done in a given context. When one works in an organization, he or she should behave in a predetermined pattern which is set by the organization. Ethical behavior in the workplace refers to the package of standard activities should be done in an organization. It comprises of the norms, behavior, style, and also the pattern of the behavior. The main goal of the worker is to achieve the organizational desired goal. Only ethical behavior can make the dream possible and in fact. So, it can be easily concluded that ethical behavior in the workplace refers to the stream of behavioral patterns which can help to achieve the organizational goal and will match with the long run vision of the organization.

What happens to companies who previously acted unethically such as Enron? What were the effects on the employees?

There are many corporations who acted in an unethical way and who have to suffer in long run. The most talked unethical scandals are as follows

How can management ensure ethical behavior in the organization?

Staffing and choice of worker: Management can ensure the ethical behavior in the organization by fostering the idea of justice and neutrality in the processes of selection and recruitment of people. To ensure this human resource manager can follow the following procedures

Why is fairness important in human resources?

Whether the manager hires anyone or discharge anyone, promote anyone or demote anyone all of the decisions depend on the fairness of the organization as well as the justice concept of the human resource manager.

Why is diversity important in management?

Diversity not only makes the situation different but also checks the ethical stability of employee in every sector.

Why is ethics important in the workplace?

Recognizing the importance of ethics at the workplace helps employees to feel secure, because there is no harassment from other workers and the supervisors treat employees with respect.

What is the importance of ethically positive employees?

Employees who are ethically positive, honest, hardworking, and driven by principles of fairness and decency in the workplace, increases the overall morale and enhances the performance of an organization. A company that has established behavioral policies can improve its reputation and help ensure its long-term success.

What is the purpose of an ethics program?

An organization that introduces the workplace ethics program aligns the behavior of employees. As a result, this fosters openness, partnership, and trust. Moreover, when employees know supervisors’ expectations they perform better in their jobs. Workplace ethics fosters a positive public image.

Why is it important to have an ethical code?

Every organization has an ethical code that guides its decision making and activities to have effective productivity and maintain its reputation. Ethical behavior ensures that staff completes work with honesty and integrity and meets the aim of an organization by adhering to rules and policies.

Why is it important to stress integrity?

Improving workplace ethics, and stressing integrity is important for the future success of the company. Most business owners are busy focusing on the skills and productivity of prospective employees but forget to emphasize integrity, honesty, and forthright behavior. Stressing integrity to your employees leads them to become transparent in their actions. An environment of integrity can be created at the hiring stage by ensuring that the human resource department addresses this principle during the interview.

Why is work ethic important?

Work ethic is one of the driving factors in workplace productivity. There are three key reasons why work ethic is important. First, it is highly desired by employers worldwide.

Why do employers ask for work ethics?

For this reason, many interviewers will ask you to describe your ethic s regarding work to assess your ability to fulfill your job responsibilities.

What Constitutes A Good Work Ethic?

A good work ethic is a worker’s commitment to honoring their employment agreement by performing job duties to the best of their ability. An employee with one is dedicated to helping their employer achieve company goals.

What Are The Benefits Of A Strong Work Ethic?

A strong ethic offers a host of advantages to employees. From outstanding results to a brighter career path, the benefits of developing a strong work ethic are numerous for an employee. Here are just a few of them:

What Is A Bad Work Ethic?

A bad work ethic can be extremely damaging to your reputation and may prevent you from landing the job of your dreams. In a nutshell, its a main work habit that leads to poor productivity and results.

How Can You Improve Your Work Ethic?

As outlined above, a good ethic is an incredibly powerful tool for a job seeker. But even people with an incredible degree of skill can improve in this area. Here are some ways you can proactively improve:

What is employer ethics?

Employer ethics, which encompasses hiring practices, fair treatment of employees, and development of employee guidelines.

Why is ethical behavior important?

Ethical behavior is equally important in the workplace as it is in our personal lives. Everywhere business is conducted, ethics matter s. A successful business depends on the trust of various parties—employees, managers, executives, customers, suppliers, and even competitors. Six ethical terms form the foundation of trust ...

Why are codes of ethics important?

Codes of ethics help employees strike a balance between the ends and the means used to obtain them. This balance may be one of the most challenging aspects of being an ethical organization.

What is morals in society?

Morals are a set of rules or mode of conduct on which society is based. Certain moral elements are universal, such as the laws forbidding homicide and the basic duties of doing good and furthering the well-being of others. With morals serving as the underpinning of society, there are four points we should remember, says philosopher Robert C. Solomon.

What is the definition of ethics?

Ethics. Ethics refers to a set of rules that describes acceptable conduct in society. Ethics serve as a guide to moral daily living and helps us judge whether our behavior can be justified. Ethics refers to society’s sense of the right way of living our daily lives. It does this by establishing rules, principles, ...

Why are moral rules important?

Moral rules are important: In general, moral rules are rules that help society function in a civilized way. Morality consists of universal rules: They apply to everyone, everywhere, and are recognized by everyone as being necessary. Morals are objective: They do not consider personal preferences.

How many Fortune 500 companies have ethics?

In fact, 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies and nearly half of all corporations have codes of ethics that can be applied to all employees. By developing a code of ethics, an organization makes it clear that employees and members cannot claim ignorance as a defense for unethical conduct.

What are the concepts most directly associated with ethics?

The concepts most directly associated with ethics are truth, honesty, fairness, and equity. While ethics is a societal concern, it is of critical importance to the professions that serve society.

What is ethical at work?

Introduction to the concepts of being Ethical at Work. Moral principles, behavior, and a set of values are the roots of every single decision made by an individual. These morals and values have their foundations in the growing years of a human being when learning from family and other institutions.

What does work ethic determine?

Work ethic will only determine the personal development at a workplace as an employee, judging how punctual and well-behaved you are.

Why is there a need for the Corporate Code of Ethics?

A Code of ethics can only help the company progress by keeping an optimum balance between the employees and the goals and means to obtain success.

Why is proper communication important?

Your proper communication will enable you to do ethical dealings in the workplace. You will not cause any misunderstanding, plus it will also safeguard you in different unfavorable situations. Verbal and non-verbal communications are integral to being ethical at work.

Why is it important to pay attention?

Being focused improves not only your performance but also creates a good impression in form of your supervisors and peers. Paying attention is always important to prove how alert and willing you are to work for your company.

Why are you employed?

You are employed because you have the appropriate skills for the job; thus, utilizing them is the only way you can help your company grow.

How does uplifting the employees' interests help the company?

Every action taken by a company to uplift the employees’ interests will only help the company have a better reputation in public.

How does ethical behavior affect business?

Research from the University of Notre Dame finds that ethical business operations are highly important to success, while unethical behavior can negatively impact a business's future prospects. 1 Unethical behavior has consequences for future business. 2 Ethical behavior includes honesty, fairness, integrity and understanding. 3 There are several ways to encourage an ethical workplace culture, including establishing a companywide code of ethics.

What is ethical behavior?

A person who demonstrates ethical behavior has evidence of a strong moral code and a consistent set of values. Ethics can be rooted in belief or the pursuit of making the world better. Those who exemplify ethical behavior do the right thing regardless of whether they get credit for it. This sort of behavior is not limited to the workplace; it can be present in every facet of life.

What is a code of ethics?

Many organizations create a code of ethics, which might include generic guidelines for ethical behavior about doing the right thing or remaining fair. It could also mention specific protocol within the business. For example, a code of ethics at a doctor's office might include putting the patient first and remaining understanding in tough situations. At a college, a code of ethics could include being honest and unbiased when grading and being a catalyst for diverse perspectives in the classroom.

Why is it important to have a high ethical standard?

A high ethical standard extends to customers as well. A reputation for positive ethical behavior entices more potential clients, customers and partners to work with you. It also builds customer loyalty over time, creating a loyal customer base that is likely to refer your business to others.

Why is ethical business important?

Research from the University of Notre Dame finds that ethical business operations are highly important to success , while unethical behavior can negatively impact a business's future prospects. Unethical behavior has consequences for future business. Ethical behavior includes honesty, fairness, integrity and understanding.

How to instill a culture of ethics among employees?

Tip: The best way to instill a culture of ethics among your employees is to lead by example and maintain a clear zero-tolerance policy on specific unethical behaviors, such as lying, cheating, stealing, or fraud.

How does high quality of service impact business operations?

Through their analysis of the theaters, the researchers determined that a higher quality of service positively impacted operations when ethical adherence was also high. Conversely, when unethical behavior was commonplace, high quality of service had a much-diminished impact on the success of business operations.

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