Download Ethical Behavior of Supervisors

4
Meeting High
Ethical Standards
You treat people the way you
want to be treated. If you
treat everyone with respect,
somehow it comes back to
you. If you are honest and
aboveboard, somehow it
comes back to you.
—Dick Parsons,
CEO, Time Warner
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning Objectives
1. Define ethics and explain how organizations specify
standards for ethical behavior.
2. Identify benefits of ethical behavior and challenges that
make ethical behavior more difficult in the modern
workplace.
3. Discuss the impact of cultural differences on ethical
issues.
4. Describe the major types of ethical behavior that
supervisors should practice.
5. Outline ways to make ethical decisions.
6. Provide guidelines for supervising unethical employees.
7. Define whistle-blowers and describe how the supervisor
should treat such employees.
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Ethics in the Workplace
• Ethics refer to the principles by which
people distinguish what is morally right.
• Some believe that profitability should be the
overriding concern of business.
• Others believe that organizations and their
employees have an obligation to behave
ethically, even if doing so cuts into shortterm economic advantages.
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Benefits of Ethical Behavior
• A reputation as an ethical vendor makes customers
want to do business with you.
• Ethical behavior is part of a range of behaviors that
ensure an organization’s long-term health and success.
• Some investors go out of their way to select companies with
a good track record of ethical behavior.
• Ethical behavior can improve the organization’s
relation with the community, which tends to attract
customers and top-notch employees.
• Ethical behavior tends to reduce public pressure for
government regulation.
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Costs of Ethical Behavior
• Organizations whose employees are
unethical may lose respect, customers, and
qualified employees.
• Unethical behavior can cause the downfall
of a company.
• Unethical behavior can have personal
consequences such as suspension, demotion,
job loss, or jail time.
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Highlights of the
National Business Ethics Survey
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Challenges to Ethical Behavior
• With greater responsibilities, supervisors and other
managers in restructured or downsized organizations
cannot monitor employee’s day-to-day behavior.
• Some employees are afraid of being ethical when
doing so conflicts with other goals.
• Companies that single-mindedly focus on sales or
profits can create an environment in which employees
feel as if they have to bend the rules.
• Some organizations create a climate in which
employees fear they need to be unethical to save the
company’s future or to be treated as a team player.
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Top Five Sources of Pressure to
Compromise Ethical Standards
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Differing Measure of
Ethical Behavior
• Ethical standards can vary from culture to
culture.
• If an organization does business in a country
where corruption is expected, employees can
have more difficulty meeting high standards.
• Gift giving in the workplace can have
different meanings from one culture to
another.
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Guidelines for Gift Giving in a
Multinational Environment
• Avoid gifts and cards of a religious nature.
• Make it clear that you intend the gift as a gift
and not a bribe.
• Be aware of food preferences.
• If you give liquor, consider the source.
• Consider the implications of luck in numbers.
• Know the meanings of everyday objects.
• Know how to give and receive.
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Important Dimensions of
Ethical Behavior by Supervisors
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Ethical Behavior of Supervisors
• Loyalty
• Expected loyalty to the organization,
managers, and subordinates can result in
conflict and ethical dilemmas
• Fairness
• Employees expect to be treated evenhandedly
• Supervisors should avoid nepotism
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Ethical Behavior of
Supervisors (continued)
• Honesty
• Give credit where credit is due
• Your dishonest behavior encourages
employee dishonesty
• Be honest about what the organization
can offer employees
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Making Ethical Decisions
• Involve others in the process
• Discussing the ethical implications can expose
additional consequences and provide additional
options
• Employees respond when supervisors and
higher-level managers:
• Model ethical behavior
• Include ethical standards in performance
discussions and rewards
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Supervising Unethical Employees
• When a supervisor suspects unethical
behavior, he or she needs to take prompt
action.
• The supervisor needs to be sure that
unethical behavior is actually occurring.
• When analyzing unethical employee
behavior, consider whether you have created
a climate for ethical behavior in your
department.
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Steps to Take When an Employee is
Suspected of Unethical Behavior
1. Gather and record evidence.
2. Confront the employee with the
evidence.
3. Follow the organization’s disciplinary
procedure.
4. Look for and correct the conditions that
led to the problem.
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The Law and Whistle-Blowers
• Whistle-blowers are protected by federal laws, the laws of
several states, and some recent court decisions. Examples:
• Federal laws protect employees who make complaints
pertaining to violations of anti-discrimination laws,
environmental laws, and occupational health and safety
standards.
• The Sarbanes-Oxley act forbids employers from retaliating
against an employee who reports possible accounting,
auditing, or reporting misdeeds that deceive investors.
• Under a Civil War-era law, whistle-blowers who report on
companies that are cheating the government can receive
up to 30 percent of whatever money the company
ultimately pays as a penalty for the fraud.
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Treatment of Whistle-Blowers
• Whistle-blowers often suffer from going public
with their complaints.
• Today many organizations are protecting ethicsminded employees and themselves with hotlines
that make it easier to report and resolve ethical
disputes within the organization.
• Supervisors should:
• Discourage reports of wrongdoing when they are
motivated by pettiness or retaliation.
• Investigate complaints quickly and report what will be
done.
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Summary
• Ethics refers to the principles by which people
distinguish what is morally right.
• Organizations should establish a code of ethics.
• Ethical behavior can ensure an organization’s
long-term health and success.
• Unethical behavior can cause the downfall of an
organization.
• Cultural differences can impact ethical issues in
the workplace, particularly the interpretation of
gifts that are given.
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Summary (continued)
• Supervisors should:
• Be aware of conflicts in their loyalty to the organization,
their manager, and their subordinates.
• Treat others fairly.
• Avoid nepotism.
• Decline inappropriate gifts.
• Be honest.
• Promote ethical decision making.
• Take immediate action when unethical behavior is
suspected.
• Correct conditions that contribute to unethical behavior.
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Summary (continued)
• Whistle-blowers are people who expose a
violation of ethics or law.
• Whistle-blowers are protected from
retaliation by federal and state laws as well
as recent court decisions.
• Supervisors should quickly investigate
complaints and report what will be done.
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