Ethics Are \"An Individual\'s Personal Beliefs About

Ethics are "an individual's personal beliefs about whether a behavior, action, or decision is right or wrong" (Griffin, 2010). Is everyone considered a manager? Why, or why not?

The traditional functions of management include planning, organizing, staffing, and directing. All of these involve certain ethical considerations which will reflect both the individual's personal beliefs as well as the belief systems of the organization. Ethics is more than a gut instinct or a general sense of morality While moral inclinations arise as a result of custom and general, personal upbringing, ethical decisions involve making a decision in accordance with a belief system that assumes a certain degree of consistency.

In this sense, being a 'manager' is a very specific 'hat' to wear. No one is a manger all of the time. When at home, all of us make decisions that are inconsistent on occasion. We may insist that our dog does not beg at the table, and then slip him or her some scraps on Thanksgiving day out of guilt, for example. But when wearing a formal, organizational role whether that is arbitrating a dispute at work or even acting as a mediator between friends, there is an assumption that the belief system adhere to a certain code. One of the most frequently-leveled criticisms against 'bad' managers is that they do not make decisions impartially, but rather exercise favoritism.

Of course not all ethical systems are the same. Utilitarian ethics prioritize results over adhering to general moral principles and stress that outcomes should be the 'best for the greatest number of persons' while deontological ethics stress adherence to a specific ethical code (Alexander & Moore 2008). Workplace ethical guidelines usually relate to matters regarding sexual harassment, equal opportunity employment, and what is fair considering pay and promotions. Workplace ethics have greater specificity than abstract philosophical ethics. Managers are not necessarily philosophers, but they are actors who must be motivated by concerns larger than self-interest -- for the organization's sake, and in some understandings of the role, for society's sake.

Q2. Managerial ethics: There is a great deal of pressure on CEOs in recent years to use moral criteria in making decisions. Some observers are concerned that too much emphasis on ethics will lead to less aggressive and competitive behavior, which may adversely affect profitability.

Do you agree or disagree?

The classic understanding of ethics in relationship to firm activities was that firms had only one ethical obligation: to make money for shareholders who had invested their funds in the firm, and wished to make a profit. CEOs and other managers acted as stewards for the de facto owners of the company. They were not supposed to put their personal beliefs and morals ahead of the need to engage in profit-making. Yet today, this concept has fallen out of favor somewhat. Scandals at organizations such as Enron and WorldCom have caused concern that an overly profit-driven emphasis can lead to legal violations that ultimately destroy the company. Yet proponents of the classical view of firm ethics would counter that such CEOs placed their own interests above those of making money for the firm and were thus 'unethical.' It does not necessarily hold that this means that ethical concerns such as environmentalism and the social welfare of workers must be of paramount concern. Conversely, firms such as GE and Ford which had substantially invested in generous benefits to workers began to lag behind foreign automotive firms without such generous, seemingly 'ethical' arrangements.