Organizational Behavior All of an

Organizational Behavior All of an organization's decisions are based on ethics. Even organizations that demonstrate a clear lack of integrity, accountability, or vision base their decisions on a lack of ethics. Ethics will inform whether a company will disclose information to shareholders, open a facility in a developing nation, or take on an account with a supplier who has a reputation for hiring people only of a certain race. Until recently, ethics were not a key part of an organization's decision-making arsenal.

Profit-building has always been the bottom line in business and ethics were thought to be too personal for the boardroom. However, in recent years, especially since such issues as corporate accountability, environmentalism, and employee relations have guided important organizational choices. Especially after the Enron scandal broke and made international news, the efficacy of ethics has been a major trend in organizational behavior. Ethics influences decision-making in four key ways: employee relations; diversity; environmental commitments; and financial and political alliances.

Employee relations include such things as the willingness of managerial heads to communicate with all of a company's employees through open forums, meetings, memos, and clear communications. When companies decide to implement a "no layoffs" policy, for instance, their decision is partly based on an ethical commitment to its workers. Creating a pleasurable working environment, one that is friendly, accessible, free from discrimination, and free from health hazards is another way an organization could express its commitment to ethics regarding employee relations.

Southwest Airlines is a company known for basing its decisions on a commitment to ethical employee relations. Ethics also influences an organization's commitment to diversity in hiring practices and in everyday awareness. Although an organization might also consider political and economic motives as well, ethics are becoming increasingly significant factors in organizational decision-making. For example, when a company decides to invest in green technologies, its investment might be based on a combination of ethics, public relations, and financial gain.

When an organization forms strategic partnerships and alliances, it can select to do so with or without ethical integrity. More often than not, companies are beginning to weigh the ethical impact of their decisions and have hired specialists to help guide decision-makers. As a trend, the influence of ethics on decision-making stems from employees' and consumers' demands for more accountability and ethical integrity on the part of organizations. Technologies have a huge impact on work-related stress.

Before the information revolution, work-related stress was often prompted by a genuine fear of job loss as machinery replaced manpower. Today, a balance has been struck regarding positions that can be filled by human beings or machines, but the information technology boom has completely transformed the nature of work-related stress. From computer crashes to high learning curves of company software, from repetitive stress disorders to a battery of cellular phone calls during one's day off, technology can have an adverse impact on employee mental and physical health.

Organizations need to manage employee stress that is directly related to technology by such means as offering stress-management seminars, allocating certain times of the day for relaxation, investing in ergonomic technology, and by judicious use of communications technologies. Preventing stress is far easier and cheaper than treating stress-related illnesses. Therefore, one of the trends in organizational behavior regarding the impact of technology on work-related stress is to improve the workspace by making it healthier and more ergonomic.

In a workplace environment that contains potential health hazards related to technology, such as in a factory warehouse where machines create noise and fumes, the organization must keep abreast keep their employees informed about the ways to avoid physically stressing their body. A loud or polluted workplace can greatly increase stress levels on the job. Persons who have to drive all day long are exposed to stressors related to automotive technologies and cellular phone communications.

Information technology impacts stress levels in office environments: the ergonomic design of computer work stations, the accessibility of office facilities, and the ease of use of software applications all have an impact on work-related stress. Therefore, in an office environment, increasing numbers of organizations are training their employees to stretch and take breaks to avoid repetitive stress problems from sitting at a computer all day. Outdated or poorly designed hardware and software systems can be a source of stress for employees, especially when the technology fails to work.

Organizations need to be willing to invest in necessary tools and materials that conform with.