Business ethics, organizational culture, and Microsoft's workplace practices

Organizational Behavior Terminology and Concepts Paper

Change is the universal characteristic of all business environments and the growing role of business ethics is a universal constant in the equation for organizational success. Ethics is generally defined as the set of regulations that distinguish between right and wrong and help the leader make the best decisions. The components of business ethics are numerous, some of the most outstanding ones being organizational culture and behavior, diversity or communication. The aim of this paper is to explain these concepts.

Organizational culture and behavior

Organizational culture can be defined as the totality of internal regulations that set the ground for the behavior within the respective organization. The specialized literature provides the reader with a multitude of definitions, but the common understanding is that organizational culture is something to be sensed, rather than defined. "Basically, organizational culture is the personality of the organization. Culture is comprised of the assumptions, values, norms and tangible signs (artifacts) of organization members and their behaviors. Members of an organization soon come to sense the particular culture of an organization. Culture is one of those terms that's difficult to express distinctly, but everyone knows it when they sense it" (McNamara, 2008).

Organizational behavior on the other hand is a more scientific concept and refers to the actual analysis of the behavior manifested by various players that interact with the organization. More specifically, it studies the relationships between employees, management, individual persons, groups at various levels, culminating with the organizational level and the social system (Clark, 2008).

The organizational culture and behavior play an important role within the Microsoft Corporation. The company has set a new culture, one that focused on reducing the levels of bureaucracy and focusing on increased operational efficiency. This basically translated into an empowering of the organizational staff members in the detriment of a strict vertically integrated structure. In this process, emphasis was placed on getting things done, and most importantly, continued and sustained improvement (Organizational Culture101, 2007).

c. Communication

Communication is the key to any success, but even more so to a business triumph. The process is understood as the mechanism by which people exchange information. This is pivotal within any economic entity in order to transmit the most adequate data at the required time. Additionally, it is compulsory that the information transmitted be accurate and reliable and as such able to support the decision making process.

d. Business Ethics

As mentioned in the introductory part, the role of business ethics has significantly grown throughout the past decades. The concept is generically defined as the set of norms and regulations which help the individual make the right decision in a context of raised morality issues. Business ethics refers to all types of relationships and actions undergone by the company and it is obvious at all levels, including employee-manager or manager-customer interactions. An article under the aegis of the University of Illinois at Chicago (2009) states that "business ethics consists of a set of moral principles and values that govern the behavior of the organization with respect to what is right and what is wrong. It spells out the basic philosophy and priorities of an organization in concrete terms. It also contains the prohibitory actions at the workplace. It provides a framework on which the organization could be legally governed."

e. Change Management

In a most simplistic formulation, change is defined as the process by which an organizational value, strategy, action or so on is subjected to modifications. The aim of the change process is generally that of achieving benefits and increasing organizational chances of achieving its pre-established goals. The concept of change management has been only recently introduced as a means of dealing with the resistance people generally manifest in the face of change. It deals with the causes of the resistance, often materialized in fear of the unknown, and strives to remove the barriers and make change an ongoing managerial style.

References:

Clark, D., 2008, Organizational Behavior, http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadob.html last accessed on June 22, 2009

McNamara, C., 2008, Organizational Culture, Management Help, http://managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm last accessed on June 22, 2009

2007, Organizational Culture Guidelines, Organizational Culture 101, http://www.organizationalculture101.com/sample-organizational-culture.html last accessed on June 22, 2009

2009, What Is Business Ethics? University of Illinois at Chicago, http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/abstract.aspx?docid=81249 last accessed on June 22, 2009