Free Custom «Managerial and Professional Ethics» Essay Paper

The article that would be analyzed in this paper is Information Technology Professionals’ Perceived Organizational Values and Managerial Eithics: An Empirical Study. The authors of the article include K. Gregory Jin, Ron Drozdenko, and Rick Basset. Notably, this article is called the Journal of Ethics and published by Springer in 2006. The key focus of the authors of the article is ethics among managers and other professionals within the organization in relation to the values required in the Information Technology (IT) industry. Therefore, the main purpose of the article is to exemplify the way in which ethics works in organizations and its influence on the success of managers and other professionals in the IT industry. It is worth noting that the aim of the authors is mainly to illustrate the role of managerial and professional ethics in organizational leadership and decision-making and the implementation of these decisions in the most effective manner possible.

The authors of the article utilize relevant information that is closely related to managerial and professional ethics. For instance, the authors present information that reiterates the promotion of organizational values and effective decision-making in the information technology industry and other industries around the globe. This information is closely related to the overall issue of managerial ethics. Additionally, the authors use significant concepts that are closely related to business ethics. Some of the vital concepts used by the authors include managerial ethics, organizational values, ethical dilemmas, and organizational culture. These concepts are all closely related to the key issue of managerial and professional ethics discussed by the authors in the article. The close relationship boosts in depth understanding of managerial and professional ethics and the parts that constitute it. The concepts used by authors in the article are also vital because they contribute to the general understanding of ethics within organizations.

 

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One of the key assumptions, made by the authors, is that all organizations within the IT industry can be categorized effectively as either mechanistic or organic depending on the nature of their values. In line with this assumption, the authors reiterate that mechanistic organizations are not effective because of their fixed nature of operations. On the other hand, organic organizations could realize higher levels of performance because of their high moral standards. Another assumption made by the authors is that there would be higher levels of unethical behavior among professional in mechanistic organizations compared to managers in organic organizations tend to be more ethical. Authors assume that the lack of ethics would demoralize all stakeholders, hence leading to poor performance that would gradually make organizations ineffective implying their failure.

The authors conclude that managers in the IT industry must take into consideration the significant role played by a decentralized, flexible, and organizations in order to enhance ethics within their organizations. The adoption of such measures would ensure that every other professional is motivated to participate in the making of organizational decisions and the formulation of an effective code of ethics. Organizations would operate better when these aspects are considered appropriately.  Authors also conclude that high levels of ethical conduct among professionals would lead to better performance among managers and other professionals within the IT industry and any other industry. This implies that these managers should understand all ethical standards and they must ensure that they work in line with them.  

These assumptions would have positive consequences and implications on all organizations that wish to achieve their targets and promote stakeholder confidence. It is vital to pay attention to these conclusions in order to provide a significant guide to organizations hence enabling them to make decisions in the most ethical manner possible that would promote the commitment of their employees and encourage transparency and accountability within organizations. Therefore, the conclusions presented by the authors of the article come with positive consequences and implications for all organizations that would be ready to adopt them and put them into practice.

The overall point of view of the authors is that the adoption of effective codes of ethics among professionals and managers in the contemporary organizations would boost development in all aspects expected of these organizations. For instance, the authors are of the view that effective managerial and professional ethics would facilitate excellent operations in the success of the organization, it would boost profitability, and it would avert the problem of frequent unscrupulous deals in organizations. Therefore, the authors of the article are of the view that the adoption and implementation of codes relating to business ethics would be instrumental in the attempt to realize the organizational targets, high levels of accountability and transparency.

The Importance of Managerial and Professional Ethics

In the contemporary business scenario, managers are inevitably facing various challenging issues that emerge in the daily business operations. Consequently, the need for the incorporation of ethics as far as business decision making is concerned becomes crucial. The success of the business lies in the hands of managers of today’s business environment and thus, they ought to consider the importance of the role played by ethical decision making in the organization. Moreover, managers are encouraged to always endeavor to practice ethical decision making with a view that is geared towards the realization of the organizational goals through critical decision making about internal environment as well as the external environment. A well-designed business environment bases its managerial decision making process on ethics which in turn contributes to employees’ commitment in the organization.

Corey, Corey, and Callanan (2010) affirm that ethics enhances the way employees of the organization engage in the business operations within an organization. Through ethics, employees are always empowered and willing to make individual sacrifices in favor of the organization since they are aware of the organization’s full dedication to perpetuate their welfare within the organization. It considers that employees or workers play a crucial role in the success of any business. Therefore, the business ought to use business ethics while dealing with the employees so that their trust and loyalty is not lost. The organization must put into priority the need to allocate proper wages and salaries and provide them with better working conditions. Managers must always be ready to create good relations between the management and the employees. Besides, the possibility of giving proper welfare facilities to employees must also be given priority. Notably, ethics within the organization’s policies and procedures will discourage the cropping up of undesirable treatment of the employees from the top managers; the management is always at liberty to ensure a safe working environment for the employees, which, in turn, motivates employees to dedicate their full abilities and skills and improve their performance.

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Ethical decision-making encourages managers to ensure and guarantee the employees their job security as well as it offers fair salaries. Incentive remuneration is also incorporated within the business ethics in a bid to reward competitive employees and encourage improved performance both at individual level and at formal group level. Managers should acknowledge the imperative role played by ethics in rallying the commitment of employees and working towards the realization of the set objectives.  Jin, Drozdenko, & Bassett (2006) opine that managerial and professional ethics helps to protect the interests of employees. Consequently, they are motivated to be industrious and commit their whole into realizing the organizational goals. An organization that is driven by moral values in its activities is revered by its employees and easily wins their trust on the business while satisfying their needs and goals. These ethics and values act as common thread that brings the employees and the decision makers on a common platform and makes them able to realize the organizational goals as well as those of the employees. This goes a long way in aligning behaviors within the organization towards the achievement of one common goal or mission.

The role of ethics in the management of business contributes also to winning the investors’ loyalty. It is vital to note that investors prefer to invest on ethical-guided businesses that consider the importance of business ethics while social responsibility is to be concerned. Ethical culture in business demands that any business entity should always keep abreast the need to be socially responsible in a bid to create a good public image that, in turn, attracts the potential investors into the business. Ethical culture helps to create a good image for the business and the businesspersons. Moreover, businesspersons or businesses who commit themselves to follow all ethical rules in their business operations are always fully accepted and welcome, not facing any hostility or criticism from the immediate environment. The society will always support those businesspersons who follow the necessary code of conduct as it is dictated by the business ethics. Therefore, when the reputation of the business is made admirable, investors are convinced of the going concern of the business and as a result, they are made aware of the viability of the businesses and consider it worth investing in. Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell (2012) reiterate that unlike other unethical business operations, ethical companies stand a better chance of attracting more of potential investors as they are aware of the fundamental features, associated with ethical culture within organizations. Investors believe that the efficiency of productivity of business favors its possibility of attracting more profits in the long run and are therefore, not bound to disappointments due to business failure. Business ethics discourages misconducts within the business environment that would otherwise translate to a decline in the overall business assets due to the lack of support from potential investors to contribute to the existence of the business and empower its operations. Investors play a vital role in ensuring business success as well as encouraging the competitive edge of the business both in the local and global market. Therefore, it becomes crucial for business to embrace the ethical culture in their business operations so that they capture and maintain the loyalty of their potential investors.

            The ethical culture in the organization puts forth the important factors that will enhance the development of the best business strategies, enhancing the success of business. Business ethics aims at safeguarding customer rights by avoiding making profits at the expense of innocent customers. Customers’ rights, such as the right to health and safety, right to be informed, right to choose, right to be heard, right to redress among others, are addressed in the ethical culture of business. According to Treviño and Nelson (2004), business ethics ensures that businesses are always in pursuit of customers’ respect and the protection of their rights as effectively as it is possible. Ethics within organizational boundaries considers the role played by customers in realizing business success. Business ethics recognizes the need to improve customer relations in a bid to ensure customer satisfaction. Business ethics encourages businesses to pursue not only the shareholders wealth maximization goals but also the need to consider offering value to the customers. Therefore, ethics helps to propagate this essential practice within the business environment by helping to improve the customers' confidence about the quality, quantity, friendly price among other key components of the products. This positively influences customers making them put more trust and confidence in the business and its operations in the hope that business will meet its demands and expectations. Indeed, business ethics are mandatory for the sake of business survival in the long run and in its quest to meet its set targets.

Businesses that do not commit itself to encourage its overall customer services to embrace good customer relations through appreciating the role played by business ethics is bound to realize short-term success but a total fail in the long run. This is because customers are very sensitive to the mistakes made by businesses. Therefore, such businesses can only cheat their consumer only once. After that, the customers will no longer be enticed to make purchases of goods from such unethical businesses. Consequently, the customers will pass negative information about such businesses to others, discouraging them from buying from the business. This kind of defamation can taint the image of the businesses and provoke a negative publicity, which eventually calls for a business failure. Therefore, if the businesspersons do not embrace the ethical culture as far as the relationship between business operations and customers is concerned, the business is undoubtedly doomed to fail in the market and consequently compelled to closure.  Jin, Drozdenko, & Bassett (2006) reiterate that ethics ensures that the business is always in pursuit of better and appropriate code of conduct that will help the business thrive and survive in the market in the long run.

Healthy competition is also enhanced through business ethics. Business ethics sharpens the competitive edge of the business in the market as it encourages the need to perfect the general performance of the business. While dealing with competitors, it is extremely important for businesses to recognize the importance of business ethics as a preferable weapon to be used against their competitors. Business ethics creates a healthy competitive ground for businesses without practicing cutthroat kind of competition while preserving the overall image and good reputation of the business. Correspondingly, business ethics provides equal opportunities to small-scale businesses, which encourages a good relation with other organizations and hence boycotting incidences of monopolizing the market that always proves to be harmful for the customers. Business ethics are important in the development of good and friendly relations between businesses as well as the society. Jennings (2011) asserts that business ethics discourages some unscrupulous businesspersons from engaging in business malpractices by indulging in illegal trade practices such as black-marketing, artificial high pricing in order to attract high profits, practicing cheating in the weights and measures of their products, trading of duplicate and in products considered harmful, hoarding of goods among other malpractices. Business ethics helps to curb the business malpractices that are harmful for the consumers both directly or indirectly.

Business ethics also contributes to the realization of higher profits in the long run. Since it captures the dedication of the employees, ensuring customer satisfaction as well as maintaining investors’ loyalty, the organization is able to realize improvements in its total sales and thus witnesses the increase in the overall revenues and profits. Corporate businesses that are guided by ethical conducts and values are more likely to realize higher profits in the long run than those businesses that do not consider the vitality of employing ethics in their business operations. It is worth noting that a higher profit margin is always associated with those organizations that defend the existence of business ethics within their business operations. Decisions are based on ethical conduct and values of the organization. This gives the organization an upper hand to utilize their potential to embrace opportunities as well as to avoid threats that may hamper business operations. Managers are therefore equipped with the relevant and ethically based decisions that are able to improve the general operations of the business and make decisions that are geared towards maximizing profits without hurting or inflicting damage to key players in the economy.

Potential Problems in the Author’s Reasoning and Information

The key potential problem noted in the authors’ reasoning is the limited perspective in the entire business operations in the market place. The article utterly focuses on the IT professionals while ignoring the contribution of other key players in the success of the organization such as the financial managers, the human resource managers as well as the employees as a whole. The whole issue becomes boring and tiresome by utterly basing the whole argument on the ethical attitudes on relation to organizational core values in the field of information technology. Furthermore, in the real world, the application of ethics in some social initiatives as far as information technology is concerned may prove futile where some organizations are interested with the pursuance of conservative principles in the financial and business management under certain conditions. In addition, some determinants of the IT professional’s ethical attitudes may hamper their willingness to embrace change in this environment where change is inevitable.

The use of the information provide in the article could prove hectic and costly and the possibility of deviating from the main objective of the organization is high. Besides, the information provided is historical and may not be relevant or applicable in the contemporary business environment where business cycles pose great challenges that demand the use of current or emerging approaches in providing solutions to business problems in relation to data warehousing. Business ethics demands businesses to take a social responsibility in their business operations and this requires organizations to slot some money from their revenue to meet this goal. The money set aside to cover for these expenses puts strain on the overall business operation, as some sacrifices have to be made regarding the pursuance of the goal. Furthermore, it is not guaranteed that the adherence of business organization to business ethics will mean improvement in the sales revenue. The time involved in the implementation of ethics within an organization could be lengthy resulting to wastage of time. Accordingly, employees might end up over depending on the business about unserious matters and this could create conflicts within an organization. Therefore, the business could easily face numerous challenges in the quest to improve employees’ performance at the expense of ethical decision-making.

The information is however very relevant in the management of today’s organizations as business environment continue to pose enormous challenges. The IT managers and professionals are hinted on the importance of their organizational policies and procedures on their ethical attitude and hence, they can improve on data mining for the success of the business. The benefits associated with the incorporation of ethics in the organizational operations can help to assess the performance indicators and measure the overall business operation. Employing business ethics in decision-making becomes very crucial as the decision is assumed to take into consideration the wellbeing of all key players in the organization’s operations. The ethical culture within an organization plays a significant role in developing civilized behaviors in the organization as well as improves the interpersonal relations within the organization, which helps to create a friendly environment in the business and thus encouraging improved performance among the employees of that organization.

The Ignored Point of View

One of the points of views that the authors did not consider in dealing with business ethics is the view that it enhances effective competitiveness in the marketplace. Notably, the authors of the article left out the view that the use of socially responsible business ethics within organizations would lead to healthy competition in the marketplace. Jennings (2011) confirms that competition is a vital component that boosts efficiency in the marketplace by ensuring that all businesses provide quality services and products to their customers. Again, competition makes businesses more innovative as they discover the most effective ways of handling their stakeholders for enhanced growth. It is crucial to note that the authors failed to address the view that competition would only be healthy and acceptable in case businesses are operating in line with the required levels of social business ethics practices. With ethical practices in place, businesses would embrace the required forms of advertising and pricing their products and services at the marketplace in order to compete significantly with other businesses. The authors failed to capture the view that business ethics would guide businesses toward relating superbly with their competitors instead of putting in place the measures intended to lock others out of the mark place. Therefore, managers in businesses are able to put in place measures that would boost the achievement of the desired results in line with proper competitive strategies.  In line with competition at the market place, authors failed to address the view that competitors are crucial in enhancing the achievement of targets at the organization.  According to Treviño & Nelson (2004), competitors boost the level of innovativeness within organizations and ensure that they are able to come up with the best ethical strategies to boost their survival in the market place. Additionally, competitors pose a challenge to businesses making them prioritize ethical means of operation and working toward the realization of the set targets. Therefore, the authors of the article ignored the point of view concerning the relationship between ethics and the way of handling competitors at the market place.

Another point of view that has been ignored in dealing with the ethics is the point relating to the overall behavior of other employees within the organization. It is worth noting that the author concentrates the discussion of ethics on the professionals and managers within the IT industry without asserting the moral standards required of other employees within the organization. Employees who are one of the primary stakeholders of the organization have been excluded by the authors in the discussion of the ethics in the IT industry. The ignored point of view is that the success of such organization is also highly dependent on these employees to deliver the required targets in the most ethical manner possible. Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell (2012) confirm that pre-determined measures of dealing with unethical individuals would help promote sanity among individuals as they handle different matters concerning vital business operations. The authors failed to mention the specific ways in which employee ethics affects the operations of organizations in the IT industry. The article would have been more effective in cases where the authors would have mentioned and explained the operation of other employees apart from managers and professionals in the IT industry. The explanation of the ethical standards exhibited by other employees would have brought out a clear picture of the nature of ethics within the IT industry. This is because of the establishment and the understanding of the nexus between ethical operations of both managers and their employees in the IT industry.

The Available Evidence

The available evidence for the inclusion of the point of view of ethical competitive strategies is the growing levels of competitive enterprises in the contemporary market place. It is vital to note that the contemporary market place is characterized by the high levels of competition among businesses. There is a continuous innovation in the market place and businesses need to understand the effective ethical standards relating to the competitions in the market. This is a part of social responsibility as it helps avoid issues such as under-pricing of products and services with the aim of outcompeting other businesses. More so, businesses would be able to work with the required quality of operation hence enhancing the spirit of healthy competition. Evidently, businesses are emerging at the fastest rate in the contemporary market implying high levels of competition. Corey, Corey, and Callanan (2010) agree that businesses need to understand the effective means of handling their competitors ethically with the view of promoting a clean business environment. The increasing levels of competition in the market place provide effective evidence for the inclusion of ethical competitive standards in the discussion of business ethics. It can be noted that technology is playing a key role in leading to the emergence of more businesses that give consumers and other stakeholders a wide range of choice in the market place. This means that every business is obliged to embrace ethical standards in handling both competitors and other stakeholders. The high level at which businesses are being set up in the market is adequate evidence to allow for the inclusion of ethical competitive strategies that would allow customers in the market make decisions as they wish. Misleading competitive strategies such as misleading advertisements and under-pricing would be dealt with in those cases when ethical standards of competition are stated in a clear and open manner. Thus, the point of view of ethical competitive strategies would have been included being based on the evidence that the contemporary market place is characterized by many businesses that are competing to be the best in the market. This is boosted by the high level of innovativeness among these organizations.

In addition, the evidence available for the inclusion of the point of view of the ethical standards exhibited by other employees the high level of unethical dilemmas and issue at the employee level. Notably, some of the largest IT companies are experiencing high incidences of ethical dilemmas and issues among their employees who find it difficult to make simple decisions in their normal operations. This is because employees are not included in the arrangement and design of ethical standards that would dictate their operations within society. Thus, most unethical practices are recurring because of the lack of adequate understanding of the operations and activities of other employees in the IT industry.  According to Jennings (2011), most ethical issues are recurring among employees in the IT industry because of the negligence existing among most researchers about their role in promoting ethics within the organization. Most researchers tend to think that managers and other key professionals should be charged with the role of promoting ethical standards by influencing others to act the same way they do. Notably, this would not apply to organizations effectively because of the understanding that each person has a responsibility to promote ethics for the success of the organization. Therefore, there is adequate evidence to facilitate the inclusion of all other employees within the organization.  The contribution of employees toward the development of ethics in the IT industry and all other industries would be vital in ensuring that the required targets are realized. The increasing cases of ethical dilemmas and issues among employees in the IT industry justify the need for the inclusion of the point of view of the contribution of ethical development in their organizations. This will help in the aversion of the opinion that only managers and professionals who influence ethical matters within the organization.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the article Information Technology Professionals’ Perceived Organizational Values and Managerial Eithics: An Empirical Study under analysis in this review. The authors of the article include K. Gregory Jin, Ron Drozdenko, and Rick Basset. The authors focus on the issue of managerial and professional ethics and explicate both organic and mechanistic organizations and their nature. The authors opine that mechanistic organizations would be characterized by high instances of unethical behaviors because of their fixed and centralized manner. Conversely, organic organization would have a better opportunity to exhibit ethical behavior because of their decentralized and flexible operations. The article comes out with effective measures that can help businesses improve their operations in matters relating to the managent, planning and the implementation of different plans in the Information Technology industry. It points out the effective strategies that need to be employed by different organizations in order to boost the growth of ethical standards within their companies. For instance, it encourages the adoption of the organic system of organizations that alleviate the overall levels of unethical matters that tend to retard the progress of the organization. Managerial and professional ethics is important as it boosts the commitment of employees, contributes to investor loyalty, promotes performance in terms of increased profitability and facilitates the satisfaction of customers. The authors of the articles are effective in presenting a clear approach toward the promotion of ethics in organizations. However, the key problem in the reasoning of the authors is the limited focus on the IT industry leaving out other relevant industries. Notably, the author’s reasoning is narrowed to one aspect of the entire market place making it difficult for the conclusions to be applied to other industries. The information also appears extremely historical making it difficult to be used in the analysis of contemporary organizations that are changing at the fastest rates possible. The authors also ignored the points of view relating to ethical competition and the role of employees in contributing toward ethical standards in organizations. The high number of businesses speaks volumes about the need to include ethical competition in the discussion of business ethics. More so, the recurrence of unethical dilemmas in organizations evidences the need to include the view on respective punishments and their advantages and disadvantages in the discussion of business ethics. Overall, the authors of the article were effective in the explication of managerial and professional ethics and the associated strategies of guaranteeing ethics in the Information Technology industry.