Role of organizational culture in Ethics- M.COM- SEM-III

WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS?

“Ethics always says, “Not I, but thou.” Its motto is, “Not self, but non-self.” The vain ideas of individualism, to which man clings when he is trying to find that infinite power or that infinite pleasure through the senses, have to put yourself last, and others before you. The senses say, “Myself first.” Ethics says, “I must hold myself last.” Thus, all codes of ethics are based upon this renunciation; destruction, not construction, of the individual on the material plane.”

– Swamy Vivekananda

According to John Donaldson (1989), ‘Business ethics in short can be described as a systematic study of moral (ethical) matters pertaining to business, industry or related activities, institutions or practices and beliefs’.

‘Business ethics is the study of moral standards and how they apply to the systems and organizations through which modern societies produce and distribute goods and services, and to the people who work in these organizations’.

From the above definitions, which echo similar views on ethics with minor shades of difference, it can be concluded that business ethics are related to-

 morally right and wrong behavior,

 in the business context,

 including questions of fairness, justice, and equity,

 that which require application of moral standards by persons in the organizations, and

 the moral standards that are not separate, but derived from society.

WHAT IS CORPORATE CULTURE?

A shared pattern of beliefs, expectations and meanings that influence and guide the thinking and behaviors of the members of that organization.

This culture shapes the people who are members of the organization.

Linking Culture to Ethics

Each of the factors in the decision-making model we have already discussed, from fact gathering through moral imagination to assessment, can be helped or hindered by the social environment surrounding an individual.

An ethical culture would be one in which employees are empowered and expected to act in ethically responsible ways even when the law does not require it.

A corporate culture sets the expectations and norms that will determine which decisions get made.