Ethical Decision Making and Ethical Leadership Essay Example
ETHICAL DECISION MAKING AND ETHICAL LEADERSHIP
To improve ethical decision making in business, one must first understand how individuals make ethical decisions in an organizational environment. Too often it is assumed that individuals in organizations make ethical decisions in the same way that they make ethical decisions at home, in their family, or in their personal lives. Within the context of an organizational work group, however, few individuals have the freedom to decide ethical issues independent of organizational pressures.
ETHICAL – ISSUE INTENSITY The first step in ethical decision making is to recognize that an ethical issue requires an individual or work group to choose among several actions that various stakeholders inside or outside the firm will ultimately evaluate as right or wrong. Ethical issue intensity, then, can be defined as the relevance or importance of an ethical issue in the eyes of the individual, work group, and/or organization. it is personal and temporal in character to accommodate values, beliefs, needs, perceptions, the special characteristics of the situation, and the personal pressure prevailing at a particular place and time. Ethical – issue intensity reflects the ethical sensitivity of the individual or work group that faces the ethical decision – making process. Research suggest that individuals are subject to six “spheres of influence” when confronted with ethical choices – the workplace, family, religion, legal system, community, and profession – and that the level of importance of each of these influences wiil vary depending on how important the decision maker perceives the issue to be. Additionally, the individuals sense of the situation’s moral intensity increase the individuals perceptiveness regarding ethical problems, which in turn reduces his or her intention to unethically. Moral intensity relates to a persons perception of social pressure and the harm the decision will have on others. The perception of
To improve ethical decision making in business, one must first understand how individuals make ethical decisions in an organizational environment. Too often it is assumed that individuals in organizations make ethical decisions in the same way that they make ethical decisions at home, in their family, or in their personal lives. Within the context of an organizational work group, however, few individuals have the freedom to decide ethical issues independent of organizational pressures.
ETHICAL – ISSUE INTENSITY The first step in ethical decision making is to recognize that an ethical issue requires an individual or work group to choose among several actions that various stakeholders inside or outside the firm will ultimately evaluate as right or wrong. Ethical issue intensity, then, can be defined as the relevance or importance of an ethical issue in the eyes of the individual, work group, and/or organization. it is personal and temporal in character to accommodate values, beliefs, needs, perceptions, the special characteristics of the situation, and the personal pressure prevailing at a particular place and time. Ethical – issue intensity reflects the ethical sensitivity of the individual or work group that faces the ethical decision – making process. Research suggest that individuals are subject to six “spheres of influence” when confronted with ethical choices – the workplace, family, religion, legal system, community, and profession – and that the level of importance of each of these influences wiil vary depending on how important the decision maker perceives the issue to be. Additionally, the individuals sense of the situation’s moral intensity increase the individuals perceptiveness regarding ethical problems, which in turn reduces his or her intention to unethically. Moral intensity relates to a persons perception of social pressure and the harm the decision will have on others. The perception of