Ethics in the Workplace

You’re sitting in the break room one day eating your lunch and you over hear a couple of your coworkers that you’re good friends with discussing how they feel that they are underpaid. A third coworker joins the conversation and explains how there’s a way to put more hours on their timecards without it being noticed. This coworker brags about how long she’s been doing this and hasn’t been caught yet. You’re contemplating in your mind whether you should mind your own business or bring it to managements attention. Do you let it go knowing that this behavior is unacceptable or do you take the chance of losing good friends if they found out you told or do you decide to become a whistle blower, or in simpler terms, a tattle teller? The coworker decided not to bring it to managements attention because of the fear of what might happen. This is only one example of the kinds of unethical behavior that goes on in the workplace. Assuming that there is a Code of Ethics in place, how would management deal with this situation? Say for instance, the workers accused of this act are really close with the manager or better yet related. Would the Code of Ethics still apply? No matter the type of business, there should be a standard code of ethics and consequences that follow if not adhered to. Knowing what ethics is maybe one thing, but to go more in depth, we need to know what the process is for ethical decision making. After understanding what ethics is, we need to examine what the guidelines are for ethical decision making and who sets these guidelines. This essay will examine the importance of moral rules of conduct in the workplace and the importance of all employees, not matter the rank, title or position, adhering to these guidelines. We will also examine ethical concepts in the workplace among the various employee relationships, but first, what is ethics?

According to the Webster’s Third New International dictionary, ethics is the discipline dealing with what is good and bad or right and wrong or with moral duty and obligation. In the example above, the coworker had an obligation to bring this situation to managements attention. For fear of what might happen, she decided not to do it. It was morally wrong to withhold this type of information. Not only is this person being dishonest, but there is also the issue of stealing from the company. Back in 2005, the Ethics Resource Center (ERC), a nonprofit organization devoted to the advancement of organizational ethics, released its survey results of its National Business Ethics survey. This survey which consisted of over 3,000 American workers found out that more than half of U.S. employees have observed at least one example of workplace ethical misconduct in the past year. During the same time, the willingness to report misconduct to management went down to 55%. This survey exemplifies how unethical behavior is prevalent in the workplace, but going unnoticed due to the lack of moral obligations to report it. In order for ethics in the workplace to be effective, there should be a rule to report any and all instances of misconduct. In the same article, David Rhind of the Hudson Highland Group (HHG) North American Counsel state, “Even with clear ethics policies in place, companies must create a culture of integrity throughout the organization by providing both the means and the mandate to report concerns.” In other words, in order for employees to do what’s morally right, management must lead by example. If top management creates a workplace where reporting any act of unethical behavior will be accepted and not looked down upon, then the people under management will feel comfortable reporting issues. The other 45% of people that didn’t report unethical misconduct would be probably have a change of thought. Understanding what ethics varies from person to person and from business to