A new organizational paradigm is needed in order to avoid the all too common lapses in legal and ethical behavior which is seen in organizations in the world today. Ethics can no longer be seen by management of organizations as a side-line activity that is only meant to meet legal and regulatory guidelines, while leaders focus on the more important issues of profitability and the bottom line. Rather, ethics must be seen as a core function of every leader in every organization. To avoid pitfalls of ethical lapses which effect not only the individual, but also the team, the company, shareholders, customers, and the general public, ethics cannot be seen as less important or less urgent than any other managerial and/or leadership function.
In the past, the organization itself may not have been viewed as having direct responsibility for the ethical or unethical behavior of individual members of the organization. Unethical actions of members of the organization were seen as the sole responsibility of the individual. The individual alone could be held accountable for lapses in ethical behavior and the organization itself may not have been seen has having any further responsibility in the matter (Seeger, 2001, p. 3). However, as organizations have become more complex and interconnected, individual responsibility has proven more difficult to ascertain (p. 4). This is true whether we are discussing the responsibility of the successful launch of a new product or not reporting ethical violations. In most any organization today it would be nearly impossible to assign any one individual responsibility for the successful launch of a new product, so it is equally difficult to lay sole accountability for only one individual within an organization who may not report fraud. Was it the researcher who first thought of the idea, or the team who developed the product or the marketing manager or the sales team who is accountable for the success of the new product; or is a combination of all of them? In just the same manner, is it the person who does not report fraud to blame, or his manager who pushes for improved results with less emphasis on reporting procedures, or the legal department for not teaching the proper procedures to make reports, or the Human Resource department for not clearly explaining the rules; or is it an organizational shortcoming where all contribute to the lapses in ethical behavior?
In too many organizations "ethical issues are often positioned in opposition to the more important questions of organization profitability" (p. 4). However, in the new paradigm, shareholders cannot be seen as the only, or the most important stakeholder. Rather, all stakeholders must be seen as equally important for the organization to avoid a narrow economic focus which may lead to lapses in ethical behavior which in the end, lead to severe economic and legal consequences for the organization and its stakeholders (p. 4).
New managers and leaders must focus time and energy not only on making the organization profitable, but they must learn to help individuals in the organization recognize situations which may cause ethical dilemmas and ways in which to apply ethical behavior in a way that satisfies all stakeholders. Teaching individuals how to apply ethics when it comes to moral controversies must become a key focus of leaders in the new paradigm (p. 7). "Applied ethics focuses on norms and guidelines of professional practice, methodologies for promoting ethical decision-making, various codes of conducts and how these function to promote discussion, informal decisions, and resolve practical ethical problems (p. 7). This focus must become a new major responsibility of every manager and leader within the new organization.
Texas Instruments is an example of a company that embodies this new organizational paradigm of management. The National Academy of Engineering cites example of how Texas Instruments' leadership is focusing on ethical behavior on its on line ethics center (www.onlinethics.org). The company has created a website for employees to visit which lists hundreds of articles which have been published in corporate magazine TINews.
Examples like Texas Instruments show how a new paradigm is developing in organizations regarding the managerial focus on ethical behavior. Such focus will have beneficial effects on all stakeholders and a long term benefit to the bottom line by improving stakeholder relations and avoiding costly lapses in ethical behaviors which are damaging to the organization and its stakeholders.
References:
Seeger, M., (n.d.). Ethics and communication in organizational contexts: Moving from the fringe to the center.
On line Ethics Center.
