Search for Free 150,000+ Essays

Find more results for this search now!
CLICK the BUTTON to the RIGHT!

Need a Brand New Custom Essay Now?  click here

Business Ethics, An Office Wide Ethics System

Business Ethics, An Office Wide Ethics System

Ethics and Human Resources Ethics commonly refer to the rules or principles that define right and wrong conduct. In the United States, many believe we are currently suffering from an ethics crisis (Reder 85). Behaviors that were once thought unacceptable --lying, cheating, misrepresenting, and covering up mistakes -- have become in many people's eyes acceptable or necessary practices. Managers profit from illegal use of insider stock information, and members of Congress write hundreds of bad checks. Even college students seem to have become caught up in the wave where studies show significant increases in cheating on tests (Braybrooke 27). Concern over this perceived decline in ethical standards is being addressed by organizations, while companies rely on their Human Resource (HR) department to build an ethical culture.

Why is ethics important to Human Resources? When employees in organizations make decisions to act unethically, they affect not only the company itself, but also its shareholders, employees and customers. Employees make a myriad of choices every day in businesses -- if unethical, they can damage a company's productivity, profits and reputation. Unethical decisions can come in many forms: the employee who conducts personal business on company time to the line worker who fails to report a product flaw just to meet a deadline, and even more serious, the manager who profits from illegal use of insider stock information. All these incidents lack ethics. In most companies today, the competitive advantage rests on the shoulders of its employees. These employees must be trusted to "do the right thing", especially when no one is looking. It is up to HR to train, educate and communicate with employees on what is considered to be right and wrong in the workplace. After all, ethics is one topic that begins and ends with people.

The standards of behavior from HR cannot be separated. Human Resources and ethics are linked and must be integrated. In today's high-pressured environment, HR must make it clear for employees that ethics come before deadlines or bottom lines. It's a message that can easily be overlooked in the work place especially if employees feel pressured to violate company policies in order to achieve business objectives. In an April 1997 study, the Chartered Financial Consultants and the Ethics Officers Association, found that 56% of all workers feel some pressure to act unethically or illegally. The study also revealed that 48% of...

Sign In Now to Read Entire Essay

Not a Member?   Create Your FREE Account »

Comments / Reviews

read full essay >>

Already a Member?   Login Now >

This essay and THOUSANDS of
other essays are FREE at eCheat.

Uploaded by:  

Date:  

Category:   Business

Length:   10 pages (2,230 words)

Views:   16766

Report this Essay Save Essay
Professionally written essays on this topic:

Business Ethics, An Office Wide Ethics System

View more professionally written essays on this topic »