Manager's Role in an Organization's Ethical Policies and Practice Essay

Manager's Role in an Organization's Ethical Policies and Practice - Essay Example To better establish the prime importance of ethics in making organisational decisions, he first section of the paper centres on the following questions: How should ethics be defined and viewed in organisations and how do ethical and unethical practices impact on the organisation and society as a whole? However, understanding the importance of ethics for business organisations is one thing, but defining who shall take the lead to ensure ethical policies and practice in the organisation –the board or the manager – is another thing. The second section of the paper discusses this question by delving into the decisive role that managers play in the organisation. It asserts that the role of managers in the organisation’s ethical policies and practice is actually more compelling than that of the Board. In fact, the manager’s ethical misconduct and abuse of discretion had caused the downfall of many corporations. Although it is true that the Board takes the higher stake in the organisation than the manager; it is the manager who exactly deals with the in and out daily operation of the organisation. Organisational Ethics Policies and Practice Ethics essentially pertains to what is right and wrong (Sims 2003, p. 7; Lerbinger 1997, p. 293), good and bad, virtuous and evil or that which illustrates fairness, justice and due process, for example not harming others, respecting others, dealing honestly, helping those in need, fulfilling promises and contracts, and more (Lerbinger 1997, p. 293). When ethics is to be incorporated in organisational policies Whitton (2009) emphasises two dimensions: first, that policies should encourage ethical conduct by the rank and file – this includes specific policies on ‘giving and receiving personal gifts, ancillary employment, conflict of interest situations, patronage, political activity, fraud, harassment, political activity, and whistleblower reporting of defined wrongdoing’; and second , that policies should encourage ethical management to safeguard the integrity of the organisation – this concerns policies that define criteria for ‘competent financial management, merit based recruitment and advancement, transparent accountability for ... decision-making, effective protection of [those] who disclose misconduct, fraud and corruption, meaningful program evaluation, and workable disciplinary processes’. As such, Whitton furthers that organisational ethics policy is an assurance that the organisation will live-up to what it commits itself to promote, provide and serve and that it will conduct itself fairly, giving due consideration not only to itself but to society at large. (p. 2) Similarly, this is what Lerbinger (1997) refers to as corporate social responsibility, which to him transcends the law. (p. 293) Evidently so, Whitton (2009) has rightly stated that effective ethics policy must always be considered part of the organisation’s ove rhead cost, because failure to do so would be more costly to the organisation and the society as a whole. In other words, organisations should always pay attention to ethical issues to avoid greater loss. For example data show that, US businesses are losing $40 billion