Organizations where unethical supply decisions are made can have an increase in reputation

In business, your company's reputation is a big contributor toward your company's success. If your customers perceive you to be an ethically run organization, they are more likely to continue to do business with you and even recommend you to others. On the flip side, if your organization shows obvious signs of unethical behaviors, you may be faced with a public relations problem or ultimately lose business. Attention to some of the following problem areas and promoting an ethical corporate culture can set your business on the right path.

1. Theft of Time and Materials

There is the running joke about stealing pens from the office supply closet for personal use, especially if you get fired, yet the fact is that employee theft is a problem that costs American businesses millions of dollars each year. In some instances, stolen equipment parts or supplies may not add up to much, but in other cases, employees have developed lucrative scams to defraud vendors, redirect funds or write fraudulent checks.

However, employees can also "steal" both time and money from their employer in ways that are less noticeable and initially may even seem to be not a big deal. Padding time sheets with a few extra minutes or bumping up the dollar amount on an expense report may seem perfectly reasonable to some, but they are unethical behaviors that take money from a business owner. Even time spent checking and responding to personal email on a phone, visiting social media on the computer or talking on the phone for non-emergency calls during work time infringes on time meant for the company.

2. Misuse of Company Technology

Technology has changed the way we work, connect with others and spend our leisure time. In addition to personal time spent on technological devices, some workers use company computers or equipment for personal advancement or projects that are non-work related. Searching for another job or doing freelance work online while at a job is unethical behavior. Accessing websites for elicit purposes such as gambling or pornography is not only unethical, but may even be illegal in some situations.

3. Lying About Performance

Taking responsibility for your actions and performance is a sign of an ethical and trustworthy employee. However, many employees lie about having completed an assigned task, color the truth about the success or failure of a sales call or fudge their numbers to make themselves look better among their peers. At times, if the leadership in an organization is not concerned with ethics, they may ask their employees to gloss over an incident or do something secretly to hide an indiscretion.

4. Crossing Sexual Boundaries and Harassment

Sexual harassment is a hot topic issue everywhere, and many HR departments create strict guidelines and offer training to ward off any occurrences in their workplaces. Yet crossing the line and not maintaining appropriate sexual boundaries is also an ethics issue. While both parties in a particular relationship may be consensual, their relationship may not always be appropriate. For example, if a psychologist begins to date one of their patients, it might be considered unethical because they may have taken advantage of the other person during a vulnerable time in their life.

5. Failure to Maintain a Safe Workplace

While not every workplace is inherently dangerous, some work zones require special precautions so that workers are kept safe. Business owners and managers who disregard safety as a priority are putting their employees at risk and operating unethically. Incidents that result in injury could become legal issues resulting in several penalties.

6. Breach of Contract

In some industries where proprietary information is entrusted to employees, workers are often required to sign non-disclosure statements as part of their employment agreement. Non-disclosure contracts stipulate that employees will not share with a competitor (or anyone else) the particulars of a specific technology, design or product, for example. If an employee discloses trade secrets to a competitor or uses the information personally to gain a profit, the employee would be in breach of contract.

Abstract

This paper is designed to do four things. First, the paper discusses the importance of groupthink in contributing to unethical behavior. Second, the paper discribes how groupthink contributed to unethical behavior in three organizations (Beech-Nut, E. F. Hutton, and Salomon Brothers). Third, symptoms of groupthink (such as arrogance, overcommitment, and excessive loyalty to the group) will be presented along with two methods for programming conflict (devil's advocate and dialectic) into an organization and group's decisions. Finally, the paper introduces some prescriptions for reducing the probability of groupthink.

Journal Information

The Journal of Business Ethics publishes original articles from a wide variety of methodological and disciplinary perspectives concerning ethical issues related to business. Since its initiation in 1980, the editors have encouraged the broadest possible scope. The term 'business' is understood in a wide sense to include all systems involved in the exchange of goods and services, while 'ethics' is circumscribed as all human action aimed at securing a good life. Systems of production, consumption, marketing, advertising, social and economic accounting, labour relations, public relations and organisational behaviour are analysed from a moral viewpoint. The style and level of dialogue involve all who are interested in business ethics – the business community, universities, government agencies and consumer groups. Speculative philosophy as well as reports of empirical research are welcomed. In order to promote a dialogue between the various interested groups as much as possible, papers are presented in a style relatively free of specialist jargon.

Publisher Information

Springer is one of the leading international scientific publishing companies, publishing over 1,200 journals and more than 3,000 new books annually, covering a wide range of subjects including biomedicine and the life sciences, clinical medicine, physics, engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, and economics.

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Journal of Business Ethics © 1992 Springer
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