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Professional Ethical Review Introduction Managers have several dilemmas they face with moral and ethical issues. All of them have plenty of distractions in their professional life, but trying to weed out distractions and focus on the core of their style and beliefs can be trying when pressed into difficult situations. Some of the internal issues that managers face as a role model are things like workplace conduct, decision making, safety, and organizations code of ethics, conflict of interest situations, having integrity, good morals and ethical beliefs as well as acting appropriately through all of these issues.
Managers have a huge responsibility not only to the organization, but to all the individuals that make up an organization, including its customers. Moral and Ethical Guides Management can be compared to parenting a child in many ways, for example, children learn from what they see their parents doing or saying. A parent can tell a child not to use bad language, but if the child is exposed to bad language through the parents then it is most likely the child will continue speaking in the same fashion.
Any employees/workers in an organization will take their cue from how management makes decisions, reacts to situations, or just in general everyday behaviors. The relationship between social issues and ethically responsible management practices are that they have an enormous responsibility to set the standards for the organization and its employees. On social issues managers have contractual obligations to abide by through suppliers or consumers for instance. (Velasquez, 2006) Values, which guide how we ought to behave, are considered moral values, e. g. values such as respect, honesty, fairness, responsibility, etc. Statements around how these values are applied are sometimes called moral or ethical principles. Various managers are going to have different styles and beliefs based upon educational level, experience, mentors, and type of organization. The type of organization truly sets the bar for developing a new manager as well as setting a tone and style for all managers. Author Background The author’s past and current professional career shape the professional beliefs and attitudes that act as guides in decision making.
The author grew up in Northern Minnesota inside a traditional family structure, mom, dad, and a sibling. His family owned a business and was respected members of the community. The author’s family was active in church and in the school system. He spent summers working at his parent’s resort, or staying for weeks on his mother’s family farm in the Red River Valley of Minnesota. While spending weeks on the farm, he stayed with his grandmother. His grandmother, Audrey, was a classic Minnesota woman, with worn hands, not afraid to look the part in fashion, but not afraid to get her hand dirty assisting with the harvest.
His grandmother was wise beyond years, and instilled knowledge, faith, and confidence in her grandchildren. She openly shared stories of her youth and adulthood, some were about her and her siblings growing up and sticking together, to the strife of life where she admitted to making bad mistakes. Probably one of the most formable stories was his grandmother’s gumption to be apart of the war effort against her parents permission. In a sense of Egoism but at the same time being very selfless to her country, she joined the war effort.
Although following part of her parents orders, she did not join the military, she abruptly left the farm and went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to work in a defense plant. In summary she was guided by socialistic values, selfless giving, and making sure that the underdog is to succeed. Author’s Perspective The author is constantly guided by doing what is right for the most. Much like his grandmother, making sure that everyone has a chance to succeed. Most of the time the author is frustrated with colleagues and staff as he is very straightforward and knows whether something is right or wrong to him.
Given an opportunity to think items through, the author will try to make the best decision possible by examining the situation. The author’s desires Utilitarianism. Collins (2009) states “If it is beneficial to the majority, then it is right. If it is detrimental to the majority of people, then it is wrong. ” Truly this is used by the author as a rule of thumb and put into practice whenever possible or if time allows. In the professional setting, the author tries to practice emotional intelligence as Collins states in his book, Good to Great. In his practice f being aware of an employees feelings and well being, rules for the majority fall out the window, particularly when dealing with employees’ personal issues. The author tries to be lenient on policy when an employee has a personal matter to deal with such as death, divorce, sick kid, etc… Although at times this can lead to contention between employees, but explaining that all employees under extreme circumstances will be accommodated as well. Life happens. Employees need time for life so they can be productive at work. Understanding and relating to employees is one of the author’s best skills.
Views on Organizational Structure The author succeeds when traditional organizational models are used and well defined. He knows when to abide and how to weave through the bureaucratic red tape successfully when relationships of hierarchy are demonstrated. Although the author likes a rigid and traditional organizational structure he disagrees with Plato’s theories. Cavico and Mutjtaba (2005) state that Plato believes that there are classes of people and that only certain people can be in a class. It is very difficult of impossible for one to move up a class in the system once placed into a role.
The governing body is made up of a few elitists and very few can come into the circle of elitists. This theory goes against the values of the author, as he believes that anyone with the right skills, knowledge, hard work and proper values should be able to climb to the top and govern. Weaknesses in style Under stress the author becomes very dictator like and does not lead as effectively. In turn the author is not being autonomous to his follower nor helping followers become decision makers that emulate him (Bowie & Werhane, 2005).
His hasty and curt decisions are made unconsciously utilizing Egoism (Collins, 2009). This practice needs to be tamed and controlled in order for the author to become a more effective and transformational leader. Conclusion Managers are faced with difficult tasks everyday, but a task that can be the most burdensome is doing the right thing when there is not a clear, right answer. Managers will then have to rely on experience, self-reliance, and coaching from peers to guide them to decision that gets them to the best outcome.
Over all, in the opinion of the author, majority of managers have interests of the majority as their primary concern and objective. References Bowie, N. E. & Werhane, P. H. (2005). Management Ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Cavico, F. J. & Mujtaba, B. G. (2005). Business Ethics. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing. Collins, D. (2009). Essentials of Business Ethics. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Velasquez, M. G. (2006). Business Ethics: concepts and cases. 6th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.