Unethical Behavior free essay sample

Ethics in business has been asserted to be the most important problem facing American companies today. The issue of unethical behavior has recently become the focus of media attention in wake of scandals in companies such as Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco International. (Chen and Tang, 2006). The organization is one of the biggest influences on ethics in the work place. Organizations do affect ethical behaviors. One of the main sources that affect behavior in organizations is the commitment of management to ethical practices and behavior. Such commitment can be communicated in a code of conduct or code of ethics document. . A code of ethics is a formal statement of values and ethical standards. The code of conduct document explicitly defines ethical and unethical behavior and therefore identifies the consequences of unethical practices. (Schemer horn, 2008, p. 42). Attitude Personal mindset According to Fritzsche, 2005, peers influence on ethical behavior. They are easily influenced to do what is done by their colleagues. We will write a custom essay sample on Unethical Behavior or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Most theorists consider that the key responsibility of an embedded power group is to challenge the assumptions which comprise the groups own mindset. According to these commentators, power groups which fail to review or revise their mindsets with sufficient regularity cannot hold power indefinitely, as a single mindset is unlikely to possess the flexibility and adaptability needed to address all future events. Time theft According to Chen and Tang, 2006 Unethical behavior by employees includes things such as wasting company time, using company supplies for personal use, property theft, failing to whistle blow, illegitimately exchanging company resources for personal gain, and deceiving customers or clients. The prevalence of ethical misconduct in the workplace, there is a paucity of empirical research examining the antecedents of these behaviors. According to Christine A. Henle, Charlie L. Reeve and Virgina E. Pihs, 2010, stealing time at work, attitudes, social, pressure and perceived control as time theft. Time theft a common and costly from of ethical misconduct at work. Examples of time theft by employees is arriving late, leaving earlier from work schedule, taking additional or longer breaks than acceptable and on the job day-dreaming. It can impact on individuals in workplace who commit time theft such as less productive and may results in strained relationships with their supervisor and coworkers. Theft According to Jenna M Aker, 2009, Theft in the workplace is more common than you might realize and people are not talking about stolen lunches. Cash, computers, and even identities could be snatched from right under your nose and the results can be devastating. Common items stolen in an office environment include items of value, like iPods, PDAS, and laptops; items of convenience, like pens, envelopes, CD-Rs, and other Grapevine According to Diane Kuban, Kendra Coleman and Michael Baber, 2006, Unethical behavior conduct in office organization based on attitude is grapevine. Grapevine is known as  the informal transmission of information, gossip, or rumor from person to person or usually unrevealed source of confidential information and did not give any benefit to the company. But grapevine hold the strength to control office worker in the nature of power communication manager tend to compromise with person which have control over the grapevine because this person seems to be close with the other employees. Office gossip is often used by an individual to place them at a point where they can control the flow of information and therefore gain maximum advantage. Behavior of others According to Nancy K. Keith, 2009, unethical behavior is influence by behavior of other. It is about observing other behavior can cause unethical behavior because workers tend to emulate the action of other employee such as their manager. For example if their manager comes late to the work their subordinate may be influence to follow their manager behavior. Behavior in the workplace According to I. M Jawahar, Jennifer L. Kisamore and Thomas H. Stone, 2009, the researcher said that influence of unethical behavior conduct in organization is behavior in the work place such as cheating, absenteeism, and plagiarism. The employees always cheating for their own benefit and make the company lose with their behavior. TPB (the theory of planned behavior and academic) based on three like attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms (influence behavior of others) and perceived behavior control-prediction of a variety of human behaviors. TPB studies, measures attitude and belief about cheating and plagiarism is unethical behavior. Students consistently overestimated the likelihood that after students engaged in various academic misconduct behaviors compared with the frequencies students engaged in same behaviors. Personal background According to Betty J Brown, George A. Mundake and Melody W. Alexander, 2009 that personal background may influence unethical behavior conduct in organization. Personal ethical beliefs that have an impact on individuals behavior and decision making, setting with their beliefs shaped by past experience. Female have higher degree of ethical sophistication in recognizing the nuances of moral issues presented to them. Observation behavioral and perceive behaviors as acceptable or unacceptable according to their personal beliefs. Various researchers have defined ethics â€Å"Balachandran† as a code of rules, a set of principles one lives by or the study what is right or wrong. Job Dissatisfaction Distributive Justice According to Anne P. Hubbell and Rebecca M. Chory, 2005, organizational justice refers to perceptions of the fairness of workplace outcomes or a process has also been studied in relation to trust and is often considered an antecedent to trust. Research on trust in organizations show that it facilitates relationships, cooperation between individuals and organizations, organizational commitment and employees motivation to innovate. Focuses on employees attempts to alter inputs and to react towards the distributor of the outcome by altering their level of trust. Decreasing one’s trust also indicates dissatisfaction with the given relationship so that it better matches the perceived under rewards, benefits he/she received. Procedural justice is an individual’s perception of the fairness of the process components of the systems that regulates the distribution of resources. Individuals evaluate their relationships in terms of the contribution/inputs they make and the benefits/outcomes they receive and by comparing this ratio to the corresponding ratio of a comparison person or standard. According to Paulsen Et Al 2005, found that personal control is positively related to job satisfaction because can remaining threatening events in which gives rise to a sense of mustang and self-efficiency. According to Elovainio 2005, found that work time control has negatively related to sickness absence. Time control is positively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Three basic components of organizational justice distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional. Distributive justice is fairness of the rewards and outcomes received and justice is perceived it rewards are proportioned to input. When high distributive justice is perceived there is a sense that first inputs determine one’s outcomes suca as salary increases and promotion-provides clarity to employees with regard to the outcome that they are likely to get and reduces the worry and uncertainty associated with exploitation and wastage of effort. Interactional justice is the fairness of the interpersonal threatens received. According to Claaessens, Eerde, Rude and Roe 2006, Role of supervisors in employees perceived time control is very important. Time control as primary dimension of job control Environment According to Nancy K. Keith, 2009, Unethical behavior conduct in office organization based on job dissatisfaction is environment. The researcher said after the employee being exposed to the ethical rule of the company, male worker tend to go and bend the rules but the female employees act nicely and follow the rules. Environments factors may affect unethical behavior conduct in office organizations through employees. Employers must provide good environment for their employees where their work is comfortable and conducive to the employees working in comfort to avoid unethical behavior. Performance Appraisal According to Anne P. Hubble and Rebecca M. Chory 2005, performance appraisal evaluation context seemed an appropriate one in which to conduct the present concerns about justice manifest themselves here and because they have become increasingly important in today’s organizational environment. Performance evaluation can operate as outcomes in and of themselves or a step through which administrative decision. According to T. T Selvarajan and Ron saddesai, 2010, Performance appraisal and schematic processing is people categorized other based on extend to which individual match the prototypical characteristics of a category and once people are categorized further information about others. Perceived Behavior Control According to Breda Sweeney, Don Arnold and Bernard pierce, 2010. The researchers said that influence unethical behavior in organization is perceived behavior control is to determined by control beliefs and based on previous experience, perceptions of obstacles and opportunities that could potentially affect performance of the behavior. Experience at work also influence in the job dissatisfaction. For example is an adaptor to the social environment in the work place included perceptions of injustice and based on personality characteristics. Organizational Politics According to Kirchmeyer 2005, career mentoring was related to higher levels of job satisfaction. Recent research on mentoring indicates that it associated with higher levels of career successes. It is likely that individuals who believe that they are supported by their supervisors and that they are successful in their work experience higher levels of job satisfaction. Create an open environment. Office politics are often fueled by insecurity, so try to keep employees well informed of internal news. Avoid closed-door meetings when possible as they can give rise to speculations so they can need open environment. Seek Integrity Just one unethical or dishonest worker can generate significant tension. During the hiring process, ask prospective employees references about the applicants ethics and honesty and at every opportunity emphasize to your staff the strong value workplace on these traits. According to George N. Gotsis and Zoe Kortezi 2010, Organizational politics also influence in job dissatisfaction is multi fact analytical construct often viewed and construct under very different ways. Organizations politics occur a desire to gain control over first environment and address organizational exigencies in look of organizational support and codified procedures. Politics is a perceived a form of anti social behavior other different aspects (blaming others and creating maintenance a favorable image through impression management, develop coalitions with powerful an influential person. According to Vigoda gadot and Dryzin Amit, 2010, Employees may view organizational politics as an indication of managerial leadership and malfunctioning and political behavior is supposed to damage or distort social interactions insofar as employees maybe hesitant in helping or supporting co-workers, fearing that voluntary activities of this type politically charge covert aggression is working showdowns that prevent the target from completing tasks, failing to warn target of impending danger, failing to transmit information needed by the target. According to anonymous organizational politics  is the use of ones individual or assigned  power  within an employing organization for the purpose of obtaining advantages beyond ones legitimate authority. Those advantages may include access to tangible assets, or intangible benefits such as  status  or pseudo-authority that influences the behavior of others. Both individuals and groups may engage in Office Politics.    Office politics also refers to the way co-workers act among each other. It can be either positive or negative. At the root of office politics is the issue of  manipulation  which can happen in any relationship where one or more of the parties involved use indirect means to achieve their goals. In the workplace, individuals have an incentive to achieve their goals at the expense of their colleagues, where resources are limited. Office politics has also been described as simply how power gets worked out on a practical, day-to-day basis. Office politics differs from office gossip in that people participating in office politics do so with the objective of gaining advantage, whereas gossip can be a purely social activity.