Ethics during Change
MGT/426
Ethics during Change
Ethics as defined by the dictionary.com is a structure of moral principles, the rules
of conduct to be followed demonstrated through human actions of a specific origin or
culture; it can be a set of moral principles possessed by an individual. In addition, a general
definition would be that ethics is a division of philosophy that interacts with the values
associated with the human behavior as regards with the rights and wrongs of a particular
behavioral pattern (Dictionary.com, 2012). In a workplace setting, ethics is a system of
moral values or organizational culture that categorized acceptable and unacceptable
behavior to be applied in an organization. This reading will center on ethics and their
outcome during a change implementation, and how these changes affect the constantly
changing environment.
In the process of implementing change, ethics is often ignored by the management
even though there are several provisions in an organization’s code of manuals, ethics and
ethical culture. When everything is fast changing in the business world, ethics should not
be the last thing to be overlooked by the higher management or the upper stratum of an
organization. Along with the changes in the environmental, cultural and business aspects of
an organization, ethics shall come along with these changes.
Ethics and Change
Resistance to change cannot be avoided especially during the initial stages of
change. One of the alleged reasons of resistance to change is that of the clash with values
and ethics. This resistance often involves both the front line employees and the
management. According to a research about obedience to authority showed that there are
existing motivational factors of why people resist change based on the individual desires to
act according to the existing ethical principles of the organizational culture. It is also worth
considering that some perceived threat of career advancement and security can cause
central management to ignore established ethical considerations. It is therefore imperative
to provide instant solutions in resolving ethical issues during the implementation of change
in order to avoid misuse or abuse of behavioral ethics (Palmer, Dunford, & Akin, 2006, Pg.
152-153).
According to the book written by Anderson (1990), morals do not come from the
mountaintops together with the graven tablets; morals are being made because there was a
need to create such during that period. The morals of today, according to Anderson will
never be the morals of the past, present and the future. The statement as mentioned above
is a perfect example to give meaning with the ethics and morals of a newly introduced
business environment. A new business environment requires that change can best be
accepted if there is an established strong ethics and morals suited to that particular change.
One may consider that ethics and morals are universal but this must also follow along with
the constant changes of the organizational environment in order to ensure the success of
change.
Every single aspect of change implementation must always be considered especially
the ethics, morals and the business environmental culture. Knowing and understanding
things that are morally and ethically acceptable requires constant research and study. One
may take someone as a threat in the group if he or she claims that he or she knows and
understands everything, have known what is acceptable or not without careful
examination (de Graaf & Levy, 2011, Pg. 123).
Ethical Issues Organizations Face Today
It is disturbing that world business organizations are fast changing at increasingly
distressing rates. If we carefully examine, one of the main factors affecting an effective
implementation of change is the issue on ethics. One must not only see change as an effort
for profit but must include that change is being undertaken to broaden ethical awareness
inside an organization.
During the course of change implementation or decision making process, many
occasions do not include existing information that can be utilized when implementing
change into the process. This kind of occurrence is not helpful in an organization, especially
when ethical issues can best serve as the foundation of the organization itself. Many of the
business organizations today often avoid ethical discussions and confrontations as much as
possible; these are usually exhibited through various forms of evidences. These evidences
are categorized into four major organizational ethical problems people encounter
everyday:
 The financial crisis – are both moral and ethical issues which require great
changes in terms of applying primary changes in the manner of thinking and behavior of
the higher stratum management of the industries. Leadership as we all know requires the
involvement of the leaders first before going down to the lower level. This principle can be
applied when confronting unethical behaviors within the organizational structure. The
higher management should take first the initiative to resolve issues involving unethical
behavior.
 Global warming – this is a worldwide phenomenon that continuously becomes a
challenge to every kind of business. Many companies think of ethically sustainable
solutions to the growing issue on climate change. But there comes an existing concern on
the lack of set of ethical standards on how to address the issue on global warming
ethically.
 The internet – Confidentiality, safety and reliability is at stake in this present time
when everyone is living in the world of internet. It is therefore crucial that the management
sector of an organization gives attention to the reinvention of the internet. The reinvention
of the internet becomes one of the challenges of many companies worldwide.
 Globalization – is the assimilation of different societies, economies and cultures
together with their respective regional, moral and ethical values through global networking
in the form of trade and communication. Due to globalization, relevant issues arise
particularly on data security, frontiers, financial wages, corporate social responsibilities
and many more. Through this incorporation, it is imperative that new forms of ethics,
principles and morals should exist to keep up with globalization (de Graaf & Levy, 2011, Pg.
124).
When an organization tends to contradict uncertainty, the greater the possibility that
the organization becomes uncertain in the future. The reason may be associated with the
absence of autonomous thinking and flexible acting. The key points when discussing ethics
inside an organization are the following: uncertainty, complexity and vagueness. It is
important that an organization gives focus in dealing with, solving ethical issues, and
address the uncertainty, complexity and vagueness that were mentioned. It is therefore one
critical concern of the management of every organization is the integration of these three
kinds of ethics:

Egoistic ethics or commonly known as the first and final consideration is myself

Altruistic ethics or an act of giving while expecting nothing back

Mutualistic ethics or giving something as long as the person is receiving something
in return (de Graaf & Levy, 2011, Pg. 127)
Conclusion
All kinds of managerial strategy should take into consideration the important
factors during change implementation; these are the ethical, moral and cultural aspects
present in an organization. The management should also consider if any courses of action
the organization is about to perform are valuable and helpful in the organization, the
employees and the management itself. If they can ascertain this aspect, the change
implementation will therefore be much easier. If not, then management should expect the
existence of ethical divide and fall down of the organization from the inside. The success of
change implementation merely depends on how organizational ethics back up the
implementation.
References:
Anderson, W. (1990). Reality isn’t what it used to be: Theatrical politics, ready-to-wear
religion, global myths, primitive chic, and other wonders of the post modern world. San
Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.
Dictionary.com. (2012). Ethics. Retrieved from
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ethics
Palmer, I., Dunford, R., & Akin, G. (2006). Managing Organizational Change. New York, NY:
McGraw Hill - Irwin.
de Graaf, A., & Levy, J. (2011, April). Business as Usual?: Ethics in the Fast-Changing and
Complex World of Organizations. Transactional Analysis Journal, 41(2), 123-128.
Retrieved from Ebscohost, UOP Library,