Week Six Research Paper - Part I

Week Six Research Paper – Part I
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Week Six Research Paper – Part I
Introduction
The subject of ethical decision-making is attracting a lot of attention from scholars and practitioners from different industries. It follows that there exists a variety of literature on the subject of ethical decision-making. For instance, Shariff and Scandura (2015), and Yusoff et al., (2011) have published articles on the subject of ethical decision-making. The term ethics could be elucidated as a structure of moral principles. It is notable however that a few scholars examine the dark side of ethics because Shariff and Scandura (2015) are among the few who discuss the subject. It is crucial for scholars and practitioners to understand the dark side of ethics because it will help them appreciate the effects of making unethical decision. It follows that this paper discusses the dark side of ethics by arguing that even though people make unethical decisions, such people could managed using techniques such as appropriate hiring of employees, and establishing an organizational code of conduct.
Reasons Why People Make Unethical Decisions
To begin with, employees make unethical reasons because of pressure. As evidence, Sharif and Scandura (2015) argue that demands from clients and middle-level managers could corner employees into making unethical decisions. In fact, such demands often arise because the demanding stakeholders do not appreciate the need for ethical decision-making. Instead, they are always concerned with personal gain. The same authors cite a study to highlight how individual reasons force employees to make unethical decisions. This owes to the reality that the study established a significant relationship between compensation due to unethical behavior and employee performance. In simple terms, employees who produce results or perform accordingly are likely to receive lenient treatment for unethical behavior. Employees could also make unethical decisions for reasons such as gender, attitude, and perceived importance. It follows that individual reasons could corner employees into making unethical decisions.
It is also crucial to note that employees make unethical decisions because of issue specific factors. For instance, conformity among peers could force employees into making unethical or ethical decisions. According to Yusoff et al., (2011), employees conform to work and social norms that have been established by their peers or the industry. This owes to the reality that employees could incur high costs for making unethical decisions when their peers are making ethical decisions. Analogously, employees could incur high costs for making ethical decisions when their peers are making unethical decisions. The same author reveals that peer pressure could affect the ability of an employee to make his/her desirable decision using statistical evidence. Moreover, key industry players share information, which often influences employees’ ability of making ethical decisions. It follows that conformity among peers contributes to unethical decisions from employees.
As aforementioned, the degree of harm inflicted on victims also influences employees’ ability to make ethical decisions. However, the degree of harm’s influence does not cut across the table because idealists and non-idealists have different opinions regarding the subject. As evidence, idealists believe that harming others at the expense of making unethical decisions is unworthy. On the contrary, non-idealists believe that harm is necessary for producing ‘good’. It follows that non-idealist employees are likely to make unethical decisions as long as the decision produces a certain ‘good’ (Kish-Gephart, Harrison, and Trevino 2010). The philosophy particularly applies when employees are driven with a sole motive of maximizing profits because they are likely to make unethical decisions in order to maximize profits. The degree of harm also influences unethical decision making because most employees would make decisions that harm others at the expense of harming themselves. It also applies if the degree of harm is less than the ‘good’ produced from making an unethical decision.
Another cause for unethical decision-making in organizations is the environment. In such a case, the environment could be understood as organizational culture and climate that promote ethical or unethical decision-making. It is critical that organizational climate and culture is a broad subject, which could be understood by reviewing the publication from Kish-Gephart, Harris...