Organizational Justice, Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility

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CHAPTER 2 • ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE, ETHICS, AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 69 FIGURE 2.16 Ethical Norms Versus Organizational Counternorms Although societal standards of ethics dictate the appropriateness of certain actions, counternorms that encourage and support opposite practices sometimes develop within organizations. Source: Based on suggestions by Jansen & Von Glinow, 1985; see Note 62. Ethical Norms of Society Be open and honest Always follow rules Openness and honesty? Following the rules? Use of resources? Counternorms in the Organization Be secretive and deceitful Break rules if necessary to get ahead Be efficient, cost-effective Use it or lose it Taking responsibility? Assume responsibility even for negative actions Pass the buck to others if it helps you look better Working with others? Be a team player; share credit with others Grandstand, take credit for your own positive actions the very top. Although codes differ, there are several things that are commonly addressed by most codes of ethics. 68 These are as follows: Responsibilities of employees (e.g., to produce high-quality goods and service, to adhere to the law, and to protect the environment) Relationships with people (e.g., to be open, honest, and fair) Prohibitions against inappropriate behavior (e.g., conflicts of interest, corruption, and fraud) Today, about 83 percent of all large U.S.-based companies have codes of ethics in place. 69 One-quarter of these companies, however, don’t do anything to ensure that their employees comply with them, leading to the possibility that they are merely “window dressing” (see Figure 2.17). Ethics Training. Codes of ethics are especially effective when they are used in conjunction with training programs that reinforce the company’s ethical values. 70 About 68 percent of companies that have codes of ethics provide any training on the requirements and responsibilities they specify. When conducted, ethics training efforts consist of everything ranging from lectures, videotapes, and case studies to more elaborate simulations. Citicorp, for example, has trained more than 40,000 employees in over 60 countries using an elaborate corporate ethics game, “The Work Ethic,” that simulates
70 PART 1 • INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR FIGURE 2.17 Codes of Ethics: Potentially Useful if Followed Although many companies have adopted codes of ethics, too frequently they are ignored—either distributed to employees when hired but then ignored, or hung on the wall for show and not taken seriously. This is unfortunate because ethics codes can provide important guidance to people confronting ethical dilemmas in the workplace. This requires carefully training people in the code and incorporating it as part of an ongoing commitment to ethical behavior in an ethics program. ethics committee A group composed of senior-level managers from various areas of an organization who assist an organization’s CEO in making ethical decisions by developing and evaluating company-wide ethics policies. ethical dilemmas that employees are likely to confront. 71 (For an example of a particularly novel approach to ethics training, see Figure 2.18. 72 Bodies Formally Responsible for Ethics. Although ethics is everyone’s business, having one or more people responsible for promoting ethical behavior helps ensure that it does not fall between the cracks. With this in mind, some companies have ethics committees in place. These are groups of senior-level managers from various areas of the organization who assist an organization’s CEO in making ethical decisions. Members of the committee develop and evaluate company-wide ethics policies. FIGURE 2.18 Lights, Camera, Ethics! As an aid to helping employees become more sensitive to ethical issues, the large defense contractor Lockheed Martin, has adopted a highly creative approach. The company has launched a film festival in which employees create and submit brief films (in any format) demonstrating ways of handling the ethical dilemmas they confront on the job. The best entries are awarded a prize and are used in the company’s ongoing ethics training programs.
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Organizational Justice, Ethics, and Corporate Social Responsibility

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