Ethical Considerations in Employee Engagement

An organization's primary goal is to earn profit and to be successful in the competitive business world. However, as Managementstudyguide.com (2015) described, what is important is how the organizations fulfill their primary goal. This is where organizational ethics comes into action. Every organization should have its own set of values and beliefs that helps them to differentiate the good and bad, which allows them to choose the best (Courses.lumenlearning.com, n.d). Prottas (2013, as cited in Hough et al., 2015) simply describes that good ethics will lead the organization to become successful.

When it comes to the impact of ethics on employee engagement, research shows that there is a direct connection between these two components. Organizational ethics give the employees some principles and guideline, which tells them how they should behave in the organization to save the reputation of the organization and to give the best to the world (Managementstudyguide.com, 2015; Courses.lumenlearning.com, n.d). Hough et al. (2015), shows that to perform high, organizations need to work ethically to win the employee's trust. The study further highlights that the outcome(service or product) of the organization is an indicator of the relationship and trust between organizational ethics and employee engagement (Hough et al., 2015). Courses.lumenlearning.com (n.d.) indicates that personal, professional, and organizational levels of ethics directly affect the well-being of a company.  The study further explains that these three levels should incorporate positively with each other for the organization to move forward in the business world.

Personal Ethics

An individual’s own values and beliefs come under personal ethics. This is the trickiest level of ethics that businesses have to tackle every day. Each individual is grownup in a different way and it has a huge impact on organizational ethics.

Professional Ethics

Professionals gain this ethics with learning, experience, and training. For the employees to survive in a particular profession, following these ethics is so important. Professionals need to follow these pre-defined ethics because the profession itself expected them to do so.

Organizational Ethics

These are the Ethics implemented by the organizations. Organizational ethics have the power to influence the organizations' outcomes and employee engagement positively or negatively.

A few examples of ethical issues found in organizations are Fraud, Sustainability issues, diversity issues, and Exploitation. If the organizations do not Handel these types of ethical issues correctly. These will lead the organizations to fall apart (Courses.lumenlearning.com, n.d.).The leadership team of the organization has the main responsibility of creating a good ethical environment for the employees. The Ethical behavior of the management shows their core values, which will affect the way organizations behave (Toor & Ofori, 2009 as cited in Seymour, 2015). Managementstudyguide.com (2015) highlights that the leadership of the organization should always be mindful to work ethically which will improve employee engagement to perform well in the business world. Studies by Td.org. (2014) and Managementstudyguide.com (2015) further show that an ethical leader should:

a).Be truthful to the clients and employees so that this will return good energy to the organization.

b).Consider only the employee's work regardless of their diversity and reward them fairly for their commitment.

c).Never mislead the customers

d).Be able to get into the employee's shoes when making decisions.

e).Have a clear picture of where the organization should be in the future.

f).Always welcome others' opinions.

g).Welcome changes.

h).Find ways to reduce waste and engage the employees in planet-saving programs.

i).Always walk the talk.

These good leadership ethics will not only lead the organizations to have highly engaged employees but also help them to retain their customers and to give innovative products and services to the world (Td.org., 2014). Being an ethical leader will keep the organization safe from problems and have the power to reshape the organization (Td.org., 2014). It is always best for the organization to learn from their mistakes to minimize the ethical violations and to develop employee-centered ethics, which shows them that they are valued to have the best outcome in return.

References:

Courses.lumenlearning.com. (n.d.). Business Ethics in Organizational Behavior | Organizational Behavior / Human Relations. [online] Available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmopen-organizationalbehavior/chapter/business-ethics-in-organizational-behavior/ [Accessed: 15 April 2022].

Hough, C., Green, K. and Plumlee, G., 2015. Impact of ethics environment and organizational trust on employee engagement. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues, 18(3), p.45. 

Managementstudyguide.com. (2015). Organization Ethics - Meaning and its Importance. [online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/organization-ethics.htm. [Accessed: 15 April 2022].

Seymour, T.D., 2015. Examining the mediating effect of ethical behaviors on the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement. Northcentral University. 

Td.org. (2014). Consistent Ethical Leadership Increases Employee Engagement. [online] Available at: https://www.td.org/insights/consistent-ethical-leadership-increases-employee-engagement [Accessed: 15 April 2022].