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Discussion on: With an actual example of how and why taking a high ethical ground results in a good decision for business

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DIPA_DHUNGANA

Ethics are the values related with human conduct that deals with what is right and wrong or what is good or bad. However, many people argue that ethics depend on situation (Aamkobe, 2017). Relating to an organization, ethics is not merely a code of conduct, but a way of acting that incorporates organizational culture, processes and outcomes (Butts). Ethics are very important in entrepreneurship. Many researchers show that ethical behavior is the core for long-term business success as it helps to maintain balance between business and personal relations (Spinelli & Adams).

The organization I work in does not have fixed organizational hierarchy and the roles and responsibilities of the staffs are also not defined properly. The person who was working on the organization for more than six years and was a close relative of CEO was given the authority to take all the major decisions of the organization relation to finance, operation and marketing. That person did not possess prior work experience and managerial or financial background. But the CEO of the company trusted him as he was working with the company for such a long time and never questioned any decisions he made.

Last year on going through the financial statement of the company, the CEO found out that the accounting and financial statements were not maintained properly and the company’s fund were misused. On discovering this, the CEO was in great dilemma. The reason behind this was if he fired the person, there was no one in the organization who could immediately take his position. In addition, some of the other people who were working closely with him were also involved in misusing the fund and they need to be fired as well. The relationship between CEO and the staffs also make it difficult to reach a conclusion. This will make all the experienced staffs go out of the company at once putting in difficult situation. If immediate action was not taken, it was also the loss for the company.

The CEO decided to be ethical and fired five staffs at once. All the remaining staffs were new and were not much aware about the company’s operations. There was no one to look after the finance and accounting and day to day transactions were also hampered. Being ethical was costing a lot for the company. After some time, a chief operation officer was hired who has relevant experience in management and finance. From then, the company slowly started taking pace and the revenue of the company in following month marked the highest in last five years.

This proves that taking a high ethical ground results in a good decision in business though it may take some time to show the results.

References

Aamkobe, D. F. (2017). Business Ethics. Research Gate .

Butts, J. B. (n.d.). Ethics in Organizations and Leadership. Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

Spinelli, S., & Adams, R. J. (n.d.). New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century (Nineth ed.). Irwin: McGraw Hill Education.