Steps involved in the Ethical Decision Making Process
Write an essay on topic ‘ The role ethical decision making in becoming an effective manager’.
The term ethical decision making refers to the process of evaluating and selecting among the alternate choices in such a manner that it abides by the ethical principal and also is eligible to meet the criteria of the demand. The term ethical means something that is within the limitation in an effective manner and has maintained proper strategies and systems to meet the requirement in nature (Ford&Richardson, 2013). An ethical decision helps the decision maker to benefit from the selection that they have made. It does not involve any risk or harm to the person or the situation on which the decision has been made. The ethical decision making helps the decision maker to select among the various situation that has put them in dilemma (Shapiro, Stefkovich& Gutierrez, 2014). Thus it is very important to make a proper and justifies decision in terms with the required situation and condition. There are various steps involved in the decision making process such as:Establishing the fact in a situation, decide whether the situation is legal or ethical, and identifying the option and possible consequences, evaluating the options, choosing the best possible option, implementing the decision.
These common steps are must while taking a decision that has to be considered ethical. The ethical decision making can save the individual from facing various consequences that could have harmed the person in various ways (Craft, 2013). Thus ethical decision making has to be considered by everyone. The study will typically discuss about the importance of ethical decision making and its impact in the process. The decision making process builds the inner quality of an individual and thus helps them to become a better and wise person.
As leadership and management are activities that include decision making and making change, thus it can be said that an effective leader or manager has to be an effective decision maker.
The manager must strive to focus on the method of setting and achieving the targets set by the organization. However to reach the target they have to make sure that they are using effective measures and one among that is ethical decision making (Yeager, 2015). The decision making policy in the leaders makes a significant creativity in the leaders. The factors that affect the decision making of the manager are as follow: Certainty, risk, definition of the problem, identifying the limitation, developing potential alternatives, selecting the alternative.
Importance of Ethical Decision Making in Leadership and Management
The leader has to make sure that the decision that they are making is abiding by the requirement for the company or organization and is affectively working for it. The leader must know what is best suited for the organization and what will be the best alternative for the decision. The manager or the leaders is the person who has to decide on behalf of the entire organization, thus they have to make sure that they are taking effective decision in an efficient manner (Crossan, Mazutis&Seijts, 2013). The manager will show the correct decision making process to the followers who will show them the accurate way to handle situation by themselves in the future and take relative decisions.
Review on ethical decision making and its importance are as follow:
Ethical decision making relates to effective managerial practise- Decision making plays a vital role in management. It is perhaps the most important component in a manager life. The role of the manager is to manage the organization in an efficient manner and among the efficiency the decision making process plays a vital role. According to Crossan, Mazutis andSeijts (2013) there are many decisions that has to be taken by the organization which is done by the manager who works on behalf of the entire system. The decision has a direct impact result time, cost, feelings and work. The decision making process included many phases that has to be considered by every individual while taking a decision. The good management skill says that it is always the best thing to take a decision and stick to it. the manager should have proper decision making skill that allows one to ascertain the problem and come up with a better solution that proves it be beneficial to the company and its employees was said by Craft (2013). As per Yeager (2015) it is believed that decision making is a process that is regarded the cognitive method resulting in the selection of a thought or action among various other actions. Every decision making process has a final selection that decides to select the best choice for the organization and it is expected that it will benefit the organization. The decision making process determines the capability of the manager to out show their skills to become an efficient manager and explore their managerial skills. The manager who is responsible for the maintenance of the organization must abide by the common skills that are required to build a proper organizational system.
Skills Required to Become an Effective Manager
Important skill required to promote the leaders or manager- the managers form the core centre of an organization. They are the vital part of an organization without whom it would be difficult to run an organization. Manager have a vision of what can be achieved from a particular decision making and what decision they should make. They are well aware of every single step that will benefit the organization and help them to grow. According to Hartman, DesJardins& MacDonald, (2014) the role of a manager is to guide the entire organization in such a way that will benefit the organization and the employees working there. The manager is responsible for every single high and low situation faced by the organization. Thus they play an extremely important part. The primary reason behind the success of the organization a rete decision and working pattern of a manager. The manager determines whether the organization will succeed or fail in terms of achieving the desired goals in the organization. It was said by Goodall, (2014) that the job description of a manager is to integrate function and department for the implementation. The manager is responsible for every single action taken by the organization. It the decision of the manager that determines the working of the organization. The manger must have few skills that will help them to build a proper platform for the company such as: technical skill, human skill, conceptual skill. These skills are very important for the organization as the manager will be able to taken justified decision to for the organization. The conceptual skill helps the manager to visualize the entire organization and work with ideas and relationship between the abstract concepts (Pitesa&Thau, 2013). The human skills helps to build a relation among the workers and help them to meet their target in the organization. It includes communication with the workers sorting their problems and helping them to survive in the organization. As per Goodall, (2014) the manager’s role and job description they are one of the most important factor in an organization that takes up the responsibility of the workers, organization, departments, implementation of plans, taking decisions and making the organization reach its goal successfully. Thus it is very important for an organization to have a manager. The managers who are responsible for the department are generally informed by the subordinates who are inform the manager and help them to take decision accordingly. They must have a better understanding of the situation and relate the best possible outcome of the situation. They must know what decision will be best suited for the organization. They should also have a better idea about the possible risks that are related to the decision thus protecting the organization from any harmful situation.
The Role of the Manager in an Organization
Importance of management in an organization: the term management is directly related with the role of manager. The manager is the person who is responsible for the proper management system in an organization. The well maintenance and proper structuring of an organization is completely dependent on the management system of the organization. It helps the organization to reach the goal successfully. The management system in an organization makes sure to arrange the factors for production, assemble and organize the resources, integrates them in an effective manner to achieve goals. This would help the organization to save time, money and effort (Cianci et al., 2014). The entire process of management includes planning, organizing, staffing, leading and directing an organization in the desired path that helps them to achieve their goal. The management system in an organization gets the workers together thus motivating and encouraging them to work together in an efficient manner. The efficiency in management will get reflected to the behaviour of the workers who are working for the organization. The term management is responsible for creating a better scope for the business to grow and expand in an effective manner (Ferrell&Fraedrich, 2015).
Importance of personality in decision making- the ethics in an individual help them to understand between the right and wrong decision that they are taking. The decision that the manager is taking in the organization has to make sure that they are following by the ethics and culture of the company. The decision that are taken by the individual must follow by the moral of the company and must be influenced by the culture of the organization. This judgement can be easily done with the help of ethics (Ferrell&Fraedrich, 2015). The ethical behaviour and corporate concerns helps the organization in various ways such as: they attract the customers towards the firm and thus there is a rise in sale and profit of the company. Attract the employees and give them a better reason to stay with the company. Attract the investors to stay in the company and keep the share price high hence protecting the business from takeovers. The large business organization that has already made a fame in the market has to maintain their own ethics to keep up their reputation in the market. The companies who have loyal customers only for their brad quality and personal ethics maintenance must follow by their ethics to keep up their position in the market. If these companies lose their reputation in the market, the popularity that they had achieved among the users will be lost and thus they will have the similar position in the market (Singhapakdi et al., 2013). The business organization that are not following any ethical codes or carrying out any responsibility will face wider consequences that will have a negative impact in the business profit and sale in the market. Thus it is very important to maintain ethics in the organization.
The five dimensions that are used to identify the measures of the effectiveness of ethical decision making are :
Extraversion Vs introversion: the manager must be extrovert who will be able to communicate and mix with the workers who are working under him. The manager should build a relation with them to create a bond and convince them to work efficiently. Thus to manage the workers and convince them to work to meet the target the manager has to be extrovert.
Agreeableness Vs antagonism: the manager must know where to agree and where he should be saying a ‘no’. it will not be a fruitful work to agree to each and every decision of the employees or other officials. However, at the same time the managers are expected to make an ethical choice to the options and then agree to the fact.
Conscientiousness Vs lack of direction: the manger si expected to be conscientious about the decisions and selections that he will be taking to improve, manage and coordinate the workers and run the company. The behaviour of the manager will determine the scope for company to explore and expand.
Neuroticism Vs emotional stability: the manager must have an emotional stability. He should be able to decide and select based on practical factors instead of making personal choices. Thus, the emotional stability is highly required for a manager to make ethical decision and proper selection.
Openness Vs closeness to experience: the manager who has to deal with the co workers and the clients must make sure that he is open and free to communicate with the workers and understand their demands and requirement. Based on the requirements the manager has to take decisions. Thus, the ethical decision-making is highly dependent on the nature of the manager..
If I am considered to be a manager in some organization then I have to consider few steps that I must implement in my behaviour. Being a person, I am less talkative and tend to stay aloof from others. I am sincere with my job role and works however; there are few considerations that I must take up to become an efficient manager. I need to become more bold and strong in order to develop the perfect managerial skills in myself. As a person, I have to be more open and emotionally stable. I do agree with others decision but I have to be more careful to take beneficial decisions for the organization and make a change in the system. I am self -dependant person who remains firm with decision making however, at adverse situations I take help and considerations from others to make the proper decision for myself. This will help me to take accurate decision for the organization and maintain my bonding with my co -workers. I have very scope for conflicting with others and my tendency for cooperation is extremely strong. This means that when it comes to group work then I will be able to work efficiently with my co workers.
The plan that can develop skills and ability in the manager to make them capable of taking ethical decisions are as follow:Fact
Reviewing the fact |
v Gathering of the facts v Assumption of fact, motivation, action v Providing reasonable benefit about the fact. |
|
Resources |
Using of available resources |
v Discussing the issue with the manager v Taking legal, ethical, HR to resolve issues. v Researching the blue book and relevant policies. v Contacting the ethical helpline. |
Issues |
Consideration of the issues |
v Confidence in identifying the issues that would affect the decision v Complete understanding of the issues v Consideration of issue form every side and perspective v Assuring if there is any requirement for subject matter expert for understanding the issue. |
Options |
Thought about the options carefully |
v Consideration of all the different possible courses of action that the decision maker might take. v Balancing the need for a quick action form the one who are available v Confident about choosing the best course v Seeking help from the subject matter expert where needed. |
Consequences |
Consideration of the consequences |
v Thinking about the consequences of the action that the decision maker is planning to take. v Considering how the choice will affect the stake holders in the decision making. v Considering how the action would affect the other people present in the organization. v Thinking of addressing the people. |
Time test |
Whether the decision stand the test of time |
v The decision maker must be confident to explain the action if it becomes public v Considering whether the decision making is too close to the line or not v Whether the decision is grounded in a basic case v Looking back on the decision and believing that whether the decision was correct or not. |
Figure: Table that shows the required developing skills for ethical decision making
Source: Author
Thus it can be said that this chart can be followed by the decision maker or the manager to take ethical decision in the organization. He has to consider all the vital areas before taking the decision. The area that has been discussed must have a reply yes to make the decision ethically sound, however if the decision is no then the decision maker must stop there immediately and reconsider the elements carefully before proceeding (Cianci et al., 2014). This chart must be maintained by every manager in an organization to make justified and ethical decision that will help the organization to make necessary decisions that would benefit the organization.
A common approach fir decision making is creating systems that are designed to support managers by making things more objective. The managers are considered to be effective of their decisions are highly benefitting the organization and making beneficial changes to the organization. The information that are available with the help of technology and recent trends helps the manager with valid source and information that effects the decision making standard of the organization. The manager has to find the difference between the scope of success and failures to make sure that the decision that they are taking are valid and has a proper result after this. However it is expected that if a manager is following the above mention skills to develop their decision making strategy then they can be assured a success in their work life. They will have a higher scope of success and the risk of failure will be reduced for such cases.
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded with this thought that the use of proper skill and strategy will help the manager to take proper decision that will benefit the organization. The organization is always dependent on the manager who is supposed to take care of the decisions and steps taken by the organization and maintain them accordingly.The analysis was undertaken to understand the importance of ethical decision making in an organization. the study has mainly focused on the fact that the decision making by the manager is the core centre as the manager is the heart of the organization and it is very important to understand the importance of decision making for him. However before considering the organization, the manager must consider his own strategies. The decision making skills of a manager must be accurate and proper and thus it will help the organization to grow further and achieve the goals. Thus the discussion can be concluded with this thought that the use of strategic and ethical decision making strategy the manager can develop the organization.After completion of the study the final conclusion that was learnt from the study was that the manager who forms the core centre of the organization plays an important role and they must assure a proper maintenance of the organization through their decision making skills. The need for proper decision making strategy and its consequences has been discussed in the study and how it effects the organization.
References:
Cianci, A. M., Hannah, S. T., Roberts, R. P., &Tsakumis, G. T. (2014). The effects of authentic leadership on followers’ ethical decision-making in the face of temptation: An experimental study. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(3), 581-594.
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Crossan, M., Mazutis, D., &Seijts, G. (2013). In search of virtue: The role of virtues, values and character strengths in ethical decision making. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(4), 567-581.
Ferrell, O. C., &Fraedrich, J. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson Education.
Ford, R. C., & Richardson, W. D. (2013). Ethical decision making: A review of the empirical literature. In Citation classics from the Journal of Business Ethics (pp. 19-44). Springer, Dordrecht.
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Singhapakdi, A., Vitell, S. J., Lee, D. J., Nisius, A. M., & Grace, B. Y. (2013). The influence of love of money and religiosity on ethical decision-making in marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 114(1), 183-191.
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