Managing Ethically in Times of Transformation

Abstract

Ethics has taken center stage in the management of organizations. The underlying values of individuals, groups, and organizations have a significant impact not only on organizations but also on society as a whole. In the past few years, corporate America has witnessed what Rockness and Rockness (2005) described as “the largest dollar level of fraud, accounting manipulations, and unethical behavior in corporate history and certainly the most economic failures and scandals since the 1920s” (p. 31). The bankruptcy of Enron and Global Crossing, the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, and the indictment of senior executives from these and other companies such as Health South and Worldcom/MCI emphasize how a disregard for ethics in decision making can have profound consequences at multiple levels. One way for troubled organizations such as these to rebuild organizational effectiveness is through developing cooperation and trust among organizational entities with which it collaborates (Costa & Katinka, 2007; Vlaar, Van den Bosch, & Volberda, 2007) by focusing on ethics and making their organizational stakeholders believe that their actions are driven by appropriate values. Consequently, companies, the government, and regulatory bodies have become increasingly sensitive to the issues of ethics and social responsibility. Ethics refers to the standards of conduct and moral judgment that individuals and institutions develop throughout time (Gandz & Hayes, 1988). Although ethics provide standards for moral judgment, there are infinite workable sets of norms from which people and institutions make choices, which Group & Organization Management Volume 33 Number 6 December 2008 756-759 © 2008 Sage Publications 10.1177/1059601108326803 http://gom.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com

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