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Top Five Ethical Issues
An ethical issue depicts a challenge that needs an individual or a firm to select between alternatives that are perceived as right or wrong. In management, ethical matters affect private, nonprofit, and public organizations. These issues arise due to increase in complex and multinational firms that result in spread of commerce to global markets. Aspects of culture, languages, and different ways of executing business activities have contributed to these problems in management.
If such matters are not given proper attention, they decrease efficiency among team members. This is because ethical problems tend to affect working relationship between the management and staff. Ethical matters differ from one belief or culture to the other and are linked to thoughts, norms, and customs of individuals. There are no complicated principles to tackle these issues implying that people affected have to apply their entrepreneurship skills to solve challenges in management. To create harmony in a firm, the management can bridge the gaps by ensuring that it is operating by the acceptable terms.
The following are the top five and common ethical issues that affect management in contemporary organization;
Lack of Cultural Awareness
This is an ethical matter that affects mostly the multinational managers. The reason is that it is inevitable for them to handle absence of cultural awareness and miscommunication (Flynn, 2012). To avoid such problem, it is mandatory for the management to prepare their workers to ensure that they conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. This need to be done before employees visit oversees destinations to perform their duties. To handle this matter, it is good for the management to plan for a training program. This is to enlighten workers concerning various cultures and practices they will face in overseas destinations. Lack of respect towards liberal nature of other customs or for conservative purposes depicts absence of cultural awareness. In this situation, managers need to take responsibility by imparting the right knowledge to employees. This provides a platform to navigate successfully cultural matters that affect foreign states (Linton, 2007).
Bribery
This is another issue that affect majority of organizations, especially those that are international and encounter pervasive corruption. To ease the challenge, there is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that forbids bribery. Nevertheless, this law cannot sort all issues of bribes that occur in all international businesses. To evade this issue, the management needs to play a significant role of preparing employees who ought to work in outside states. They can accomplish this by teaching them to interact well with authorities and citizens of the state to ensure that they are secure and safe.
Privacy
This is a persistent matter that tends to affect most organizations, whereby laws differ depending on the region. For instance, Europe has strict set of laws contrasted to the United States that contradict each other. This condition makes it difficult for the management to select appropriate rules to aid in administering their firms. As a result, a section of firms decides to enforce their home policies. They believe that by adhering to their standards, this will increase performance of the company and protect their workers who are based in foreign countries.
Compensation
It is another vital matter to consider by putting attention on the relative compensation levels in each state. Multinational corporations have offices in developing and developed states in which salaries of the two states vary. This issue has become inappropriate as employees who perform duties of same nature end up earning differently. This situation subjects the management to encounter an ethical problem that makes it difficult to decide if it is proper to narrow the compensation gap (Hines, 2008).
Transparency
This refers to openness in transacting activities of any given business. Transparency exhibits communication of business messages that cannot be misinterpreted. It also represents intentions of the firm in a clear manner. Transparency for public firms means that there should be accurate, honest and complete reports concerning use and flow of cash. However, it has become an ethical issue in most prominent companies when they encounter scandals in accounting. For instance, when business managers provide false reports or evade disclosing the right information, this harm an enterprise. As a result, lack of transparency has affected both small and huge entrepreneurships leading to their downfall.
Ranking of Ethical Issues
According to study, lack cultural awareness is ranked as the most significant issue. This is because it is central to running of any business. If employees are aware of their diverse cultures, they work in harmony. The impact of this problem is that it causes misunderstandings as a culture some workers are perceived differently by others. Launch of training program concerning different cultures is a relevant step because it benefits stakeholders in present times and future. For instance, learning about the culture of foreign countries assists in ensuring that members of the company work in unit. As a result, this increases the performance of the company because there will be respect and good relationship between the staff and management.
The second ethical issue to be ranked by current media is bribery whose impact subjects the company to be liable for the wrong action. The significance of this issue is that when there are strict regulations, it will keep stakeholders alert. A good example is that in future, employees will obey the bribery Act by staying focused and check if the company is subjected to risk by identifying those involved. At the moment, relevant measures should be taken to ensure that there is a comprehensive practice that is offered to stakeholders to eliminate corruption incidences at the firm.
Based on the study, privacy is ranked as third ethical issue because it depicts rules that companies should use in operation. The impact of this issue is that it assists the management to evade a privacy disaster by making reasonable decisions. Relevance of privacy in a business is that it enables stakeholders to operate with guidance of accepted rules for smooth running of the company. The fourth ethical issue is compensation that makes it difficult for the management to pay equal dues to satisfy employees who perform similar duties. The impact of compensation is that if it is done fairly, it determines success of the company (Purves, 2009). This can be achieved by hiring contractors to aid in boosting the company. In addition, matters of compensation can be resolved by recruiting a manager to run errands of the firm. This is relevant to both current and future good of employees and entire organization. The reason is that the manager will ensure he is keen with such matters and that every person is paid fairly (Smith, 2010).
The fifth ethical issue is transparency that reflects accuracy, honesty and completes reports of how the firm operates. Impact of transparency in management is that it saves the management liability that arises due to money problems. Its outcome in a business is that it enables organization to operate without hidden agendas. For instance, the management discuss about progress of the firm and how money is spend in a transparent way. This is relevant to operation of the firm because it instills trust among employees and motivates them to work hard.
Analyzing the aspect of social responsibility, individuals and members of the organization are obliged to engage in activities that benefit entire society. Each person has to participate in this duty to create balance for both the organization and entire economy. Through social responsibility, individuals take part only in right activities that creates a positive impact to society. Social responsibility has contributed a lot in assisting leaders of this field in management to deal with these ethical issues. In a business, managers make decision in an ethical manner in securing their operations. They fulfill this by minimizing rate at which government agencies engage with the company and protect its information.
Recommendation
The most vital step to improve the above ethical issues is to apply related Acts in running the business. For instance, the bribery rule will prohibit the idea of exchanging bribes and ensure that the company is operating in a fair manner. In general, the management can improve ethical matters by making proper decisions to direct the business. Managers should also offer training programs for employees to ensure that they understand cultures of foreign states.
Works Cited
Flynn, D. 2012). Ethical Issues in Management. New York: NY, Citadel Press.
Hines, L. (2008). Leaders and Social Responsibility. London: University Press.
Linton, M. (2007). Solving Ethical Issues. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
Moore, T. (2006). Significance of Cultural Awareness. Washington: Sage Publications.
Purves, A. (2009). Working in Foreign Countries. London: Sage Publications.
Smith, M. (2010). Ethical Matters. Chicago: University Press.
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