What is Ethical climate in the workplace of an organization?

[Shaha Noor]

Ethical climate in the Workplace

"Business ethics is rules, standards, codes, or principles which provide guidelines for morally right behaviour and truthfulness in specific situations." (Lewis, 1985). An organization's ethical climate is part of its organizational culture. Victor and Cullen (1987) postulate that once in an organization, employees learn how to behave through formal and informal socialization. They learn which values are held in high esteem, and which are rewarded. The organizational values dealing with ethical issues, those that determine what is considered ethically correct make up the ethical climate of an organization (Victor and Cullen, 1987). Factors influencing the ethical climate in an organization include personal self‐interest, company profit, operating efficiency, team interests, friendships, social responsibility, personal morality, and rules, laws and professional codes (Sims, 1992). Perhaps the most important factor is the actual behaviour of top management; "what top managers do, and the culture they establish and reinforce, makes a big difference in the way lower‐level employees act and in the way the organization as a whole acts when ethical dilemmas are faced" (Sims, 1992).

Source: Emarald Insight