Ethics in Organizations: Morally Ethical and Unethical Conducts

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Ethics
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Introduction
In any given organization, there are rules, regulations, and policies that have to be
adhered to by the employees. There are moral principles that each and every employee have to
follow while conducting various activities within the organizations. Employees’ behavior within
the organization is dictated by moral principles of the organization (White, 2001). These moral
principles that regulate how employees should conduct themselves are referred to as ethics.
There are moral ethics, environmental ethics, and corporate culture among others that each
employee has to follow. These moral ethics differ from one continent and country to the other. In
the United States of America for example, they have different social values such as sexual
relationship values whereby homosexuality and lesbianism are allowed. Men and women in this
country are allowed to marry their fellow gender publicly without any fear of being convicted
because this is not an offense in their constitution.
On employment matters, both men and women of above eighteen years old are allowed
employment opportunities in the United States. Also, both men and women are allowed equal
employment opportunities as long as they qualify for the given job (Gibson, 2000).
Unfortunately, when it comes to payment, women are paid half of what men are paid yet they
work as twice as much as men. Employees have environmental ethics as well. They have a
responsibility to ensure that the natural ecology is not degraded. When it comes to romantic
affairs within the organizations, some organizations allow this while others are against this act.
There are also other work ethics that need to be adhered to by various organizations
globally, for example, ensuring that an employee does not take-home organization’s property,
use company resources for their personal interest and also, excusing themselves from work just
to have their personal time (Donaldson, 2009). Unfortunately, most of these incidences do occur

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in different organizations globally especially those that have not laid down policies to be
followed by employees. The aim of this research is to establish what is morally ethical and what
is morally unethical to do in any given organization.
Research Objectives
 To establish what is morally ethical within any given organization in Australia.
 To establish what is morally unethical in any given organization in Australia.
Research questions
 What is morally ethical within organizations in Australia?
 What is morally unethical within organizations in Australia?
Literature Review
Overview of ethics
Ethics refers to moral standards that regulate how individuals conduct themselves. In any
given organization, there are work ethics that employees are expected to conduct themselves in.
For example, employees are expected to respect organization’s property, therefore, they are not
allowed to take any property belonging to the organization (Birkelund, 2000). They are also
expected to arrive in time at work. Absenteeism is not allowed unless if it is an emergency like a
sickness. While on a business trip, one is not allowed to carry their spouses or stay in the most
luxurious hotels while feeding on the most expensive beverages. Also, while in office, one
should not make personal calls using company phones. However, some of these moral ethics
differ from one organization to the other globally (Love, 2001). In the USA for example, work
ethics have changed in that employees had to previously work sixty hours a week before
industrialization but this norm changed after industrialization. Currently, employees can work for

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only forty hours a week which is equivalent to eight hours a day, excluding weekends.
Employees can also be given vacation and day off as well as sick leave. Working conditions
have also been made safe. Employees have access to insurance cover unlike before. They also
have access to bonuses unlike before (Reamer, 2000). In the USA, employees are not allowed to
take office supplies for their personal use. This is because this act is stealing which is unethical.
Employees are expected to use office supply for the purposes intended for in order to prevent the
organization from incurring unnecessary expenses.
Personal calls are not allowed in the USA with office telephone. Telephone calls made by
employees are allowed to be recorded as per the law (Heelas, 2002). This is done for various
reasons which include;
 To serve as an evidence of a business transaction.
 As a regulatory requirement. This is because business is obligated to record their phone
calls.
 To monitor whether or not quality standards or targets of the organization have been met.
 Due to increased incidences of cybercrimes and other forms of crime, recording of a
telephone communication is essential in detecting crime so that appropriate measures can
be put in place to curb this.
 Organizations are required to abide by the rule in order to ensure that national security is
not at stake.
 The recording will help the organization in investigative unauthorized use of telecom
system. This is achieved when the organization's manager or an authorized personnel
within the organization listens to the recording made during the day. By so doing, one is
able to tell whether or not the call made was personal or business.