Ethical Decision-Making and Cultural Sensitivity in Organizations

This report provides an in-depth analysis of ethical practices within organizations, emphasizing the significance of cultural values and their impact on business decision-making. The report begins by defining a code of ethics and its role in maintaining organizational integrity. The main body explores values and beliefs that guide ethical decisions at individual, group, and managerial levels, with a particular focus on Sainsbury as a case study. It examines how businesses must consider cultural differences in marketing and product delivery, highlighting language barriers and evolving cultural perspectives. The report also delves into the role of ethical leadership, corporate social responsibility, and the importance of recognizing and respecting diverse cultural value systems. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, stressing the need for managers to support employees and maintain ethical codes of conduct. The report references various books and journals to support its analysis.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Values and beliefs on which ethical decisions can be made by individuals, groups and
managers in an organization........................................................................................................3
Ethical organizational approach that recognize and respect other cultural value systems. ........5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Code of ethics refers to the standards that are set by the organisation's which refers rto
specific guidelines and practices in order to maintain integrity in the company. It applies to all
the members of the company to respect each other cultures. Various organisation undertake
various programs and practices by considering the cultures of the people and contribute in
educating by creating a positive environment. The present report covers the various ethical
practices followed by the company , values and beliefs in different cultures and society and the
chosen organisation is Sainsbury.
MAIN BODY
Values and beliefs on which ethical decisions can be made by individuals, groups
and managers in an organization
Business ethics refers to the form of ethics that examines the various principles of moral
beliefs and also help the companies to take decisions effectively. Ethical issues is associated with
the obligations that they have towards employees , customers and also for the society. Sainsbury
being one of the lading retailer in UK has to consider every aspect while conducting their
business. They also have to consider the customers and have the motive to service quality
products to its customers. Every market has different preferences regarding food , products and
even brands. Sainsbury have to take cultural difference into account while delivering their
products in the market in order to run their business successfully. Furthermore, language is one
of the major concern for the company as different people speak and understand different
language and also have great impact on the marketing , brand name in order to promote their
business. Culture in today's context is very different from that of the traditional and refers to the
belief , values and mindset of the group of people. It is very necessary for the business to
understand the different cultures and their perspective(Gortner, 2019). It has been observed that
from time to time , these values and cultures are evolving rapidly from generation to generations
and with the increase in the technology it has affected the culture the most. On the other hand it
has been observed that every company has its pwn workplace culture and refers to the those
aspects in which what values and beliefs every employee possess or methods have been adopted

in order to take decisions. For example Google has its own distinct culture that can be influenced
by different business cultures and technology. The organization understand the cultural
difference and has made efforts in serving best to the society and also maintaining same
environment within the company having employees from different cultures and backgrounds.
The ethical role of the manager is wide ans beyond the the other responsibility when the
consideration is given to the stakeholders . The decisions of the business depends affects both the
stakeholders and environment. The roles of the manager is of the being a moral person and also
the effective manager. Integrity does not only involve honesty and truthfulness towards the
company but also towards the society(Hollihan, and Baaske, 2022). It refer to complying with
the code i.e. ethical code of conduct. The code of ethics suggest that doing right thing and taking
correct decisions by considering every factor which involved the whole welfare of the society.
For many manager , the best solution regarding the confusion on ethics to to specify the
pre determined roles. It is the responsibility of the manger of Sainsbury to uphold the behaviours
of the ethical standards because individual within the company does not have same set of ethics,
values and culture it gives rose to conflicts(Ng, and Sears, 2020) . It is important to understand
the ethical decision making process which help the individual that helps to design various
strategies in order to avoid and prevent misconduct. The ethical decision making is based on the
character values that include the respect, responsibility , caring etc(Zollo, and et.al,. 2018). These
ethical decisions creates ethical behaviours and also contributes in the effective business
practices. It is the responsibility of the manager understand the various practices of the ethical
behaviour which help in meeting the expectations of the code of conduct of the company and
also help in minimizing the ambiguity which helps in successfully achieving the objectives of the
company and follow the positive ethical approaches and serve better to the society.
Corporate Social responsibility is defined as the self-regulating business model through
which the company make their efforts in order to serve the society and also for the protection of
the environment. With the help of CSR programs help in raising the morale at the workplace. It
also help in building an effective relationship with the employees and also understand the
culture difference by creating a positive environment at the workplace.
Sainsbury being one of the leading retailers in UK contributes in the welfare of the
society and community is one of the major stakeholder(Brighouse, and et.al., 2018). The

company has always considered the culture and values of the customers as they have their own
preferences and taken measures in order to served that is best and in the interest of the society.
Ethical organizational approach that recognize and respect other cultural value systems.
Ethics are referring to the individual behaviour about organisational behaviour, the
actions of employee are based on their personal values. They are responsible for influencing on
the basis of top manager to supervisor. Also, it is necessary to follow the ethical approaches in
order to considering the whistle blowing approach in which company focused on employee not
support any illegal practices that can affect the reputation of the organisation (Lord, 2022). That
is why Sainsbury has adopted ethics in order to improve the working pattern of the employee.
The massive problem can be faced by company is related to the brand image impacted, employee
layoff, employee loss etc. are the major causes if company not follow the ethics.
Another approach is related to the follow exercising ethical leadership that is related to
ethical policies and procedures in order to more focus on identify the problem of employee then
improves the value system of the organisation (Gotterbarn, Vazansky & Wolf, (2018). Also,
company should motivate the employee in orders to share their problem so that it can be resolve
accordingly. Leader should constantly communicate with their subordinates about the various
ethical policies and their expectations and should be available to help the employees and help in
resolving the ethical problems that they are facing and also encouraging to interact with the
superiors whenever required .This is help for minimising the opportunities which can be
impacted bad on behaviour of employee towards the organisation. This is putting more value in
order follow different culture that is related to personal belief of the employee. In context to
Sainsbury company follow practices which are related to code of conduct in orders to managing
the work cultures also the value system.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that the organisation has to follow various
ethical standards in order to run the business successfully by considering the cultures, beliefs and
values of the employees working in the organisation by the creating favourable organisational
culture. Apart from this various ethical organisational approaches in order to provide support to
the employees and also maintaining the ethical code of conduct. The report summarize the the
various values and beliefs that support the discussion on the values values and beliefs that
reflects on the decision making of the manager of the chosen company i.e. Sainsbury. It is
necessary for the manager to continuously support and understand the expectations of the
employees. On the other hand various ethical organisational approach is also discussed in
relation to the cultural value systems.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Brighouse, and et.al., 2018. Educational goods: Values, evidence, and decision-making.
University of Chicago Press.
Gortner, H.F., 2019. Values and ethics. In Handbook of administrative ethics (pp. 509-528).
Routledge.
Gotterbarn, D. W., Vazansky, K., & Wolf, M. J. (2018). ACM code of ethics and professional
conduct.
Hollihan, T.A. and Baaske, K.T., 2022. Arguments and arguing: The products and process of
human decision making. Waveland Press.
Lord, P. (2022). Brief of Professor Phil Lord in Opposition to the Proposed Class Action
Settlement in Leung v. Uber Canada Inc. et al. Uber Canada Inc. et al.(February 10,
2022).
Ng, E.S. and Sears, G.J., 2020. Walking the talk on diversity: CEO beliefs, moral values, and the
implementation of workplace diversity practices. Journal of Business Ethics. 164(3).
pp.437-450.
Zollo, and et.al,. 2018. Ethical consumption and consumers’ decision making: the role of moral
intuition. Management Decision.
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