Values and Ethics
Values and Ethics
The structure adopted in the organization I am in is the hybrid structure, which means that people can work on different projects simultaneously. The change into adopting this structure has mainly been influenced by a shortage of workforce and the ability of people to be flexible and versatile (Reddy, 2020). The world is evolving fast, and people must adapt to these changes as organizations have also taken a different path to accommodate their business's needs and remain competitive. With the evolution of technology, competent people have lost their jobs, which has increased the need for employees to constantly seek to improve their skills to remain relevant in their specific areas of expertise (Kalkhof, 2020). Machines have replaced work that humans previously did, and this trend is likely to continue with the world's changes.
Additionally, technology has shifted the work environment with the change in how people communicate and information availability. This evolution is important, but what about the consequences that come with it? Data integrity, transparency, and privacy are among the things that are critical but necessary in any organization. This is where ethics and values come in. How are people dealing with their consumers' data, and are they acting ethically? Several moral philosophies may be used to determine right and wrong, but before we consider them, what about the social beliefs we uphold? Cyber security has become a lucrative industry in response to curbing cyber-attacks but is that enough to justify the ethical injustices committed due to technology and organizational evolutions.
With all this, ethics and values have been existence throughout. Ethics and values act as guidelines to the organization on the dos and don'ts. Also, this helps set up policies in an organization. We take privacy and integrity seriously because we know that its violation is also a violation of ethical behaviors, and this does not reflect well in an organization or on individuals. Without these ethics in the organization, the change to hybrid organizational structure and gradual change in technology would result in a menace. Following through, we could say that the genesis of values and ethics were naturally born in society through a need to determine what is right or wrong, and it entailed people coming together and defining what they think is best for the more significant population. God's creation also influenced the naturally born definition of beliefs and values. God instilled an intellect capability in human's external influence (Bishop, 2013).
Change is inevitable, and that goes to organizational structures and their internal systems. With change and structural organization, leaders have become necessary to define values and ethics that govern them. Each organization has different cultural practices, and thus what is most important in one organization may be the least important in the other. However, organizations share ethics and values, and all this is in the bid to ensure that the organization runs smoothly. Imagine a world where there were no ethics and values to guide people on right and wrong. What would that be? The answer is simple: the world would be a menace of uncontrollable people who do what they think their heart desires, but they are hurting people in the end.
Globally, organizations have a common understanding with other businesses because of the ethics and standards shared within the business environment (Child, 2015). Were it not the case; there would have been a total disruption in how organizations work and operate. The global economy is also guided by the standards set by global leaders on how things should be. The world is a big village, and the international business environment impacts the global economy (LegalRaasta, 2019). Therefore, if the international environment is not concerned with ethical principles, the global economy will also be affected. That is, there will be a decrease in employment and other opportunities that would benefit people, and instead, very few people will benefit. Many countries were colonized by greedy colonists who took advantage of people's resources. These consequences are felt to date through capitalism where only a few people are at the top while the rest are in the lower quartile, barely surviving while others are thriving with massive resources they do not need. The economy is about to get worse because people in the upper quartile are working in their interests. Unfortunately, they have power, and that becomes even harder to control them.
Despite these injustices, organizations try as much to work according to the ethical standards set in the community. Unluckily, some companies are hiding their intent by using strategies that only benefit them, but they have put up a different image in the real sense. Wells Fargo's discoveries revealed the company was violating customer rights and privacy by practicing fraudulent deals that set the company at a global high (Flitter, 2020). In essence, there is so much confusion on what ethics and values play in organizations and how to solve these issues effectively. From different perspectives, a practice may be considered ethical or unethical. I suggest that it is important for organizations to go back to the drawing board to understand what ethics and values are in a broader perspective.
References
Bishop, W. H. (2013, September 16). The Genesis of Values in Genesis. Journal of Human Values. doi:10.1177/0971685813492271
Child, J. (2015). Organization: Contemporary Principles and Practice, 2nd Edition (2nd ed.). Wiley.
Flitter, E. (2020, February 21). The Price of Wells Fargo's Fake Account Scandal Grows by $3 Billion. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/21/business/wells-fargo-settlement.html
Kalkhof, J. (2020, April 28). The Impact of Technology on Workplace Communication. Ghostery. Retrieved from https://www.ghostery.com/the-impact-of-technology-on-workplace-communication/
LegalRaasta. (2019, April 12). What are the factors affecting the International business environment? LegalRaasta. Retrieved from https://www.legalraasta.com/blog/international-business-environment/
Reddy, N. K. (2020, November 23). Advantages of Hybrid Organizational Structures. Chron. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-hybrid-organizational-structures-719.html
