ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

Ethical Decision Making



Introduction Nineties of the last century witnessed a profound transformation and unprecedented changes; where attention increased to the role that information plays in our lives. And changing of the determinants of success in the business world has also changed the rules of the game and values and factors of survival. Hence, organizations have begun to focus on new concepts that were neglected before, namely the concepts of intangible and non-quantifiable, and despite the importance of these concepts (relying on team work and to enable workers and the consolidation of trust between workers and management based on high moral principles) (Harrison, 2004).

These ethical principles are the crux of the matter and the essential foundation in the light of trade competitiveness now the world is dealing with a business environment that is far from morality and values, lost business ethics and spread of corruption, theft, embezzlement, and the concepts of trust, integrity and commitment have become the dream in the business environment. Ethics has disappeared in the business and the presence of treason is prevailing (Singer, 1999).

The determinants of ethical decisions in the business environment will be described in this paper. This paper takes the idea of determinants of ethical decisions, but in order to get to this point we must describe some of the concepts, principles and the outer frame and then get to the center of the target. At the outset you must know what is business ethics? What are the ethical organizations? And what does it mean by ethical decisions? Which are the factors and influences and determinants that affect the ethical decision in business? Are the norms, principles and values that govern the behavior of individual and group count in ethical behavior? The answer is when you merge ethics clearly with the objectives, policies and strategies of the organization, it will increase the devotion and integrity of decision makers while taking decisions with ethical values and religious beliefs. The spread of values, customs and religious beliefs, supported the idea of ethics among employees within the organization and hence it supports the decision maker in making a moral decision (Houser, 2006).

Ethics and Decision Making

Responsible decision making is vital in a complex world of business. The sensitivity of this is that leaders must lead by ethical dilemmas in business situations where usually they have to make tough decisions in an atmosphere of interests and conflicts. A cornerstone for companies is their values and practices. This may sound like something very simple but it is not. When the organization faced with crossroads and must take a decision, sticking to the code of business ethics may facilitate the decision making. Moreover, showing consistency in ethical decision making fosters employee confidence in the company, customers and suppliers (Cottone, 2007).

Besides being very clear about the values of the company and the expected behavior, staff must know the mission and vision of the company to know the purpose of its existence and where they are ...