Essay In Organisational Communication

1.   Unethical organisational behaviour has become a recurring theme in corporate life.   How can organisations understand and address this trend?   Incorporate a discussion on organisational rhetoric and corporate responsibility in your answer?

INTRODUCTION

In spite of the trend for organisations to adhere to corporate social responsibility, unethical behaviour remains a continual feature of the modern day workplace.   Unethical behaviour is an important topic for consideration as suggested by Crane & Matten (2004, pp.13), whereby "business malpractices have the potential to inflict enormous harm on individuals, on communities and on the environment".   This essay analyses the foundation for the continued occurrence of ethical infractions within the organisation and how these occurrences can be understood and countered by management.   The essay will also incorporate a discussion on organisational rhetoric and corporate responsibility within the workplace.   To understand the true meaning of corporate responsibility, there must first be an understanding of how organisations incorporate ethical behaviour throughout all levels.

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOUR

The ethical debate has become an important issue for modern organisations as they face the inherent conflicts between the goals of profit maximisation and social responsibility, Vickers (2005, pp. 26-32).   Ethics have been described as a set of moral principles or values of people or society, which informs them of what is good and bad, right and wrong, and which influence how people act and behave.   Petrick and Quinn (1997, pp. 89) suggest that ethics is the study of individual and collective moral awareness, judgement, character and conduct, and argue it involves taking one step back in order to reflect on these underlying principles, decisions and problems. Ethics can also be described as a set of standards of behaviour which must be applied to a particular profession, Francis (2000, pp. 276).

Management...