Chapter 5 Flashcards
Organizational culture is manifested in what ways?
It is manifested in many ways, including norms, physical settings, modes of dress, special languages, myths, rituals, heroes and stories.
Describe organizational ethics as culture.
The organizational culture expresses shared assumptions, values, and beliefs and is the social glue that holds the organizations together.
Describe strong vs. Weak cultures
strong culture: standards and guidelines are known and shared by all, providing common direction for day to day behaviours. All cultural systems are aligned.
Weak organizational culture: subcultures within divisions or departments are more likely to guide behavior. It is important to note that weak organizational culture does not need to be “bad”.
Describe the multisystem approach to ethical culture
The multisystem approach involves aligning Formal and informal structures to create an ethical culture.
Formal systems involve: executive leadership, selection system, policies/codes, orientation/training, performance management and decision processes.
Informal systems involve: role models/heroes, norms, rituals, myths/stories, and language.
Describe alignment and misalignment of the multisystem approach to ethical culture
Alignment: all systems are pushing in the same direction (towards ethical or towards unethical behaviours).
Misalignment: employees receive mixed messages about expectations.
Describe how Ethical Leadership influences social learning
Leaders’ behaviors and decisions shape the organization’s ethical culture
- Leaders are models for social learning through observation by many or most employees
- leaders choose the organizations vision/mission and core values
- leader decisions reflect values and can shape culture
What are the two pillars of executive ethical leadership?
Moral person: tells followers how leader behaves.
Moral manager: tells followers how they should behave and holds them accountable.
Characteristics of a moral person
Traits (honesty, integrity, trust) Behaviours (openness, concern for people, personal morality) Decision making (values based, fair)
Characteristics of moral managers
Role model (takes visible ethical action)
Rewards/discipline (hole ppl accountable for ethical conduct)
Communicating (sends “ethics and values” message)
Draw and describe the executive ethical leadership reputation matrix
1 2 3 4 X-axis: moral manager Y-axis: moral person 1. Hypocritical leader 2. Ethical leader 3. Unethical leader 4. ? Ethically Neutral leader: weak moral manager at all levels.
How does the selection system help to create an ethical culture
- hire ethical employees (use personality test)
- develop a reputation for ethics
- acknowledge the importance of ethics in recruiting material, orientation/ training, offer letters
Describe socialization forces
Through socialization, employees learn to behave in accordance with organizational norms. May lead to internalization of norms.
Describe the internalization of norms
Individuals who internalize organizational norms adopt them as their own beliefs, and are more likely to act in accordance with those norms. Want employees to internalize norms.
How do the mission and vision statements of an organization lead to an ethical culture?
Used to guide employee behaviour. It is important that the mission statement be closely aligned with other dimension of the culture.
Describe the role of policies and codes in creating an ethical culture
Formal ethics polices ( often called codes of ethics or codes of conduct ) are longer and more detailed than broad values and mission statements.
- They provide guidance about behaviour in multiple specific areas. For example, most ethics codes address the appropriateness of giving and receiving gifts. Policy manuals are even lengthier than codes and include more detailed lists of rules.
