Organizational Behavior Trends
Increasingly two major factors are influencing corporate decisions makers. The first is a reenergized campaign for corporate ethics. The second is technology and work-related stress. This paper describes why these trends are occurring and the results on how decision makers behave. It then concludes with an assessment of whether ethics and technology pull the manager in two different directions.
The long held notion that companies will profit from unethical behavior is now being dispelled. Many research studies such as those conducted by the Institute of Business Ethics, a promoter of corporate ethical best practice, have shown that companies with a clear commitment to ethical conduct outperform those which do not (Webley and More). The Institute of Business Ethics carried out its research on large companies in the United Kingdom, studying those with a demonstrable commitment to ethical behavior through having a published code of business ethics, and those without. The Institute analyzed four indicators of business success, economic value added (EVA), market value added (MVA), price/earnings ratio volatility (P/E ratio), and return on capital employed (ROCE) over a five-year time period from 1997 -2001. The research concluded that:
On EVA, the sample of companies with codes outperformed those without over a four-year period.
On MVA, the performance gap was even more marked.
On P/E Ratio, the more demonstrable ethical companies showed far less volatility than the remainder
On ROCE, companies with codes underperformed those without between 1997 and 1999. Between 1999 and 2001, however, the trend was reversed, and ethical companies were clearly superior performers.
New government regulations, particularly in the United States, are forcing companies...
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now