Question

Review the ethical decision-making policy in your health care organization. What do you perceive as the strengths of the policy and opportunities for improvement?

Answer 1

Ans) Organizational ethics refers to the responsibility of an organization to conduct its business in an honest, respectable, and appropriate manner.

- An organization’s ethical climate is important because it can improve employee morale, enrich organizational commitment, and foster an involved and retained workforce & enhance ethical decision making.

- Organizational ethics are primarily driven not by policies and procedures but by the actions of its leaders. Good leaders model the ethics they’d like to see reflected throughout the organization. If staff members see a leader being less than truthful and honest in business dealings, then they may believe that they can conduct themselves in the same way.

- An organization’s board of directors and management must comply with the organization’s rules. Creating clear boundaries for risks and ethical business standards provides a framework for employees to make the right decisions.
- Character evaluation should be a part of hiring, retention, and promotion practices. Employees need to understand what the organization values from the start, and this should be embedded into the performance evaluation and reward system.
Leaders should convey, through their actions, that the organization’s reputation and long-term success are more important than short-term gains.
- Leaders should regularly examine complaints by employees and other stakeholders to determine whether the organization’s operations are in alignment with its values.
Leaders can establish trust through transparency and accountability. They should provide open access to information about strategies and performance, keep their promises and commitments, be open about decision making, accept responsibility for wrongdoing, and reward behavior that supports transparency and truthfulness.