Buisiness Ethics

Introduction

Ethics can be considered the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group (Austin, 2006). It is vital for any business to have suitable ethical guidelines in place, especially in the health care industry. To ensure the productivity of an organisation, the manager must have values grounded on ethical principles. These vales assist in leading the organizations policies and principles and help determine how successful or un-successful an organisation is. Perry 2002 implies the evidence of a good manager is their ability to make ethical decisions and to lead the organisation along a path of more moral integrity. In relation to the Health Sector, According to Austin 2006, Managers need guidelines and principles to tackle ethical issues in health care organisations. These managers need to warrant that the culture of the company or organisation is based on a code of ethics to ensure the medical and administrative staff, as well as the patients are treated to the best of the organisations capabilities. Consequently the relationship between the ethical position of the manager impacts the standards of the organisation.

What are ethics?

According to Laurence 1993, “ethics is the disciplined study of morality, which concerns human behaviour as well as the behaviour of institutions”. Ethics is the basis of all activities within the organization; It is the groundwork for everything including the mission statement, values statement, policies and procedures, decision making models, and the code of conduct.

Managers, Ethics and Health Organizations

Gert 2004 concludes that the principles of ethics prevail through time and circumstances, regardless of the Organisation and its issues. In saying this we can assume no organisation is immune from being confronted with an ethical conflict, so it is the job of the manager to ensure each of their employees is familiar with the organisations ethical standards to ensure these issues can be resolved while maintaining its integrity and meeting the needs of the consumer – or in a health service context the patient.

Managers are expected to make decisions and base it on ethical logic – as suggested by Perry 2002. These decisions will assist in dictating how the organisation runs specific activities, and will in turn help create an ethical standard for the establishment. In regards to Health care executives, their decision making affects how the health care facility is able to serve society and the community. According to Gert 2004 society needs health care mangers who will make certain ethical standards are followed as they lead an organisation towards serving their community. To ensure the standards of the organisations are maintained the manager needs to employ policies and procedures including how medical and administrative staff interact with one another (code of conduct) and how they interact with the psychological and physical needs of their patients. In doing so the organisation will be able to treat and prevent illness effectively.

The role of the chief executive officer

The CEO is the “leader” of the organisation and thus needs to have a defined character. Including knowing the difference between right and wrong ways of dealing with specific workplace conflicts, dilemmas, as well as the day to day running of the business. “the CEO must hold everyone in the organisation accountable for their behaviour, and can cease their employment if these standards are not met” (Austin 2006 pg 6). So, it is the CEO and their teams role to hire and