Organizational ethics and maintaining an ethical environment through employee involvement

With the promulgation of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in 1991 organizations as a whole began implementing Ethics Programs. Greater attention was being given to organizational behavior and the courts were now able to hold organizations accountable for misconduct with stronger sanctions; Organizations have now had more than ten years to implement their Ethics Programs for effectiveness. Yet today we see numerous cases of unethical decisions in organizations, most of them having Ethics Programs or Codes of Ethics in place, with results of the unethical behavior being as serious as loss of life, trust, millions of dollars, employment etc; It appears that there is a gap between the Guidelines intentions for the nation and their ability to enforce them. This thesis will review the components of ethical and unethical organizational cultures and make recommendations for maintaining ethical organizations in order to reduce the harm that is caused by unethical behavior