Hrm Mt203 Thinking Ethically

Introduction

Businesses are primarily profit driven enterprises that focus on selling products and services at the best possible price (Guiling, 2013). On the other hand, as explained by Noe et al. (2009), it is also necessary for corporations to take into account whether their operations are in line with proper ethical action (Noe et al., 2009). This is due to the potential negative ramifications unethical actions could have on the future of a company in terms of general public opinion conveyed towards it or government regulations which specifically prohibit particular types of unethical actions within corporate entities. Thus, it is necessary to implement some form of internal control to ensure that employees within the company act in an ethical manner.

Review/Analysis

The the best way in which a senior executive could mentor a junior employee is to lead by example. One example in which this can be seen is in the case of Greg Smith, a former Goldman Sachs employee, who wrote an article for the New York Post where he elaborated on the internal culture of Goldman Sachs. He stated that senior executives within the firm actively referred to clients as "Muppets" and focused more on making money for the firm instead of making money for their clients (Finance Without Romance, 2013) Smith explains that this behavior actively fostered unethical behavior among junior employees and was one of the reasons why he left Goldman (Finance Without Romance, 2013). When taking this into consideration, it can be seen that the behavior of senior executives towards clients and company operations has a distinct impact on junior employees through the process of emulation. If a senior executive acts unethical, it is likely that the junior employee will become unethical as well.

As an employee, I would look towards the actions of the CFO and the type of business culture he/she fosters as a way of guiding my own actions. As explained by Noe et al. (2009), the organizational culture of a...