PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT
Assignment 1

[NAME OF STUDENT] [STUDENT ID]

[NAME OF INSTITUTION]
 Assignment 1

Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2

Internal Influences ..................................................................................................................... 2

Peer Pressure .......................................................................................................................... 3

Time Pressure......................................................................................................................... 3

Internal Rivalry ...................................................................................................................... 3

Job Security............................................................................................................................ 4

Lack of Authority................................................................................................................... 4

External Influences .................................................................................................................... 4

Economic ............................................................................................................................... 4

Legal ...................................................................................................................................... 5

Organizational Culture ........................................................................................................... 5

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 5

References .................................................................................................................................. 7

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Introduction

Andreoli and Lefkowitz (2009) states that the progression of time is engendering evolution in
the dynamics of the business world. Such evolution is influencing the business to align their
operations and the business practices according to the changing dynamics. However, Gatewood
and Carroll (1991) establishes that one of a major transformation in the business world is the
introduction of the Ethical concerns which are growing, supported by the advancements in the
technology. The ultimate aim of the business is to satisfy the final customer, which in business
to consumer market, who is getting highly conscious about the compliance of the ethical code
of conduct in the business practices (Grojean et al., 2004). In addition, marketers are being
challenged to address the changing mindsets of the consumers as accompanied with price,
quality and features they are now also about the ethical and moral conventions. Carlson and
Perrewe (1995) further advances that this has created challenges for the businesses to redesign
their operational plans in such a way that they satisfy the ethical grounds. In addition, where
redesigning of the operations and business practices, accompanied by their promotion has
stimulated the costs for businesses, it has redefined the level and degree of competition among
the businesses, further providing the businesses with the opportunity to gain competitive edge
on its competitors (Cullen et al., 2003). For instance, bad publicity of being operating
unethically, may cause a significant dent in the demand of a business’s products; whereas,
business with positive publicity of complying with the ethical grounds to the maximum, can
boost the sales even if there are some glitches in the quality of the products and offerings of
the business (Griffin, 2002). Hence, ethical grounds are being used as a primary marketing tool
to attain competitive edge on the business rivals. However, Verbos et al. (2007) mentions that
an organization’s business practices are defined by its employees who encounter both internal
and external aspects that may influence the choice of behaving ethically for which changes
may have to done on internal and external levels. Hence, the continuation of this assignment
will enlighten the internal and external competing influences on ethical behavior in
organizations.

Internal Influences

Internal influences, as Furnham (2005) mentions, constitute all the internal forces that may be
encountered within the workplace’s setting. However, such influences can affect the ethical
behavior both positively and adversely.

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Peer Pressure

Peer pressure in the organizations can be defined as the pressure of colleagues in the workplace
to behave in the ethical manner (Schwepker, 2001). According to the viewpoint of Adams et
al. (2001) colleagues have an immense impact on the transformation of the behavior in the
workplace setting. Peer pressure to behave in the ethically acceptable behavior will positively
influence the behavior whereas peer pressure to adopt ethically ill behavior can adversely
impact the behavior. Colleagues are a source of constant reinforcement as they set expectations
for their coworkers to comply with the ethical grounds by behaving ethically (Nicotera and
Cushman, 1992). Resultantly, it prevents the individuals to deviate from the ethical behavior
as it triggers social discomfort and the fear of getting socially isolated in case their unethical
behavior gets proved.

Time Pressure

Individuals in the workplace often have to deal with deadlines. Valentine and Fleischman
(2008) mentions that in case of poor time management or excessive workload, individuals get
overburdened and stressed which increases the possibilities of adopting unethical practices in
order to cope up with the deadlines. However, time pressure can impact the ethical behavior
both positively and negatively. A well-managed schedule, thoroughly addressing the workload
would mitigate the chances of individuals to get engaged in the ethically undesirable behavior
(Turnipseed, 2002). In addition, in some scenarios, when the demands of the delegated tasks
are considerably higher than the abilities and capabilities of the individual, it increases the
probability of the individual adopting unethical behavior in the organization.

Internal Rivalry

Internal rivalry in the workplace settings as defined by Ambrose et al. (2008) characterizes the
competition among the employees that are usually on the same position and having same level
of authority. However, the consequences of internal rivalry can vary according to the culture
and the environment of the workplace. For instance, internal rivalry in a healthy and
constructive working environment can beget positive consequences for the business as it may
result in the increase in the overall productivity of the business (Tennyson, 1997). On the other
hand, internal rivalry can be stimulate negative consequences if jealously and hatred gets
involved in the workplace environment. In such scenario, the consequence would be employees
more inclined to adopt ethically-ill behavior.

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Job Security

In the workplace setting, job security can be defined as the confidence that the individual will
not lose his job (Cullen et al., 2003). However, job security is directly linked with the fear of
losing job. For instance, in the case of fear of losing the job the job security would be minimal;
however, in case of high job security, the fear of losing the job will be minimal (Grojean et al.,
2004). Behaving in an ethically inappropriate way would boost the fear of losing job and
deteriorate the job security. Hence, individuals are more likely to avoid being engaged in any
ethically inadequate behavior considering their job security.

Lack of Authority

According to Adams et al. (2001), authority in the workplace is usually defined with the
responsibilities associated with the designation. In addition, authority in workplace is usually
on the subordinates. Moreover, higher authority means low accountability and answerability
hence making the individual in the position to act and behave unethically as he would not be
held accountable. Level of authority is directly associated with the chances of behaving
unethically (Furnham, 2005). However, lack of authority means that an individual has to be
accountable for his behavior which mitigates the chances of behaving in inappropriate way as
it can cause him to face the unfavorable consequences.

External Influences

External influences as Griffin (2002) advances, encompass all the factors that are outside the
locus of the organizational settings. Being an employee of the organization, all of the factors
that are external to the business’s control would affect and transform the behavior of the
employees of that particular organization.

Economic

Economic influences as per Verbos et al. (2007) constitute all the factors that affect the
economy including the economic cycle, the economic indicators such as inflation,
unemployment and so on. However, economic influences can impact on the ethical behavior
on individual basis. Sound and established economic conditions means that the standard of
living is high, inflation is controlled and unemployment is minimal. Such economic conditions
reduce the chances of an individual on lower or middle level of authority, behaving unethically
as the potential drive to act unethically is already been countered from good economic

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conditions. However, in the case of individuals on higher authority, they tend to adopt
inappropriate behavior with regard to ethics, as white collar crimes and discrepancies have
apparently no relation with the economic conditions and atmosphere (Schwepker, 2001).

Legal

Legal influences as per the viewpoint of Adams et al. (2001) comprise the rules and regulations
of the country in which the business is operating. Businesses have to critically comply with the
legal boundaries. The business practices and operations as Turnipseed (2002) mentions, are
being defined and determined as the decisions and policies devised by the individuals that are
running the business. Additionally, another aspect in the legal influence is the degree of
implementation of the laws. A strong legislation but poor implementation may not engender
fruitful consequences for the country. Strict rules and regulations and their implementation will
act as a strong factor preventing the individual to act in ethically inadequate manner. Whereas,
poor and lenient implementation may prove to be an incentive for individual to act unethically.

Organizational Culture

The culture of any organization is primarily determined by the organizational structure, the
working environment, the leadership and managerial style and processes within the
organization (Nicotera and Cushman, 1992). However, a strong organizational culture as
Furnham (2005) establishes, is characterized by the deadline-oriented culture in which there is
a considerable level of strictness in achieving the targets and benchmarks. On the other hand,
a soft organizational culture is defined with friendly and supportive environment (Verbos et
al., 2007). Generally, individuals tend to act ethically in the organizations with authoritarian
style of leadership as they do not have the vacuum and leverage to act in an irresponsible and
unethical way. Whereas, individuals on higher designation in such organizations are more
inclined towards behaving unethically.

Conclusion

The assignment described the implications of behaving in an appropriate and ethical manner
and the factors that add up to the significance of behaving ethically. Moreover, the influences
were further categorized into internal and external for a better and sound understanding. In
addition, the internal and external factors were further categorized and evaluated critically in
which the determinants of each classification were identified individually. Many of the factors

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in the internal and external influences have both positive and negative influences depending
upon the scenario and the conditions.

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References

Adams, J.S., Tashchian, A. and Shore, T.H., 2001. Codes of ethics as signals for ethical
behavior. Journal of Business Ethics, 29(3), pp.199-211.

Ambrose, M.L., Arnaud, A. and Schminke, M., 2008. Individual moral development and
ethical climate: The influence of person–organization fit on job attitudes. Journal of
Business Ethics, 77(3), pp.323-333.

Andreoli, N. and Lefkowitz, J., 2009. Individual and organizational antecedents of misconduct
in organizations. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(3), pp.309-332.

Carlson, D.S. and Perrewe, P.L., 1995. Institutionalization of organizational ethics through
transformational leadership. Journal of business ethics, 14(10), pp.829-838.

Cullen, J.B., Parboteeah, K.P. and Victor, B., 2003. The effects of ethical climates on
organizational commitment: A two-study analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 46(2),
pp.127-141.

Furnham, A., 2005. The psychology of behaviour at work: The individual in the organization.
Psychology Press.

Gatewood, R.D. and Carroll, A.B., 1991. Assessment of ethical performance of organization
members: A conceptual framework. Academy of Management Review, 16(4), pp.667-
690.

Griffin, D., 2002. The emergence of leadership: Linking self-organization and ethics.
Psychology Press.

Grojean, M.W., Resick, C.J., Dickson, M.W. and Smith, D.B., 2004. Leaders, values, and
organizational climate: Examining leadership strategies for establishing an
organizational climate regarding ethics. Journal of business ethics, 55(3), pp.223-241.

Nicotera, A.M. and Cushman, D.P., 1992. Organizational ethics: A within organization
view. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 20(4), pp.437-462.

Schwepker, C.H., 2001. Ethical climate's relationship to job satisfaction, organizational

commitment, and turnover intention in the salesforce. Journal of business
research, 54(1), pp.39-52.

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Tennyson, S., 1997. Economic institutions and individual ethics: A study of consumer attitudes
toward insurance fraud. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 32(2), pp.247-
265.

Turnipseed, D.L., 2002. Are good soldiers good?: Exploring the link between organization
citizenship behavior and personal ethics. Journal of business research, 55(1), pp.1-15.

Valentine, S. and Fleischman, G., 2008. Ethics programs, perceived corporate social
responsibility and job satisfaction. Journal of business ethics, 77(2), pp.159-172.

Verbos, A.K., Gerard, J.A., Forshey, P.R., Harding, C.S. and Miller, J.S., 2007. The positive
ethical organization: Enacting a living code of ethics and ethical organizational
identity. Journal of Business Ethics, 76(1), pp.17-33.

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