Dealing with Unethical Behavior

Unethical behavior can have a devastating impact on an organization. When inappropriate actions occur, leaders must aid the employee to take corrective steps. The action taken by leaders will vary with the degree of infraction. Corrective initiatives may mean counseling or may mean dismissal. However, corrective behavior begins with leadership and the creation of an ethical work environment.

There can be many reasons for unethical behavior, but there is no excuse that is acceptable for placing an organization’s stakeholders, especially patients, and the organization itself at risk. This is a time of high sensitivity to unethical behavior. The media has covered many stories of individuals who have been hurt by trusted industry leaders who have acted unethically.

An employee can behave unethically personally and or professionally. Both can have an impact on the organization, but managers must tread carefully when correcting personal behavior. Personal illegal behavior can not be harbored or covered up and needs to be addressed. Failure to do so puts the organization at risk and gives the appearance of an environment that supports such behavior.

One of the most important steps leaders need to take is the creation of an ethical culture of behavior. (Applebaum, 2006) Developing a highly ethical environment will produce employees who are unwilling to accept compromise and will be more likely to stand up for high moral standards. Accountability is a strong deterrent and will help stabilize unhealthy behavior.

Creation of a healthy ethical environment begins with leadership. (Wimbush, 1999) Managers who do not lead in this area will lack credibility in times when there must be correction of employees. Continual communication with employees is vital. This will open the door for employees to ask questions and avoid potential problems. However, it will also open the door for employees to understand the manager better.

If unethical behavior does occur the first step is to gain all of the facts and counsel the employee. There should be documentation of the discussion and a comment of resolution. Follow-up monitoring should occur in a supportive environment. For more egregious acts, or if unethical actions continue, the employee should be reprimanded and the ethics committee may need to be made aware of the incident.

If the behavior is deviant and is of a nature worthy of dismissal, the employee needs to be fired. Care needs to be taken in providing all employees with a consistent message that ethical behavior is very important to an organization. This begins with leadership, and then trickles down. Organizational policy and procedure must be followed and leadership needs to be in consistent communication with department managers in order to maintain the organization’s journey to attain the set goals.


References:

Appelbaum, S. H., (September, 2006), Diagnosis and Remedies for Deviant Workplace Behaviors, Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 9, 2, 14-21.

Wimbush, J. C., (February, 1999), The effect of cognitive moral development and supervisory influence on subordinates ethical behavior, Journal of Business Ethics, 4, 2, 383-396.