'Business Ethics Essay\r'

' inception\r\nThere be decisions made e very twenty-four hours in the pipeline world, some big, some small. The biggest endeavor professionals face when making these decisions argon the respectable consequences they face. each decision that is made is personnel casualty to create an come to on at least one person, noatter the size of the decision. And there atomic number 18 ethical consequences to all decisions. In the following paper I allow be comparing Maslow’s Stages of style and Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral learning with ethical and wrong airs of businesses and society. Both Maslow and Kohlberg stool established a pecking order of either behavior or object lesson development. I will take twain of these hierarchies and apply them to the behavior of business and society, as well as including service-to-self and service-to-others concepts.\r\n reach (MASLOW & KOHLBERG)\r\nBefore we tidy sum discuss how Malsow and Kohlberg pass a role in eth ical and unethical behaviors in business and society, it is necessary to find the set of these theories, nonplusning with Maslow’s Stages of appearance. Malsow presents these stages in a hierarchical format, beginning with the lowest order, up to the highest train. The beginning take aim is physiological require, followed by safety, love/belonging, esteem, and finally make the highest take of self-actualization. 1 In this power structure the first level is usually perk upd in the lead reaching the twinkling level, and this continues along the pecking order. Therefore, the ultimate level of reaching self-actualization isn’t usually fall upond until all lower levels construct been reached and in a gumption, conquered. Similar to this theory is Kohlberg’s stages of good development.\r\nKohlberg’s theory also states that the stages argon reached in an order and one must be reached before the next, only if can stop at some(prenominal) poin t, so that the highest level is not make headwayable by anyone. 2 Kohlberg’s stages of moral development comprise of three levels and six stages. The first level is Pre-conventional pietism (stages 1-2): Obedience and Punishment, idiosyncraticism and Exchange. The second level is stuffy morality (stages 3-4): Good Interpersonal Relationships, and Maintaining the fond Order. The third gear level is Post-conventional morality (stages 5-6): Social Contract and item-by-item rights, and Universal principles.3\r\nFOCUS ON UPPER LEVELS\r\nFor both Maslow and Kohlberg there is a heavy emphasis on reaching the final stage or level. grasp the self-actualization stage of Maslow’s stages shows that one has fully certain behavior, and moral behavior. Reaching the final stage of normal principles of Kohlberg’s stages shows that one has fully developed morally, very similar to Maslow. For Maslow’s stages a person is sufficient of reaching this final stage a nd then regressing dressing to lower stages.4Usually reaching this higher stage is scarce temporary and is seen as peak experience.4\r\nThis could be in a sort of out of body experience. exactly once someone has reached this stage, it usually impacts them for the rest of their life, and they do not immediately go back vote down to lower levels. This stage could also be called, or is cognize as having integrity.5 This integrity is for oneself and for others, including â€Å"a fit commitment to the highest standards of behavior”. 5 This is where ethical and moral reasoning and behavior comes into play. mint who start out reached or have experienced the highest level of Maslow atomic number 18 going to act morally and ethically in their behavior.\r\nThe rifle stage of Kohlberg is universal principles. This stage â€Å"defines the principles by which we strain justice”. 6 To me this stage entitles treating everyone with dignity. This reminds me of the integrity touch in the highest stage of Maslow. In this stage every human be is given equal esteem and is treated with the highest dignity. People who have reached the highest stage of Maslow would not vote for a law or jibe with anything that ca offices some harm to others while helping the majority.6\r\nhonorable AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR\r\nNow that the theories and stages of Maslow and Kohlberg have been discussed, it is necessary to see how these stages play a part in making either ethical or unethical decisions in the workplace and in society. The first showcase to take a look at is the behavior of students have intercourseing in school. This is a common example, but it could easily be applied to employees stealing from a company, or anyone taking shortcuts in life to get ahead. Many mass would agree that cheating would correlative to students with less moral and ethical values.\r\nDuring a submit by Kohlberg, it was seen that 70% of the students on the pre-conventional level have been found to cheat.7 The pre-conventional level indicates that hoi polloi argon not fully morally developed. These batch seem to need moral development, and therefore will act unethically. The people at these lower levels do not have the look on and dignity for others that the upper level people do. Because this is the case they argon much willing to cheat, and fall apart’t feel guilty for what they ar doing.\r\nThis can easily be transpired into the business world. People cheat and steal money because they have no compliancy or dignity for the people that they atomic number 18 affecting. They will not take into consideration all of the stakeholders at risk because of their actions. Take for example, Bernie Madoff and the scandal at Enron. This is a case famous across many business environments, for unethical behavior that caused harm to many stakeholders. No one would disagree that Madoff was a very taste and smart business man. But, because of his actions he woul d fall into a lower level of Maslow.\r\nSERVICE TO SELF AND OTHERS\r\nPeople who have reached the highest level of Maslow (peakers, we will call them), and those who have achieved the highest level of development Kohlberg presents will have a service-to-others attitude. These people are less materialistic, and are to a greater extent socially have-to doe with.8 There seems to be a coefficient of correlation between people in upper level Maslow who have higher levels of ethical development, and those who are in the upper stage of Kohlberg and have higher levels of moral development.8 This correlation also relates to how these people treat those who are around them. They are not self-centered and are instead focused on the well being of everyone around them.\r\nAs mentioned before, they seem to be concern with giving every human being the respect and dignity that they deserve. If someone is concerned with the way that they are treating others, this is seen as a moral consideration. And if they are concerned with how well they are treating themselves, it is seen as a non-moral consideration.8 So, those who are focused on service-to-others instead of service-to-self are more(prenominal) than likely to belong to the higher levels of Maslow and Kohlberg. Those who are more concerned with themselves and have a service-to-self attitude; they are stuck in the lower levels. They are still act to achieve the basic ask that Maslow sets out.\r\nHOW IT ALL FITS INTO AN physical composition\r\nThe nearly difficult part about these twain theories, are what they have to do with an organization, how employers can hold this information to better motivate their employees, and people are going to treat themselves and others within the levels of Maslow and Kohlberg. One of the biggest examples of this, are how these theories can be incorporated into a non-profit organization.\r\nThese organizations would be more known for their ethical behavior than most other companies. These companies can obtain an ethical conclusion by following and paying attention to the hierarchy of values that Maslow proposed.9 Maslow noted that in order to achieve the highest value the previous needs have to have been met. If a company takes this into consideration than they should make sure the lower needs of the employees are being met, if they stomach them to behave ethically. This leads to an ethical culture.\r\nIn the article that discusses this they translate the individual levels of Maslow into levels that an organization should achieve. These levels or needs are financial competence, accountability, reciprocity, respect, and integrity.9 They feel that in order to employees to attain the ethical values and culture that is wanted, the lower needs must first be met. This may acknowledge wage benefits and giving employees more responsibility to begin with. Eventually employees will feel a sense of respect from the employer and will work their way up to level 5. If all of the employees at this company are at the level 5, then they have an ethical culture. This is a way to apply the theories of Maslow and Kohlberg into an organization, even if is a for profit company, and achieve the ethical culture that is desired.\r\n terminus\r\nTo sum up, Maslow and Kohlberg have developed a hierarchy of needs and stages of moral development, respectively. It is possible to use these models to understand the ethical and unethical behavior of people in businesses and in society. There is a focus on achieving self-actualization and universal principles. If someone has reached this level of self-actualization it transforms their identity, and they are more apt to act morally and ethically. In the selfsame(prenominal) sense, those who are in the universal principle level of Kohlberg, treat all humans with the respect, integrity, and dignity that they deserve. The people in these upper levels are also known to have a service-to-others attitude, instead of servi ce-to-others. Lastly, companies can use this information to make sure the basic needs of their employees are being met, in order to achieve an ethical corporate culture.\r\nENDNOTES\r\n1. SADRI, GOLNAZ, and R. CLARKE BOWEN. 2011. â€Å"Meeting EMPLOYEEE requirements: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is still a reliable involve to motivating staff.” Industrial Engineer: IE 43, no. 10: 44-48.\r\n2. Walker, Lawrence J. 1982. â€Å"The Sequentiality of Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development.” Child Development 53, no. 5: 1330-1336., 1330-1336.\r\n3. W.C. Crain. (1985). Theories of Development. Prentice-Hall.\r\n4. Christopher, John Chambers, Guy J. Manaster, Robert L. Campbell, and Michael B. Weinfeld. 2002. â€Å" broadside Experiences, Social Interest, and Moral Reasoning: An Exploratory Study.” diary Of Individual Psychology 58, no. 1: 35\r\n5. Strickland, poignancy Ann, and Shannon K. Vaughan. 2008. â€Å"The Hierarchy of Ethical Values in nonprofi t organization Organizations.” Public Integrity 10, no. 3: 233-235\r\n6. W.C. Crain. (1985). Theories of Development. Prentice-Hall.\r\n7. Emerci, Çetin. 2006. â€Å"THE OPINIONS OF MEDICINE FACULTY STUDENTS REGARDING CHEATING IN sexual relation TO KOHLBERG’S MORAL DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT.” Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal 34, no. 1: 41-49\r\n8. Christopher, John Chambers, Guy J. Manaster, Robert L. Campbell, and Michael B. Weinfeld. 2002. â€Å"Peak Experiences, Social Interest, and Moral Reasoning: An Exploratory Study.” Journal Of Individual Psychology 58, no. 1: 35\r\n9. Strickland, Ruth Ann, and Shannon K. Vaughan. 2008. â€Å"The Hierarchy of Ethical Values in Nonprofit Organizations.” Public Integrity 10, no. 3: 233-235\r\n'