Culture, Climate, and Ethical Decisions

Consider the following among the key things your presentation will need to address:

Define concepts—Define organizational culture,      climate, and ethical decisions and practices. Use the academic sources      embedded in the steps or other resources of like quality, written by      authoritative sources.

Identify consequences—Describe the likely      consequences of these concepts for an organization’s operations. See      sample questions below.

Describe culture and climate—Describe and      differentiate between the current organizational culture and climate of      your organization. See sample questions below.

Describe approach to ethical decisions and      practices—Think about the meaning of ethics and how they are applied in      your organization. Does your leadership model them? Are employees placed      in uncomfortable situations? How are ethics communicated?

Assess implications for organization—Assess the      implications of the above issues for your organization. For example, what      does it mean to your organization’s practices that the organization has      the type of culture, climate, and ethics you identified?

Recommend actions—Recommend actions your COO (CAO,      CEO, or comparable leader) should consider implementing to facilitate a      shift in the organization’s culture, climate, and ethics to ensure desired      or improved outcomes for your organization such as meeting its mission and      values. If you don’t see a need for any changes, why?

Use these sample questions to guide your work:

What is organizational culture? How do authorities on      culture define it? How does it relate to my organization? How would I      describe the culture of my organization? Does the culture need to be      changed? How can that be accomplished? If not, why not?

What is organizational climate? How do authorities      define climate? Do people enjoy working here? If so, why? If not, why not?      Are our motivation, evaluation and reward system perceived as fair and      equitable? What effect do such measures have on climate? Do we do climate      surveys? What do they indicate as key concerns? Should we measure climate?      How?

What are organizational ethics? How do authorities      define ethics? How does my organization enforce ethics? Do we have fair      employment practices? Are we provided clear ethical guidelines? Do we      receive ethics training? How do we measure compliance? Do our leaders      shape ethical decision making or not? Do we ask or imply certain marginal      practices are okay? Any past scandals? How were they dealt with? What      steps have been or need to be taken to eliminate recurrences?

begin your work on Project 3 by reading the scenario below. Then
proceed to Step 1.
The case example provided on the video and described below is
designed to set the stage for why you have been asked to examine the
culture, climate, and ethics in your own organization. The ethical issue
in the hypothetical case below is not the specific ethical issue you will
deal with in your work for Project 3. The case example below provides
a reason that prompts your organization’s leadership to ask you to do
what you have been requested to do for Project 3. Of course, other
reasons could also prompt such a request.
The company you will be using to discuss culture, climate and ethics for
Project 3 is the company you used in Project 2 or a company that must
be approved by your instructor prior to starting work on Project 3. If
you do not want to use the name of your organization’s actual leader
(CAO, CEO, COO) in this assignment, you may use Kate Lindsay’s name
and title.
Case Scenario
The day after you hand in your situation audit, you notice the following
headline in the business section of the newspaper: Employees Accused
of Stealing from Company. Apparently, a group of employees who
worked for a company similar to yours was routinely lying on their
expense reports, claiming—and getting reimbursed for—personal
expenditures, including Caribbean trips and four-star restaurants.
You nearly spit out your coffee when you read this. You work in the
same sector! After completing your situation audit, you feel like you
have a good grasp on the mission and values of your company, and
you’d be very surprised if such behavior were tolerated. However, this
article still makes you wonder about your industry as whole.
Once you get to your office, you discover that you aren’t the only one
interested in this story; everyone is buzzing about it. You soon receive a
message from the COO’s assistant stating that the COO, Kate Lindsay,
wants to see you this afternoon. Why does Kate want to see you?
As you sit down in Kate’s office, Kate lives up to her reputation for
being focused and direct and immediately launches into what she has to
say. “You must have heard about the expense report scandal at our
competitor’s organization. We need to ensure that the same thing is not
happening here.” She continues, “I came to this organization because I
considered it to be among the best—are we?” She begins reciting a list
of questions: “How can we be sure what we believe and say matches
what we actually do? How can we be sure we don’t have a culture and
climate that are viewed as unethical and unhealthy? Do we put enough
emphasis on ethical and caring behavior in our decisions and our
actions?”
She pauses before going on. “I’m new to this position and to this sector
in general. I’m clearly responsible and accountable for the climate,
culture, and ethical behavior in this organization. We need to be
concerned about these issues, and I need your help figuring out where
we stand and what, if anything, we should be doing differently.” Your
help? What does she need? You look at her expectantly.
She answers your implied question, “I read your organizational analysis
last night, and given your impressive work on that, think you could
handle this particular task. I’m an engineer by training and I’m
methodical, thorough, and detailed,” Kate says. “This report needs to
reflect my—and, more importantly, this organization’s—careful and
thoughtful approach to these issues. So even though organizational
culture, climate, and ethics may seem like soft issues, I expect strong
critical thinking and an evidence-based report. I don’t just want
opinions. It might help to imagine yourself as an independent
consultant we are counting on for both expertise and objectivity.”
She glances at her phone. “I have a meeting in two minutes.” She stands
up. “I really need your best thinking and good advice on this in three
weeks. Talk to my assistant about making an appointment to see me
then, and have a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation ready along with
a brief memo summarizing your points,” she says. “Also, I trust you
understand this is a matter that needs to be kept between us.” She
looks at you squarely. “I don’t want to learn my questions and concerns
have become the subject of general discussions in the office.”
“Absolutely!” you say as Kate heads out of her office. “Oh,” she says,
turning around, “and I want to see some of your work in progress as
you do this project. Talk to my assistant about that as well.”
You return to your desk thrilled that the COO has shared her concerns
and asked you for your input. You have so many ideas and lots of
questions—but you also realize you are going to need to proceed
without all the information you would ideally have. You know you will
need to rely only on publicly available information and not poke around
in confidential work files or ask others in your office for input or advice.
How will you tackle this project? What evidence will you use to inform
your understanding and strengthen your analysis? What will you tell
Kate when you meet with her?
When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the
competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check
your work before submission.
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1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates
the writer’s ideas.
1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem
under critical consideration.
2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the
issue or problem.
2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to
determine its value and relevance to the problem.
2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or
problem.
2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions,
checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.
5.1: Develop constructive resolutions for ethical dilemmas based
on application of ethical theories, principles and models.
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9.3: Apply the principles of employment law for ethical practices
and risk mitigation.
Step 1: Organize Your Work
First, review the following resources:
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description of the final deliverable
instructions on how to create a narrated PowerPoint presentation
remaining steps to completion for this project
After you have a good idea of the scope of work for this project,
consider how you will approach an analysis of your own organization:
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First, review these brief guidelines about conducting research on
your organization.
Discuss with your instructor any limiting factors you may
encounter as you write this report. After you’ve discussed these
issues with your instructor, if you believe it’s best for you to
research an organization other than your own, please read the
guidelines about using an outside organization.
As you plan to complete this project, consider the following aspects of
the work:
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the information you need
how to get that information
allocating appropriate time to each step
other project management factors that may seem relevant
Keep the final deliverable (see link above) in mind as you complete the
project. After you have organized your work, proceed to Step 2, collect
and analyze resources for your presentation.