Factors that foster the development of unethical conduct within the workplace

The importance of conduct in the workplace is tantamount to work itself. Organizations grow when an ethical code of conduct is followed. Following are a few of the factors that bring imbalance in ethical conduct within the workplace:

Conflict of Interest

A?conflict of interest ?at work arises when a situation that benefits an employee also affects your company.

Following are the few examples:

• ?Hiring an unqualified relative to provide services your company needs
• ?Starting a company that provides services similar to your full-time employer
• ?Posting to social media about your company’s weaknesses
• ?Failing to investigate a subordinate or co-worker’s wrongdoing because they are a friend
• ?Taking advantage of confidential information learned on the job for your own benefit
• Cashing in on a business opportunity that your company might have pursued

Discrimination and Harassment

Workplace discrimination can be taken as any treatment that affects an individual negatively in terms of the job. This unfair treatment is anything related to the job and daily duties that get treated differently based on an individual having any personal circumstances or characteristics.

For instance, in an organization, various ethical issues arise from female employees getting discriminated against and harassed. Let’s say, in an organization, there is a female employee named Tayyaba, who is six months pregnant. She had been an employee for five years in this organization, and when a senior position opens up, she applies. However, Tayyaba is passed over, although she had more qualifications and experience than others did. On asking the manager why she was passed over, the manager stated that the organization needed a person who would get more dedicated to that position.

Tayyaba is denied the promotion since she was pregnant, which is unethical. The manager discriminated against Tayyaba by denying her the position since he thought she would not get more dedicated as a pregnant mother.

When such instances occur, they can result in reputational and financial losses for an organization

Job stress

Job stress is highly effective to individual and organizational performance. The most harmful effect of stress is learning disorder.

Personnel with high levels of stress would have low self-esteem and have weaknesses in work process control. Job stress can expose humans to physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. Physical exhaustion disables the individual and they suffer from intense physical fatigue, which usually results in insomnia. Emotional exhaustion makes individuals lose their emotional resources and causes spending which results in depression and disappointment. Mental exhaustion makes the individual have a negative idea about their job, their organization, and co-staff and makes them reckless of others’ feelings and demands. Therefore, this kind of exhaustion overcomes the whole working system.

Competition for power or position

Competition between employees is an inescapable part of?most?people’s work lives. Whether overtly or otherwise, most companies create a dynamic in which employees compete against each other for recognition, bonuses, and promotions.?

Even though it sometimes serves positively but sometimes, it creates a jealousy factor in the workplace. And that brewed-up jealousy brings unethical practices into the workplace. At Wells Fargo, for example, employees delivered higher sales numbers by secretly creating millions of unauthorized bank and credit card accounts — an unethical path?toward?results that has very high long-term costs.

In the nutshell, work ethics make or break organizations!