ADMS 2320 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Organisation Climate, Professional Code Of Quebec
30 Apr 2018
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ADMS 2320 Lecture 1 Notes – Ethical Work Climate
Introduction
• Over time, the ethical work climate (EWC), or the shared concept of right and wrong
behaviour in the workplace, develops as part of the organizational climate.
• The ethical climate reflects the true values of the organization and shapes the ethical
decision-making of its members.
• Researchers have developed ethical climate theory (ECT) and the ethical climate index
(ECI) to categorize and measure the ethical dimensions of organizational cultures.
• Of the nine identified climate categories, five have been found to be most prevalent in
organizations
• Instrumental, caring, independence, law and code, and rules.
• Each explains the general mindset, expectations, and values of the managers and
employees in relation to their organization.
• For instance, in an instrumental ethical climate, managers may frame their decision
making around the assumption that employees (and companies) are motivated by self-
interest (egoistic).
• Conversely, in a caring climate, managers may operate under the expectation that their
decisions will positively affect the greatest number of stakeholders (employees,
customers, suppliers) possible.
• Ethical climates of independence rely on each individual’s personal moral ideas to
dictate his or her workplace behaviour.
• Law and code climates require managers and employees to use an external
standardized moral compass such as a professional code of conduct for norms, while
rules climates tend to operate by internal standardized expectations from, perhaps, an
organizational policy manual.
• Organizations often progress through different categories as they move through their
business life cycle.
