The Impact of Codes of Ethics on Organizational Effectiveness

Since the inception of organizations, homo sapiens with their vast capacity for discord due to differences in nature and nurture, have had sustained struggles to maintain the sanctity of the very organizations they create and seek to nurture. The nature and nurture of an individual determine the ethical principles that govern that individual's behaviors. Ethical principles are adopted by organizations to guide the behavior of members. This is so that they display a positive, professional disposition when making decisions, based on the organization's core values and the standards to which the professional is held to the sectors of society which the organization affects whether directly or indirectly. These principles called codes of conduct or codes of ethics are carefully constructed and customized to individual companies' philosophy. Research conducted by Nwinyokpugi and Nwibere (2014), it posits that Most ethical codes address subjects such as employee conduct, community and environment, shareholders, customers, suppliers and contractors, political activity, and technology (p. 5).

In an attempt to give a practical understanding of the concept of organizational effectiveness, Foster (2012) made the following statement: ...organizational effectiveness is an endpoint, which suggests that in order to get there, the organisation needs to have a start point, and has to develop towards the point of achieving the outcome or goal of organizational effectiveness. It's not a process or a system that the organization adopts, but rather it is something the organization works to achieve. (para. 6)

Codes of ethics are some of the most important foundations on which the start point of an organization is established. Hence, the ability of the organization to become successful is in tandem with the ability of the members to follow the codes of ethics. Conforming to the requirements of these codes of ethics then becomes a critical part of the journey towards achieving organizational effectiveness. In essence, organizational effectiveness is predominantly concerned with the organization's ability to achieve the goals and objectives with the resources at hand; all organizations have defined goals and objectives. While having these as a guide, management and subordinates alike have to take ethical measures to ensure sustainable growth and development. Whenever any of these goals or objectives are realized, the organization is then effective in that respect. The authors Bauer and Erdogan (2015) postulate that the behaviors which determine organizational effectiveness are job performance, citizenship behaviors, absenteeism, and turnover (p. 100). They also posit that an involuted combination of personal characteristics and external influencers determine the way in which employees act or conduct themselves (Bauer & Erdogan, 2015, p. 100).

Individuals rather working for a business that sustains an ethical environment. An organization which has the tendency to be ethical has more satisfied employees who are devoted to the company, less likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviors and more likely to remain loyal to the company. In an ethical environment, the employees assist colleagues and superiors and go beyond the call of duty. (Bauer & Erdogan, 2015, p. 98) Impacts of codes of ethics on organizational effectiveness Butt, Butt, and Ayaz (2016) posit that organizations maintaining an ethical culture receives as a reward increased operational efficiency, employee commitment, quality product, customer loyalty, and financial performance (p. 29). 6. Conclusion- ways to promote ethics in the organization The following statement was made by Bauer and Erdogan (2015) in regard to how managers may choose to motivate employees to abide by the codes of ethics of the organization: Enforcing an ethical code of conduct and withholding rewards from those who are not demonstrating ethical behaviors are other ways of preventing goal setting from leading to unethical behaviors. (p.170)

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