Ethics in the Workplace

Beu and Buckley (2001) state that over the past few decades, corporate codes of ethics have proliferated. These codes have proved useful in informing employees about legal requirements of the firm, addressing specific concerns and serving as guidelines for accepted practice within the organization. However, unethical acts continue to occur, as is evidenced by the recent recall of Firestone tires and the 103 deaths that forced it. (p. 73)
It does not matter if corporate executives are told millions of times of codes of ethical conduct as some still will conduct illegal activities. These individuals are looking to make themselves rich while other ethical individuals are looking out for the good of the organization and its stockholders. This paper will discuss the purpose statement, problem statement, topic background, necessity of study, importance of topic to the field of education as well as the potential significance of the study to scholarly literature with regard to my research study entitled Employees’ Perspectives of Ethics in the Workplace.
Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to determine whether employees demonstrate ethical behavior in the workplace.
Problem Statement

Research is needed to explore the experiences of employees with regard to ethics or the lack thereof in the workplace today. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of employees in the workplace and to examine the differences and similarities of their experiences with regard to ethics in the workplace. The methodology and design of this study were derived by using the structure to establish “goodness” advocated by Arminio and Hultgren (2002).
Topic Background

Paine’s (1994) statement that the ethical composition of the individual defines the ethical composition of the organization is described in his article entitled “Managing for Organizational Integrity.” Therefore, who you are will influence the values of the organization due to the

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