![]() Research shows that this can, either intentionally or accidentally, compromise the company safety performance. They too can be disengaged from moral and ethical standards. If people become involved in corporate transgressions, not only the quality of their own work can be affected but also that of others. In exceptional cases however, some people might decide to disengage from a part of the set of norms, e.g., with the prospect of great material gain or an increase in power, they allow themselves to engage in immoral conduct. People normally make their decisions respecting the standard. This leads to moral values and then to a personal set of social and ethical norms, creating someone’s individual moral and ethical standard. Research has shown that this compass originates from culture. ![]() So how can people fall off the right track? People use their moral compass to navigate through life. These violations of moral and ethical rules, corporate transgressions, often are the result of the actions of bright people acting on what they believe to be to their company’s best interest or their own interest. Such self-serving and immoral company behaviour is similar to that of a person. Transgressing companies may for example take unacceptable risks, damage the environment, cause harm to people, charge high prices to customers, deliver poor quality products and provide substandard, insecure and unsafe workplaces to their personnel. There, companies and large corporations are the perpetrators and the general public, the employees, the environment, the government and regulatory institutions are the victims. The perpetrator engages with immoral conduct, pursuing personal interests, to the disadvantage of the victim.Ĭomparing this conduct with transgressing businesses yields an amazing resemblance. Both perpetrator and victim are individuals in such cases. However, obtaining compensation for the damages suffered can be unattainable for many reasons. Theft and extortion are regarded as a crime and the criminal justice system and insurance companies need to be involved. The costs and effort of filing a lawsuit may not even lead to compensation of the damage. Avoiding such intentionally performed damage is difficult for the disadvantaged person. ![]() The other option would be to file a complaint and find an authority with the ability to enforce proper conduct.Ībuse, deceit and scam are more complicated to deal with for an individual. The recipients of such behaviour will most likely choose to avoid any further dealings with this individual. When someone is brusque, impolite or condescending towards someone else, this violates unwritten social rules. Based on literature review we identify the best practices and then propose to include countermeasures in safety management systems. Against the background of morality and ethics, we explore the nature and possible consequences for health and safety of violations of broadly accepted rules. In practice, the associated risks are not controlled within company safety management systems and are therefore often regarded, by default, as a direct responsibility of the general management. This conduct can have adverse effects for health, safety and the environment. In some companies and institutions, the people in charge break generally accepted rules. Not only the managers themselves but also board members, independent external supervisors and government regulators need to embrace these practices. Conclusion and recommendations underline that unwanted behaviour and transgression risks can be brought under control, starting from a set of best practices. The discussion presents a proposed way to include these measures in safety management systems. Our results show that ethical leadership, ethical behaviour, sustaining an ethical climate and implementation of an ethical decision-making process emerge as key preventive measures. The moral and ethical principles, however, can be applied in safety management systems to prevent misconduct and transgression-related safety risks. Our findings show that controlling the risks associated with misconduct and corporate transgression is not usually seen as a responsibility allocated to safety systems but is left to general management and corporate governance. A scoping review method for a literature search is used to explore morality and ethics in relation to health and safety management. Immoral and unethical conduct can adversely affect the safety of workers, the general public and the environment. Corporate transgressions, as this behaviour is called, occur because of the actions of those in charge, usually bright and dedicated people. Some organisations, and some individual humans, violate moral and ethical rules, whether or not they are written down in laws or codes of conduct.
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