The Ethics of Managing People

Having worked with many managers in my current job, I have grown a pretty good understanding of a quality manager. Two of the biggest things that I have learned over my time in my position are, to be a successful manager you must be respectful to your employees and you should practice what you preach. Both of these are ethical matters when it comes to those managers whom do not follow these simple rules to success.

Not only is being respectful to your employees going to help flourish your business but it is also a standard everyone should live by, and not only to employees, but to everyone. It should not be a matter of where you stand on the organizational level of a company or the social status of a stranger you have meet, everyone deserves to be treated with respect. Many managers get into positions of authority and begin to push people around. This is not only ethically wrong but it causes a negative moral in the workplace. In my case, in the restaurant business, the employees are the ones who are running the business and angry employees lead to unhappy guests and to organizational failure.

Another major ethically incorrect trait of some managers is to practice what you preach. I have experiences many people in supervision roles that have actually used the saying “do as I say, not as I do.” At this moment you are setting up your employee for failure or even punishment. Especially when a manager’s supervisor is on hand and you are performing a task incorrectly as your manager has; it is likely that employee will be punished for doing their job incorrectly, when they were actually just doing what they may believe is okay. Successful managers will always lead by example.

Legal Implications

A simple definition of ethics, in any field, is what should be done. Law is the established social rules for conduct; a violation of law may create criminal or civil liability. While sometimes the two cross paths they are not always interchangeable. For example Law is derived and expressed through:

·         federal and state constitutions

·         federal and state statutes

·         federal and state regulations

·         federal and state case law

While on the other hand Medical Ethics is derived and expressed through:

·         law

·         institutional policies/practices

·         policy of professional organizations

·         professional standards of care, fiduciary obligations

Quite often ethical decisions are not enforced by legal actions and matters.  For example, in the case of the Paradise Hill Medical Center, where the 22 oncology patients received excess radiation treatment, the board, CEO, physicians, and management had to discuss whether to inform those patients of the error or not. In this case the decision was not going to result in a legal matter but is definitely testing the ethics and morals of those in charge of making the decision. By choosing not to inform the patients would be unethical but these doctors are not going to go to jail or lose their licenses. On the other hand, because they did not adhere to the ethics committee decision regarding this matter, they could potentially be held responsible and be punished by the hospital or even lose their jobs.

While legal decisions are not always ethical decision, ethical decisions are most often legal. This separation puts those with high responsibility in positions held up by higher standards than just legal standards and forces them to act ethically as well.