NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY,

KANGRA

ASSIGNMENT – 2

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

SEMESTER - 6

Submitted To: Submitted by:

Mrs. Purnendu Sharma Drishti
BFT/17/347

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 Acknowledgement

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude Mrs. Purnendu Sharma who gave me
the golden opportunity to do this assignment, which also helped me in doing a lot of Research
and I came to know about so many new things I am really thankful to them.
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped me a lot in finalizing
this assignment within the limited time frame.

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 INDEX

S.No. Topic Page no.

I. Introduction 4-5

1.Ethics
2.Spirituality
3.Role of ethics and spiritualism in business

II. Importance of Ethics and Spiritualism in Workplace: Case 5-9

Study and Examples

1.Ethics in Organisation: Case Study of Tata Steel

2.Tyson Foods Inc. ranked second on the Religious
Freedom & Business Foundation's Corporate Religious
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Index.

III. Benefits of workplace spirituality 10

IV. Conclusion 11

V. References 12

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 I. INTRODUCTION

In the business world today, issues as trust, respect, fairness, equity and transparency
are gaining more attention. Business ethics includes organizational values, guidelines and
codes, legal compliance, risk management, and individual and group behaviour within
the workplace. Effective leadership, with open dialogue and thoughtful deliberation,
develops the foundation of an ethical workplace, is woven into the fabric of the
organizational culture and is mirrored in ethical decision-making. Toward this end, all
organizational leaders have a key role in establishing corporate values and modelling
ethical behaviour for their workforce, organization and community

Ethics
In the light of major corporate failures and economic scandals all over the world,
business ethics have attracted a paramount importance in managerial
competence and responsibility (Ragab Rizk, 2008) because ethics prescribe what is
considered appropriate behavior and what is not seen right to do in living one's life
(Chippendale, 2001). Only in keeping the ethics in the center explicitly can welfare
economics be enriched (Sen, 1999).

Spirituality

Spirituality is the highest form of personal, political and social consciousness. It is

important to use spirituality wisely and well in the 21st century - which will be a time
of bridging ancient wisdom into the creative tapestry of contemporary times. A general
belief is that spirituality is tied to religion, but there is a lot more to it than just following
religion.

Role of business ethics and spirituality at workplace

In the context of the workplace, a spiritual person understands the need to bring the
whole person to work.
They want to integrate their lives and in doing so connect with themselves with the
the quality of connection to something greater than the material world. Work becomes
part of a bigger picture; it is a calling, a vocation and not merely a means to an end. As
part of this process, spiritual persons subjugate their workplace ego to the
transcendent (i.e., ultimate concern) whatever that may be. Such a practice allows
workers to rise above their differences and naturally look to their organization as a
communal canter. The role of spiritual values at the workplace have given rise to a list
of values; honesty, compassion, avoiding harm, respect, peace, justice, forgiveness,
service, trustworthiness, thankfulness, optimism, hope, humility, gratitude, love,
altruism, empathy, toughness, meaningfulness, integrity, responsibility, awareness,

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humanism, inner peace, truth, sense of community, kindness, patience, courage,
benevolence, mutuality, receptivity and being a good citizen. These values are the
manifestation of the four behavioural characteristics of a spiritual person.

II. IMPORTANCE OF SPIRITUALISM AND ETHICS IN

DECISION MAKING - CASE STUDY AND EXAMPLES

In this case study, eight in-depth unstructured interviews were conducted

with the CEO, the ethics counsellor, and other senior managers of Tata Steel.
Based on the case study nine propositions are proposed.

Nearly a century old, Tata Iron and Steel Company Ltd.(TISCO), more
popularly known as Tata Steel, is one of India’s oldest companies.
Established in 1907 by Mr. Jamsetji Tata — a visionary — it is Asia’s first
and India’s largest integrated private sector steel company. Since its
inception, the company has focused on the customer, operational excellence,
employee welfare, organizational leadership, and social responsibilities and
citizenship. Consi stent with its thrust on these dimensions, the company is
one of the most respected companies in the country for its value-based

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practices, ethical and dynamic practices, and competit ive performance. The
name ‘Tata’ has always been synonymous with trust.

Implementation of the Tata Code of Conduct at Tata Steel

The values and principles that had governed the company (and Tata group)
were articulated for the first time in 1998. It was in this year that the
company formally published its ‘code of conduct.’

✓ To implement the code of conduct, the company created a new position

of ‘ethics counsellor’ at the senior management level. He was
internally identified and made to report to the Mana ging Director of
the company for the day-to-day functioning. However, he directly
reported to the group headquarters.
✓ In every department, one person was identified by the head of the
department to additionally look after the implementation of the code
of conduct in the department. These ethics coordinators reported to
the ethics counsellor directly on matters related to ethics. However,
for other purposes, they continued to report to th e heads of their
respective departments.
✓ The ethics coordinators in co nsultation with the ethics counsellor
organized a large number of awareness programmes every year. Such
programmes were extended to the other stakeholders like suppliers
and dealers of the company.
✓ Having succeeded in creating awareness among the employees, the
ethics counsellor organized nearly 15awareness programmes for the
families of the executives. The family members were made to feel
proud that one of them was part of a ‘value-based’ organization
✓ The workshops for the families were primarily restricted to the
senior management levels. The ethics counsellor stated that
implementation of the code was more critical for this group of
employees.
✓ Having organized the workshops, the company looked into the
possibility of integrating ethics in the performance management
system. Every month, one ethics coordinator was rewarded on the
basis of quality of work. The employees and other stakeholders were
rewarded whenever they demonstrated unique behaviour of high
moral value. However, the company decided not to make it a part of
performance appraisal system as the management felt that following
the code was not a matter of discretion. Any proven violation of th e
code was view ed ser iousl y. In fact , on e of th e employees was
dismissed from the company for vio lation of the code of conduct. The
news w as widely publicized though the name of the employee was not
revealed.

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Findings of the Case Study :

1. The early phase of the implementation of the code was focused upon
enhancing the moral intensity by developing social consensus as
issues were also discussed among the family members, suppliers, and
dealers. The magnitude of the consequences of the violation of the
code of conduct was made severe. It shows that increase in moral
intensity increases the concern for ethics in decision making of the
organization.
2. The case of Tata Steel indicates that socialization is likely to improve
ethical decision-making in organizations. The organization will
benefit significantly by organizing activities to facilitate the
socialization of managers. The implementation of ethics in
organizations would essentially mean that the companies would have
to organize many socialization events.
3. Supervisors at different levels played an important role in the
implementation of the code. They facilitated the autonomous working
of the ethics coordinators in their departments. These coordinators
were suitably r ecogniz ed an d r ew ard ed for th eir effor ts. Furth er,
supervisors themselves were extremely conscious of the code. They
ensured that none of their decisions violated the code.
4. By identifying the significance of supervisory influence and
accountability on ethical behaviour and decision -making, the
framework insists on the need for a high level of commitment among
the top-level executives towards organizational ethics. By creating
such higher commitment, it is very easy to surge the ethical

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 orientation among the lower level employees. Such commitment and
orientation towards ethics should be continuously reinforced using
training progr ammes. Appropriate structures and systems facilitate
ethical decision-making and behaviour in organizations.
5. The present study highlights the interactive effect of different
variables on ethical decision-making and behaviour and, thus, insists
on a holistic approach to u n d er st an d t h em bet t er . T h er efo r e,
i n t er act i ve an d m od er ati ng effect s o f di ffer ent vari abl es on ethi cal
decision-making and behaviour should be acc orded priority.
Especially organizational variables like account ability, ethical climate,
supervisor and peer influence, and organizational code of conduct are
highly interrelated to each other and should be prioritized accordingly
for a better understanding of their effect on ethical decision-making
and behaviour.

P1: Increase in moral intensity is likely to increase the concern for ethics in
organizations.

P2: Concern for ethics is likely to increase with the increase in moral awareness.

P3: Socialization in organization is likely to improve ethical decision making in

organizations.

P4: Accountability is likely to be positively related to ethical decision-making and

behaviour among managers.

The following propositions based on earlier literature require further research as this
study could not validate them:

P5: Employees with higher organizational responsibilities tend to be more unethical in

their decisions than employees with lower responsibilities.

P6: Individuals with high self-efficacy are likely to adopt more ethical choices in their
decision-making.

P7: High achievement orientation of managers is likely to lead to lack of ethics in

decision-making by managers.

P8: Output-oriented performance management systems are likely to lead to lack of

ethical concerns in decision-making in organizations.

P9: Thrust on processes rather than on output in performance management system is

likely to lead to ethical decision-making in organizations

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Tyson Foods Inc. ranked second on the Religious Freedom & Business
Foundation's Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Index

Tyson Foods was tied for second with Intel on the REDI Index, which measures Fortune 100
companies' commitment to religious inclusion in the workplace.
"What makes Tyson Foods so remarkable is their sustained commitment not only to their
own faith-friendly culture, but to helping those outside their organization understand how to
integrate respectful religious expression in the workplace," said Denise Breaux Soignet,
director of the Tyson Center.
Tyson Foods' commitment to religious inclusion forms the basis of what it calls its "faith-
friendly" workplace culture. This commitment spurred the creation of the Tyson Center for
Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace in 2009. Established in the Walton College by a grant
from Tyson Foods and the Tyson Family Foundation, the center's mission is:
To make the workplace of tomorrow more faith-friendly by providing current and
future business leaders with relevant learning experiences, knowledge, and
opportunities for leadership and connection.
The Tyson Center provides opportunities for students across the University of Arkansas
campus to engage with faith diversity and learn about the ways modern organizations build
religious inclusion into their cultures. One way that Tyson Foods accomplishes this is through
its corporate chaplaincy program, which gives any Tyson team member the chance to meet
with one of its 98 chaplains — representing a broad range of religious backgrounds — at any
time.
"We're honored to be recognized for our efforts in creating a faith-friendly company that
includes religion as an integral part of diversity," said Karen Diefendorf, director of Chaplain
Services Tyson Foods. "Because of John Tyson's vision 20 years ago to establish our
chaplaincy program, our team members have benefitted from the compassionate pastoral care
provided by our team of chaplains. We strive to treat all faiths with dignity and respect, while
also supporting those who may not have any religious affiliation."
"Since their generous gift over 10 years ago, Tyson Foods has continued to actively support
the center's mission and engage with our programs," Breaux Soignet said, "and this support
has allowed the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace to emerge as a
leader in this important space."

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 III. Benefits of Workplace Spirituality
The most significant and frequently mentioned benefits associated with workplace spirituality
(and thus the primary arguments for an organization to adopt it) include the following:
Lovaltv, commitment, and greater retention.
Workplace spirituality can arguably promote the loyalty and commitment that engenders
retention of qualified and experienced employees, which inevitably reduces costs associated
with training, inexperience, turnover and absenteeism.
Connection to work and others.
Workplace spirituality, with its emphasis on community and cooperation, may rectify the
pervasive problem in industrialized and individualistic societies of alienation from work and
isolation from others.
Superior ethics and virtue development.
Superior ethics and improved social responsibility appear to be a common emphasis among
businesses organized with a spiritual perspective (Chappell, 1993), as well as virtues like
good judgment, self-control, justice, loyalty, trust, honesty, integrity, and diligence, that will
potentially develop among virtuous persons who practice good moral habits (Moberg, 1997).
Performance, productivitv and creativity
“An organization whose work environment responsively supports . . . and fosters spiritual
development will realize heightened individual and organizational performance” (IOng and
Nicol, 2000, 138), profitability, employee satisfaction (Milliman, et al., 1999, 230) and
“sustainable competitive advantage” (Porth, 1999, 2 12). A spiritual work environment can
also promote creativity and innovation (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990), which again benefits the
bottom line as new and better products and services are developed and distributed, and more
efficiently
Job satisfaction, meaning and Purpose, and self-actualization.
Mittroff and Denton’s (1999, 85) now famous study revealed that “the ability to realize my
full potential as a person” was “the most important thing that gives people meaning and
purpose in their jobs” (Pfeffer, 2003, 31). Such meaningful and purposeful work was found to
be a very important measure of workplace spirituality (Ashmos and Duchon, 2000), while
work understood as a calling takes on greater significance (Davidson and Caddell, 1994;
Novak, 1996). Thus the workplace that incorporates spirituality can facilitate the fundamental
human need for meaning and purpose, and the related call to spiritual growth. The common
use of the word vocation to describe all sorts of professional occupations is a small testimony
to that broader understanding. Both psychology (developmental and positive) and spirituality
have observed a convergence between self-actualization, meaningful and purposeful work,
job satisfaction and spiritual well-being. Thus, integrating spirituality into the workplace and
helping employees see the link between their work and their spiritual lives, through beliefs,
rituals and community, should naturally increase meaning, satisfaction, selfactualization and
spiritual well-being.

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 IV. Conclusion

In the context of the workplace, a spiritual person understands the need to bring the
whole person to work. They want to integrate their lives and in doing so, to connect
with themselves and with others in their workplace community. The role of spiritual
values in the workplace have given rise to a list of values; honesty, compassion,
avoiding harm, respect, peace, justice, forgiveness, service, trustworthiness,
thankfulness, optimism, hope, humility, gratitude, love, altruism, empathy,
toughness, meaningfulness, integrity, responsibility, awareness, humanism, inner
peace, truth, sense of community, kindness, patience, courage, benevolence,
generatively, mutuality, receptivity and being a good citizen. Spirituality can be the
basis for ethical conduct in business and ethical business since spiritual individual
shows higher purpose, personal meaning and transcendent values, commitment, job
motivation, increased productivity and job satisfaction in their workplace.

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 V. References

1. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330208249_Spirituality_and_Ethics_A_Li
terature_Review
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327427463_Role_of_Business_Ethics_a
nd_Spirituality_at_Work_Place
3. http://ejbo.jyu.fi/pdf/ejbo_vol13_no2_pages_61-69.pdf

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