This view holds the acceptance of the differences of ethical standard among cultures. They believe that individual have their own perceptions on ethical standard related to their culture values (Forsyth, 1980); therefore, we do not have any right to say whether others’ standards are right or wrong. There is no universal standard to be applied to everyone at all times. As long as the individual believes that standard is accepted and right, it could be a standard for the individual.
Published in Chapter:
Ethical Decision Making: A Critical Assessment and an Integrated Model
Norizah Mustamil (Curtin University of Technology, Australia) and Mohammed Quaddus (Curtin University of Technology, Australia)
Copyright: © 2008
|Pages: 7
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-843-7.ch036
Abstract
Studies have shown that organizations are putting more effort in enforcing the ethical practices in their decision making activities (Janet, Armen, & Ted, 2001). An increasing number of models have also been proposed that have attempted to explore and explain various philosophical approaches to ethical decision making behaviour. In addition, many empirical studies have been presented in various scholarly journals focusing on this subject with the aim of putting theory into practice (O’Fallon & Butterfield, 2005). Nevertheless, unethical practices including fraud, corruption, and bribery continue to be reported (Trevino & Victor, 1992). Bartlett (2003) claims that there is a large gap between theory and practice in ethical decision making research, as existing models are trapped either in undersocialized view (focus on individual factors only) or oversocialized view (focus on situational factor only). Development of a theoretical framework in the ethical decision making area has proven to be very challenging due to the multitude of complex and varied factors that contribute to ethical behaviour. This article attempts to contribute in this challenging area by reviewing and examining the major existing models and presenting an integrated model of ethical decision making model.