Management Ethics and Social Responsibility Amid Diversity Across Nations

Abstract

Managers, in both public and private sectors, are likely to face diverse and complex ethical challenges as they make decisions regarding functions such as hiring, promotions, compensation, suppliers and community affairs. Managers who work in a culturally diverse environment are likely to face even more difficult conflicts and decisions since people of different ethnic backgrounds are likely to have different rankings for various decisions and values [1]. For example, people of low context cultures living in individualistic societies are likely to place a higher level of importance on facts or truth [2] like the universalists, while those living in high context cultures that tend to be collectivistic will place loyalty higher as they function more like particularists [3]. Workers working in high uncertainty avoidance cultures are likely to avoid conflicts that can jeopardize their relationships with superiors or colleagues, while those living in low uncertainty avoidance and low power distance environments tend to take more risks even when this can hurt a relationship in the workplace [4, 5]. Therefore, it is important for modern global managers to be aware of such differences in values, behaviors and expectations. They should always act ethically, while also making sure that they are being seen as socially responsible and culturally competent in order to cohesively and synergistically work with and inspire workers toward creativity, innovation and higher productivity [6].