Morality as it pertains to the business management world is commonly known as management ethics. While each company has a different ethical standard, management ethics are largely the same in every industry. In many ways, this type of ethical understanding exists as an unwritten code, though literal ethical documents also exist.

The main goal of management ethics is to treat all employees and customers justly and fairly. It is believed that by following a moral and ethical code, business will improve. When a management team adheres to ethics, employees become motivated and a workplace environment becomes motivational.

When applied to everyday business, acting ethically means adhering to law, competing with others in an honest manner, and performing daily tasks without any element of deceit. Many companies around the globe update written codes of conduct as a result of past corporate scandals. It is not uncommon for a company to update this document on a yearly basis. After a code of conduct document has been updated, each staff member must read and understand the document. Further, all employees must adhere to the updated codes of conduct, and those that do not follow these regulations are often dismissed. Although managers must follow the same codes of conduct as employees, these individuals have additional obligations.

If you hire unethical managers, can you be certain that they will work for your firm's benefit and not mainly their own? Competence can be acquired, but it is not easy to turn unethical people into ethical.

Yesterday night I watched a docufilm about Rana Plaza 2013 accident.

I prefer a less competent manager, competence could be learned.

—g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEbFnAMHHps

I defend the second situation, more ethical. Ethics is learned but has a strong and intrinsic values, appropriate over the person's development standards. Operational competence and appropriate management function are easier to mold with training and adaptation work, are an extrinsic level.

Ethics are essential in every dimension of human life, the professional is highly valued in interactional perspective.

" Hire Character. Train skill" Peter Schutz.

The two aspects are however not mutually exclusive. At the management level, character, and thus ethics,outweighs skill. This is however to a certain extend negligable for the technical/operative human resource.

Try a medium value. Not too competent, not too much missing ethics.

Dear Mahfuz

To bring ethics into our professional practice is that universities need to aware their academics to practice any activities with the utmost care and efficiency for performing scientific and technical skills together with ethical values ​​. Universities have a duty to work to realize their academics so they do not follow a diverted path .

In addition to universities , the appreciation of ethics and morality are functions of the company, and the same need to become aware that the professional must exercise an activity that does not create problems for society in general.

Fortunately , today we can already see that ethics is gradually transforming life in society . Large companies are beginning to give greater value to professionals looking to play , as far as possible , transparent and professional virtuous action.

It is of utmost importance virtuous conduct , together with professional competence , because the market can be fiercely competitive , but for professionals with this set of virtues doors open because they are rare ones who can make money and they can not rise to the head and destroy his virtuous conduct .

Therefore , the union of ethics and competence is one of the great secrets to career success

I would prefer the ethical person as competence can be acquired by the time.

Definitively less competent manager with high commitment to ethics is preferred. Because one having high commitment to ethics in real sense is a high competent manager.

The question is like asking to choose between the Frying Pan and the Fire.

If there is no choice of choosing a third candidate who is Reasonably Competent and with some ethics,then the choice has to be the less competent person with high Ethics.

This is my Personal view,because Competency can be improved by imparting Adequate Training,which is possible with today's Training Tools that are available.

If he does not improve then dispense with him and try to go for a fresh candidate.Else do it for yourself as Self Help is the Best Help.

At any rate the person with Poor Ethics has to be kept out.

P.S.

I will give more preference to ethics because if you will choose less ethical person then chances are there that (s)he may betray you and your company for his/her own profit. Also, competence can be gained with practice.

Regards,

Nitish

Dear All,

It is really wonderful that so many participants prefer ethical backgrounds of a personality. It must mean that ethical commitment is essential.

However, I am afraid that in the real world not the above mentioned opinion of honourable scientists matters.

Please, show some examples where ethical dedication is characteristic for a leader, a manager!

As far as remember, managers are not true knights of human morality.

They can be very “ethical” but I personally cannot actually understand and evaluate their standards.

@Mahfuz, when hiring, bosses look for energy, intelligence and integrity or ethics. If employees have no ethics, their energy and intelligence are likely to KILL the company. So, for its own survival, it's far better to employ ethical people who will serve well.

Gray zone: Hire the competent manager in the bad times and the more ethical manager in the good times!

When it is matter of death or alive, competition is crucial. When everything is going ok, then fair distribution is necessary and only an ethical person can do this task with success.

Why do many of you (@Demetris) see a condradiction between competence and ethics. Are "ethicians" silly people without know how and competent managers always without scrouples and without pricks of conscience?

Dear Hanno, it's because the question is phrased in that particular way:

'Which is better to employ: a competent manager with less commitment to ethics or a less competent manager with high commitment to ethics?'

Dear Hanno,

1. Competence is assessed in this world by the position and the earned money. Money minded people do not care for ethics, they care for money.

2. If our “competent” leaders and managers concerned ethics we would live in a better world. Or they have their own separated ethics…

3. "Ethicians" are not silly people. Competent (see point 1.) managers in most cases are without scrouples and without pricks of conscience. I note: at the beginning they were normal people with human desires but they developed slowly their own ethics in order to tolerate their own scrouples and Gewissensbisse.

Human ethics is important because without ethics can not be tender value because it will not take into account the currency aspects of humanity in some businesses. Competent is important, but not as much as the importance of ethics in the work because there are many aspects depends on ethics.

@András, nice to learn what competence is. I always thought, competence means specific knowledge.

Dear Hanno,

Your version is the classical one. And certainly, I agree with it. I mentioned the commercialised opportunist view.

Dear András,

beg your pardon, I prefer the classical version. By the hand, opportunism must not always be bad.

Dear Hanno,

One should find the healthy limits. For me Goethe's Weite Welt is the standard.

For sure .....A "Manager with high commitment to ethics" because ethics concern an individual's moral judgments about right and wrong. Decisions taken within an organization may be made by individuals or groups, but whoever makes them will be influenced by the culture of the company. Ethical behavior and corporate social responsibility can bring significant benefits to a business as it attract investors and keep the company's share price high, thereby protecting the business from takeover......and remember it is hard work with a focus to system of principles & experience that makes a person competent. Whereas a Manager with unethical behavior or a lack of corporate social responsibility by comparison may damage a firm's reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders due to which a declination in profits can be observed.

Dear András,

Gott und Welt

Weite Welt und breites Leben,

Langer Jahre redlich Streben,

Stets geforscht und stets gegründet,

Nie geschlossen, oft gerundet,

Ältestes bewahrt mit Treue,

Freundlich aufgefaßtes Neue,

Heitern Sinn und reine Zwecke:

Nun! man kommt wohl eine Strecke.

Where, please is here the bad but competent manager?

Dear Hanno, sorry, probably I have affected from "troika", which has been sent to Greece in order to do the 'dirty job' (just for not annoying the european leaders with messy things like cut wages etc). Troika left Greece yesterday...

Dear Hanno,

Many thanks. Fortunately, I know it by heart, I like it so much. I have tried to find its English translation but I could not. I am sure everybody should follow this rule! You can be proud you can use the language of Goethe every day.

Köszönöm András. I like to live in my modern democratic country but also to discuss with collegues from foreign countries.

Hi,

Unethical manager destroy the institute he is leading while a non competent manager could learn through courses and experience .

In my opinion, the best employ strategy is to hire a competent manager with high commitment to ethics. If this cannot be achieved, then I will prefer to hire a less competent manager, but with high commitment to ethics. In some cases, more important than to have a high competent manager is to have a group of high qualified and experienced professionals and other member of the staff with the highest possible commitment to the success of a firm or company.

The question is really about whether the ostensibly highly competent manager with low commitment to ethics is, in fact, a highly competent manager.

If a criterion of competence is that they make decisions that are consistent with the goals and values and ethical principles of the organisation, rather than their vague individual ethics (which is their own business), then perhaps the answer is Yes.

If, however, the person is incapable of following any code of conduct, I would deem them incompetent, regardless of other skills.

@Mahfuz, I am a bit late with response, but here I am! An Essays on Practical Ethics: "From Virtue to Competence"! The chapter Virtue and Management gives some interesting considerations! Also, the chapter Virtue and Competence Reconsidered is very good!

http://academic.evergreen.edu/curricular/mpaethicsandleadership/virtuetocompentency.pdf

Maybe some of you are interested in presenting their reserach on CSR and business ethics: between 2-3 Oct. 2014, the College of Management from NUPSPA in Bucharest and National Bank of Romania organizes a conference investigating the latest evolutions in business management generated by recent economic and financial crises. Special attention and a separate panel is dedicated to Business Ethics and CSR. More details are available on the conference website: www.strategica-conference.ro

There is only incompetence without high commitment to ethics. Ordinarily, leadership exercises change in an organization, while counterproductively a manager maintains the status quo (The Harvard Business Review on Leadership, Harvard Business School Press, 1998), too often resulting in revolving door, high personal gain for a few at the expense of all else. Perhaps replacing the managerial level altogether with self-organization (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41QKeKQ2O3E) instead would remedy this situation.

Also, from http://www.fractalleaders.com:

“Successful organizations in the modern information era will acknowledge this shift in paradigm brought about by fractals and instigate a mass evolution in its collective psyche in order to flourish."

“They will live by values, not regulations; understanding, not subordination; inspiration, not exploitation."

“The most effective blueprint for achieving this is based on fractals which will empower members to function independently while remaining within the ethos of the whole."

“a random process that creates an intricate, defined structure”

I prefer a competent manager with high commitment to ethics. if not found I prefer a less competent manager with high commitment to ethics than a competent manager with less commitment to ethics.

Dear Shafig,

Your comment is highly appreciated. Ethics comes first.

HI,

You might be interested by this paper. We must try to decrease by all means unethical decisions:

Decreasing Unethical Decisions: The Role of Morality-Based Individual Differences

Rachel E. Sturm

Journal of Business Ethics, April 2017, volume 142,issue 2,  Pages 37-57

Best regards