Ethical Work Practices, Communication and Organisational Commitment : Ethics as the Ordinary Embodiment of Organisational Identity

Companies seek to protect themselves against harmful consequences of unethical behaviour through implementing ethical codes of conduct despite weak evidence that such codes are effective. For such codes to have any impact they need to be enacted within the day-to-day routine of the organisation, as part of the psychological contract between the organisation and its employees. This paper explores the link between managers’ everyday ethical work practices and the commitment that employees give to their organisation, and emphasises the importance of open and honest management communication strategies. Data from a survey of 640 employees at a UK steel plant were used to test relationships between role conflict (contradictions among work role demands), role ambiguity (lack of clarity about what is expected of workers and how their performance is judged) and autonomy on the one hand and employees’ organisational commitment on the other. Strong relationships were found between them, and these were strongly mediated by whether managers were believed to be acting fairly. Fairness, in turn, was a strong predictor of trust in management. On the other hand, lack of clarity about what managers expect of workers and how they judge performance can lead to conflicts. The findings show a strong chain of inference from managers’ decision-making processes to perceived fairness to trust to organisational commitment. If managers want employees to commit themselves to their employer, they must act and communicate ethically and earn their trust