Organizational Trends

Technology is a relatively new trend to affect organizational behavior. While technology helps a company to produce products more efficiently it also can have negative impacts especially for employees. Stress is the foremost negative impact technology may have on a company. Technology has taken the place of many positions which used to be held by humans. Employees may begin to feel stress wondering is they may someday lose their job because it is cheaper for the company to automate their position.

Organizations can not control every decision an employee makes nor can an organization eliminate all variables of stress in the workplace. However, if the organization provides proper training to employees it can alleviate many of the issues faced by the organization. In this paper, I will evaluate the organizational behavioral trends concerning the influence of ethics on decision making and the impact of technology on work-related stress. The subject of ethics in the workplace is not anything new. People make ethical decisions everyday but are often unaware they have gone through a mental process to reach that decision. An ethical dilemma is a situation in which a person must decide whether or not to do something that, although personally or organizationally beneficial, may be considered unethical or perhaps illegal (Schermerhorn, 2003). The decisions which are considered illegal are often easy to determine. The major problems are decisions which may be unethical. These decisions are often gray areas that are left to personal interpretation. Ultimately, individuals must decide what actions they will take and be prepared to accept any consequences that result from those actions. To help in ones decision making process, individuals may ask themselves questions to help determine if their actions would be ethical. Before any decision is made the checklist tests the preliminary decision with stiff questions. First, it would have one ask: "Is my action legal? Is it right? Is it beneficial?" Second, it would have one ask: "How would I feel is my family found out about this? How would I feel if my decision were printed in the local newspaper (Schermerhorn, 2003)?" Although not many people would formally ask themselves these questions for every decision made throughout the day, I believe we do have a basic checklist that happens mentally before we make decisions. I also believe that in some instances we already know the answers to the questions and no longer need to use the checklist before making the decision. For example, when I am hungry and do not have any money, I do not take money from someone else. I do not have to ask myself formal questions or use a checklist to come to this decision; it is just something I know not to do. As a manager, one also needs to consider their employees when making decisions. The decisions a manager makes not only affects ones self but all of the employees. It is important to remember others and what consequences the decisions would have for them. Technology is a relatively new trend to affect organizational behavior. While technology helps a company to produce products more efficiently it also can have negative impacts