The Impact of Calculators on Organizational Ethics - an Analysis of the Managerialism Perspective - Essay Example

The Impact of Calculators on Organizational Ethics: An analysis of the Managerialism Perspective Name Institution Tutor Date Introduction A trending topic in the contemporary workplace is the manner in which technology can be integrated into the daily operations. The presence of technology in contemporary organizations is therefore indispensable. The range of technology employed by an organization varies from simple gadgets such as personal computers to large machines that can be used in the manufacturing. Irrespective of the type of technology, what is evident is that technology does bring about change. It essential to take note of the fact that as argued by Corcoran (2000), continued use of technology greatly transforms organizational behaviour. A significant aspect of organizational behaviour is ethics which is also a component of organizational culture. Ethics in simple sense can be defined as a system of moral principle that impact on the manner a person makes decision. Many business organizations and also noncommercial entities are obliged even by regulations to conduct themselves in an ethical manner. Organizational ethics refer to moral principles that govern the way in which a business behaves. In general, the similar values that determine how an individual behaves also apply to organization. If people in the organization do not uphold moral behavior then the organization may also lack the right ethical principles. Acting morally entails distinguishing between what is right and wrong and then making the right decision (Shaw, 2010). The capability of technology to influence organizational ethics is actually a puzzling question. The utilitarianism or consequentialism theory argues that behaving unethically or ethically is actually a virtue that is inherent and cannot be influenced by other external factors. As result if a person does not behave ethically, it is due to an internal character (Lenssen, 2014). Such an analogy therefore raises the question of whether technology has the capability of influencing ethical behavior in the organization. This paper seeks to examine the manner in which calculators as simple gadgets in the work place have an impact on business ethics. The scope of the paper will be grounded providing a brief background of calculators. Additionally, the paper will use the managerialism perspective in order in order examine the relationship between the calculator and organizational ethics. Lastly, the paper will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the managerialism perspective in understanding the manner in which the calculator can influence ethical behaviour in organizations. Background of calculators The calculator was first used by the Egyptians and the Sumerians around 2000 BC. The gadget was constructed using a series of rods that were held up in a frame that had ten beads sliding on each of the frames. The renaissance period witnessed the discovery of the mechanical calculator in 1642 by Blaise Pascal. The new technology was to finally able to conduct arithmetic operations without depending on human intelligence. As technological advancement continued, more calculators were invented which include; the Arithmometer in 1820, the Curta calculator in 1948, the electronic calculator in 1957, the pocket calculator in 1970 and the Graphing and Programmable Calculators in 1985 (Fabela, 2014). Today, calculators have been designed and integrated in mobile phones and various electronic gadgets. Additionally, various calculators exist not just to calculate mathematical functions but to also to estimate the rate of emission such carbon calculators and calculators that measure other types elements such as nutritional levels. Application of the managerialism perspective to examine the relationship between the calculator and organizational ethics It can be argued that the managerialism perspective brings about the connotation that the calculator has a relationship with organizational ethics. One of the fundamental tenants of managerialism is that technology has instigated organizational change and improvement (Bessant, 1991 and Buchanan and Boddy, 1983).On this basis, it vivid to say that the development of the calculator and its integration in business practices and other organizational practices has actually transformed organizational behaviour such as ethics. For instance, Olson, (2009) discloses that diagnostic tools such as carbon calculators have made tremendous steps in assisting organizations towards attaining environmental stewardship. Businesses can quickly measure their operations in terms of their carbon footprint and then find areas of improvement. One of the most useful models of calculators if the IBM model which is able to calculate carbon emission from all operations of the business and then present the overall effect on the environment. Additionally, businesses today can access online carbon calculators that have been useful in measuring the rate of carbon emission (Olson, 2009). It can therefore be restated that as propagated by the managerialism perspective, the calculator has the ability to instigate organizational change and improvement. When organizations measure their carbon footprint and find ways of improvement in order to reduce their emission rates it can be stated that they are actually upholding ethical business practices. As far as technology is concerned, the managerialism perspective proposes the existence of a technology- organization relationship whereby the key objective of the management is to use strategic choices of how best to use core technologies in order to attain the desired economic ends. Although this view is quite contentious based on the fact that scholars such as Jones (1982) have interpreted it to imply that technology has no effect on people or performance in the organization independent of the responses and purposes of those who have to use it. A contrary opinion is that technology does have an impact on people behavior and performance. As a result, as Child (1976) argues, technology can be used by the management to influence the desired economic ends and in this context even the objective of influencing ethical behavior. For instance various studies have been conducted to examine the impact of calculators in many fields. A study conducted by Schröder and McEachern (2005) to examine Fast foods and ethical consumer value: a focus on KFC and McDonald’s used nutritional calculators to determine the dietary information of the meals provided by the firms. The findings of the dietary and nutritional information gave the nutritional value and ethical value of the companies. The management of the organizations used the measures presented by the nutritional calculators to indicate their ethical behaviors as part of their CSR promotions. This has resulted to an increase in purchase behaviour. In the context of learning institutions for example, as calculators emerged, school managements that have allowed the use of calculators by learners disclosed that they were useful in influencing algorithmic instruction, reduce the demand for memorization, facilitated concept development, provided motivation and encourage discovery, creativity and exploration. Additionally the use of calculators also reduced the levels of unethical practices such as a cheating, based on the fact that leaners were able to compile their own findings. On the other hand, other studies revealed that the use of calculators promoted the unethical behaviour of cheating among the leaners (University of South Carolina, 2008). The intersection between the calculator and ethical behaviour can also be explained using the premise that of managerialism which states that managerial power influences the manner in which technology is to be used (Corbett, 2009). In deed what is evident is that managers have the power to influence the manner in which technology is to be used which can further influence the ethical behaviour of an organization. A case in point is when we look at corporate scandals that keep on arising in the business environment. For instance the Enron scandal depicted just how the management can influence the use of technology which can further impact on the ethics of the organization. The Enron scandal was an accounting related scam in which the auditor Author Anderson manipulated accounting books by disclosing overstated profits regardless of the many debts that the company was experiencing. (The Economist, 2002). The management of the company greatly influenced such unethical behaviour in accounting. In most cases, accounting calculations cannot be done without a calculator as a result the technology was greatly used to implement the scandal. Additionally, recently Toshiba one of the leading car manufacturing companies was also discovered to have conducted unethical accounting practices. Addady (2015) discloses that in the Toshiba scandal, the top management forced the employees in the accounting department to present financial figures indicating that the company was making a lot of income yet in actual sense the company had for years made loses. According to Larsen, (2003) in most instances, financial statements are computed by accountants and auditors, however it is the obligation of the management to implement the findings. The duty of the auditors and accountants is to prepare the financial statements while role of the management is to adopt ethical and sound management behavior when implementing the findings. The two scandals support the views of managerialism that managers have the power to influence the use technology to influence organizational behavior. Spicer (2002) discerns that as soon as the concept of technology goes through our minds it attaches itself with the topic of good and evil. This is actually factual for the prosthetic theorist of technology. It can be stated that the managerialism perspective also supports the idea that technology does influence us to think of evil and good. A study conducted by the International institute for sustainable development (2002) to assess the use of free online carbon calculators in relations to electronic and paper billing examined the use of 18 calculators. The study disclosed that the use of calculators offered a wide insight into the rate of carbon emission that was generated , however a key limitation that was presented by the use of calculators is that it brought about inconsistencies , the probability of double counting and the lack transparency. The findings of this particular study demonstrate that when using technology both the good and the evil are projected. Strengths and weaknesses of the managerialism perspective for understanding the manner in which the calculator can influence ethical behaviour in business It can be argued that the managerialism perspective has a powerful or strong capability in explaining the relations between a calculator and ethics. A fundamental strength is that the perspective is able to integrate technology with ethical behavior as a factor that is mainly influenced by the management (Corbett, 2009). Management involves getting things done through people, an organizations can therefore not perform any task without management. In addition, it is the management that influences the manner in which technology is used to implement ethical behavior. The managerialism perspective is therefore effective in this sense. Managerialism is also effective in providing an explicit explanation of relations between a calculator and ethics in that it demonstrates that technology has the ability to bring about change (Corbett, 2009). Although calculators can be perceived as gadgets that compute numbers and estimate rates of emission and even nutrition, what is evident is that it does influence the decision of whether to be ethical or not. Consequently, managerialism brings into perspective the significance of technology in instigating change which in this case is ethical behaviour. A preliminary depiction of managerialism is that it does not pretend to be a form of democracy. The managerialist society does not pretend to respond to the needs, wishes and desires of majority of the citizens, as proposed by the Marxist perspective. In the managerialist society influence is usually exercised through the organization. The society responds to what the organization can gain in the transaction with each other (Enteman, 1993).This particular perspective of managerialism makes it weak in understanding the manner in which the calculator can influence ethical behaviour in business and in society in general. In most cases, the calculator has been used to promote the ethical behavior in business practices despite the fact that organizations may not support the outcomes presented by this technology. A case in point is in the recent Volkswagen scandal which involved cheating/ rigging in emission tests. Volkswagen is one the renowned car manufacturing companies in the world. The company was believed to have an outstanding reputation nonetheless it was involved in deep unethical practices. Volkswagen released several advertisements that it was selling cars with low carbon emission, this was actually not the case, The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that most of the cars sold in the US were essentially designed with a software or a defeat device that was to modify performance in order to increase results. The software enabled cheating in emissions tests, making the cars to be presented as cleaner than they ever were. Volkswagen cheated in the emission tests for a long period of time (Hotten, 2015). What is evident from this case is that technology which is the carbon calculator was able to uncover the cheating taking place in the company and therefore disclosing unethical business practices despite the management concealing the entire ordeal. Conclusion The above discussion has presented various views concerning the impact of calculators on organizational ethics: an analysis of the managerialism perspective. The calculator has over the years been improvised to suite various functions in the organization. As a result, its influence on organizational behaviour is worth taking note of. One critical prepositions of the managerialism perspective is that technology has the ability to influence change. The paper identified the fact that the calculator has the ability to influence the ethics of an organization. Additionally, the paper highlights the fact that the managerialism has the capability to explain the existing relationship between calculators and their influence on organizational ethics, however significant weaknesses were also identified. In conclusion, it can be stated that although calculators are more often perceived as simple technologies in organizations, they have the potential to totally transform the fate of an organization. References Addady, M, 2015, .Toshiba’s accounting scandal is much worse than we thought, The fortune. Bessant, J, 1991, Managing Advanced Manufacturing Technology. Oxford: Blackwell. Buchanan, D.A. and Boddy, D, 1983, Organizations in the Computer Age. Aldershot: Gower. Corcoran, C, 2000, The Intersection of Technology and Organizational Culture, Michigan State University Corbett, J, 2009, ‘Technology’. In: P. Hancock and A. Spicer (eds) Managing Everyday Life, London: Sage. 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