The development of a system of inquiry to be used in evaluating decision-making, problem solving and behavior in business setting is very important because it can help consistently to control the organizational performance and introduce changes in case of the deterioration of the organizational performance or relationships within the organization. In this respect, the system of inquiry can be grounded on the Code of Ethics, which is a very popular tool that helps to evaluate different processes within organizations from ethical point of view. As the matter of fact, the Code of Ethics is the fundamental ethical system which can be used for the evaluation of behavior and business processes within any organization.
The development of the Code of Ethics is crucial for the evaluation of decision-making, problem solving and behavior in business setting. The Code of Ethics includes the set of fundamental ethical and moral values which lay the foundation to the norms of behavior and decision-making process of an organization. To put it more precisely, the basic ethical norms and rules are criteria which business decisions and actions of professionals working within an organization should meet. In such a way, the system of inquiry is grounded on the extent to which certain decisions or actions meet the requirements and ethical norms and rules of the Code of Ethics.
The use of the Code of Ethics as the system of inquiry is important, if not to say essential, because the Code of Ethics helps to maintain the adequate, ethically correct policies within an organization. In the contemporary business environment, business ethics plays an important role and defines, to a significant extent, the competitive position of organizations. In fact, unethical behavior may lead to the ruin of business. At this point, it is possible to refer to the example of Enron or Bernard Medoff.
The mechanism of the application of the Code of Ethics as the system of inquiry is simple. It is necessary to analyze the target behavior pattern or decision in the context of the norms and rules of the Code of Ethics (Madsen and Shafritz, 2002). If the target behavior pattern or decision meet the requirements of the Code of Ethics than the behavior pattern or decision were ethically correct, if not, then they were wrong. Thus, the Code of Ethics provides criteria for the evaluation of behavior, decision-making and problem solving in business setting.
The Code of Ethics can be applied by any professional employed within an organization from employees to top managers. At the same time, it is important to understand adequately norms and rules defined by the Code of Ethics (Madsen and Shafritz, 2002). This is why, ethical norms and rules should be discussed within the organization to work out adequate interpretation of norms and rules. After this, they can be applied in the evaluation of business behavior, decision-making or problem solving.
Basically, the Code of Ethics as the system of inquiry should be applied permanently. For this purpose it is possible to use control officers who can observe, analyze and evaluate the behavior of people within the organization to define whether it meets ethical norms and rules or not. In such a way, it will be possible to apply this system of inquiry effectively and make professionals working within the organization responsible for their actions, behavior and decisions being taken.