Creating and Maintaining Ethical Work Climates: Anomie in the Workplace and Implications for Managing Change

Abstract

This paper examines how unethical behavior in the workplace occurs when management places inordinately strong emphasis on goal attainment without a corresponding emphasis on following legitimate procedures. Robert Merton’s theory of social structure and anomie provides a foundation to discuss this argument. Key factors affecting ethical climates in work organizations are also addressed. Based on this analysis, the paper proposes strategies for developing and changing aspects of organizational culture to reduce anomie, thereby creating work climates which discourage unethical practices and provide employees with mechanisms to resolve ethical conflicts in a constructive way.