Ética corporativa e a tomada de decisão ética: o código de ética como instrumento de orientação dos valores empresariais

Abstract

The present study aims to discuss the importance of ethical values in organizations and how managers interpret them in their daily actions in order to draw attention to the current challenges of ethical decision making. The aim of this research is to describe the fundamental concepts for conducting the discussion of the topic, addressing as a central proposition the code of ethics of companies, nowadays used as the main tool for conducting the culture and values of the company, as well as main guiding decision making, seeking at the end of the approach, to discuss the challenges imposed on the managers of organizations in the decision-making process. Considering the aforementioned context, the main theme addressed by this research consisted of analyzing the ethical challenges for decision making in companies, where subjects related to the analysis of the types and content of codes of corporate ethics were addressed; understanding the steps of implementing a code of ethics in the organization; the identification of the factors that influence the ethical decision-making process; the discussion of existing conflicts in the practice of decision making; and, finally, to clarify the ethical principles applicable to the organizational decision-making process for the fundamentation of a code of ethics.