Understanding Ethics in Organizations: Principles, Challenges, and Practical Implications
Author: Dr. Anna Neya Kazanskaia
Publisher: NEYA Global Publishing
Article | NEYA Global Journal of Non-Profit Studies
Year: 2025
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-5669-1676
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64357/neya-gjnps-eth-ds-mk-07
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About the Article
This article examines ethics as a defining force in organizational life, shaping culture, guiding decisions, and sustaining trust. It distinguishes among personal, professional, and organizational dimensions of ethics while clarifying the difference between ethics and compliance. The discussion emphasizes challenges in resource-constrained environments, where ethical missteps carry heightened risks, and analyzes dilemmas such as resource allocation, corruption, labor practices, transparency, and cultural sensitivity.
Through illustrative case studies from nonprofit, corporate, and international development contexts, the article demonstrates how ethical principles are applied in practice. Practical strategies for cultivating ethical culture—codes of ethics, ethical leadership, training, reporting mechanisms, and monitoring—are presented as tools to reinforce accountability and resilience. For scholars, the article contributes to debates on ethics as a multidimensional construct. For practitioners, it provides a framework for embedding ethics into daily operations and long-term strategy, ensuring legitimacy and sustainability.
Key Topics
- Dimensions of ethics: personal, professional, organizational
- Distinguishing ethics from compliance
- Common dilemmas in resource-constrained environments
- Case studies across nonprofit, corporate, and development contexts
- Strategies for cultivating ethical culture: codes, leadership, training, reporting, evaluation
- Ethics as a foundation for organizational resilience and trust
Suggested Citation
Kazanskaia, A. N. (2025). Understanding Ethics in Organizations: Principles, Challenges, and Practical Implications. NEYA Global Publishing. https://doi.org/10.64357/neya-gjnps-sc-md-mt-02
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