Management decision-making—an ethical perspective

Engineering organisations can improve their management decisions in the competitive global arena of today, especially for the long term. The main issue is to take into account not only economic metrics but also technological, environmental and ethical challenges. This can be achieved by corporate social responsibility in the workplace as well as being involved with, and accountable to, stakeholders. Increasingly, this seems to be the way forward as it is vital for companies and society to coexist. In this paper guidelines and criteria are explored to relate the ethical dimension to performance management in order to create inclusive value. There is a definite synergy between business excellence and good ethical practice, where the latter becomes a fundamental purpose rather than just an add-on. This is because such an approach contributes to an organisation's reputation which, thereupon, can be trusted and sustained. Thus, a performance-focused management system, in an engineering scenario, is the best vehicle for institutionalising targeted goals and galvanising action founded on high ethical standards.