The Impact of Ethical Behavior on Organizational Climate in Local and Foreign NGOs of Armenia

Abstract

Currently there is a worldwide increase in the importance, number and diversity of non-governmental organizations. Many foreign and local NGOs operate also in Armenia. NGOs impact policies and advance initiatives that once were nearly exclusively the domain of governments and for-profit corporations, and their humanitarian service has become vital to the well-being of individuals and societies throughout the world. However, with their increased importance comes increased responsibility. NGOs have the responsibility to be transparent, honest, accountable and ethical; to give out accurate information and not manipulate situations for the personal benefit of their boards and staff. They have the obligation to respect each person’s fundamental human rights. In addition to all these responsibilities NGOs should have a clearly cut ethical code to retain their employees and to maintain a productive organizational climate for their employees. One of the essential conditions for proper functioning of any organization, namely NGO is the maintenance of healthy and motivating environment for self-actualization, high performance and creativity of the staff. Unethical behavior can have impact on the overall organizational climate and employer-employee relations. But the most important thing is not to set written ethical codes but also take the responsibility to enforce it. Thus, NGOs must have a system of proper governance according to the highest code of ethical conduct. NGOs cannot survive without proper management of ethical issues . That is why the study was devoted mainly to NGOs. The research aimed at comparing local NGOs with foreign ones to see whether there was difference in terms of ethics and organizational climate. One local and one foreign NGO were taken for a case study. The criteria for selecting particularly these two NGOs were based on the size of workforce of the NGO ( especially the local NGO as many Armenian local NGOs have maximum 5 or 6 employees); the similar or identical field of activities and sensitivity to ethical issues: both of the selected local and foreign NGOs are engaged in advocacy. NGOs are mainly comprised of lawyers who are protecting legal rights in means and ways not prohibited by law. The study mainly focused on advocates to find out whether together with Advocate’s Code of Ethics there is a Code of Ethical Conduct and if it is enforced and managed. According to the findings both organizations have structure-based written Code of Conduct and there is a committee responsible for managing it. However, a difference of means test showed that there is statistically significant difference between the means of both NGOs regarding following written Code of Conduct and management of the overall organizational climate and employer-employee relations. Thus, for the proper functioning of NGOs it is necessary not only to have a structuralized written ethical code but also take responsibility for enforcing it.