Identifying the affecting factors of ethical decision making in non-governmental organizations

Paying attention to the ethics concept and its impact on organizations’ decision-making systems has been widely increased. one of the most effective ways to entering ethical issues into everyday human affairs is to consider ethics in decision making. the ethical decision-making process begins when people are faced with a complex moral situation, they judge that situation, and then they shape their behavioral intentions. this process is influenced by individual, situational, and subject-oriented factors. in organizations like non-governmental ones (NGOs) where managers pay more attention to decision making, the modeling of ethical decision-making is a special and undeniable thing. in recent years, these organizations have been faced with an upward trend of non-wise and sometimes unethical decision-making. the present study contributes to the decision-making process by developing a native model for ngos to identify affecting factors of ethical decision-making. the human resource and their activities of these organizations are different from the others because of differences in structure, culture, and voluntary nature of the workforce.

On the one hand, decision-making is a basis for all managerial tasks. on the other hand, ethical decision-making is a remarkable and multi-faceted subject in the literature on business ethics. the problem is that ethical principles cannot be transformed into simple mechanisms to guide the organizations' managers and employees. this issue especially applies to NGOs. NGO that is a non-profit and non-political organization and has free membership refers to those voluntary establishments shaped by several non-governmental real people in compliance with the relevant regulations. based on studies on the ethical decision-making process, this process is influenced by three individual, structural, and contextual factors. another research flow implies that environmental conditions encompassing political, economic, social, and cultural factors may affect the strength and weakness of ethical decision-making rules in businesses and organizations. since there exists no comprehensive national study on affecting factors of ethical decision-making in iranian ngos, the current research explores the causal, intervening, and contextual factors of ethical decision-making in these organizations. the ultimate purpose of this research was to develop a native model for ethical decision-making in Iranian NGOs.

In terms of method, this research is a qualitative study of having an interpretive paradigm with the grounded theory for data analysis strategy.  instead of focusing on a linear process, the main focus of the grounded theory for data interpretation is on a continuous sweep between data collection and data analysis. on this basis, the concepts gradually emerge from codes, categories from concepts, and theory from categories. the method for sampling was purposeful, and participants were selected by conducting the snowball technique with as much variety as possible. the sample members were the managers and experts in hamadan province and came from top ngos operating in the fields of health, charity, education, environment, culture, and art. seventeen semi-structured interviews reached theoretical saturation but interviewing process continued to 20, and obtained data were analyzed using MAXQDA v.10 software. In terms of validity and reliability, research findings were evaluated and confirmed by two measures of feeding back the results to participants and obtaining the colleagues' opinions.

Research results led to a native model with the core category of “developing the ethical decision-making” comprised of 17 main components and six dimensions. this model is the result of individuals' lived experiences and their mental meanings of the central phenomenon. in total, identified dimensions and categories as the main antecedents and outcomes of the process of ethical decision-making in NGOs imply that interpersonal factors, along with the other organizational, extra-organizational, and religious factors, develop ethical decision making. 

In the beginning, interpersonal factors are the causal conditions for the initiation of decision-making in NGOs. these factors are created by effectively communicating with individuals, managing them, and team building. organizational factors are contextual conditions comprised of optimal use of resources, organizational intelligence, cultural intelligence, and planning awareness and knowledge. extra-organizational and religious factors, as intermediary conditions, affect the individuals’ actions in making ethical decisions. individual-personality factors, as strategic conditions, are purposeful activities in response to the core category that are affected by causal, contextual, and intermediary conditions. in managers’ and experts’ opinions, the outcomes of ethical decisions are things like positive ethical behavior, positively motivating the stakeholders and individuals, and economic and social discipline. Based on obtained results, NGOs can facilitate the ethical decision-making process and adhere more to the principles of professional ethics. this research encompasses all the organizational levels that are the operational employees, supervisors, and top managers. to improve the ethics in these organizations, the managers are recommended to hold workshops, codify ethical charter, and teach problem-solving and decision-making skills to all the organization members.