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Randall S. Upchurch: University of Central Florida, Florida, USA
Introduction
According to Longenecker (1985), management affects an organization's ethicalperformance by the establishment of priorities that direct the ethical conduct of the organization. He also asserts that the "management process", and particularly the setting of organizational priorities, affects the attainment of ethical performance byidentifying those values which seem important to management. Longenecker's points are very critical to organizational vitality given that management is often empowered to maintain:
- the highest level of services as possible;
- the highest guest satisfaction ratings; and
- an optimal degree of financial return on investment to the organization as a whole.
In order to satisfy these duties lodging management must deliver services that meet the needs and wants of its guests. However,during the provision of daily services, management is often confronted with a variety of ethical situations that can leave a lasting either positive or negative impression with the guest, staff, and other members of management. Undoubtedly the image that these constituent bodies collectively hold is directly related to organizational success as directed by management.
The belief that an organization's ethical climate is strongly influenced by management's ethical conduct has generated a body of academic research that has focused on determining the type and nature of ethical issues that are present in lodging organizations. In general, hospitality researchershave determined that management is confronted with ethical issues surrounding guest rights, empowerment, sexual harassment, equal opportunity, departmental relations, vendor relationships, yield management, community and public relations, and the balance of personal and organizational values (Enghagen and Hott, 1992; Hall, 1993; Hall and Enghagen, 1991; Kwansa and Farrar, 1991; O'Halloran, 1991). Overall, these studies have reflected on profiling ethical situations and in understanding management's role in resolving particular ethical situations within a service based setting.
Need for the study
The current hospitality and tourism research has generally not tested nor profiled the theoretical principles that are at management's disposal to cope with the ethical issues as previously listed. The exception to this view is research conducted by Upchurch and Ruhland (1996). These authors sought to determine ethical principles and referent sources that are at management's disposal in hotel and motel lodging organizations. They concluded that management based their ethical decision on:
- the...