Analysis of Ethical Decision-Making Barriers in Operations and Supply Chain Management

Background: In order to reduce the adverse effects of unethical decision-making in the operations function of firms, this study was conducted to identify and determine the causal relationships governing ethical decision barriers in operations and supply chain management. Method: This research is applied in terms of purpose and survey in terms of data acquisition. The research population included the operational managers of manufacturing companies and 30 of them were selected by snowball sampling method. Questionnaire was used for data acquisition. After identifying the barriers to ethical decision-making in operations and supply chain management, and collecting expert opinions, data analysis and determining the relationships between them was done using MATLAB software and DEMATEL method. Results: in this research, among the six identified barriers (use of quantitative methods, a premium on information that is quantifiable, job insecurity, repetitive decision making, use of work groups or teams and operational priorities), Operational priorities is one of the most important and effective barriers to ethical decision and next one is repetitive decision making. Conclusion: The results showed that the operational priority barrier is effective on other identified barriers. So, it is worthwhile for operational managers to consider ethics as an operational priority in operations management and operations strategy.