Title: Putting Teeth in Corporate Ethics Codes
I. Background/ Rationale
Clark Consulting, a compensation and benefit consulting firm, has had a corporate code of ethics in place for years. In 2002 passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley law reforming corporate governance, Chief Executive Tom Wamberg revised it, redistributed it, and started referring to it in weekly newsletters distributed to all employees.
Wamberg learned that one of his senior consultants was bragging to other employees about how he had “fired” a particularly demanding client. Wamberg was outraged. Rule No. 1 of the code is that clients come first. “For us, that was a cardinal sin,” says Wamberg, who dismissed that consultant, citing the code. Now he sees the benefits of having
…show more content…
The company’s chief executive Tom Wamberg was revised the law and redistributed it , but the challenge on their employees on how to adapt for a change in their company’s code of ethics. In addtion, the chief executive decided and doing the best to put code of ethics into document with real teeth. The companies rewriting the codes and make it more specific and detailed. These codes of ethics give the employees to understand the guidelines to follow and avoid violations. The code of Ethics was published through Web sites, inside the offices and the company was to make aware their conducts to the customers, vendors and …show more content…
The managers should to explore ethical issues with the engagement and also integrity interactive code-of- ethics training with all employees must continue training until they can get 100% on test.
V. Alternative Course of Action
The case study pertains on how to be good model in your company. In the business world today, businesses’ should evaluate and execute code of ethics, with strong ethical values towards your employees. Attitudes, leadership, behavior and patterns of decision making that should be motivated in order to have a good example of your company. Moreover, there are measures you can take to improve your organization's ethical climate.
First, empowerment this is one way to improve ethical climate that employees should have an ethical code and more control to their work outcomes, and they can justify making the right decision. Giving employees a reason to act more ethically and innovatively -- such as to keep their autonomy over their work – makes the company increase
A code of ethics stands for a set of principles of conduct set within an organization to assist or guide employees to making decisions and adhering to ethical behavior. It’s a set of guidelines that must be followed to make ethical choices when conducting work related matters. Code of ethics is an organizations form integrity. This paper will discuss what an appropriate code of ethics is, and summarize the features of deontological, consequentialist, and virtue of ethics in a professional code of ethics. It will also analyze both the advantages and disadvantages of each approach to ethical theory in the context of the workplace.
During the announcement of the seventh annual list of most ethical companies in the world in 2013, Alex Brigham of Ethisphere, noted that more companies find that ethical business practices increase their competitiveness in their respective industries, helping to further substantiate the notion that a culture of ethic is crucial to sustainable excellence (Smith, 2013). Researchers in the field of Organizational Behavior has found that employees are subjected to an environment of ethical dilemma constantly. During such moments employees have a choice either to pursue with ethical conduct or engage in an unethical behavior which results in harming the organization or its stakeholder (Trevino & Brown, 2004). How the employee behave greatly depends
We as business owners, management and or in a role of authority must set, address and comply with a solid foundation of ethics. “A code of conduct is the single most important element of your ethics and compliance program. It sets the tone and direction for the entire function. Often, the code is a standalone document, ideally only a few pages in length. It introduces the concept of ethics and compliance and provides an overview of what you mean when you talk about ethical business conduct.”
The survey was performed in 2010 involving members of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA). They focused on the evolution of business ethics by analyzing six other studies over a span of two-and-a-half decades. Members of the survey were ethics manager, but members on the previous studies were regular employees and management. The results of the analysis of the previous studies showed that ethics programs in companies during a time span of the 1980’s through the 1990’s was used to show social responsibilities and not necessarily to enforce it throughout the company. It showed that ethics programs now that companies follow ethical laws and they are motivated to be ethical. Another result of the study showed that ethics training at companies has increased since the 1990’s due to the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley and other laws directed at ethics. The passing of the laws in the early 2000’s has led to ethics being a major component of everyday
An initial new hire and employee ethics training has to be develop and administered. Also on-going ethics refresher training for use throughout the employees career with Company Q will need to be incorporated in the program. Systems will be developed and put in place to monitor, audit, and report ethics violations. A time-line to re-evaluate these programs and their effectiveness towards meeting the companies social responsibility goals will be established. Based on the evaluation a revision or revamp of the program if necessary will be initiated. The ethics program needs to be reviewed and understood by all employees and expectation for compliance very clear. This can be accomplish by tying compliance in some form to employees and leadership individual performance goals. Shareholders all the way down to entry-level employees will benefit from the ethics program which will also put the company on track to being more socially responsible. Once a code of ethics is in place and training has been given, then Company Q can begin developing trust within the company and employees as well as the community. Continued education and training will enable the company to become more socially responsible.
A reaction expected to the Code of Ethics is respect. Each employee is responsible for making reasonable decisions that are in the best interest of the company. Employees are given this position and are expected to be in compliance with the Code of Ethics; respecting all rules and regulations. As a former employee I was responsible to have the client’s best interest at hand and conduct the company with integrity, honesty and in a highly ethical manner. Management expected us to maintain our professionalism and try to help the clients as much as possible.
“Analytically, a corporation’s code of ethics is the documented, formal, and legal manifestation of that organization’s expectations of ethical behaviors by its employees” (Adelstein & Clegg, 2016, p. 55). The corporate credos and code of conducts provide employees with an understanding of the policies of the organization and the organizational ethical position. For these codes to be effective, all employees of the organization must be aware of them. The visibility of the code of conduct that enables the organization to be judged as ethical.
I and two other individuals have decided to start a company that will provide management consulting services to nonprofit organizations. The company will have 15 to 20 employees. Since many of our clients will be paying with funds provided by government sources, we have decided it would be appropriate to have an ethics program in place before we start offering services.
Codes of ethics are direction that every members of an organization has to follow and obey. They are very important pieces of an institution because they regulate member’s interaction with employees and clients (Longest & Darr, 2008). Similar as to any countries’ constitution codes of ethics contain a preamble to help defines the fundamental purpose and guidance principles of the organization. As for the American college of healthcare executives, their codes of ethics serve as standard of conduct for members of the organizations. It also includes standard of ethical behavior to easy the relationship for members of the institution (ACHE, 2011). Every organization drafts their unique codes of ethic with different purpose.
Ethics are values and principles that individuals use to govern his decisions and activities. Ethics are about moral judgment of an individual about right and wrong. In an organization, code of ethics refers to set of guiding principles and organizations use these principles in their policies, programs, and decisions for business. Within organizations, decisions are taken by groups or individuals and these decisions are influenced by the culture of the company. Decision making and relevance of ethics may also differ for nonprofit and for profit organizations. In contemporary business environment, organizations must have a clear ethical policy and implement it in proper manner. There are many social, legal and economic outcomes that company has to face in case of any ethical dilemma, so there must be a smart strategy to deal with ethical dilemmas. In this paper, we will address the ethics for nonprofit and profits organizations, ethical dilemmas being faced or faced by each of these companies and the outcomes of these ethical dilemmas. Critique of actions of each of these companies will be provided from the point of view of applicable philosophical theories of organizational ethics.
Today’s business world presents numerous ethical issues. In today’s world above board/moral ethics in organizations do not often materialize intuitively. Organization must strive to provide employees with a clear understanding of the overall company vision. This will aid employees in practicing the code of ethics, policies and procedures in the workplace. Companies must be unwavering in continuously delivering the uppermost ethics of provision in which customers, applicants and employees are entitled to under fair business practices. One major core value is to uphold responsible and fair business practices.
It is one thing to establish a code of ethical conduct for an organization in the public sector, but it is quite another to really impress upon all employees the importance of living up to that code of conduct. What makes a code of conduct and how can management be assured that all employees understand the code and follow it's values and guidelines? How do not-for-profit professions stack up against for-profit professionals when it comes to ethics? This paper delves into codes of conduct in the public and sector and provides a review of several scholarly articles that present specific instances where codes of conduct are part of the workplace culture.
Companies are supposed to be able to achieve and demonstrate an ever increasing performance showing improvement on leading in their industries to acquire competitive advantages. Having a high level of performance could be greatest achieved with competent and motivated employees. The conduct of business in an organization with an ethical manner is of great importance to secure an increasing performance as well. Organizations functioning towards ethical standards should ensure unbiased applications of business and recall a sense of justice to stimulate motivation among their employees. Employees that are motivated through a positive ethical organizational climate and leadership do much better than a less motivated employee. This promotes the organizational achievement that causes
ethical approach can be taken in the best interests of the company. Again, to maintain a strong
The purpose or aim of every organization is to establish such an organizational culture and behavior among its employees that helps in achievement of ideal ethical standards. There are certain determinants that play a critical role in helping achieve the right organizational culture. Some of these include personal moral intensity, social ties, codes of ethics, locus of control and Machiavellianism. These