About corporate ethics

What exactly is corporate ethics, one may ask? However, before addressing this question, it is necessary to define the word “ethics.” Ethics is clearly distinguishing between what is good and wrong and learning how to do the right thing instead. In the corporate community, the organization’s identity and what it stands for are very important. As a result, it is important for the human resource officer to understand how to deal with both staff and customers. Business ethics can be characterized as any organization’s agreed code of conduct.

The policies and regulations must be followed by anyone who works in an organization. Every organization has its own way of doing things, be it small or big. For any organization to thrive and perform, it is important for all to follow the agreed code of conduct. For instance in the Techfite scenario, the employees began to lose trust in the organization when they began to complain about wages and benefits. TechFite has also not fulfilled its social mandate to the society concerning community development. The company thus suffers a double tragedy. First there is an internal outburst of employees in the organization. Most certainly, the administrators have interfered with the organization’s constitution which also houses the ethics. In addition to this tragedy, the external environment, i.e. the society has begun expressing its lack of satisfaction on the company. TechFite therefore has a couple of problems to handle. The scenario portrays a clear picture of what happens in many companies around the world. In this case the organization’s name is at jeopardy, and the company risks losing its employees trust in case the issue is not addressed.

To help regain the trust of both employees and the society at large, some working policies have to be implemented. The human resource manager who is the main arbitrator between the company itself and the victims has to come up with corporate policies that should help solve the problem. Such policies may touch on trust, management, social interactions, employees’ welfare and job security. These include:

Employee Trust Policy

Since TechFite has already created an intense negative trust atmosphere, the organization policies have to be revisited. Most companies use the social contract ethical theory as described by John Hasnas. Hasnas states that the organization has a mandate of improving and enhancing clients and employees interests but within the limits of the law. In so doing employees will feel appreciated, and will strive to maintain a good working environment around them. For TechFite, the issue on wages and cutting hours has to be handled. A responsible manager will have to sit down and reason out with his/her employees. This is a good strategy, since he will first deal with the internal threat of collapse within the organization before moving out.

When employees gain a sense of security that their income is secure (Des, 2009), and that they can still rely on the financial decisions made by the company with no doubt of bankruptcy, then trust won’t be an issue. When this happens TechFite as a company will win back the trust of the workers and all operations will be geared to achieving the goals of the company.

Business Practice Transparency Policy

Another very important thing is transparency within the organization. As a company TechFite will have to develop a character of absolute transparency in all it does. Through engaging all employees in decision making, the human resource will have made a step towards trust building. The habit of deciding on matters that affect the employees without involving them in decision making should be put to a halt. For example, the cutting of hours far below the forty-hour margin which enables employees to gain a full compensation was done without their consent. This is a failure on the part of TechFite managers, which has to be solved. The manager has to adhere to the stakeholder code of ethics which entails everybody who has a stake in ensuring the company’s survival. This includes employees, customers, and shareholders. Thus, TechFite administrators will have to face the hard issues affecting them in a timely fashion. This may also include establishing another wing within the organization that listens to any complaint raised by employees. Priority should be employee then administrator.

For the society, TechFite will have to deliver by coming up and implementing projects that enhance community development, if they have to win the society’s trust. This will have to be done with an immediate effect, since there is no intimacy between the company and society that will leave room for understanding.

Healthy Competition Policy

The human resource manager will also have to promote quality and healthy completion among the employees. There has to be a fair play by all the employees. This will help regain the trust within the workforce itself. Workers must be directed to follow the theory of organization’s ethics by using good and fair tactics to compete against each other. This is a very relevant policy as all organizations always have a competition between two or three departments. Any unfairness that might be expressed by one department must be discouraged by the manager; otherwise the head will be accused of favoring some departments or workers. This will be unhealthy for the firm, and may also contribute to its ethical collapse.

In the scenario illustrated, Dellberg Company faced several problems with the workforce as a result of pressure exerted on the human resource manager. In an attempt to perform or outperform other workers, the manager sought to reduce some hours in a bid to help solve the financial problems at Dellberg. This shows that, the manager tried to outperform other workers by negatively affecting the workforce. This was a risk that the manager took so as to save the company but by so doing he/she missed the main point. As seen the decision was all purposed to solve a problem but instead it created another problem. It might be that the manager was fast in his efforts, and failed to consult. On the other hand it may as well be deliberate move caused by panic. This can only be solved by one method, which is complying with the workforce demands. Any decision made by the top office which may negatively affect the employees should be avoided.

In conclusion, the managers should strive to respect employees’ decisions and pay full attention. This should be matched with empathy in order to gain the trust of employees. The company should in future try as much as possible to keep commitments and act with integrity. This can be addressed to the society’s complaints which were addressed to Dellberg Company.

Reference

Des, J. J. (2009). An introduction to business ethics. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.