Coprorate Ethics Issues in PSEG and Boeing - Essay Example

These corporate laws are set by the government and companies but its implementation lies squarely with the employees. According to Nayar (2009), companies must develop trust as it is an essential component which makes customers and shareholders believe in the management. In this paper, I analyse two companies to establish if they have regulations that define their relationships with employees, clients, its suppliers, shareholders and other companies. Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) This is a company with its headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey.

It is an energy generating company formed in 1903 by merging services of 400 independently owned fuel and electric supply companies. This was done out of the need to enhance service delivery to the locals through a centrally governed public company. Under the leadership of its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Izzo, the company drafted a strategic document, “Be an ethics champion”. This document outlines the levels of integrity that is expected of company employees, it also stresses the need for these workers to internalize these guidelines to create a unified positive image.

This was very necessary since it is publicly owned and requires public trust to effectively execute their functions. It also operates a unique business model as it has subsidiary companies which it has to maintain favourable relationships with (Hansen, 2000). In this document, they highlight internal principles which the company adheres to: to promote accountability, the company submits periodic statements of accounts to the shareholders and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) who peruse them to establish the company’s financial position.

This enhances transparency since the authorities scrutinize these books to see if the company engages in unfair trade practices. To promote harmony with company neighbours, it strives to maintain full compliance with environmental regulations which apply within its location. Since PSEG deals in dangerous substances which have adverse environmental effects when mishandled, the company has established efficient safety procedures that ensures employees and close neighbours are exposed to minimal risks in case of a disaster at the plant.

During company gatherings for instance, the annual general meeting (AGM), the company management engages the shareholders in talks which address these environmental concerns. This stakeholder involvement ensures that the adopted plan gets input from the entire community; the employees, stockholders and clients then feel they have ownership to PSEG by contributing to decision making (Hansen, 2000). PSEG is a company operating in 5 continents; to maintain good ethical practices in countries with inadequate laws protecting integrity at the workplace is very difficult.

The company is thus exposed to numerous unethical practices, especially in countries with weak graft laws. In countries with young democracies or authoritarian rule, there are cases of governments demanding high start up cost prior to setting up of an outlet. This partly or wholly goes to private hands in covert business operations. Due to employee racial diversity, the company is faced with personal cases of racial prejudice; the management has the ethical control unit that solves these differences and issue disciplinary actions where appropriate.

Lastly, the company encourages employees to be company