An Issue Pertaining to Business Ethics - Essay Example

 An Issue Pertaining to Business Ethics Outline of the ethical issues: Ethics have played a significant role in every organization and following ethical practices have helped organizations prosper and cherish in their career. Organizations with members who don’t pay much attention to ethical issues have been lead to being unsuccessful and eventually losing their job, that’s how important it can be in professional life. Moving on, the most important ethical issue that has been observed in organizations has been the use of alcohol. Many people view alcoholics as individuals with problems.[Bro13]. Clearly with that, we can see that the alcohol nature of individuals has an impact in one way or another. Recent reports have shown that over 10 million men and women in England drink above the recommended guidelines. This obviously means that it will in all possible ways affect their body and mind in a negative way. The guidelines set to drinking have been set by careful and thorough study of the intake of alcohol and those set limits are not meant to be crossed. These individuals in their practical life therefore perform lesser than their capability. It affects their performance, behaviour, mental and stress level. They get tired easily and therefore are unable to work for even average work hours. It also causes a greater rate of absenteeism amongst individuals and a company cannot properly function with these conditions. Absent employees and the ones present not working at their best is something an organization should worry about. “By the principle of utility is meant that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever according to the tendency it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question” [Ben89]. An individual’s actions inside the organization that he is working in, that directly affect the organization need to be paid attention and controlled. It’s for the benefit of everyone that every particular individual behave in the most appropriate of ways, ways that are ethical. The health profession, in particular primary care physicians, has long been encouraged to guide their patients’ drinking behaviour [Int02]. Alcoholic behaviours of individuals is an important issue and requires urgent attention, reports suggest that around 200,000 people go to work with a hangover. Alcohol also directly affects individuals work behaviour. It is reported to promote rude behaviour, non-serious attitude and in some cases violent behaviour as well. This is not only dangerous for the organization but can also prove fatal for these individual’s fellow employees and themselves. Course of action against the use of alcohol: Employees are the smallest building block of any organization; they are the most precious asset of the company. The attitude and behaviour of employees measure the success of the company. If employees are engaged in any unethical activity, they must be stopped immediately. The course of action against unethical and unfair behaviours of employees must be documented properly and it must be followed by every member of an organization. Strict disciplinary actions must be taken to avoid violation of rules and regulation of the organization[Wil011]. In this report, action against the use of alcohol in work place is required. There are many ways to save your employees from being exploited by use of alcohol and other drugs. The three suggestions could be: 1. The alcohol policy 2. The role of supervisor 3. The role of families The alcohol policy: The companies’ owner must advise his social advisor to formulate a policy against the use of alcohol in the workplace. This policy must highlight all actions that can be taken if any one violates the policy. As our company has different departments performing different functions, the policy must be designed according to the nature of every department. We provide public service like street cleaning and local public transportation hence the policy is also different for different types of employees. In our policy we have fixed the amount of alcohol which can be taken at least 24 hours by a street cleaner before coming to the work. The drivers of public transport cannot take the dose of alcohol 36 hours before coming to the work. The policy for street cleaner is less strict compared to the drivers. The nature of the job is different hence varied policies are made. The intake of alcohol in office premises is strictly prohibited according to the policy. The policy must be followed strictly and disciplinary actions must to be taken in case of violation in order to ensure the success of the organization[Lab08]. The role of supervisor: Our organization needs to review the role of departmental supervisors. Supervisor of each department must take certain steps to stop the use of alcohol in their respective departments. He must monitor the performance of his employees on daily basis and take necessary steps to review their work. Taking disciplinary actions against any kind of misconduct should be ensured. Make a separate department for counselling of your employees. An experienced psychiatrist and a doctor should be hired for counselling of employees. The counsellor must identify the problem and try to solve it immediately. Supervisor must keep an eye on his employees and check for any unusual behaviour and attitude. Where any employee is missing the deadlines or asking for leaves frequently, the supervisor should investigate the reasons and take proper action to rectify the situation and improve the performance of the employee. Arrange friendly sessions with your employees and tell them about the bad effects of alcohol on their health, skills and working powers. Motivate them to create healthy environment for themselves and their co-workers [OPM07]. The role of families: Arrange sessions with your employees and their family members like children, parents and spouses and let all the relations express their feelings to the employee and tell him how his habit of drinking is affecting their family members. Family members of employees can play an important role to force the employee to get medical treatment and recover from the bad habit. The above mentioned plan of actions can work effectively in our organization. They can be used to increase the motivational level of our employees and enhance their capabilities[OPM07]. Reflection on the limitation of proposed course of actions: This section of the report is about the limitations of the plan mentioned in the previous section. The policy of alcohol is the most realistic way of addressing the prevailing issues of alcohol usage in the workplace. However the limitation to this option is that the policy might not be properly communicated and understood by the employees or the employees might not follow the policy with a serious attitude. This limitation can be tackled by making sure that everyone gets his/her hands on the policy and reads and comprehends it accordingly. This can be managed by including a reference to the policy in the employment contract issued to every individual and also frequently reminding them of it through training sessions conducted by expert individuals. If strict implementation is carried out and disciplinary actions are promptly taken in case of violation then employees’ attitude towards the policies will become serious. Everyone will know the results of their actions and unethical behaviour; hence they will try to obey the policy. Another limitation is that the family members of the employees might not be willing to take part in this kind of activity. The families of the employee should be approached by appropriate officials from the organizations to convince them to help their family member and tell them the importance of their help[OPM07]. Bibliography: Bentham, J., 1789. An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. s.l.:s.n. Brown, M., n.d. Ethics in Organizations. [Online] Available at: http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v2n1/homepage.html [Accessed 2013]. ICAP, 2002. International Center for Alcoholic Policies. [Online] Available at: http://www.icap.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=N69%2flV8DowI%3d&tabid=204 [Accessed 2013]. Labourguide For SouthAfrica, 2008. Alcoholism and the workplace. [Online] Available at: http://www.labourguide.co.za/workplace-discipline/alcoholism-and-the-workplace-120 [Accessed 17 March 2013]. OPM.gov, 2007. Alcoholism in the Workplace. [Online] Available at: https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/worklife/reference-materials/alcoholism-in-the-workplace-a-handbook-for-supervisors/ [Accessed March 2013]. Wilks, D. C., 2001. Attitude towards unethical behaviour in organizational settings. In: Ethics in progress quarterly. s.l.:s.n., pp. 9-22. Wilks, D. C., 2001. Attitude towards unethical behaviour in organizational settings. In: Ethics in progress . s.l.:s.n., pp. 9-22. Read More