Ethics and Values in For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations - Essay Example

? Analysis of Personal and Organization Ethics and Values between For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Organizations Introduction Business ethics has various implications on business including the impact the business activities have on the stakeholders. Both not for profit organizations and the for profit organizations encounter challenging situations in the course of their operations and are required to make ethical decisions so as to ensure improved business operations. A clear analysis of the impact of ethics of the two different types of organizations is as described below. Not For Profit Organization: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Organization Profile The United nations Children’s Fund is a not for profit organization which was established as an initiative of the United nations Organization to provide humanitarian as well as developmental assistance to children and mothers, especially in the developing world. The organization is commonly known by the initials UNICEF, which were derived from the original name of the organization which was The United nations Children’s Emergency Fund. The name was shortened to the United nations Children’s Fund in 1953.The organization had its headquarters in New York, USA and is one of the key members of the United nations Development Group, being part of its executive committee. The organization was created and established in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly to provide emergency services to children and women in the countries that had been adversely affected by the effects of the World War II. Among the emergency services provided included provision of food and healthcare services to the children and their mothers. In 1953, the organization had grown and was made a permanent part of the United Nations System since its services were considered very vital in helping the United Nation meet its objectives. The organization relies heavily on contributions from private donors and governments. About two thirds of the resources of the organization come from member governments, the rest of the resources come from private corporations and individuals. Individual contributors are estimated to be about 6 million people who make their contributions through the national committees in member countries of the UN. The services of the organization are aimed at assisting development at the community level in the developing countries while promoting the well-being and health of children. The organization’s services were recognized internationally when it was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1963 and the Prince of Asturias award of Concord most recently in 2006. The mission and vision of the organization revolves around improving the lives of children and women in the developing countries through provision of health care services and development projects in the communities. Ethical Dilemma Like any other not for profit organization, The United Nations Children Fund faces a lot of challenges. Some of the challenges that not for profit organizations face include legal, financial, leadership or ethical problems. Ethical challenges often involve a conflict of interest. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) faces a conflict of interest in financial management. The organization has limited resources while there are many children and women in the developing world who need the services provided by the organization. Despite getting financial backing from governments as well as individuals and corporations including other not for profit organizations the organization still faces a lot of challenges in reaching out to its target population across the globe. Most of those who need the services of UNICEF are located in rural areas of some of the poorest countries in the world. The organization faces a challenge of reaching out to these individuals in order to help improve their loving standards. With this situation, the organization faces an ethical dilemma of whether to continue with its operations to individuals in some of the remote areas of the world that may be victims of wars and neglect by their own governments or to leave the individuals on their own as they go for those who are more approachable. Some of the areas in which the UNICEF staff reach are very risky and some of them end up being killed especially when they provide humanitarian assistance during wars. The Organization’s response As a response to the ethical challenge the organization faces, it has formed partnerships with other not for profit organization in developing countries so as to reach out to their target population, even in the remotest parts of the countries in the developing world. This partnership has led to the launch of the United Nations Health 4+ program that aims at ensuring women and children benefit from the implementation of the UN secretary general’s global strategy within country level. The organization has partnered with World Health Organization, the United Nations Population Fund among others. For Profit Organization: The MV Transportation Company Organization Profile MV Transportation is a for profit private company in the United States of America and happens to be amongst one of the major private providers in the Para-transit business. The MV transportation is also the largest within privately owned transportation business in United States. MV transportation is commonly known for its efforts to employ approximately thirteen thousand enthusiastic transit professionals. The transportation business that is located in Fairfield, California runs its business in more than one hundred and ninety permanent routes, Medicaid, and shuttle services across twenty eight states in the United States including the District of Columbia, two provinces in Canada and also operates extensively in Saudi Arabia. The professional drivers employed by the company help the company meet its objective of delivering items and commodities to clients across the country. The company was established in 1975 by Alex and Feysand Lodde. In the first few years of the company, it remained relatively small operating in about ten locations only. In the 1990, the company experienced huge growth as a reflection of the expansion of the transportation industry when small and medium sized firms merged to form bigger companies. As a result of this mergers and acquisitions, there emerged bigger multinational corporations that took control of the transportation industry, including the MV transportation, which emerged as a new contract option for the public transport sector with the main objective of ensuring there was fair competition in the public sector and offering consumers a wide range of options . As of today, MV Transportation is the biggest private company in the industry operating more than seven thousand vehicles in the United States and Canada. The company continues to offer their consumers both fixed and flex route services, commuter services as well as Medicaid transportation management services. The company also contracts with other businesses to offer turnkey services operating in various modes of service in one contract. Ethical Dilemma As the company expanded its operations across the United States into other countries such as Canada and Saudi Arabia, it continued to face a lot of challenges. One of the biggest ethical problems the company faced was the increased cases of road accidents involving its vehicles across the country. With this situation, the company faced tough ethical dilemma of whether to continue its expansion program and offering its services to more clients and consumers amid the escalating cases of road accidents involving their own vehicles and drivers. The accidents resulted in loss of lives in some cases for both members of staff and customers thus creating a serious concern about the company’s operations. The company’s image in the public’s eye had been tarnished and there was fear among the consumers about their safety when they used the vehicles owned by the company. This greatly affected the company’s revenues as most of the customers had shunned from their services and gone of their competitors who were perceived to have put in place enough safety measures to safeguard the security of their customers and goods while on transit. The company was facing a difficult time since the escalating cases of accidents had legal implications in cases where the company and its staff were deemed to have been acted with a lot of negligence. Most of the accidents were as a result of the company drivers engaging in risky behaviors while on duty thus increasing the probability of accidents occurring. The Organization’s response Faced with this situation, the company had to work hard to rectify the problem and clear its image in the public and increase its revenues before getting back to its expansion plans. After assessing the causes of the road accidents, it was found that the main issue that contributed to the situation was the drivers’ of the company involvement in risky behaviors and failure to observe traffic rules. MV Transportation responded to this situation by opting to find software programs that could help the company easily monitor the behavior of their drivers while on duty so as to identify those who act negligently and deal with them on the spot thereby reducing the probability of the accidents occurring. The company responded by installing the DriveCam program. The program was installed in the year 2004 in which it was under the self review model. The company transferred all of its vehicles to the program so as to effectively manage all their fleet. DriveCam has been very effective for the company since the number of road accidents involving the company’s vehicles has reduced drastically. This has enabled the company to focus on increasing its operations and improving its services. The company has worked hard to promote its services and has regained its image in the public’s eye. The number of clients for the company has increased giving the company huge revenues to help it maintain its position as the market leader among private transportation companies. This response has resulted in improved social relationships between the company and its customers around the world. Part III: Personal Considerations on the Ethical Actions taken a) The United nations Children’s Fund The decision to reach out to all the people within the organization’s target group through forming formidable partnerships with other international and local not for profit organizations is a morally right decision in my opinion. The people in rural areas in the developing countries have been neglected by most developing countries and most of them have also been victims of war crimes (Fowler, 2009). As a result of this situation, the people, especially women and children are left out of development programs and they face a lot of health challenges. It would not be ethically right and wise for UNICEF not to reach out to them and help improve their situation. The partnerships formed enable the organization to reach out to many individuals and expand the organization’s programs to the people who need them the most. The Health 4+ program which is a collaboration of UNICEF with various international and local not for profit organizations is a very morally responsible way for the organization to respond to the ethical challenge it faces. This option enables the organization to advance its programs to women and children while at the same time maintaining its not for profit structure by dealing with similar organizations in order to achieve its vision (Parry & Proctor-Thomson, 2002). The ethical challenge encountered by the organization could not be avoided as it is as a result of factors outside the control of the organization. The best the organization can do is to try and reach out to the women and children who have been victims of war and those who have been left out of the development radar by the governments in developing countries. Using partnerships is one of the most effective ways the organization could use to solve the ethical problem. b) The MV Transportation Company The MV Transportation Company faces a lot of challenges in its business operations including the ethical dilemma that came from the escalating cases of road accidents involving the company’s vehicles. Since it is one of the biggest companies in the industry, it has to respond to such challenges with a lot of wisdom because other smaller companies in the industry and consumers are looking up to it. The MV Transportation company responded to their ethical dilemma in a morally responsible by opting to install the DriveCam program to help manage and control its fleet of vehicles. There was need for the company to solve this ethical problem because it was already having adverse effects on its operations, revenues, and the image of the company. The company was deemed as being irresponsible in its operations thus leading to loss of lives and injuries to many of their staff and clients. It was therefore a morally right decision to put an end to the negligence that had resulted in the road accidents. By installing DriveCam, the company could effectively monitor its drivers to determine those who were behaving unethically by putting the lives of the company’s customers and clients at risk and dealing with them. This has been largely effective for the company’s operations and has helped the company restore its operations, regain the trust of customers and increase its profits, which is one of its main objectives, being a for profit company. The ethical dilemma was as a result of negligence on the part of the company’s drivers who chose to ignore traffic rules and their professional training. The dilemma could have been avoided if the company had put in place structures that could be used to monitor and deal with the misbehaving drivers. Part IV: A Critique of the Companies’ actions based on philosophical theories a) The United Nations Children Fund The action taken by the organization can be looked at using the normative ethics theory of utilitarianism. The theory suggests that the best course of action is that which maximizes the utility of the people while reducing the amount of suffering they endure. Maximizing utility implies creating happiness for people while reducing their problems. Utilitarianism is considered a consequential theory as it is based on the consequences of the actions taken. According to the theory, the moral worth of an action or decision is judged based on its results. A morally right action is one that results in the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. The biggest proponents of this theory include Jeremy Bentham and J. S. Mill. The decision taken by the United Nations Children’s Fund can be said to be morally right depending on the utilitarian theory. This is because it has resulted in the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of individuals. By reaching out to more partners in the Health 4+ program, the organization will be able to take its services to the largest number of people possible. This will result in creating happiness for the greatest number of the women and children who will benefit from the services offered by the organization. The organization will also be happy because it will now be able to achieve its mission and vision. The governments in the developing world will also be happy because the organization will have helped them execute their mandate of providing development to their citizens. Since the organization’s decision results in the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people, it can be said to be morally right based on the utilitarian philosophical theory. b) The MV Transportation Company The MV Transportation Company’s decision not to install the DriveCam program to manage and monitor all its fleet of vehicles can be examined through philosophical theories to determine if it is a morally right decision. The company was informed in its decision by the deontological theory. The deontological theory is based on the principle that actions are morally right if they are performed in accordance with one’s duty or obligation. This implies that one ought to perform actions that are in line with the set rules and expectations. The MV Transportation Company, being one of the biggest companies in the industry is expected to act in a certain way to safeguard its image and its relationship with the consumers and other companies in the industry. Smaller companies are looking up to it as they strive to grow and overcome it (Lovell, 2002). The company is therefore expected to take the interests of all stakeholders in to question when it makes its decision. The company has the obligation to protect the industry and the moral worth of its actions can be judged on the basis of this obligation. With this in mind, the company’s decision can be deemed to be morally right as it was taken in accordance. Running an ethical business means conducting the affairs of the business with a the highest degree of accountability and transparency as well operating within the set legal framework and taking into consideration the interests of all stakeholders in decision making. The best way a company can maintain competitiveness is by being accountable to its stakeholders, being transparent and observing all the legal and ethical requirements. 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