Report on firms CSR/Ethics - Essay Example

Introduction Recent growth in organisations, especially the multinational corporations, has been accompanied by the advent of corporate social responsibility and ethical issues. This study focuses on the corporate social and ethical behaviours of Autonomy Corporation (AC) in terms of employee treatment, gender issues, supplier treatment and customer treatment.One of the most important corporate ethical considerations is how a firm treats its employees (Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrell 2008, p. 3).

Autonomy Corporation has in place a policy that addresses the welfare of employees and sets out to treat them with respect. In light of the firm’s international operations, AC respects employees’ local cultures, customs and laws. Mechanisms to avoid conflicts are put in place, as well as creation of a work environment that reflects the firm’s values and the employees’ considerations. Notably, the firm is committed to upholding equity and equality in its human resource operations in terms of gender.

It promotes the building of the next generation of women leaders to achieve competitiveness through gender balance (HP Newsroom 2008). The firm prioritises the welfare of the customers as depicted by elaborate measures and policies to ensure proper and useful interactions with the customers. AC exemplifies this through constructive customer liaison support programmes, provision of training courses and innovation forums for their customers drawn from all over the world (Autonomy 2012). As part of the larger HP (its parent company), AC maintains a set policies which entail high quality products, responsible marketing, fair market competition and responsible and appropriate pursuit of business intelligence (HP 2010, pp. 13-14). Closely related to treatment of the customers, AC sticks to an informed supply chain policy.

This policy has borne fruits, enabling the firm to lead the sector in publishing details of its major suppliers and, thus, ensuring integrity and transparency (Farra 2008). Hence, the firm has hit the headlines for getting supplier treatment right.Objectivity demands that another perspective of AC’s ethical and CSR disposition be discussed. However, there is lack of independent and credible sources discrediting the firm’s efforts as discussed above. Sparse informal websites bear information about maltreatment of AC employees, for instance Glassdoor.com. In the broader HP setting, such allegations on ethical infractions are addressed through focus groups within the workforce, besides requiring that all branches, including AC, publish annual Global Citizen Reports.

In identifying the need for embodiment of ethical behaviour in spirit and not just words, the firm seeks to make ethics a central part of its culture (Hurst 2004, p. 22).In conclusion, Autonomy Corporation pursues responsible corporate behaviour and ethics in its daily operations. The firm embodies this through fair and equitable treatment of employees. Further, the firm has policies in place to ensure operations with customers and suppliers observe the company’s ethical inclinations. There are no observations of disparity between operations in the home and foreign markets.

Besides, no reliable independent sources paint the corporation in bad light in terms of ethics and corporate social behaviour. Autonomy Corporation, in keeping in line own and with HP’s i.e. the parent company’s standards, seeks to make corporate social responsibility part and parcel of its culture. ReferencesAutonomy Corporation 2012, Customers, viewed 10 January 2012 . Farra, J 2008, HP CSR Report: A triumph for transparency, viewed 10 January 2012 . Ferrell, OC, Fraedrich, J & Ferrell, L 2008, Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases, Cencage Learning, UK.

Glassdoor 2011, Autonomy reviews, viewed 10 January 2012 .HP 2010, Our standards of business conduct: Building trust together, HP.HP Newsroom 2008, HP summit: Building the next generation of women leaders, viewed 10 January 2012 .Hurst, NE 2004, Corporate ethics, governance and social responsibility: Comparing European business practices to those in the United States, SCU.