Social Performance - Essay Example

Social Performance Assignment Social Performance, Part 2 In the business world, there are many options on the kind of business one runs and there is freedom on the best choice one settles on. The company I work for is a medium sized public corporation that has been in the information technology industry for over three decades, and we have experienced various challenges but because of the strong support from stakeholders, the company has been able to sail through safely. The company provides IT solutions to both public and private clients. We have clients from a wide range of industries due to the nature of the business and since IT is part of almost every single thing we do in business or at home, our market is diverse. We supply computers to firms and individuals, assist in networking, day to day maintenance services, business promotions, web designs and server designs among other services according to organizational needs (Cooper, 2004). The company has grown so fast. This can be attributed to many reasons but majorly to the much time we invest in listening to our customer needs through day to day contact and periodic evaluations that form part of our policies. The quality of our products and services is also very high and geared toward the needs of our customers. Also available to us is a wide network of stakeholders whose ideas we value so much and as they meet in their pre planned forums, they give us their reports which are reviewed and after accreditation, these are incorporated into our management and production (Cooper, 2004). The company deals directly with manufacturing companies which produce computer systems. When clients order specific computer systems, we forward the same requests to the manufacturing partners so that they produce systems which will satisfy the clients’ need. The company gives us quotations which we forward to the customers with added value of tax and delivery, installation and one year services and maintenance. When customers are comfortable with the total cost, they clear us to proceed with the transaction. These companies are very reliable as they are able to process our requests within the time requested by our customers. We have never had any complaints with our companies. Despite the hard economic times that businesses have experienced, our services and products have always been on demand since the prices are friendly for people of varied economic capabilities. It does not matter where the clients are located (Oliver, 2011). The company has distributers to our products all over the city. We identify business firms located in our area of interest. Then, whenever customers make requests, we identify their location and instruct our distributers to deliver these items to specific locations as customer specifies. These distributors do not have to be dealing with information technology business in order to be accepted in the company’s list of distributors. The most important factor is that they accept to abide by our terms of service which include confidentiality and safety of commodities delivered to them. They are also allowed to give these items to people whose details are provided to them by the company in consultation with the company at all times in order to avoid putting our customers’ items into wrong hands (Cooper, 2004). In addition to these local distributors, we have also trained technicians who help customers whenever there is need for installations and services or troubleshooting. Our technicians are highly qualified professionals whom we engage on part time basis due to the unpredicted nature of demand in the particular towns where they reside. All our technicians are accredited and certified by national and global IT expert bodies and their services are always of high quality. We have always had requests to provide services for systems we never installed because of the high performance of systems which have been serviced by our technicians. The technicians always receive trainings and renew their certification in order to ensure they are informed of latest innovations in the very dynamic IT business in the world. They do have paid vacations in some of the countries considered to be the most advanced technologically so that they can experience complicated IT systems to help them provide accurate services to our customers. They are always free to request any help they need in order to provide quality services. They are satisfied with our terms of employment since they consider the benefits they have on their career development to be of greatest value compared to what they get for their services on behalf of the company. They are free to engage in other forms of employment of their choices within their towns so long as they are available whenever they are needed. Whenever customers make their request to the company, these technical experts are informed of these early so that they adjust their schedules in favor of supporting the customers (Oliver, 2011). The company receives financial support from its public ownership of the business which brings on board individuals and firms of public or private nature. Through national stock exchange programme, the company is able to sale its shares to willing people. The company continues to expand from time to time depending on financial needs. These are very important stakeholders since they have their own forums where they meet depending on the amount of shares owned, to deliberate on the performance of the company and how they would like us to improve our services. They have been very valuable in identifying distributors and technicians who are very reliable and working so hard to boost the business to meet and exceed industry and business demands (Oliver, 2011). Finally, we have our dear customers who not only give us the opportunity to serve them and exist; they continue to be part of us through continued reviews conducted by external evaluators in order to determine their satisfaction. Any time customers visit our offices or our website they fill a review form where they inform us on what they are or are not pleased with in regard to our services. This helps us to know how to serve them better. In addition to this, there are forms left with distributors and technicians, where clients indicate why they chose us for services and their expectations. This is also gives the company an opportunity to tell them of what we have for them and their inputs for better services are always invited. There are many customers who have come for our services after being directed to us by their friends and colleagues. Our customers are a very big asset in promotion of our businesses in their neighborhood. We do recognize them through annual awards given to those who have been recognized by the highest number of new customers for linking them to our organization. Although the stakeholders have their own forums where they meet and deliberate on specific issues of concern to them, the company seeks to have a social interface on our website where interactions can take place in order to promote the business. It will also be important for them to meet physically prior to end of year executive committee meetings in order to ensure their ideas are incorporated into the operations of the business in the coming year. It is anticipated that web use will be more preferred by our clients than the physical meeting due to long distances that some of our clients will have to cover to reach, tight work schedules since some of our clients are very senior in their organizations or have very demanding businesses. We might want to counter this through localized meetings but they would be too expensive for the company to run such coalitions. Nevertheless, the company is committed to ensure that whatever input clients have for us, we are able to receive them through the best means preferred by them and at any time. We are here because of them and for them (Aswathappa, 2010). Assignment 2: Social Performance Part 2 This is an IT based company and the most important ethical issue is to make sure clients are not given substandard goods whose performance is not sustainable over time as it is necessary. Some of the codes used in this industry describe expectations of customers whenever they seek services and how the company staff is supposed to treat them no matter the temperament of the customer; the expectation of confidentiality with customer requests while engaging with distributors; the quality of service during maintenance and the general behavior of staff while at work place or whenever they are engaged in any company business activities. As a company we have encountered several ethical issues which can be attributed to the lack of a uniform code of conduct. Although the company staff are committed to professional behavior as taught and is supposed to be for professionals of their cadre, the company need to have it own code which can be referred to at any time of a crisis. This is also important for legal purposes so that employees can continue to remind themselves of the expectations from them at any particular time as they engage with clients. The company shall establish the codes of conduct based on the federal guidelines provided for that purpose to make it easier for validation purposes and comparability during review exercises which is part of our policy (Diana, 2011). Customers rely on the information we give them for decision making. Whenever they make requests, it is important that they are made aware of the company’s exact position in regards to that matter. We have had challenges especially when clients request what the company doesn’t have or has never dealt with. Clients are given information on the cost and time of delivery which we are not able to meet and this brings misunderstanding with customers. It would have been very difficult had it been for our excellent public relations officers who are able to restore customer confidence after such occurrences. Once a code of conduct on employee to customer and employee to employee relations are established, there will be a uniform way of doing business. This will make it easier for our legal component to deal with malpractices in the business (Josh, 2010). The code of conduct will be reviewed by the employees by whom they are meant to guide. There will also be an external evaluation conducted by federal agents and private agents to ensure that the codes are legal and meet required guidelines. There will also be periodic evaluations as it is part of our custom to ensure that we remain relevant in the industry. We shall establish an ethics committee which can observe, review and advice on ethical standards of the business. This committee will be accountable to the corporate stakeholders and the executive management to ensure that they carry out their roles as assigned. The committee membership will be drawn from all the company stakeholders including customer representatives (Steven, 2010). References Aswathappa, K. (2010). International Business. New York: Wiley. Cooper, S. (2004). Corporate Social Performance: A Stakeholder Approach. London: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Diana, H. (2011). Top 10 Companies Code of Ethics and Conduct. Retrieved from http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/top-10-companies%E2%80%99-code- of-ethics-and-conduct-2011/ Josh, S. (2010). How to Write a Code of Ethics for Business. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/guides/how-to-write-a-code-of-ethics.html. Oliver, B. (2011). Measuring Social Performance is difficult but essential. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/measuring-companies-social- impact-performance. Steven, A. B. (2010). Microsoft Standards of Business Conduct. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/compliance/Buscond/default.aspx Read More