Ethics Program for a New Company - Coursework Example

Ethics Program for a New Company Introduction In recent times, there has been an increase in the number of financial and non-financial ethical scandals in the corporate world. These scandals bring out the need for and the importance of business ethics and legal compliances for profit and non-profit organisations (CourseSmart.Com, 2015). Unfortunately, many managers and business owners are not effective in designing and implementing ethics programs and enforcing legal compliance in their organisations (CourseSmart.Com, 2015). However, a sizeable number of managers and owners appreciate the significance of ethics in an organisation. Hence, they develop and implement ethics programs for their organizations. This paper outlines an ethics program for a new company, based upon the realization that the company requires a developed and executable business ethics and compliance program. For the program to be effective, the company has established a code of conduct to reduce its risk of being caught in criminal behaviors. Second, the program will detect any wrongdoing, promote faster investigation and minimize the negative consequences of unethical conducts by employees. The program’s other key goal is to demonstrate the company’s ethical and legal philosophy during an investigation. It also seeks to reduce fines if the company reports any wrongdoing and to enhance the company’s reputation and stature in the competitive business arena. Ethical Program The ethical principles of the company are principles it has established as fundamentals for its employees to help it strive for responsible commercial success. All stakeholders are required to balance these principles against each other, in the process paying attention to their responsibility and promise to customers and shareholders to attain responsible commercial success. Core Values To successfully implement its ethics program, the organization has established the following values; credibility, integrity and trustworthiness. The company will also be committed to compliance with the high ethical standards set for its different operations. The other principles by which the ethical program will be implemented are honesty, fairness, and respect for employees and local community opinions and freedoms. The success of the ethics program will also be hinged on company loyalty to its employees, managers, customers, suppliers, families, local communities, the environment, and the corporation. Key Ethical Principles The company bases its ethical decisions and actions on several principles as outlined below. Honesty The company will always strive not to deceive by stating and reporting information or data that it knows is false. It will also always be coandid in its communication and will always openly and freely share the necessary information with the relevant stakeholders. Keeping promises The company will take all the necessary steps and precautions to meet its side of the bargain or commitments in deals signed with clients, customers and business partners. In the same breadth, the company will not make false promises or promises that it does not have the capacity to meet. In addition, individual employees and managers will not make promises or deals on behalf of the company, unless the right channels have been used to obtain authority. Fairness The company will develop and comply with a processes and policies to which a rational individual or organization may considered reasonable, equitable and non-arbitrary. Respect The company will support openness, directness and receptiveness in its communication with internal and external factors. In addition, the company will uphold and appreciate the capacities, abilities, opinions and contributions of both internal and external partners. Hence, the company will be responsible for any actions and decisions taken that may show disrespect for others. Compassion and integrity The company intends to uphold recognition and awareness of the needs and actions of its partners and stakeholders to meet their needs when necessary. It will also strive to lessen any damages to its image when and if necessary. The company will also be consistent in its commitment to compassion and social responsibility. Even in situations of dilemma related to their personal, professional and social lives, the employees of the company will comply with its ethical principles. Ethical Culture The company strives at all times and all costs to entrench a culture that promotes ethical behaviour throughout its entire structure. First, the leadership, especially the ownership and the top executive of the company must be ethical in their actions and decision-making not only for the benefit of the company’s employees but also for good company reputation and profitability (CourseSmart.Com, 2015). The reward system of the company is also ethical, not favouring or discriminating against a particular group of employees. In other words, the reward system will treat employees equally, regardless of their gender, race, and ethnicity, socioeconomic, cultural, religious and political standings. Thus, all employees and other individuals with whom the company will react with in its daily operations will be treated with fairness and compassion. Importantly, any matter related to moral or ethical standards and principles in the company must be discussed openly, without fear, favour or discrimination. The company’s structure also supports ethical use of authority and powers granted to office bearers. Moreover, the structure of the company should support accountability and responsibility not only by subordinate workers but also by the executive for their actions, decisions (CourseSmart.Com, 2015). The subordinate workers should also be granted the freewill to question authority whenever an action or decision considered unethical occurs in the organisation. The focus of the company’s communication tools and structures should purpose to care for employees and the community within which the company operates (CourseSmart.Com, 2015). Company self-interest ought not to be the key to its communication, at the risk of the community and the company workers. For all the above aspects of organizational culture to materialize, there is need for the company to develop and implement a comprehensive official procedures and policies on ethical practices and conducts for its employees. In addition, offices should be built to oversee the implementation of these policies. Hence, the company should have an ombudsman or ethics department or officer. The officers should then be facilitated with the necessary resources for the execution of their mandate. Otherwise, the ethics offices and officers would be non-effective. Some of the tools for facilitating the ethics offices and officers are code sign-off, ethics training, and telephone hotline and whistle-blower protection mechanisms (CourseSmart.Com, 2015). Perception and Behaviour For the organization to uphold ethical conduct, it must instil the right attitude and behaviour towards ethics across its structure. In the behaviour and perception mechanisms, the company should establish mechanisms for addressing cases of employees violating company ethical standards and values. Through the right punishment and reward mechanisms, the company will deter employees from behaving in a way that would violate the target ethics standards. To prevent misconduct among employees, the company will 1. Promote the understanding of the ethical standards as applied to different aspects of life at the company 2. Make it difficult for employees to ignore or override the ethical policies and procedures set for the company 3. Base the reward system on results and make employees believe that the ethical rewards and punishment system is actually based on outcomes It is also imperative that the company’s management and owners institute systems that would detect ethical misconducts immediately they occur. If the detection systems are swift, the employees would trust it and would report to the right individual or department in case of unethical behaviors. Conclusion The company’s ethics program bases on behaviour, perception and culture and its core values. To have a good reputation with its customers, employees, local communities, regulatory agencies, suppliers and other stakeholder, the company will strive to comply with this ethics program and the principles on which it is built. These principles include credibility, integrity and trustworthiness, compliance with the high ethical standards, honesty, fairness, and respect for employees and local community opinions and freedoms. The success of the ethics program will also depend on the company’s loyalty to its employees, managers, customers, suppliers, families, local communities, the environment, and the corporation. Reference CourseSmart.Com (2015). “Business and Professional Ethics: Corporate Governance and Accountability, Sixth Edition.” Retrieved on January 20, 2015 from http://www.coursesmart.com/9780538478380/255?__hdv=6.8&__notinstructor=7899605&__referringfirstname=KOREN&__referringlastname=BREWER&__isreferringinstructor=false Read More