The British Airways Code of Conduct - Essay Example

Ethical Studies: Fly Emirates and British Airways Name Institution Date Introduction In this era of stiff competition many organization fortifies every sector through strategic planning and maintaining a competitive advantage in all areas. In this paper Emirates airline and the British Airways have been pitted against each other in terms of code of ethics, vision, mission, corporate responsibility programs, environmental sustainability projects, human resource policies and relation with labor unions (Werner et al., 2008). Code of ethics British Airways The British Airways code of conduct is applicable to all employees, officers and the directors of company and its subsidiary companies. The term employee is utilized throughout to refer to employees, directors and officers within the company. At British Airways conflict of interest happens when the private interest of an individual gets into the way of the company. It is a requirement that employees should not leave unresolved the conflict of interest unless it is approved by the company. Employees should never attempt to take advantage of their position in the company to get any personal benefit for their families, themselves, or for any other person which is improper. Any employee who is aware of conflict of interest or anticipates development of a conflict is needed to deliberate the issue with the Company Secretary in good time. Cassani and Kemp, (2003) note that employees are required to have the interest of the Company at heart. Employees are not allowed to undertake a business venture that has been brought to fore by using corporate property, position, information, unless the Company the Company has turned down the opportunity after being offered. The employees are not allowed to use the property of the Company for personal gain. In the day to day carrying out of the company’s responsibilities employees will most of the time come to learn confidential or proprietary information about the Company, its suppliers, customer, or perhaps joint venture parties. Employees are supposed to observe confidentiality at all times of all information in their possession. Each employee has to deal in fair dealing and should not engage in unethical or illegal business practices. No one should take advantage of the other by means of concealment, manipulation, misrepresentation of fact, or abusing privileged information. The employees should all protect the assets of the company and use them efficiently. Employees have to adhere to regulations, rules and laws that are applied in the Company. The Company Secretary is responsible for applying the laid down policies to particular situations in which questions may arise and is entitled to interpret the policies in any specific situation. Any employee who is unsure of the policies is required to seek clarification from the Company secretary. Any breach of the laid down ethics realized by the employee should be notified in accordance with British Airways Standing Instruction. Fly emirates In the company the managers lay more emphasis in the ethical aspects of the company. The believe that ethics provide a platform of determining in a particular action is bad or good morally; make it a priority of the company to develop ethical moral values, standards and perspectives. The company ensures the highest ethical standard maintenance of the work performed. Compliance with the need of this code is deemed an employment precondition as the company looks forward to its employees to take their responsibilities to the greatest professional and ethical levels. The essence of announcing the code Professional Ethics is to avail a general instructions guideline that help employees in performing their tasks and attaining the greatest level of required personal professionalism and honesty. According to Byars and Rue (2003), code of Ethics is regarded as the necessary element of employee’s policy of guidance and it enables adaptation with the major honesty principles. It defines Emirates commitment to professionally achieving tasks and impartiality. Any employee has to act with integrity, honesty and fair dealing with colleagues and should not make any misleading or inaccurate claims related to the activities of Emirates airline which may precipitate conflict of interest. Any employee is required to show values of humbleness and forgiveness. Emirates look forward to its employees to maintaining integrity, good conduct and honesty together with complying with rules applicable, policies and regulations, in a way that does not influence the reputation of position of the company or reflect in a bad way on employee performance (Bamber, 2009). Employees of Emirates are expected to constantly provide the highest level quality of services to customers, ensure that they are contented with the service that they provide and demonstrate a positive image of Emirate. Any violation of any professional ethic is subjected to disciplinary actions that turn into terminating of employment. The code of professional ethics is applied to all the employees in the external and local departments including management level, officials of administration, employees and technicians. Any contradiction and violation with the policies found in code of ethics shall not be encouraged by the employees or any body and should be reported to the human resources department (Byars & Rue, 2003). Social responsibility Fly Emirates At Emirates Group there is great value placed on corporate citizenship and social responsibility. Each employee is committed towards ongoing improvement in the maintenance of a competitive edge in the global market operation. The employees are regarded as the greatest asset and their contribution to the development of the company are tremendous. The company principles enable it to be a large employer in the UAE. The company attracts employees of high caliber and they help the company in the attainment of its objectives. The company is dedicated to the welfare of the employees and ensures optimal working condition. Apart from making profits, the company is focused in creating less waste and pollution through the use of fewer resources. Most eco-efficient fleets have been acquired. According to Evans, Campbell and Stonehouse (2003), the company is engaged in Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve where it is dedicated in the preservation of cultural and natural heritage of the area. The company supports social causes ardently and it has engaged in community responsibility activities globally. The Emirates Airline Foundation is dedicated to a provision of loving, nurturing and safe environment where children can get and realize their full potential. The Foundation targets to improve the quality of children’s life. This is done by means of supporting efforts to see reduction in childhood deaths and diseases plus offering protection in midst of natural disaster or war. The foundation has assisted to build a hostel for children in India and install computers in the Ethiopia children home. The emirates airline is involved in a number of sporting activities including sponsoring Arsenal Football club in English premier league. Emirates has contributed towards welfare organizations such as Autism Children centre, Metta School, Spastic Children Association, Movement for the Intellectually Disabled and Jurong Gardens School. British Airways The community focus of the company is geared towards enabling of community and conservation programs in order to be self-sustaining. The guiding principle is based on supporting communities and charities in the countries that the company operates in. Basing on these principles the target is to collect two million pounds for the partner charities. The company is focused on improving the quality of education of young people in the communities that the company serves. British Airways support a whole range of community projects allover the world. The suppliers and customers are encouraged to be dedicated in corporate responsibility. In the business arena the company encourages the other players to get involved in the corporate responsibility. In its effort, the British Airways enabled forty-five thousands young people to be educated at the head office community Learning Centre. In charity partnership the established ‘change for good’ structure delivered 25million pounds to UNICEF. In the financial year 2007/2008 the company provided 5.7million pounds for support of charities. Environmental sustainability projects British Airways The company became the first airline in 1992 to report its environmental performance. The company is focused on improving carbon efficiency by twenty five percent by the year 2025. The company is targeting the reduction of carbon dioxide grams per passenger kilometer from 111 to 83 grams. It is targeting the reduction of average noise per flight by fifteen percent by 2050. The overall strategy on climate change is to ensure fully contribution to a fair share on reductions of global carbon dioxide emission by 2050. The company is focused in the improvement of air quality for communities around the airports. It also targets reduction of noise for the welfare of the neighboring communities. The company reduces its impact on climate by means of a more efficient operation; employing latest technology and ensuring it fully reflect the cost of its impact on the environment by means of economic based tools like emissions trading. Fly emirates The vision of the Emirates Group is to be a leader in the environmental issues in aviation and travel industries. The company is committed to sustainable reduction in human emissions. Emirates is dedicated to a global solution for the management of growth in the aviation mission at the international level through International Civil Aviation Organization as required by the United Nation directions on climate change about the environment and greenhouse gas emissions. The customers and staff are increasingly conscious about greenhouse emissions and environment. The company is committed to environmental responsible operations through the Corporate Environmental Policy. The policy is implemented internally by means of Environmental program (Hellyer & Aspinall, 2005). This program is communicated externally and internally to customers, staff and the stakeholders. According to Katzman, (2010), the focus is on becoming an organization that is ecologically-efficient that uses fewer resources and creates less waste and pollution. The company is dedicated towards eco-efficiency means multi-billion dollar investments in the most modern, and eco-efficient technology that can be obtained in engines, aircrafts and ground equipments. The assets are operated in the most environmentally responsible manner and it ensures compliance with all environmental regulations and standards. The company is geared towards being a leader in eco-efficiency in the industry. Emirates is engaged in environmental training and awareness for existing and new staff by use of Environmental Champions program and engage in environmental initiatives. The company support environmental conservation projects and charities. It institute work practices that are environmentally responsible and eco-efficient operations are reliant on the individuals within the company. Human Resource policies and relations with labor unions British Airways The airline works towards employment equality and regulations have been of great effect. Preceding regulations the airline used focus groups to determine employee opinion on the changes. The airline ensures consistency in recruitment for both internal and external applicants. There is also availability of working options that are flexible before one retires. Planning for succession is always age neutral and transparent. There is a lot of diversity in all sectors through challenging stereotypes and assumptions associated with age (Werner et al., 2008). The British Airway team is looking at the improvement of site accessibility for individuals with disabilities. Disability awareness training has been incorporated for all customer-facing staff. The company ensures that disabled attain their potential. Adjustments which are reasonable are made for employees who are disabled or become disabled while working for the company. The company works in partnership with Employers’ Forum on Disability. Flexible working is top in the agenda of ensuring continued change of attitude for the attainment of the goals of the company in all areas (Evans, Campbell & Stonehouse, 2003). The gender equality requirement is in fully operation and no one is discriminated upon on the ground of his or her gender. More focus has been directed to work-life balance to motivate women to resume work after maternity leave. Ethnic minority employees are listened to through race equality strategy. The target is to representation of the ethnic minority groups. The company has employees from different faiths and denominations and no one is discriminated upon because of his religion. Religions that have dietary needs are catered for by provision of a wide range of dietary options. Individuals with different sexual orientations are catered for. Diverse sexual orientations are recognized. The company also ensures that it does not contradict with the labor unions (Bamber, 2009). Fly emirates Being a leading company, emirates has applied human resource management approach that is effective for selecting or recruiting the best labor employees available in the labor market. It sources the best individual who can meet the needs of the company. The leaders are focused towards being a role model in the airline industry. The policy of equal employment opportunity of Emirates states that the right of each employee to participate in all aspects of employment despite of color, race, nationality, sex, marital status, age, disability or national origin so long as it is not influencing performance (Cassani &Kemp, 2003). Harris (2007) notes that the company depends upon qualifications such as skills, abilities, education and experience, and all other standards incorporated for selection and evaluating applicants and employees. The principle shall be applied to numerous employment fields including recruitment, selection and attraction, demotion, promotion, salary decrease, transfer, employment termination and training in addition to payroll system. Any incitement by the employee to the others to violate the code of conduct will constitute a punishable offence. Not submitting complaints concerning potential or confirmed violation of the code of ethics is also prohibited and punishable. The company observes the labor unions regulation and laws (Harris, 2007). Conclusion It can be concluded that ethical practices have come along way in the corporate world and particularly in the aviation and travel industry. With the pressure from labor unions and government, Fly emirates and British Airways have been in place codes of conduct that will not only help them adhere regulation and rules from unions and governments, but also to the to maintain a competitive edge but in the face of eminent competition. The code of conduct and human resource policies at fly emirates are very closely related and there is a very thin line between them. The British Airways have a clear boundary between the human resource policies and the code of conduct. The various aspects of the two companies have compared. References Byars, L. L., & Rue, L. W. (2003). Human resource management, McGraw-Hill, NY. Cassani, B., and K. Kemp. (2003). Go: An Airline Adventure. Time Warner: Carlifonia. Evans, N., Campbell, D., & Stonehouse,G. (2003). Strategic management for travel and tourism. Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford. Harris, D. (2007). CIMA Learning System 2007 Integrated Management. Butterworth- Heinemann: Oxford. Hellyer, P., & Aspinall, S. (2005).The Emirates: a natural history. Trident Press: London. Katzman, K. (2010). United Arab Emirates (UAE): Issues for U. S. Policy. DIANE Publishing: Pennsylvania. Bamber, G. (2009). Up in the air: how airlines can improve performance by engaging their employees. Cornell University Press: New York. Werner, S., Schuler, S.R., & Jackson, S.E. (2008). Managing Human Resources. Cengage Learning: London. Read More