Employee Relations Law - Literature review Example

Introduction Professionalism is an important aspect in the corporate and social world. The number of scandals realized from refusal to practice professionalism in the corporate world has been large. Consequences have been detrimental to the people involved as well as to other people connected with them. Most nations, including the United Kingdom, have put legislations in place to help enforce professionalism. Although this measure has been productive, it has not managed to completely stop such acts in the country. Most non-professional behaviours also seem to traverse ethical boundaries. Transgression of these boundaries has meant that society has greatly suffered. In view of this information, this paper will explore professionalism based on a news article as well as some of the laws that have been passed to ensure that professionalism is adhered to. Background Information According to a news article in the Guardian by Joe Curtis, Mr. Patel who worked in a Magistrates Court in Britain made a promise that he would influence the results of a court case. He said would only do this if the victim in the case was willing to pay for the favour. The sum to be paid was put at ?500 (Curtis 2011). He was a clerk in the administrative department of the court. After the fraud was discovered, he was arrested and faced several charges in court for obstruction of justice as well as corruption. If convicted, Mr. Patel faces a maximum jail term of ten years. The man will be prosecuted under the new Bribery Act which came into effect in June 2011 (James 2011). Among other things, this laws places strict laws and penalties for civil servants who engage in bribery activities and also companies which offer bribes to other institutions in order to gain favour from the institutions (Curtis 2011). This is a major step in the reduction of corruption charges in the country as it will keep people on their toes when it comes to corrupt practices. Professionalism and Ethics Professionalism is the ability of a person to perform his duties as required by law and guidelines of the career. Professionalism has been thought to be a complimentary feature of ethics and thus people are expected to be ethical at all times while practicing their professions. Debate has centred on whether ethics and professionalism are part of the same process or one can be implemented separately from the other (Kultgen 1988). Ethics is a major part of society and involves identification of conflicting choices. For a choice to be termed as ethical, it must bring out the greatest good fro the greatest number of people. A simpler definition of ethics is the choice between what is considered wrong by society and what is termed right (Driver 2006). All ethical decisions are reasonably acceptable by the majority. However, there are some issues that may bring conflicts as decisions made in such cases seem to be continuously controversial with no specific group of people rooting for or opposing such decisions. There are different codes of ethics depending on the profession. One of the best known ethical guideline is the oath taken by doctors. These codes play a major role in the development of an organization as well as to the development of the career for a person (Shah, Farooq, Munir, Mahmood, & Saeed, 2011). Despite the differences in the codes of ethics in most careers, the goal of all organization is to achieve the best output for the organization and for the consumers. Failure to adhere to such codes of ethics can lead to disastrous outcomes for the organization such as the collapse of various organizations in the world (Ferrell & Ferrell, 2011). The employees of an organization have the responsibility of ensuring that they adhere to such codes so as to promote professionalism in the company. The leaders of the institution should play a leading role in the development of an ethical culture in the organization. The UK, upon realizing the importance of professionalism in its controlled interests, developed a law that would enable it to fight corruption. This vice is a major setback to professionalism in many ways. The law received overwhelming support from law makers and was viewed as an important tool in the fight against corruption and other vices practiced in the corporate world. Bribery Act Although the law was passed in 2010, it was effected in 2011 and has already attracted its first culprits (Renney, 2011). The law is meant to punish all people who traverse rules set in the Act. These rules include corrupting foreign officials in order to gain an advantage as well as receiving incentives to influence an outcome. In addition, giving such incentives has also been identified as a crime. Organization may be full of corruption but deny such allegations on the basis that the actions of a single employee do not signify the decision by the whole organization. This has, however, been identified as a punishable crime under the new Act and all organizations have to ensure that their employees act in a professional manner in their endeavours to grow the organization. This Act does not only cover internal acts of bribery but also external ones (Engle, 2010). This means that the jurisdiction of the law runs beyond the UK borders and as such, any person who is a British citizen or works in UK must ensure that he adheres to the rules and regulations of the law. The Bribery Act replaces many other laws developed to fight corruption in the country. The addition of new offences under the new law means that the loopholes that were available in previous legislations have been closed. This will help most organization in the enforcement of professionalism and adherence to ethical conduct. The jurisdiction of the new law also means that people working in the UK but have moved to other countries are still under the law. In addition, companies that seek to find favour outside the UK through corrupt means are now under the watch of the new laws (Taylor, Sibery, & Loughman, 2011). Bribing officials from a foreign land to gain favour will now be a prosecutable offence. UK multinational organizations will, therefore, have to conduct business under the rule of law. The law has brought about a better and stricter way of practicing professionalism in any business. Ethics will also play a role in strengthening professionalism. Professionalism in Courts Mr. Patel is just one of the many corrupt people who work in the judiciary system. However, professionalism in this sector has been observed by all players. The action of bribing a public official or being bribed to receive or give any advantage is considered unprofessional and a crime under the new law (Maton, 2010). This means that Mr. Patel, accused of receiving a financial incentive in order to provide a benefit to another person, had committed a crime under the new law. This legislation provides for people found guilty under this crime to be jailed for 10 years as the maximum sentence. Alternatively, a person can be fine an unlimited amount of money by the court. Patel would, therefore, be prosecuted under this law with the expected outcome being either a jail sentence or a fine to be determined by the judge. In committing the crime, Mr. Patel showed that professionalism was lacking in the courts or in the administration of the magistrates court. A public servant has a duty to the public and should perform in accordance with set rules and regulations. Courts are supposed to dispense justice but Mr. Patel, in receiving the bribe, was about to give indemnity to a person who had acted in contravention of the law. This promotes impunity within the court system and beats the reason for the existence of the justice system. In the administration of the court, the employees should further the goal of the court through adherence to strict measures put in place to curb corruption and enhance confidence in the system (Sullivan, Haunschild, & Page, 2007). With such behaviours, however, the court may be viewed as unable to fulfil its mandate in a correct and consistent manner. Meeting in secret to discuss public matters is unprofessional in that it shows that the action is wrong and uncalled for. The clerk would have advised the victim that justice can only be served in a court of law rather than agreeing to take a short cut to the end. Such a meeting weakened the effectiveness of the court and this is against professionalism (Jacobson 2009). For a court to be effective, all people working in the court must be able to coordinate their activities in a way that will provide the court with maximum input. This will in turn bring about improvements in the court procedures. It is, therefore, the duty of every court employee to be professional and ensure that all business regarding the court is conducted in a fair manner that it is beneficial to the court and to the people it serves. Ethics Depending on the perspective of a person, some may view the actions of Patel as unethical while others may view that as a favour. Ethics, however, dictate that his actions were in contravention with the expectations the court and only served to further his goal. In addition, this action placed the larger population at risk. This is because speeding may bring about catastrophic consequences such as death of the driver, accident and many other negative outcomes. Allowing such a person to continue on the roads without being punished placed other road users in danger. This can be considered wrong since the consequences of such a favour may be undesirable. The damage to society arising from such acts can be quite huge with decreased social growth as well as economic instability (Verschoor, 2011). Personal Gain Patel received the sum of ?500 to enable a person escape the law. This would equal aiding in the crime committed by the victim and thus it can be seen as unethical. The fact that he received that said sum meant that he knew it was wrong to take such an action. Rather than engage in professionalism, the clerk diverted information that was useful for the court. This means that his actions were unethical and required disciplinary action. Although the court has a code of conduct that should be followed by its employees, it is important to note the role of the Bribery Act in the case of Patel. In his actions, he failed on several ethical aspects. One such aspect was state information. The removal of information from the database belonging to the court meant that he was planning to or had stolen information that was not his. Information has become one of the most protected aspects in the modern world. Since Patel had the privilege of accessing such information, he was obligated not to use it for personal gain (Stachowicz-Stanusch, 2010). However, acceptance of the bribe meant that he used the information for personal gain despite the fact that it was unethical. Collusion with a Suspect Mr. Patel, in contravention of his duty, colluded with a criminal to free the criminal from his legal responsibility. This is unethical on many fronts. The administrative clerk wanted the criminal to go free despite his criminal activities. To achieve this, he colluded with the criminal which goes against his career responsibilities. On another level, the willingness to influence the outcome of a court case, regardless of the crime committed, was unethical since this amounted to a breach of contract with the employer. His responsibility at the court was to ensure that all information in the court database was well preserved and available for magistrates during prosecution. This means he did not achieve fulfil his contractual responsibility with the employer, contravened the bribery act of 2010 and, more importantly, still remained an employee of the court despite his ill intentions. Collusion with a suspect is, therefore, unethical. Providing the suspect with better avenues that would be used to address his issues would have been a better of handling the issue as that is one way of expressing professionalism (Jacobson, 2009). Deceit Colluding with the criminal and continuing to work for the court was unethical. This amounted to negligence of duties since the purpose of the court was to provide justice but that of the criminal was to break the law. This meant that Mr. Patel would be unable to fulfil his duties at the court. He utilized court resource in the wrong manner and, therefore, deceived his employer. Deceit is unethical as it provides other people with the wrong impression with the intent of causing harm (Malshe, Al-Khatib, & Sailors, 2010). By providing the criminal with a leeway for not going to court, he deceived not only the court, but also law enforcement officers since they were the ones who had arrested the criminal. He, thus, subverted justice through deceit to the legal system put in place to preserve justice. Evaluation of the Bribery Act and Reactions The bribery Act provides one of the best platforms to fight corruption in corporations as well as in individuals. Suing both parties, the recipient and the giver of the bribe, will reduce corruption incidences in that the penalties are quite huge. In addition, this measure will improve professionalism in the courts since people will be demoralized by the hefty penalties placed on the vice. With this improvement, ethics will be upheld in organizations since employees will be expected to fulfil their obligations to the organization. In addition, the law also provides that organizations are liable if any of their employees engage in bribery of any kind. This means that organizations will be keener on the role of their employees. This law will, therefore, lead to increased vigilance by the organizations and hence improvement in observation of ethics and professionalism. Professionalism in the case of Patel Mr. Patel realized that the criminal wanted to find favour from him in return for payment. A professional would have directed the criminal to other ways of defending himself such as the use of a lawyer. This would have demonstrated professionalism as it would have put off the bribery. Courteously responding to such a request through formal and polite means would have achieved the goal of finding alternative avenues for fighting the charges. Alternatively he would have advised the criminal on why that was not a wise decision. Taking such an action would have prevented further probing from the criminal. However, in case the criminal was not satisfied, Mr. Patel would have reported the matter to his seniors as this would prove that he attempted to avoid the situation. Such a step would have been beneficial in many ways since Mr. Patel would be exempt from bribery acts as well as demonstrate professionalism on his part. Ethics in the Case With regard to ethics, there were many options available to Patel before and after the act. From the beginning, Patel would have refused the money offer given to him by the criminal. He would have done this on the basis that his job was to serve justice and not deny it. He would, therefore, be doing the right thing. The ethical decision was to choose between the wrong and right act. This meant understanding his role as an administrative clerk in magistrate’s court and his role in helping the suspect. Choosing the right decision after understanding his role would have been easy. His decision to play along with the request of the suspect was unethical. In a different scenario, Patel would have called a senior officer to have the suspect arrested for attempting to give a bribe, an act that is classified as a crime under the new Bribery Act. An attempt to bribe a public official in order to gain an advantage over other would have led to the arrest of the suspect and his consequent prosecution under this new law. As an officer of the law court, Patel was obligated to report a matter of attempted bribery to law enforcement officers. He, however, opted not to take this option and settled to be paid a sum of ?500. His refusal to report the matter was unethical as it was his duty to report such a matter to the relevant authorities. The last option available to Mr. Patel would have been to turn himself in after receiving the bribe. Alternatively, he would have to quit his job. He would also have reported the matter to one of the senior people in the department. This would have removed any doubts as to what end he was working for. Receiving bribes and continuing to work as a justice employee was in conflict and thus he would have quit his job. This would be the ethical decision to make considering the damage such an act would bring to the court. In terms of choosing the right decision, therefore, he should have opted to quit his job. Reporting to a senior officer about the event would also have solved the issue as appropriate steps would have been taken to remedy the situation. This was not the decision of Mr. Patel who succumbed to bribery and thereby became the first person to be charged with the new functional Bribery Act of 2010. Conclusion Professionalism is an important aspect in most of the corporate companies today. The adherence to ethics also plays a major role in the development of professionalism. Some of the professional attributes include honesty and integrity while lack of professionalism can lead to corruption and bribery among other vices. The case of Mr. Patel portrays a clear picture of how professionalism can be integrated in the organization and what lack of it can lead to. The new Bribery Act implemented in the UK will serve as a platform for enforcing professionalism in most organizations as well as in civil servants. 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