Corporate Integrity Management - Essay Example

Corporate Integrity Management Organizations are enthusiastic about their vision, mission and purpose ments, more so if theyare crafted carefully to represent the beliefs and the future endeavors of the organization. This counts as a major achievement for any organization. There is more to the existence of an organization than just running its operations, earning incomes and gaining profits. Most significant is that an organization needs to have fundamentals that drive it, allowing it to stand the test of time as it moves towards its future, with one original aspect; core values (Collins, n.p.). No matter how good an organization’s vision statement, mission statement or purpose statement could be; it would still be missing on the most vital aspect of focus, if it does not have some basic core values that it upholds and cultivates. The core values of an organization are supposed to be timeless and unchanging, always guiding the operations of the organization during the best seasons and even the worst seasons of the organization. Therefore, no matter whether the organization achieves its targeted performance, no matter if it makes the desired profits, no matter whether it meets the expectations of its stakeholders, one thing must remain constant for the organization; its core values. Thus, simply put, after removing the business the organization does and the money it generates, core values are the only things that must remain. There is a difference between an organization that pursues its vision and a visionary organization. The difference is in the alignment of the organizational core values (Collins, n.p.). While the organization pursuing its vision can do so without the backing of its core values, a truly visionary organization is led by its core values to pursue the aligned vision. Thus simply put, core values are the most important aspects and the fundamentals of any business successful business. There are various core values I consider very vital, which a business, newly established or already running, should still hold onto, even if they are not rewarded. These are the core values I deem most important for an organization, such that, they should be pursued even when they become a competitive disadvantage for the organization: Accountability and transparency Disclosure is the concept behind transparency and accountability. Accountability and transparency are some of the most important core values that drive a business towards success and steers it to the direction of achieving its missions and visions. Accountability and transparency refers to the extent of openness and truthfulness of an organization’s management and board, to the organization’s stakeholders. When an organization qualifies to have displayed accountability and transparency, it means that it does its activities in a very open manner, always involving its stakeholders in the major decision making aspects of the organization, while representing the truthfulness of its financial operations and accounts (Brewer, 86). These core values are vital, since they serve to cultivate trust from the organization’s stakeholders, who in turn commissions the organization to run all the affairs on their behalf without any interference. This serves to promote the success of the organization, since it undertakes its operations guided by the interests of the stakeholders, while ensuring that it has the ultimate support of all the parties involved, since it has already cultivated trust from them (Collins, n.p.). However, accountability on its own may not be sufficient to steer an organization towards its desired future, if it lacks the sense of transparency. Transparency requires that the board and management of any organization disclose all their operations and decisions to the stakeholders. This serves to promote understanding between the board/management and the stakeholders, while also fostering the reliability of the management decisions (CED, 15). An organization that upholds accountability and transparency is assured of success, since it works within an environment of mutual understanding and trust. Objectivity and responsibility Objectivity is a core value that ensures that an organization remains focused to its purpose (NACD, 10). This means that an organization will continue pursuing its goals despite the challenges that might come on its way. Objectivity cultivates trust from the major stakeholders such as the suppliers, customers and stakeholders, since they have faith in the organization and its commitment to work for the common good of all. Responsibility means that an organization will take charge for its action and will remain supportive of the decisions it has reached, no matter whether they brought success or failure. This is vital for the stakeholders, since they understand that their relationship with the organization will still continue to thrive, since the organization takes charge of its decisions and actions, without defaulting (NYSEC, 45). Objectivity and responsibility also serves to ensure board’s independence, since the board is trusted with the operations of the organization, thus granted the authority to independently run the affairs of the organization, without any undue influence from the organizations stakeholders (Collins, n.p.). Therefore, regardless of whether the organization is rewarded by its objectivity and responsibility, and regardless of whether these core values become a competitive advantage for the organization, the organization should always pursue them. Competency and commitment The achievements of any organization as well as the success of its operations are determined by the effectives and efficiency of the organization in running its business. Effectiveness and efficiency means that an organization needs to operate within the confines of minimal resource utilization while yielding high productivity (NACD, 14). To be able to minimize on the resource utilization but maximize on productivity, an organization requires displaying competency and commitment. Commitment requires that the management and the board members of any given organization fulfil their responsibilities and duties without failing (Collins, n.p.). Commitment goes beyond mere fulfillment of once duty, to include the willingness to go beyond duty execution and engage in furthering the achievements of the organization, for the interest of the stakeholders. Competence on the other hand means that the board and the organizational management has sufficient skills, expertise and experiences that allow them to reach decisions that would minimize on the costs incurrence of the organization, while improving its productivity (The corporate library, 30). The qualifications of the organization’s workforce should be designed to reflect diverse experiences and expertise in different field. This helps the organization to mitigate risks through ample planning and concrete decision making that is based on the desire to achieve the set targets and vision. Competency and commitment guarantees organizational success even under conditions of tough economic conditions (NACD, 20). Diversity Workforce represents the most important asset that an organization has. The composition of teamwork is a great determinant of an organization’s achievement. The most important aspect of the teamwork is its diversity, since it affects teamwork performance (Ward, 22). Thus, if diversity in the workforce is managed well, it guarantees an organization of success and appealing results. However, if diversity in the workforce is poorly managed, it leads to lack of motivation, feelings of discontent and lack of commitment, which in turn drags the organizational performance and achievement (Dalrden, 81). Most significant is the fact that though diversity may delay the attainment and completion of a project, it gives results that are most creative and innovative, comprising of new and novel ideas (Ward, 25). This is important since, as opposed to homogeneousness, diversity creates an opportunity for generating different ways of solving a problem. This is most vital for an organization, since it provides alternative ways of handling a problem, while increasing the chances of succeeding in goal attainment (Holland, 4). Ethics Ethics is yet another vital core value that any organization should pursue. This is because; ethics serves to ensure that all the stakeholders in the organization are treated equally. Additionally, ethics ensures that an organization does not pursue certain goals just because they are legal and promising (Solomon, 44). Ethics guide an organization towards pursuing its missions and visions in a responsible and humane manner, avoiding causing harm to others just to accomplish its set targets. Therefore, ethics promotes equity and fairness within an organization, ensuring that all employees are treated equally and indiscriminately (Ward, 20). Ethics promotes responsible actions of an organization’s board and management, despite the existing market forces or social circumstances. It promotes the care that an organization extends towards its environment and the surrounding community, while urging an organization to go beyond pursuing achievements and profits, to include corporate social responsibility, charity and philanthropy (Solomon, 53). Ethics guide an organization to ensuring that it can earn minimal returns but stick to legality and follow due process, other than engage in illegal and unethical practices to improve its gains. Ethics forms the background against which other positive core values pursued by an organization are drawn. Ethics keeps an organizational committed to its course despite the difficulties and disrupting circumstances. It ensures that an organization does not only pursue its visions, but also sticks to them throughout its operational life (Ward, 24). Ethics is a vital core value that an organization should stick to, even when it becomes a competitive disadvantage. Conclusion Any organization is led by its visions and missions that it has set and committed to achieve. However, core values are most important for an organization to pursue, since they guarantee consistency and success, while guiding the business towards targeting more than just monetary gains. Thus, core values such as transparency, accountability, objectiveness, diversity and ethics are the most vital for an organization to pursue. This is because, in addition to enhancing the success of a business, they guide it towards improving the welfare of its stakeholders, the environment and the surrounding communities. Works Cited Brewer, Charles. “Leading with values.”Leaders on Ethics, 2007. 86-95. Print. Collins, Jim. “Aligning Action and Values”. The Forum, 2000. Internet source. http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/aligning-action.html Committee for Economic Development (CED). “Restoring Trust in Corporate Governance: The Six Essential Tasks of Boards of Directors and Business Leaders.” Policy and Impact Committee of the Committee for Economic Development, 2010. 1-18. Print. Dalrden, Cal. “Delivering on diversity leadership: A walk in the other guy’s shoes.” Leaders on Ethics, 2007. 80-85. Print. Holland, Robert. What we have learned about diversity management. The southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, 2003. 1-6. Print. National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). Key Agreed Principles to Strengthen Corporate Governance for U.S. Publicly Traded Companies, 2009. 2-22. Print. NYSEC. Report of the New York Stock Exchange Commission on Corporate Governance, 2010. 3-44. Print. Solomon, Robert.” Victims of circumstances? A defense of virtue ethics in business.” Business Ethics Quarterly, 13 (2003): 43-62. Print. The corporate library. Board oversight of environmental and social issues: an analysis of current North American practice. Calvert Asset Management Company, Inc. & the Corporate Library, 2010. 1-32. Print. Ward, John. “Restoring corporate trust: The new Imperative for Ethics, Integrity and Diversity.” Leaders on Ethics, 2002. 20-25. Print. Read More