Managing Corporate Integrity: Corporate Code of Conduct - Term Paper Example

MANAGING CORPORATE INTEGRITY - CORPORATE OF CONDUCT MANAGING CORPORATE INTEGRITY - CORPORATE OF CONDUCT Critiquing the AT&T Code of conduct The board of directors of AT&T Inc together with the subsidiaries of the company approved this code of conduct to motivate ethical and honest conduct, fair, full, appropriate, and understandable disclosure. The code is also to encourage compliance with relevant laws, rules and regulations of the government. Most importantly is to ensure the company lawful trading interests are protected, inclusive of the firm assets, opportunities, discourage wrong doing, and shield confidential data. All employees, officials, and company directors should be familiar with the code. Honest and Ethical conduct All the employees and managers have a responsibility to act with integrity, most significantly, being moral and honest. This involves handling of clear or real conflicts of interest between professional and personal relationships. Subordination and dishonesty are not consistent with integrity. Each should observe both spirit and form of laws and accounting standards. However, no undisclosed or improper material should be accepted for personal gains from third parties accrued from the company’s transactions. Conflicts of Interest This is a situation where personal interests meddle with the Company’s interests. This incident can come about when any official or employee has individual interests or takes actions that may make it hard to carry out his or her tasks effectively and objectively. The AT&T code of conduct provides that loyalty or service to the organization should never be secondary to or dependant on individual benefits. Conflicts of interest ought to be avoided by all costs. The company’s disclosure process is vital to the public documents and reports. This therefore requires that any official involved with the disclosure should be familiar with the company procedures and controls applicable. Further, any individual having supervisory or direct authority concerning the general business, prospects, and financial condition should fit within his or her responsibility area. Consultations with employees and other company officials are important as well as taking other necessary steps about those closures with an objective of making fair, timely, accurate, and understandable disclosures. This code also provides that it is an organization’s policy to fulfill all applicable rules and regulations. Each employee or director is personally responsible for adhering to the restrictions and standards imposed by these rules when performing their duties for the company. Such include rules relating to auditing and accounting matters and insider business. It is a violation to the company’s policy for anyone to benefit from undisclosed data linked to the firm or any other firm against the insider or other rules. Reporting and accountability of this code in any given way should be the work of the audit committee. Any individual in the company who comes across any violation of the code should report with immediate effect. Any party in the company is prohibited from directing or taking a business opportunity to third party, only if the company had already been offered such n opportunity buy turned it down. The GE code of conduct The commitment of GE to integrity is integrated in “spirit and the letter” handbook. The policies in this document govern GE employees and are complemented by compliance guidelines and procedures of GE business components. Each GE employee is committed to: obey the appropriate rules and regulations governing their business in the whole world; be fair, honest, and trustworthy in relating with GE and in carrying out its activities; avoid any type of conflict of interest between personal and work affairs. Employees should also promote an environment in which fair employment operations are extensive to each member of the assorted DE community. A protected environment and a safe workplace should be the aim of each employee. Through leadership at all levels, employees should maintain a culture in which ethical conduct is noticed, valued, and demonstrated. No matter how great the challenges might be, or how great the mistake, GE will carry out commercial activities solely by legal and ethical means. GE will not compromise its commitment to integrity when working with suppliers and customers in each aspect of their business. GE only trade with those suppliers that adhere to regulatory requirements and preserves the rights found on assessment of data available to it. The UPS code of conduct With UPS code of conduct, a business is compliant with all practical rules and regulations of the country in which a company operates, and according to the company’s high standards of trading conduct. Each employee is expected to adhere to this code of conduct, which is significant in maintaining the reputation for quality, integrity, and honesty. All employees are also responsible for reporting to the company about any situation where business laws and standards are violated. Any individual employee who discloses genuinely, defiance or suspected defiance of legal requirements will not be subjected to retribution or retaliation. Similarly, failure to keep with the provisions of this code of conduct will never be tolerated. The Lockheed-Martin code of conduct Lockheed-Martin leads in aerospace and global security. They solve customers’ most difficult issues using employee performance, innovation, and unmatched integrity. Their first value is to do what is right. They are committed to the top-most standards in ethical conduct in each of their operations. To Lockheed-Martin, integrity and honesty produce trust, which is the foundation of this business. They abide by the US laws and of other countries in which they trade, by striving to be good citizens and taking responsibility of each action. The business realizes that their success depends fully on the skills, talents, and expertise of the employees, and their ability to perform as a tightly incorporated team. All this can only be achieved if respect for others is given the first priority. Appreciating diversity and respecting fellow colleagues, partners, and customers is a necessary element for a productive and positive business relationship. Above all the operations and values, excellence should be part of the important missions and trust from the customers. Considering this, efforts to excel in every aspect of the business should be the main aim. Further, every challenge should be approached with a determination to succeed. Strengths and weaknesses of codes of conduct Larger businesses will always have codes of conduct to guide the employees. AT&T, GE, Lockheed-Martin and UPS have common features in their codes of conduct, which include that all the four manuals spell out precisely the way employees should act while at work. However, the four codes do not have only the dos, but the don’ts too. They prohibit employees from harassing their colleagues, conducting individual businesses using organization materials and time, and being determined to protect the company products and aim at excelling. Similarly, the four codes share some strengths and weaknesses. Strengths and weaknesses of AT&T Codes of conduct The AT&T Code of conducts inspires employees to behave ethically by guiding them in moral choices. They are a larger element of business and corporate culture. In addition to this, consumers will always link the ethics of AT&T to the quality of its products. Having a higher ethical level seems to have a better public reputation to its customers, and its employees will possibly follow the management’s guidelines by themselves However, these Codes do not spell out the lesser and major activities of the company. This means that employees can not readily understand wholly their undertakings across the board how they affect the integrity of the company. Strengths and weaknesses of GE Codes of conduct In the GE Company, Codes of ethics provided create a foundation on which to establish all decisions that have impacts on both external and internal such as community members and employees. It is due to these codes that GE employees work with minimal supervision and it is even more essential for all employees to wholly understand the company expectations and the ethical guidelines to follow when making decisions. However, it is quite clear from the information in these codes that some aspects are not up to date. It is recommended that GE Company updates their codes of ethics at least once per year in order to make changes linked with recently implemented federal legislations and new technology. For instance, they do not include any data regulating the quantity of time that employees should spend on social networks. The codes have also failed to spell out the punishments that the employees might be exposed to when they write about matters of the company on their personal blogs. Strengths and weaknesses of UPS Codes of conduct UPS Codes of conduct are the intentional belief in a set of standards, morals, and appropriate behavior for its business operations. Because they are enforced by the company’s directors, these codes go hand in hand with government laws and general social regulations against vices such as corruption. Nevertheless, this is a weakness on its own. The directors and other officials at the UPS may have the first-hand awareness of upcoming ethical issues and risks. Employees should also be part of the personnel that participate in the implementation of the codes of conduct. Strengths and weaknesses of the Lockheed-Martin code of conduct Employees wish to be proud of the manner in which they are treated by the company and the community at large. Lockheed-Martin code of conduct reminds employees that they are respected and valued. The guide foe employees to conduct their business ethically help the company to limit employee turnover. Customer of Lockheed-Martin Company may want to perceive that their suppliers are moral in their trading. This code of conduct is an extra evidence of justifying trust. Some of the Weaknesses associated with the Lockheed-Martin code of conduct are that they are too lengthy and large in volumes, with more than 50 pages. This makes it difficult for their employees to read and understand. Conclusively, the Lockheed-Martin code of conduct provides elements that are most significant to the employees. This is on the basis of social responsibility of this company. Employees and organizations need each other for the good of the business. Social responsibility to the employees expands further than the terms and conditions of the laid down contract and recognize the workers as human beings. Generally, the society expects better quality of working life, equal opportunities for participation and consultation, and justice in treatment. Bibliography Berumen, Michael. Do No Evil: Ethics With Applications to Economic Theory and Business. New York: iUniverse Inc, 2003. Brooks, Leonard. Business and Professional Ethics. New York: South-Western College Pub, 2011. Donaldson, Thomas and Werhane, Patricia. Ethical Issues in Business: New York: Prentice Hall, 2002. Howard, Ronald and Korver, Clinton. Ethics for the Real World: Creating a Personal Code to Guide Decisions in Work and Life. Harvard: Harvard Business School Press, 2008. Read More