Managing Ethics and Social Responsibility - News International - Research Paper Example

?Managing Ethics and Social responsibility Table of Contents Introduction 3 Ethical and Social Issues of NI 4 Procedure Adopted by NI for Dealing with Ethical and Social Issues 6 Conclusion 12 References 14 Bibliography 17 Introduction Business ethics are fundamentally regarded as the principles as well as the standards in accordance with which the business operations are required to be conducted for developing better corporate culture in an organisation. It primarily assists the organisations in performing business operations with better societal development as along with enhancing the margin of profitability. Moreover, it also facilitates an organisation in building better interrelation with the people involved with an organisation that eventually helps it to enhance the operational performances as well as the productivity of the employees (Ferrell & et.al., 2012). In relation to the conception of business ethics along with social responsibility, Business Ethic Management (BEM) is viewed to be a process of analysing as well as minimising ethical issues or problems with the application of certain specific programs and effectual practices. There are varied important elements that are applied by different organisations for minimising ethical problems or issues that include formulating effectual mission statements and establishing standard code of ethics. It has been apparently observed that the people involved with an organisation are provided with business ethics related education as well as training in order to effectively operate their respective business activities in accordance with organisational objectives. Moreover, business operations of an organisation are required to be audited as well as reported in an appropriate manner in order to effectively analyze business performances by a significant level (University of Bahrain, n.d.). News International or NI Group Ltd (NI) is regarded as one of the renowned as well as the biggest publishers of famous British newspapers. The well-known newspapers published by NI are The Sunday Times and The Times. These newspapers which publish by the organisation are considered to be the best in consideration to quality. Furthermore, another well-known newspaper of the organisation named The Sun is regarded to be one of the most read newspapers in the UK that accounts to seven million readers per day (NI Group Limited, 2012). This discussion will emphasize upon analysing ethical as well as social issues that faced by NI. Moreover, the discussion will further focus upon the techniques as well as the standards that adopted by the organisation in minimising all these identified issues that are pertaining within the organisation. Ethical and Social Issues of NI NI is one the famous newspaper publisher in the UK that faced several issues or problems which have been identified to hamper the performances as well as the business ethics of the organisation at large. The organisation has faced the problems due to corrupt practices that were performed for investigating certain crime related activities or news reports. The major ethical problem that faced by the organisation is the phone-hacking investigation procedure. Moreover, the staff members of the organisation were also alleged that they were involved in accessing messages of general public along with comprising the celebrities as well as the politicians (Davies, 2009). Furthermore, one of the staff members named Clive Goodman as well as two other members of NI was identified to be involved in tapping the phone calls of Prince William, a member of royal family (Day, 2006). There was another event that hampered the ethical standards of the organisation considering the case of Milly Dowler who was murdered. In regard to this case, the members of NI were alleged that they erased messages from Milly Dowler’s mobile phone with the intention of acquiring future messages (Muller, 2012). Furthermore, the organisation is also charged with the crime of providing bribery to public officials for acquiring important information relating to certain specific matters (Russell, 2012). These are the varied issues or problems that have been identified with relation to ethics as well as code of NI. In this similar context, NI practiced certain illegal methods as well as adopted corrupt means in acquiring valuable news reports to be published in their newspaper. These issues of NI are considered to be one of the imperative factors affecting the business ethics as well as the social responsibility of NI by a considerable level. Moreover, these issues had affected the ‘code of conduct’ of the organisation as illegal means were adopted in order to publish news report for attaining superior business reputation. Hacking phone calls of general public is recognised as a criminal offence. This means of acquiring news report can be considered as an illegal act that performed by NI. This particular mean that practiced by the organisation violates the legal regulations of the UK by a greater extent. Therefore, the organisation is required to devise enhanced ethic management techniques for performing its operations in an ethical manner as well as with better societal development. The organisation should also develop better code of conduct in order to enhance interrelation with the people for the motive of mitigating the issues or problems. Procedure Adopted by NI for Dealing with Ethical and Social Issues NI has faced many ethical as well as social issues that include hacking of phone calls for publication of valuable news reports and bribery act. In the year 2011, NI opts to close down the publication of the newspaper named ‘The News of the World’. This newspaper was closed due to allegation charges of publishing news report through corrupt practices that comprised mobile phone hacking as well as bribery paid to public officials. Several investigations are required to be performed by the regulators as well as the government authorities of the United Sates (US) and the UK in order to analyse whether such corrupt practices are performed by the organisation in its subsidiaries worldwide or not. Moreover, the organisation has also developed a ‘Management & Standards Committee’ (MSC), with the motive of investigating as well as analysing ethical as well as social issues that are related to NI. In this regard, MSC was established as an independent operating body that will conduct its operational functions completely separate from NI. NI has also formulated certain effective governance reforms as well as improved certain policies for employees to perform business functions by maintaining specific ethical standards as well as principles (The Leveson Inquiry, 2012). In addition, it has been viewed that NI has formulated an interim payment policy as well as has revised the Standards of Business Conduct (SBC) of News Corporation, a diversified mass media group. This SBC were provided to all the employees of the organisation in hard copy. SBC were formulated with the motive of developing trust amid the involved parties. SBC of News Corporation has been established and implemented on the basis of four major commitments that have been described hereunder. Trust in the Workplace This standard signifies that employees of different news agencies will be treated in an equal as well as fair manner. Moreover, with this standard, news agencies aim at developing trust amid the parties involved in the workplace (News Corporation, 2013). Trust is the Integrity of our Employees This standard was devised with the objective that employees of dissimilar news agencies will perform effective business operations for their better performance. Moreover, the organisation is also committed in ensuring enhanced services to the stakeholders (News Corporation, 2013). Trust in Our Business Ethics In accordance with this standard, news organisations should perform business operations with honesty as well as in a fair manner. Moreover, business operations of news agencies are required to be conducted by maintaining appropriate ethical standards as well as principles (News Corporation, 2013). Trust in the Law The business operations of different news agencies are required to be performed in accordance with applicable rules as well as regulations of a country where it performs different operational or business functions (News Corporation, 2013). The SBC that developed by News Corporation are required to be followed by every employee as well as the people involved with the different business functions along with maintaining the standards in order to mitigate the ethical along with social issues. In case of violation reported against any SBC, then the organisation will be liable to take required steps as well as procedures for recommending corrective actions. Moreover, in order to minimise or eliminate any sort of unethical practice that performs by the employees, the organisation also intends to inform them about the measures that would be initiated. In situation, where an employee of any news agency has identified to perform corrupt practices, then such incident must be reported to Human Resource (HR) manager or to any Attorney of legal department of respective companies where the employee works or directly to News Corporation. Moreover, business units of each news agency are provided with Compliance Business Leader, who is entrusted with the task of reviewing any complaints lodged against any employee violating determined standards of News Corporation (News Corporation, 2013). Furthermore, all the journalists of the news organisation were provided with Press Complaints Commission (PCC) Code. This particular code comprises certain specific principles as well as laws that have been applied in PCC. This Code of Practice is normally written by the Code Committee which comprises of senior editors of different newspaper agencies. In accordance with this Code, employees of news organisations are require to conduct operations according to determined standards as well as principles (Keller, 2012). Moreover, editors of dissimilar news agencies are required to concern both individual as well as public rights. Furthermore, reports as well as information which are to be published in newspaper are required to be accurate or precise. The major purpose of PCC is to handle problems that arise due to the conduct of inappropriate operations in accordance with Code of Practice. In this connection, PCC is regarded to be a self regulatory body that governs the complaints as well as provide suitable recommendations in order to acquire as well as develop public confidence in the administration of news agencies in the UK (PCC, 2012). These standards of Business Conduct as well as PCC Code were provided with the intention of providing certain values as well as principles in accordance with which the employees and the journalists of NI are required to perform their respective business activities. The standards as well as the code were made mandatory to be followed by the people involved with the organisation in order to minimise as well as eliminate issues faced by the organisation for conducting corrupt practices. These policies which were implemented eventually facilitated the organisation to conduct different business operations ethically. Moreover, these policies as well as practices assists NI in performing business operations by maintaining enhanced standard ethics as well as with greater social responsibility by protecting public interests at large (PCC, 2010). In order to deal with the social as well as ethical issues, it has been observed that NI has adopted the strategy of revising all the policies as well as the procedures in order to mitigate its social as well as ethical issues. It can be stated that this strategy of the organisation will certainly improve the effectiveness of these policies as well as encourage the employees to perform their respective operations in a more ethical manner. Furthermore, these policies as well procedures have facilitated the organisation with better protection of data as well as preservation of important documents (Keller, 2012). NI has devised better training programs with the motive of imparting standards as well as values to be followed while performing its different business operations. Moreover, employees of the organisation are also trained to acquire news reports as well as information legally as well as in accordance with determined standards or values. Furthermore, employees are also provided with the information of the Bribery Act of 2010 so that employees are not involved in taking bribes from any official. All these training programs as well as practices have facilitated the employees to enhance their behavioural standards by a considerable level (Keller, 2012). NI has also offered varied websites facilities as well as services that include Sun Bingo, The Whisky Club as well as Sunday Times Wine Club among others. All these services are provided with the intention of improving the brand image of NI after facing social along with ethical issues (NI Group Limited, 2012). NI considers every societal member to be the most important element for the success of the organisation. Furthermore, the organisation has also substantially invested in organising varied campaigns that encompass ‘Help for Heroes’ as well as ‘Malaria No More’ with the intention of developing community as well as society. The organisation has also taken the initiatives about establishing varied volunteering programmes such as ‘Trees for Cities’ as well as ‘The Prince’s Trust’. In this regard, ‘Trees for Cities’ programme was conducted with the motive of planting trees. On the other hand, ‘The Prince’s Trust’ was created for imparting training as well as improving skills of the different societal members. In the year 2008, NI adopted carbon neutral program which has assisted the organisation in reducing 20 percent of carbon footprint. Moreover, the organisation has adopted advanced technology that consumes less energy as well as able to print more newspapers. Furthermore, the organisation formed Staff Environment Group and the member of this group is entitled with the task to improve working environment of the organisation at large (News International Ltd., 2009). These are the varied standards as well as policies which have been implemented by NI in order to eliminate ethical issues faced in relation towards hacking phone calls as well as bribery act that undertook by certain employees in order to acquire news reports or information to publish. Moreover, these policies will assist NI in performing operations in an efficient as well as an ethical manner in future. Conclusion Business ethics are viewed to be important elements or values that assist an organisation in performing different business functions by maintaining ethical standards as well as principles. Moreover, performing business operations in compliance with these principles helps in developing a better corporate culture as well as superior development of society. Business ethics as well as corporate social responsibility policies of an organisation are required to be managed as well as implemented in an efficient manner. BEM is a technique of evaluating as well as managing different ethical issues that are recognised on the implementation of certain effective policies as well as programs. Moreover, this technique will also facilitate an organisation to minimise as well as eliminate various ethical and social issues by a significant level. NI is regarded to be a biggest publisher of newspaper in the UK. The Sun is one of the most read newspapers in the UK that is published by NI. There are other newspapers which published by NI that comprise The Times and The Sunday Times. There are certain instances where the business ethics of the organisation have been hampered in terms of conducting corrupt practices by the employees of NI. Corrupt practices which were adopted by the employees of the organisation include hacking of phone calls as well as bribery act. The organisation has adopted varied policies as well as procedures for eliminating ethical issues. In this concern, the organisation has modified SBC as well as PCC Code in order to bestow better ethical standards as well as principles to be followed by its employees. The employees are also provided with better training facilities as well as informed about the various facets regarding Bribery Act of 2010. These standards as well as principles will certainly assist the employees of NI to perform their respective business functions in an ethical manner. Furthermore, NI has also conducted many social programs as well as campaigns in ordered to develop the community as well as the environment by a greater extent. References Davies, N., 2009. Murdoch Papers Paid ?1m to Gag Phone-Hacking Victims. Media. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jul/08/murdoch-papers-phone-hacking [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Day, J., 2006. Phone Tap Investigation Widens. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/aug/09/royalsandthemedia.themonarchy [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Ferrell, O. C. & et. al., 2012. Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making & Cases. Cengage Learning. Keller, P., 2012. Media Law in Britain. Foundations of British Media Law and Policy. [Online] Available at: http://www.britishcouncil.org/china-society-publications-media.pdf [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Muller, D., 2012. Deplorable and Indefensible': The Ethics of the News of The World. The Conversation. [Online] Available at: http://theconversation.edu.au/deplorable-and-indefensible-the-ethics-of-the-news-of-the-world-2215 [Accessed January 06, 2013]. News Corporation, 2013. Standard of Business Conduct. How do we Build and Maintain Trust?. [Online] Available at: http://www.newscorp.com/PDF/StdBusinessConduct_2011.pdf [Accessed January 06, 2013]. News International Ltd., 2009. Corporate Social Responsibility. News International Careers. [Online] Available at: http://www.newsinternationalcareers.co.uk/meet-ni/1113/corporate-social-responsibility [Accessed January 06, 2013]. NI Group Limited, 2012. Who We Are. About Us. [Online] Available at: http://www.newsint.co.uk/about/ [Accessed January 06, 2013]. PCC, 2010. The Governance of the Press Complaints Commission: An Independent Review. Assets. [Online] Available at: http://www.pcc.org.uk/assets/441/Independent_Governance_Review_Report.pdf [Accessed January 06, 2013]. PCC, 2012. Editor’s Code of Practice. Practice. [Online] Available at: http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Russell, J., 2012. News International Could Face Charges Over Bribery Allegations. The Telegraph. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/9666229/News-International-could-face-charges-over-bribery-allegations.html [Accessed January 06, 2013]. The Leveson Inquiry, 2012. In The Matter, of the Leveson Inquiry into the Culture Practices and Ethics of the Press. Witness Statement of Simon Philip Toms. [Online] Available at: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Witness-Statement-of-Simon-Toms.pdf [Accessed January 06, 2013]. University of Bahrain, No Date. Managing Business Ethics. Chapter 5. [Online] Available at: http://staff.uob.edu.bh/files/600435156_files/chapter_5.pdf [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Bibliography News Corporation, 2012. Our Aim is to Unlock More Value for Our Stockholders. Annual Report 2012. [Online] Available at: http://www.newscorp.com/Report2012/2012AR.pdf [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Salmon, F., 2011. What Damage Could Rebekah Brooks Do to News Corp.? The Audit. [Online] Available at: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/what_damage_could_rebekah_broo.php [Accessed January 06, 2013]. Read More