Responsibilities and Qualifications of Corporate Ethics Officer - Essay Example

The job description of a Corporate Ethics Officer would comprise of the following:

• S/he must have had prior working knowledge of ethics and its varied forms, issues, and applications
• S/he should proactively seek new pathways to tackle ethical concerns, difficulties, and ambiguities that may arise from time to time
• S/he should always be ready for late sittings, working on weekends and holidays
• S/he should have the knack of being updated with ethical information and knowledge coming on to the fore

2

What is whistleblowing, and why is it important to the study of business ethics? Provide details. Discuss the reasons why an employee would refrain from reporting potentially unethical behavior within his/her organization. Should a corporation establish an ethics hotline? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having one.

Whistle-blowing is a practice that asks an individual or a group of individuals to speak against the system quietly. This individual or the group comes out in the open by revealing facts that may not be known to anyone at a given time. Whistleblowing is an important element that comes under the ethical constructs. This is because it directly forms a link with whether it should be bracketed under ethics or not. However, for the sake of understanding the organizational concerns, business ethics has to be taken into consideration to have a good knowledge of whistle-blowing as its ramifications are manifolds and should always be judged from several angles and perspectives (Roper 2005). The reason why an employee would rather refrain from reporting potentially unethical behavior to their management concerns in the organization is that they are wary of the consequences that might arise from the same. They would rather put such issues under the carpet because taking it far would not help the cause of anyone, as per their thinking. They fear awkward scenarios crop up for all the wrong reasons. A corporation must develop an ethics hotline that taps anonymous concerns without revealing their identities. It will make sure that the ethical issues are analyzed, discerned, and implemented from a solution-oriented point of view. Hence the advantages outnumber the drawbacks since it benefits the concerns of the people at large.

3

You are a high-level manager for a corporation that has recently expanded into the global market. You have been asked to manage an interdepartmental team that will help you to create a global ethics training program. Imagine that your team has very little, if any, experience with ethics training or international management. Create a memorandum to your team that explains the need for an ethics training program, the benefits of an ethics training program, and how the program will be implemented. Make sure to explain the key elements of a global ethics training program and the global cultural dimensions in detail.

Memo:

Being deemed ethical is a prerequisite for any professional in this day and age. On this token, I would like to ask you to be a part of the ethics training program which shall be held shortly. We will keep you informed as and when it comes about since we are arranging the schedules. I am sure that you would like to know about the benefits that one such ethics training program embodies within it. It will tell you of the ways and means through which your domains can be safeguarded and the organizational reins be protected at all times (Sarantinos 2013). This ethics training program will secure you from any harassment issues, bullying scenes, and similar problems which crop up without any notice at work. This ethics training program will be implemented as soon as the training culminates successfully. The key elements of this program include a theoretical outlook, practical examples, training lectures, slideshows, discussion meetings, and many other interactive touchpoints. It would take care of the globally accepted cultural dimensions and will have a very global outlook, which I believe is much needed since you comprise many cultures in our business organization.