ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF VALUES AND ETHICS.

ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF VALUES AND ETHICS.

Author: Tony

Tony’s Business Series

                                                                 Abstract.

This reflective paper analyzes and evaluates personal and corporate business values and ethics. The paper initially describes personal values and ethics which include personal mission statement and code of ethics. The paper then describes the corporate values and ethics. The paper discusses the organization workplace values, organizational climate, its vision, and the organization code of ethics. The paper also outlines and evaluates the corporate social responsibilities. The paper discusses the ethical analysis and training programs in the organization, and, evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. The paper also states the moral philosophies and ethical principles in the organization that are the affirmed the most and those that are affirmed the least. Finally, the paper states a proposed change management strategy, and how this change management strategy can be implemented.

                                                               Introduction.

Business values and ethics are essential for the effective management of any business enterprise. Business ethics is a type of applied professional ethics that analyses the ethical and moral principles, and/or, problems arising in the workplace environment that pertains to these principles. Business ethics, thus, encompasses knowledge of the right and wrong concepts that can be applied in the workplace, and, always choosing to do what is right. Corporate practices are influenced by two factors: profit maximization and non-economic concerns. These two factors confer business ethics with both descriptive and normative aspects. Managers face a challenge with regards to moral values because workplace moral values are a relative concept. Workplace ethics regulate the conduct of the managers and staff within the organization. (Brenner, 2012).

Business ethics, if followed precisely and consistently, would enable the organization’s top management to formulate moral values for the staff and managers (Brenner, 2012).

Moral values will address the issues of managerial mischief and moral mazes. Managerial mischief describes the unethical, questionable and/or illegal practices of organizations or individual managers, causes of these behaviors and the appropriate remedies. Moral mazes usually challenge the managers mostly. Moral mazes are the ethical problems that the managers frequently encounter such as improper allocation of resources, possible conflict of interest and maladministration of resources (Sims, 2011).

                                                Personal values and ethics.

My personal mission statement is to strive to provide the most ethical management of the organization. My personal values are trustworthiness, justice and fairness, respect, responsibility, and civic virtues. The personal code of ethics that would guide me as a manager are honesty, accountability, effectiveness, integrity, leadership, objectivity, openness and selflessness. My personal values and ethics would enable me to impart the following workplace values in fellow managers and the junior staff: honesty, loyalty, promise-keeping, integrity, privacy, autonomy, dignity, tolerance, courtesy, acceptance, pursuit of excellence, accountability, consideration, compassion, kindness, procedural fairness, equity, impartiality, equality, consistency, law abidance, environmental protection and community service (Brenner, 2012).

An evaluation of my personal values and ethics show that if they are applied consistently in a meticulous manner, the following will be achieved. First of all, the societal life of the staff  would improve as illegal managerial practices such as, firing workers based on personality differences, would end; workers would be appropriately compensated for damages or injuries that occurred when they were working; and the practice of fairness and equal rights would ensure that staff are promoted accordingly (Brenner, 2012). Secondly, application of my ethical values within the organization would enable the organization to maintain appropriate moral values; these ethical values are very important in tumultuous times when the moral compass tends to disintegrate because of the chaotic events that are occurring (Nash, 2011). Thirdly, application of my ethical values would cultivate a strong teamwork within the organization, and this increases the organization’s productivity. Fourthly, they would support employee professional growth and worth, as the employees would be informed of their mistakes and how they can avoid such mistakes, and they would also be rewarded when they do an exemplary work. Fifthly, the ethics and values will act as an insurance policy as they will ensure that the policies that are formulated by the organization are within the legal constitutional limits; this avoids lawsuits against the organization. Also, these ethics and values would assist to preclude the felonious acts of omission, because its application can detect ethics violation and address it promptly; but if it fails, the federal guidelines direct that lower fines must be paid by organization sued for ethics violation if they attempted to operate ethically. Also, these ethics and values assist in the management of values related to strategic planning, quality management and diversity management as they identify the desired values and ensure that the organizational behavior is aligned with these values. Another importance of these ethics and values is that they create and promote a good public image, which positively impacts on the public relations aspect of the organization. Finally, these ethics and values legitimizes the actions taken by the management, strengthens the existing coherent and balanced organizational workplace ethics, promotes trust in relationships involving people and/or groups, maintains consistence in the  quality and standards of the products sold, and foster sensitivity to the effects of the organization’s messages and values (Madsen, 2010).

                                                Organization ethics and values.

The organization’s vision was to deliver quality products at the appropriate time at a reasonable price. The organization workplace climate was conducive for the staff to carry out their activities, and the standard operational guidelines were highly ethical as they incorporated all of the ethical standards stipulated within the federal labor laws, such as provision of medical cover for its employees.

The organization workplace values and code of ethics are described below. There was frequent interaction between the organization top management and the internal and/or external stakeholders. This is because the organization’s fundamental guidelines emphasize the need for extensive consultation between the top management and all the stakeholders. The organization had a fairness policy whereby the employees’ interests were emphasized so long as they are not detrimental to the optimal functioning of the organization. This fairness policy ensured that the employees were able to express their grievances and/or views without fear of intimidation and/or victimization; it also ensured that employees who erred faced a disciplinary team that followed due process before handing down any punishment; and it also ensured that equity and equality among workers was upheld. The organization workplace value emphasized individual responsibility over collective responsibility, thus, an individual employee assumed personal responsibility for the job mandated to him/her by the organization’s management. One of the organization’s guidelines stated that every employee is responsible to himself/herself. All the activities carried out in the organization were purpose-driven, and this motivated the employees to work more efficiently to achieve their goals within the stipulated time. Employees who did exemplary work were handsomely rewarded. This was a directive from the top management of the organization who hoped to increase worker productivity in concurrence to improving the standards and quality of their products.

                                    Social responsibilities of the Organization.

The organization’s social responsibilities are described below. The organization is a major donor to the local health facility where most of its employees and the general public are treated at a subsidized cost as the organization pays for the subsidy cost. The organization also built an elementary school for its employees, but it also accepts enrolment of children from families that do not have any of their members employed in the organization. The organization promotes environmental conservation by planting trees, also a day is set aside each year whereby the organization’s staff and management team together with the surrounding community engage in cleaning and ridding the environment of various types of environmental wastes such as non-biodegradable materials and the organization’s environmental officer uses this public forum to educate the surrounding community of the need to maintain a clean sustainable environment. The organization also built a solar farm consisting of 32 solar panels and 3 heavy-duty zinc-air batteries that will provide free electricity to the surrounding community. The organization also maintains a policy of buying most of its consumables from the surrounding community.

The organization meets these social responsibilities effectively as they consider these responsibilities as the most important aspect of their public relations and a good public image. The organization reserves approximately 7% of their annual profits for financing these social responsibilities, and it also appoints a member to the management team of both the school and hospital to ensure that these institutions are managed properly.

Most of the members in the organization’s top management are ardent environmental conservationists, and they decided to apply their conservationist ideals in the surrounding community. Thanks to the effort of the organization’s environmental officer who educates the community in matters pertaining to environmental conservation, most members of the community are environmental conscious and their environment is a clean one.

The building of the solar farm by the organization is a community-based development project which will enable members of the community to initiate economically viable projects.

The organization incorporates its corporate social responsibility into its business practices when they purchase most of their consumables from the surrounding community. This has two advantages; the first is that the organization builds a good public image and the other is that it improves the living standards of members of the community. The organization also saves money as the cost of consumables purchased locally are cheaper than if they were purchased from outside the community (Madsen, 2010).

                         

                                     Ethical Analysis and Training Programs in the Organization.

The following is an ethical analysis of the organization. There is a clear vision for the organization and integrity is upheld throughout the organization. The organization vision was formulated by the top management team who therefore embodies and owns it. The reward system in the organization is aligned with the need to maintain integrity. The policies formulated by the management team and the operational practices are purpose-driven to achieve the vision of the organization, and no mixed messages are sent out by these policies and practices. The top management team clearly understands that each and every decision that they make has ethical dimensions which they normally put into consideration. Each and every person within the organization is expected to work through conflicting stakeholders’ values and perspectives.

The strengths of these ethics and values is that the vision can be easily achieved, the management can change the vision to suit emerging circumstances, workplace ethical standards are upheld and that stakeholders concerns are incorporated in the daily management of the organization. The weaknesses that can be attributed to these ethics and values are that stakeholders concerns and need to maintain certain ethical standards may delay or obstruct urgent and necessary change management (Madsen, 2010).

The organization offers on-job training programs for its employees, and these programs update the employee’s skills and increase their work efficiency. Corporate training for the human resource department enables the human resource managers to better utilize the existing workforce for optimum achievement of the organization’s vision. The diversity management training and managerial training provided enables the members of the top management to learn about current global business trends and align the organization’s policies and practices to conform with both these global trends and the organization’s vision. Apart from on-job training programs that occur in the workplace, the rest, that is, managerial, corporate, and diversity management programs occur outside the organization’s premises and require that the trainees take a study leave or a short break from work.

The advantages of providing training programs are: they ensure that the organization has a competent, knowledgeable and efficient workforce; change management is implemented efficiently and productivity within the organization is increased. The disadvantages of these training programs are that their expenses are paid for by the organization, and there is also loss of man-hours during the period of the training which negatively impacts the organization productivity during this period (Genfan, 2009).

                                          Moral philosophy affirmation.

The moral philosophy and ethical value that I affirm the most is integrity. Integrity is upheld by all departments within the organization, for example, the department of procurement demands that its members declare their business ventures that may raise conflict of interest and if one of the members is found to own jointly or by proxy any of the supplier firms, he/she is immediately punished or even fired.

The moral philosophy that I affirm the least is the level of openness exhibited by the organization, for instance, the information about which employees the organization values the most is available in the public domain, and this increases the chances of such employees being poached by the competitors.

During the course, I learnt of the importance of integrating all the six pillars of characters (that is, trustworthiness, justice and fairness, responsibility, civic virtue and citizenship values, respect and caring for others) within the workplace. In the organization, I learnt about how these six pillars of characters can be holistically applied to formulate moral and ethical values that serve as the fundamental rules within the organization.

                                               Proposed change management.

If I became the leader of this organization, I would make the following changes with regards to organizational workplace climate. First of all, I would restrict the information that is available in the public domain to protect vital business secrets. Secondly, I would increase the level of real-time on-job training in order to increase the level of employee competency. Thirdly, the fairness policy would be updated regularly so that it complies with the frequently updated federal equal opportunities act and the federal labor laws. Finally, the reward system will be enhanced in order to increase employee motivation.

The implementation plan for this change management is described below. Initially, I will explain this change management proposal to the relevant stakeholders and seek the views of the stakeholders regarding the same and these views will be documented. Then these concerns will be evaluated within the context of the proposed change management and the aspects that conflict with the proposed change management noted. I will then negotiate with the stakeholders about these conflicting aspects with the aim of getting them to review these aspects and then offer a modified view that aligns with the proposed change management (Madsen, 2010).

Next, the necessary changes would be made to the organization operational guidelines. The organization’s information management system will be reviewed with the aim of reallocating some of the information to confidential storage while the rest would appear in the public domain. Then, increased real-time on-job training will be offered by renowned experts in those relevant fields(Madsen, 2010). A member of the legal team would be brought into the management team where he/she can keep track of the organization compliance with the federal laws and advise the organization on matters pertaining to the fairness policy (Francis, 2011). After the above changes have taken place, all workers will be able to operate in a level playing field and the reward system will then be enhanced to recognize exemplary work done by the employees (Madsen, 2010).

If the above change management is applied successfully, the organization productivity will increase and the public image will also improve. The organization will avoid lawsuits and reduce poaching of experienced staff.

                                                          Conclusion.

Effective application of the right business ethics and values increases the productivity of the business enterprise while concurrently it ensures that the non-economic concerns are addressed appropriately.

                                                          References

Brenner, S. (2012). Business Ethics Programs and Their Dimensions. Review of Business Ethics, 11,391-399.

Francis, D. (2011). Avoid Trouble by Improving Workplace Ethics. Labor Law Review, 87, p 97-107.

Genfan, H. (2009). Business Ethics Training in Organizations. Training and Development Journal, 321, pp. 95-107.

Madsen, P (2010). Essentials of Business Ethics, Values and Change Management. New York, Penguin Books.

Nash, L. (2011). Applying business ethics during tumultuous periods. Harvard Business Review, 259,  293-311.

Sims, R. (2011). Institutionalization of Organizational Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 10, 493-506.