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Within a complicated business setting, it is always relevant that business professionals align to and respect ethical standards, and behave in manners that are deemed ethical as they fulfill their daily responsibilities. As such, ethical courses of actions in business should be abided by when dealing with employees, profits, the planet or environment, suppliers, and customers among other things. This paper is going to give invaluable insights concerning how ethics should be applied within a business setting; it will do so given by the following scenario.
I am the ethics captain of an advertising company. The firm I work for has an outstanding reputation about taking care of its clients and takes great pride in participating and engaging in virtuous corporate practices. The firm makes sure that all of its workers, from bottom to top, comprehends the machinations of corporate ethical policy. Workers have to attend ethical training as part and parcel of the onboarding process. Moreover, as part of the standard operation procedures, all workers are required to participate in an ethics training course to renew and refresh their knowledge of ethical practices each and every year. I am prepared to fulfill my role as the advertising company’s ethics officer; with the aid of the company’s Human Resource Manager and an external consulting company; will establish the annual training program that aligns with the company’s mission and objectives.
Employee’s Rights in the Workplace
Willful Employment
Workers have the right to put an end to the working relationship concerning the at-will doctrine. As such, employees can finish contracts at any point in time, for any particular motive, and for no purpose (Rossouw & Van Vuuren, 2017). This gives employees the benefit to be flexible with their career field as they gain more knowledge and work experiences. Employees can constantly pursuit a better position as their marketability increase without the fear of punishment that comes from contractual obligations.
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Work Surroundings that are Free of Harassment
Section Seven of the Civil Rights Act established in 1964 offers protection the freedoms and rights of employees and grants them equity and equality regarding employment opportunities; irrespective of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. Employees should be given the right to a working environment that is not characterized by unfair treatment, harassment, and discrimination. As long as actions carried out does not impact or cause harm to others at firm, or the firm itself. An example can be an employee displays a religious picture in their office, another employee has a different religious preference and engage in demeaning comments. It is reasonable for any person to feel comfortable and secure in the work environment. Employees who violates these are subjected to the consequences of their actions. Bosses should never make decisions in employment concerning characteristics that are not related to the job (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015).
Pay Equity
Similar to worker’s rights concerning Section Seven of the Civil Rights Act, employees have an entitlement on the right to be paid in an equitable and fair way. Employees that labor in equivalent tasks can never be subjected to different pay proportions about issues that do not have to do with skills and job qualifications. In other words, our company should align and respect to Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (Bowie, 2017).
Employee’s Responsibilities
Confidentiality
Upon being part and parcel of the company, the employee’s sign confidentiality agreement. As such it is essential that employees do not leak sensitive information about the company to any outsiders and competitors. This even includes talking about sensitive information about the company to family members or friends. Confidentiality is important because if it is compromised, it will get in the way of profitability and a company’s overall public relations. It is also part of being confidential for employees to not use their knowledge of the company to profit their associates or friends. Some of these acts can be deemed as whistle blowing or insider trading.
Work Ethic
For the times that employees are operating in their working environment, it is expected that they perform to the best of their abilities. The firm can lose a large margin of profits of employees perform poorly. Some examples includes; employees on salary consistently comes in tardy or taking longer lunch breaks; or underperforming with clients which causes a negative public perception and results in lower confidence and less work opportunities. Work ethics set the example for other employees and can result in positive results like public recognition or a promotion.
Compliance
It is best that employees of our firm perform within any reasonable policies, instruction, or procedures tasked out by the company, controller, or business of the workplace. Compliance not only betters the productivity, but it also fosters a good relationship between the workers and employers adding to report. It breeds confidence for employers knowing they have great employees who are willing and able to do what is in the best interest of the company. Additionally, it helps a company to avoid trouble by setting imaginary railings along the parameters of the law.
Employer’s Ethical Responsibilities Towards Employees
Non Partiality
Employers should never be partial concerning favoring other employees and ignoring the needs and wants of others. Remaining as objective as possible is vital. A strong example of partiality is displayed within the military. When leadership is making decisions on promotion, they greatly depend on performance evaluations instead of personal knowledge. The evaluation reveals all the information about the soldier, including their accomplished goals, future goals, and possible recommendation for next tier leadership positions. Partiality will make the ignored employees lose motivation and then after avoid giving their all in the workplace (Crane & Matten, 2016).
Occupational Health
Dangers comes in many forms, some are easily mitigated whiles others are quite difficult to recognize. For business in the industrial or manufacturing field, there can be a reasonable amount of danger that can be easily spotted all around such as heavy machinery that could fall, articles of random debris that cause trip hazards, bright lights that damage vision, or loud sounds that deteriorate hearing. For others business that are more of an office setting, these dangers are not as easy to pinpoint. One example could be something so miniscule, such as a lose corner of carpet on the stairway which can result in serious injury. Employers have a responsibility to take care of the employees and patrons that comes into their establishment.
Openness
In a bid to realize employee stakeholders that are happy, there is a zero tolerance for intimidation from management. As an alternative, there ought to be openness between employees and employer. Our firm will make it possible for all employees to report issues or problems without fear of repercussion. The open-door policy grants employees immediate access to top management. If there were issues between a worker and their immediate supervisor, the worker will feel small compared to the supervisor. Such feelings can deteriorate trust in the company and hinder employees’ ability to share issues inside the company that are easily resolved. Such transparency offers ethical surroundings, and in turn, makes workers realize that their opinions and ideas are of value (Trevino & Nelson, 2016).
Hypothetical Ethical Scenario
Jenny is a member of our firm, and she deals with the issuance of billboard contracts to outside companies; she is also a friend of mine. Our company deals with various forms of marketing and in a bid to be efficient everything is not done in-house hence the need for outsourcing. Lately she has told me that her immediate boss has been giving her pressure to direct all the advertising billboard tenders to him; apparently, his sister is also in the marketing business, and it would benefit both of them if the monies from our company went their way. To do what the immediate boss is asking of her, Jenny would have to conspire with him; to discredit the current supplier of billboard materials, and together recommend a new one. Such an action could be deemed as unethical behavior depending on different viewpoints.
The Dilemma, Utilitarianism and Relativity
Utilitarianism tells us we can determine the ethical significance of actions from the consequences of the act (DesJardins, 2018). From this perspective, Jenny’s supervisor is only doing what he feels would bring profit to his company, which is the same goal for all companies. As discussed prior, employees have an obligation to their employers to perform and do what is in the best interest of their respective firm. The supervisor is has done nothing illegal. In a competitive free-market economy, people use any means or resource they have access to in order to keep an advantage over competitors. If the consequence of his action results in more profit for his company, he is not wrong.
Relativism believes that ethical values and judgements are ultimately dependent upon one’s culture, society, or personal feelings (DesJardins, 2018). From this perspective, Jenny’s boss feels he has done nothing wrong because he is an agent for his firm. People have a tendency to be bias in favor of what they are most familiar with. As one of his competitor’s, he is trying to gain profits by taking away our profits, ultimately meaning he is stealing from our firm. That is unethical behavior. They are using dirty business tactics in for personal gain.
Common Ethical Decisions
One common ethical decisions one might encounter in a corporate setting can be something simple like recruiting an unqualified friend over other highly qualified candidates. Suppose there is an opening at the marketing firm and you have a friend who is down on their luck, looking for work in the same field. You want to help him anyway you can so you advise them to apply. You grew up with them and you know this person is not the hardest worker and consistently show up late to work. Your employer comes up to you with folders of potential hires and ask your opinion on your friend. After going through the reports, you clearly see that there are numerous people that would make better candidates. To justify this dilemma, you can simply say you are helping a friend and your heart is in the right place. If they show tardiness, you will keep them in line.
Another dilemma that commonly happens is becoming romantically involved with another employee. People who work together tends to become closer. But when they become romantically involved, more feelings and emotions are invested. This can cause distraction in the work place; and in turn, results in lost profit for the firm. People often justify this action based on personal feelings. Sometimes the heart is more powerful than the brain might be another justification.
