Business Ethics
Question 1
- A) Fair Compensation
Employees at TechFite are entitled to fair and timely compensation. It is important to note that one of the organization’s greatest asset is its employees. As such, it is important to ensure they retain their talented and competent employees. The best way to accomplish this is by compensating their employees fairly and on time. The city in which the organization is based is bankrupt hence the economy is struggling and so are its residents. In addition, the company’s culture encourages employee empowerment. Paying them well ensures that they become financially well off and independent.
Corporate Social Responsibility
TechFite has a social responsibility to the community that it serves. This policy will help boost the company’s image in the eyes of the public. Currently, the company’s image is being tainted. This is because the company has issues with its employees over compensation. In addition, the organization is yet to fulfill the promises it made to the city officials regarding the various projects it promised to fund. All these issues do not put the organization in the public’s good books. As such, the organization needs to implement the policy of engaging corporate social responsibility in order to save face and have the public on its side. This will also help maintain its sales and profits.
Employee Engagement
TechFite should engage its employees in corporate decision-making. This policy helps improve the morale of the employees. With an already disgruntled workforce due to compensation issues, engaging the employees in important company decisions will help them feel as if they are important and valued by the organization hence their morale will increase leading to better productivity.
- B) Ethical vs Legal Issues
Legal issues are those that are usually set forth by the government and can be found in the constitution. They are written laws. On the other hand, ethical issues relate to the human principles of what is morally right or wrong. Certain issues may not be illegal but at the same time are not ethically correct and vice versa. For example, being rude to someone is not considered illegal by the law. However, this type of behavior is not considered ethical. In the world of business, many actions are unethical yet legal. For example, top executives may choose to pay themselves handsomely leaving very little to compensate the employees. That may be considered greed, which is unethical whereas it is not illegal under the law.
- C) Misuse of Resources
There is a clear misuse of resources in the organization. The top executives are receiving excessive bonuses leaving very little for the employees to be paid. It also leaves very little for the organization to be able to carry out its CSR activities. This decision is unethical as it promotes greed among the top executives. It also encourages the exploitation of employees by top management.
Compensation Issues
The organization has managed to limit most of its employees’ working hours to below 40 hours. This ensures that they are classified as part-time employees hence they cannot receive the wages and benefits that are accorded to full-time employees. This decision has adverse effects on the organization. First, the employees are demotivated and have low morale. Consequently, this affects their productivity negatively. In turn, the sales and profits of the company reduce. The employees may also decide to leave the company. This will cost the company in terms of a talented workforce as well as the cost of recruiting and hiring new employees.
Unfulfilled Promises
The company has failed to honor its promises to the city in regard to getting involved in the community’s affairs in terms of funding various projects. This includes sponsoring community events, supporting local youth leadership development programs, and investing in infrastructure that will help in rebuilding the city. Unfulfilled promises lead to the organization being put in the public’s bad books. This will affect the company’s sales and profits since people will stop engaging it in business.
- D) Purpose of the Ethics Officer
According to Adobor (2019), an Ethics Officer (EO) in an organization is the leader in the field of business conduct. An EO has numerous responsibilities within an organization. First, they are accountable for developing as well as directing the ethics in an organization. They also head the organization’s compliance and business conduct function. EO’s are tasked to provide leadership, oversight as well as expert advice in an organization in order to ensure the development, interpretation, and implementation of ethics in its strategies, programs, and policies. They are also accountable for all activities that involve standards of conduct especially ethical relationships with the organization’s customers. Eos are in charge of overseeing and or conducting investigations of any wrongdoings within the organization. Finally, they are in charge of auditing and monitoring the organization’s ethics and compliance programs.
Question 2
- A) Ethical Desirability
Hopkins (2006) defines Corporate Social Responsibility as treating an organization’s stakeholders ethically or responsibly. Improving the company’s image in the public’s eye is very important to the organization. This is because it has numerous advantages. First, the organization will attract talented and competent employees. People like to work in companies where they are valued and where they will make a difference in the world. As such, an ethical organization is set to attract the best workforce. This will increase the company’s productivity, which consequently increases the company’s sales and profits. In addition, a good public image encourages the public to buy from the company, which directly affects the organization’s sales and profit.
- B) Courses of Action
Companies that want to improve their public image should consider implementing several measures to get back on the right track. First, they should make sure that their employees are being treated right and that they are happy motivated and satisfied at work. Workers are the organization’s best ambassadors. This is because anything they tell the public will be treated as truth. When the employees are treated well then they are bound to give in a good word for the company. The company should also engage with the community through various projects. These projects are not supposed to be for profit. They should help improve the community in one way or the other.
- C) Ethics of Courses of Action
The courses of action proposed are ethically, socially, and environmentally responsible. First, treating employees fairly by ensuring they are well compensated and on time is ethical. The law does not mandate keeping employees engaged and empowered hence when the company decides to make it a priority, they are acting ethically. The decision by the organization to participate in the affairs of the community counts as being socially and environmentally responsible. This is because they have decided to confront issues that trouble the community but do not have the financial power to solve them by themselves. They could be issues with the environment or infrastructure.
References
Adobor, H. (2019). Corporate Ethics Officers. Encyclopedia of Business and Professional Ethics, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23514-1_66-1
Hopkins, M. (2006). What is corporate social responsibility all about? Journal of Public Affairs, 6(3–4), 298–306. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.238