Organizational Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

1 Business Ethics Task 1: Organizational Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility November 19, 2020 2 A. Corporate Policies  TechFite will provide full time positions to eligible employees after 90 days probationary period.  TechFite will sponsor two youth leadership groups every six months.  TechFite will continuously review plans to rebuild, expand and maintain roads to combat traffic and deterioration from excessive use. A1. Rationale Keeping promises to provide meaningful benefits and compensation to employees will create satisfied employees, boost employee morale and productivity, and create a healthy work environment. Employees work hard and are the backbone of the company. Treating them with respect and dignity will show that they are valued and encourage them to work hard to meet company goals. Funding leadership programs will provide an outlet for youth where they may otherwise not have an opportunity. Having a large company in the community provides jobs, and presents leaders that youth can look to as role models. Creating job training, athletics or creative arts programs will help to build camaraderie and provide a safe place for youth. This will create a positive image for TechFite and create future generations of loyal employees. A successful company needs the basic physical and organizational structures and facilities for its operation. Building and renovating exiting structures will create jobs, but will also pave the way for more businesses in the community. Upgrading roads to combat traffic and deterioration from excessive use will help the community by ensuring public health and safety and secures financial structure for the community. A2. Ethical versus Legal Issues Ethical practice, like keeping promises to provide full time jobs, sponsor youth programs and build infrastructure, are things that a company should do simply because it is the right thing to do. Ethical practice shows character and builds solidarity in the community. Ethical practice necessitates practical reasoning like knowing the facts and listening to all sides to make the right choice. The law is a set of rules and regulations that are universally accepted, recognized and enforced, and created by the government for the benefit of society. Laws or precedents are decided after carefully considering ethical principles and moral values. The legal thing to do is not always the right thing to do. A legal issue is what a company or person must do to be in compliant with laws and regulations. Paying executives excessive bonuses may be legal, but it is unethical to cut compensation to other employees and programs promised to the community in order to do so. 3 A3. Ethical Issues In the Scenario  Making a promise with the intention of breaking it brings the company’s integrity into question. Keeping promises to provide full time jobs to employees should be important for accountability and responsibility. Broken promises to employees without sufficient justification, creates animosity and contention in the workplace and decreases trust and confidence in the company. The employees accepted positions with the company based on the promises of fair pay and benefits after 90 days. Without these employees have lost their faith in the company, they are disgruntled, and their families are suffering the consequences of the financial hardship.  There is much hypocrisy among the leaders of TechFite as they do not follow their own expressed moral rules and principles. They have ignored the community and avoided responsibility in order to benefit their executives. Repurposing community funds and misusing funds to pay cooperate executives instead of funding youth programs creates a negative image for the company. Doing so sets a bad example for the community, and youth in the community miss an important opportunity to make a difference while learning from the leaders of TechFite.  Without regard to who may get hurt, TechFite negated on their promise to build and maintain roads. They actively used local resources to pursue temporary profits and pay executives, but failed to reinvest in and develop the community they depend upon. Rebuilding and expanding roads, ensures public health and safety and secures financial structure for the community. The long-term effects of their unethical behavior is an overall distaste for the company, worker dissatisfaction, and high turnover if employees can find other career options. A4. Purpose of the Ethics Officer The ethics officer serves as the organization's internal control point for ethics and improprieties, allegations, complaints, and conflicts of interest and provides corporate leadership and advice on corporate governance issues. They are in charge of ensuring compliance with ethical goals and standards by looking for evidence of compliance and taking corrective action when necessary. The officer reviews other corporate policies to ensure corporate consistency and integration with the corporation's ethics philosophies, and integrates the corporate ethics message throughout the corporate culture. They will oversee the development and implementation of corporate ethics and conflict-of-interest training and conducts ethical decision-making training for senior management on ethics issues and avoiding conflicts of interest. When evidence of compliance is absent, the officer should promptly conduct an investigation based on complaints and allegations of ethical wrongdoing or conflicts of interest and prepare a written investigative report as necessary. 4 B. Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a business model that helps a company to be socially accountable to anyone with an interest in the success of the business. Companies are responsible for doing the most good and causing the least harm in a community.  The economic model of corporate social responsibility directs business management to pursue maximum profits, and be free from government regulation and control in order to function most efficiently. Investing in a community and providing jobs is admirable, but the cost to the community is far greater than the profits and benefits to the company. Without full time jobs, employees cannot sufficiently support their families and their spending habits do little for the economy. From a legal standpoint, TechFite may be doing nothing wrong, but they were deceitful in engaging community support to bring the business into the community. TechFite needs to rebuild their reputation in the community, establish good public relations, fulfill promises and be ethically and socially responsible.  In order to satisfy the stakeholder model of ethical social responsibility, TechFite must review its policy for paying excessive bonuses to top executives and balancing its budget. While it may be legal, it is morally wrong to break promises like not providing full time jobs, or rebuilding roads, in order to pay excessive bonus to top executives. The utilitarian and the social well-being of individual rights acknowledges that the interest of each stakeholder be equally considered and reasonably balanced. Management must fix broken promises, like rebuilding bad roads and inspiring employee morale, to have a positive effect on the business, employees and the community.  In the philanthropic model, there is no obligation for a business to contribute to any social cause, but the benefits of doing so like tax deductions and a good reputation, can be very beneficial to the company. TechFite says they are committed to sponsoring community events to support youth leadership, but they have broken their promise to do so. TechFite must rebuild their reputation and become actively involved in sponsoring youth programs. B1. Community Reputation Being socially responsible is a positive way in which a company can help to improve their local and global communities. TechFite harmed its reputation with unethical behavior.  TechFite promised full time jobs to the community and did not do it.  TechFite says they are actively involved in their communities. They promised to rebuild infrastructure and be environmentally responsible and did not do it.  TechFite promised to sponsor youth programs and did not do it. TechFite says this committment is central to their corporate culture. 5 TechFite should want to fix their bad reputation so they can gain the trust and support of the community, and show that they dedicated to improving the community. A positive reputation will help to achieve economic growth, attract and retain valuable, hardworking, and engaged employees, build a positive public image, and form relationships in their current and surrounding communities. B2. Course of Action TechFite promised full time jobs to the community and did not do it. TechFite says their culture encourages workplace collaboration and employee empowerment. TechFite must cut back on the bonuses it pays to top executives, and allocate the funds to provide full time jobs and benefits to employees. TechFite says they are actively involved in their communities. They promised to rebuild infrastructure and be environmentally responsible and did not do it. TechFite must continuously review plans to rebuild, expand and maintain roads to combat traffic and deterioration from excessive use. TechFite promised to sponsor youth programs and did not do it. TechFite says this commitment is central to their corporate culture. TechFite must sponsor community events and youth leadership groups to show their commitment to community involvement and leadership. B3. Course of Action: Explanation TechFite is not meeting its ethical obligation to its employees. Making a promise with the intention of breaking it brings the company’s integrity into question. TechFite promised full time jobs to the community and did not do it. TechFite claimed to care about culture and values, but broke their promises its employees and the community. While it may be legal not to pay benefits to employees who do not work a minimum number of hours, it is morally wrong to rescind promises, and reduce hours for rank in file employees, in order to pay excessive bonus to top executives. TechFite is not meeting its environmental obligation in the community. TechFite says they are actively involved in their communities. They promised to rebuild infrastructure and be environmentally responsible, and did not do it. TechFite will meet its environmental responsibility by providing eco-friendly physical infrastructure like transportation, sewage, water and waste management. TechFite can help build the financial and legal infrastructure by adopting and abiding with laws and following banking and zoning restrictions. In addition, TechFite will meet its environmental responsibility in the human capacity infrastructure by providing education and training to the community. TechFite must continuously review plans to rebuild, expand and maintain roads to combat traffic and deterioration from excessive use. TechFite is not meeting its social obligation to the community. TechFite promised to sponsor youth programs and did not do it. TechFite says this commitment is central to their corporate 6 culture. TechFite must sponsor community events and youth leadership groups to fulfill their social responsibility in the community. TechFite could consider a mentorship program that will be helpful for their business’s culture as well as the well-being and continued learning of the youth in the community. The can be achieved by setting funds aside to sponsor community events, or implement programs, like community clean up and building a park, that allow them to give back to the community.