Ethics Report

JDT2 task 2, part B: HR Ethics Report

Ethics Report

Strategies for ethics training on the job should be applied to all levels from temporary workers to upper management. There must be no basis for resentment among employees because of a real or perceived double standard of morality. The company itself must also model these standards to the public. Consistency builds credibility, a contrast to competitors and non-competing companies alike, who may not be as accountable to outsiders.

"This stage involves the use of managerial, communication, administrative, and persuasive abilities to ensure the choice is carried out. The success of a decision is based on how it is implemented." (Becker 2011)

b.1 Strategies

Mentoring will help employees learn better ways of applying the code of ethics and understanding ways it can help them be more successful on the job.

Modeling is a natural extension of mentoring, since the company sees all employees as co-workers, and peer pressure is a useful tool for reinforcing positive behaviors. Forthrightness helps build trust. Accountability is an asset to relationships, and a good role model for employees following the code of ethics. Shifts power to the employee to determine how to apply the ethical standard and be responsible for the result. This is one factor in raising job satisfaction and performance, making employees see that every person's actions count.

When one employee sees another engage in ethical, code-conscious activity, there is greater confidence in the desirability and safety of doing likewise. This is also relevant to the company desire to have a team atmosphere in the workplace. The code of ethics can help form the cohesion and internal agreement of effective teams by adding to common goals/challenges. Employees may engage in more unethical behavior that would harm the company if that is how they see managers and the company act.

Both of these methods, mentoring and modeling, provide opportunities for dialogue about the various day to day ethics of the company, team, and individuals. Doing so is yet another way of instilling company ethical values in the culture. The more natural observing ethical practices becomes, the greater the compliance, and the greater capacity to resist external pressures to make less ethical choices. Likewise, the better able the employees will be able to oppose newer hires' tendencies to use different standards brought in from their past experiences, and prevent harm to the company from such unethical decisions.

b.2 Benefits

As already mentioned, a code of ethics has these benefits:

* Increased job satisfaction

* More bonding within teams

* Positive peer pressure

* Reduction in negative ethical decisions that harm the company

* Basis for unbiased work evaluations (one element)

* Reduced discrimination liability due to uniform ethical standards for all

As stated, adopting a code of ethics will place the company in a more competitive position by following the successful example of dominant toy companies like Hasbro. It will put the company ahead of those who do not apply such standards, because the lack of professionalism hurts the customer relationship. There are a number of reasons these statements are true.

First, consider legal liability for product failures, or allegations of unequal treatment in the workplace. These could be minimized, if not completely circumvented, because there will be a clearly stated corporate standard applied to everyone. This is a logical addition to the current product control standard of excellence.

Concerning personnel performance and contentions arising from it, it is much easier to make objective observations and disprove a claim of unequal treatment. If they are true claims, the company will be better able to respond to them constructively, which will have a positive effect on morale. In either case, litigation can be reduced by adherence to the published code of ethics. There cannot be argument about the expectations of employees or the business as its own entity.

There are benefits in the area of public image. Enforcement of a code of ethics may also raise stakeholder opinion of the company - should there be a negative situation that reaches their ears, since they will be able to see how it is handled in clear, logical, impartial steps.

Stakeholders may also be more favorably disposed to have transactions with the company, if they see it as superior to competitors: reliable, forthright, honest, trustworthy, ethical. This can translate into a steady increase in business.

There are also those who select business partners or investments based on how well company ethics are adhered to and match their own. This factor is becoming more important in the social responsibility conscious global marketplace. Although investor relations are always sensitive, it is proven that losses occur when company misfortune - especially if it smells of wrongdoing - becomes public knowledge.

Although morals are not always the same as ethics, they tend to go together. For business purposes, an ethical code needs to be secular in nature even if management holds a common faith.

Review of an existing Ethics Code

In reviewing the code of ethics of the toy company Hasbro, they maintain a focus on the keyword "responsibility". This is a one word definition of the company's ethical direction. It's a readily memorized by employees, and the Hasbro Code of Ethics elaborates on many ways this concept can be applied, and how the company expects it to be.

Some values they define are: responsibility to fair competition, responsibility