An Ethics Program for a Small Business Venture Essay

Abstract

This paper will formulate an ethics program suitable for a small organization of 15 to 20 employees. The ethics program will include; the code of conduct and a training program on the company ethics.

Other sections of the ethics program will focus on monitoring and evaluation procedures for the implementation of the outlined ethics in the company and strategies for further improvement on the outlined company ethics. In the conclusion section, the paper stresses the importance of an ethics program to an organization. An ethics program provides an ethical guideline for employees’ conduct in the organization. A good ethics programs helps employees in developing and developing a good employee and customer relationship.

Introduction

An ethics program is a set of moral rules meant to guide the conduct of employees in a given organization. An ethics program helps employees provide the best service and attention to the customers. An organization can achieve high customer satisfaction by implementing a comprehensive ethics program. Trust and good relationship between employees and customers in a business organization thrives on a good ethics program.

The main challenge in implementing an ethics program in an organization normally is acceptance to the change. Since an ethics program requires stringent practice and internalization of the moral values contained in it, many employees tend to find themselves on the offensive side of the ethics.

Often when this happens, a punitive penalty is imposed to them which make them dislike the ethics program. It is therefore necessary to have a training program that helps employees adopt and internalize the ethics program as a guide to various interactions in the organization. A monitoring and evaluation program is an important part of the ethics program in finding out the level of success in achieving the set objectives.

The dynamic modern business environment requires that organizations keep on reinventing their business strategies in order to remain relevant. The same applies to the ethics program, the program should remain open to future changes and reviews to suit any changes taking place in the business environment.

Code of Conduct

This code will be divided into two sections; the first section aims to inspire the workers to uphold the moral values set out by the company. The second section will outline the behavior guidelines for employees in the organization.

As a management consultancy firm, the organization will require that all employees keep the clients’ information confidential. The organization will provide consultancy services to sometimes competing organizations; it will be unethical to reveal the strategies of one of the firms to the other.

Fair pricing will be our policy in charging our customers for services offered to them. Gartner and Bellamy (2008, p. 202) suggest that organizations should establish standard pricing policies and apply them equally to all customers without discrimination. This will form the foundation for the pricing policy of the organization; this will see to it that customers are charged reasonable amount proportional to the amount of work done for them.

The organization urges its employees to be committed to community service through the organizations cooperate social responsibility program. The CSR program is an initiative the organization uses to give back to the community to appreciate the support the community offers to the organization. All employees will be expected to take an active role in supporting the organizations’ CSR initiative.

The organization discourages employees to be involved in any forms of discrimination either against fellow employees or customers. The organization will employ staff based on merit as a benchmark and not discriminatory factors like race, ethnicity or gender. Employs will therefore be expected to uphold a cordial working relationship in order to achieve the objectives of the organization.

All employees shall be expected to maintain an official dress code during working hours. The official dress code as pointed out by Gartner and Bellamy (2008, p. 204) gives the company a good image and attracts more serious customers.

Reporting time for duties will be strictly as set out in the working calendar; employees will be expected to remain on duty for the rest of the working time unless they have an emergency problem. Incase one has an emergency problem; they will be expected to report to their immediate bosses before leaving their work stations.

No employee will be allowed to use illegal drugs or alcoholic beverages while on duty. The code further prohibits employees from reporting for duties while under intoxication from drugs or alcohol. To prevent conflict of interest to employers work and employees own work, employees will not be allowed to run similar business ventures as the organization.

The Ethics Training Plan

It is the aim of the ethics training program is to raise employees’ awareness on the ethical requirements on them by the organization. By explaining the code of ethics to them, the organization will be able to hold them accountable for any contravention.

The organization believes that by training employees on the ethics, they will be able to apply them in the workplace to achieve its set objectives. Mitchell (2003, p. 112) suggested that an ethics training program should result into an employee who understands the legal requirements, able to apply ethics in the work place and able to resolve ethical issues.

The training program will be based on models which will guide employees on how to resolve common ethical issues in work places. The training program will be implemented through a video shows. Employees will be shown videos highlighting real life ethical issues workers encounter in organizations.

Training officers will guide a discussion with the employees on how such a case can be resolved. The most common ethical issues in organization as pointed out by Mitchell (2003, p.113) include; respect to colleagues and seniors, maintaining the privacy of client information observing the organizations’ working regulation.

Other forms through which the training shall be implemented will include; flyers, brochures, the internet, seminars and motivational speeches. Motivational speakers will be invited to talk to employees and excite them on the importance of upholding ethical standards in a workplace.

The company will also develop a decision making model and train employees on how to apply it in resolving ethical dilemmas. The models will be in form of written code of ethics which can be read and internalized by employees. A help line will also be open to employees to consult either fellow workers or seniors on how to resolve ethical issues.

A Monitoring and Evaluation System

An effective ethics program should empower employees with skills and knowledge to embrace and uphold the ethical requirements of the organization. The monitoring, audit and reporting system to ensure the moral values contained in the ethics program are gained and applied by employees in the organization. Pressure created by competition from other organizations and employees make employees and organizations to resort to unethical business practices to beat the competition (Fraedrich, Fraedrich, and Ferrell, 2008, p. 210).

The purpose of implementing a constant monitoring and evaluation program is to enable the organization identify areas that require improvement and find out the success of the implementation.

Monitoring of the ethics shall be conducted through two important ways; the first will be through customers’ comments. Customers will be encouraged to give feedback regarding their level of satisfaction from the service offered by the employees. Employees will also be encouraged to give unanimous feed backs and suggestion regarding the best way forward for the company.

An external constancy firm will be incorporated to monitor the uptake of the ethical values transferred to employees by the employer through the training program. It is believed that the external firm like the customers will provide unbiased views. The views got from the organizations’ feedback system shall be analyzed to develop a report on the employees’ level of application of ethics.

Fraedrich, Fraedrich and Ferrell (2008, p. 212) point out that if employees uphold the ethics program, they can be able to lift the image of the organization. The external image of an organization regarding how the organization relates with the customers and how its employees are treated determines whether the success of the organization in business.

Meiners, Ringleb and Edwards (2009, p. 17) indicates that the enforcement of the ethics in society or organization requires legal measures that ensures compliance. The law provides guidelines on how to deal with those found on the offensive side, the ethics program will have a set of regulations that holds employees accountable for their actions.

In the event that one contravenes any of the sections of the code of conduct in dealing with the customers or fellow employees, the law governing that section will be applied against them. A clear channel for reporting shall be followed; an unethical action by an employee shall first be reported to the head of the department who will then forward the case to appropriate sectors for further action.

Incentives shall also be used in encouraging employees to stick to the code of ethics. Employees identified to uphold the organizations’ ethics shall be rewarded and also recognized during special functions. The organization will reserve a special gift to employees who strictly follow the company ethics. Promotions shall also be based on application of the working standards besides other merits.

A Plan to Review and Improve the Ethics Program over Time

The ethics program so formulated shall be subject to future reviews based on customer and employee suggestions, changes in the government regulations and technology. The ethical review will aim at upgrading the ethics program to suit current business environment.

Changes in business operation strategies need appropriate clauses in the ethics program to cover the adopted changes. Shifting the organizations’ operations from manual to automated system for example will require incorporation of clauses in the ethics program that govern the utilization the automated system without offending others.

In the same vein, changes in the government regulation to the business environment will equally require appropriate changes in the ethics program. Changes in the ethics program must be followed up by training programs to ensure that employees understand and are able to apply the changes in the ethics programs.

This way employee can be held accountable for not living by the changes in the ethics program. If changes are instituted in the ethics program without follow up with a training program to induct employees to the new changes, its implementation may fail.

The review process will follow an established procedure; based on the suggestions from employees, customers or changes in the business operation model, an appropriate clause will be formulated. The clause to be changed or incorporated shall be formulated by the management board after consulting with the workers.

The management board shall be encouraged to fully take part in the review process so that the decision adopted if acceptable to all. Employees shall also be part of the review to ensure that they feel part of the decision reached.

Conclusion

An ethics program is important for an organization in developing organizations’ culture and image. The ethics program helps employers to hold the employee responsible for their actions to the customer or colleagues. Employers need to develop a training program to help employees learn and understand how to apply the ethics in the business enterprise.

Besides, a monitoring and evaluation program should be developed to measure the success of the application of ethics in the workplace. Enforcement of the ethics program should always be followed up diligently by the management team. The program should also be open to further reviews in future as a result of changes in the business operation procedures.

Reference List

Fraedrich, O. C., Fraedrich, J. and Ferrell, L. (2006). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Gartner, B. W., and Bellamy, G. M. (2008). Enterprise. Boulevard: South Western Cengage Learning.

Meiners, E. R., Ringleb, Hs. A. and Edwards, L. F. (2009). The Legal Environment of Business. Boulevard: South Western Cengage Learning.

Mitchell, C. (2003). A short course in international business ethics: combining ethics and Profit in Global Business. California: World Trade Press.