Many companies today have ethical codes or codes of conduct that employees should follow, but do they? These guidelines are sometimes written but are often implied. Employers entrust to their employees the ability to follow these guidelines and to interpret them in any given situation. Company executives and top leaders more often than not set these guidelines forth. In many instances these guidelines are just written on paper to protect a company. It is of utmost importance that all employees follow these guidelines including the people who created them. In this paper we looked at the codes of ethics . We will try to illustrate the principles of participation, validity, and authenticity in evaluating different codes of ethics.
The ethical codes brought out in the handbooks are set forth to protect the employees as well as the company's image. These codes also strive to keep the customer in mind and to treat them with the respect that they expect and deserve. Whether the point of view is utilitarian or deontological is dependent upon the way one interprets the guidelines. Deontological is based on duties while utilitarian is the greater good for the greatest number of people. Both of these viewpoints apply here. It appears to be the duty of the employees to be courteous and honest in all of their daily activities. Still, there are policies that fall into ethical guidelines that could be considered utilitarian. These include such things as alcohol use, drug use, and family hiring practices. An individual employee may not consider abstaining from alcohol and drug use while on the job as a duty. This employee must realize that it isn't necessarily a duty but abstaining from these products helps ensure that the greatest good will be awarded to the greatest number of people. It may not be considered good by that employee but it is considered good for the majority of the employees and customers. Family hiring practices also falls into this category. While hiring a family member may be good for a specific manager or other employee, it may not be good for the majority of the workers.
As in all businesses, there are disciplinary actions for when someone breaks a rule or a code of conduct. Most companies have discipline programs set forth in their handbooks. One particular company interviewed, discipline program appears more clear-cut and understandable in their handbook. They outline in detail a discipline plan that includes many possible inappropriate behaviors and what may happen with each one. Most companies list inappropriate behaviors and what may happen but it is not made clear the steps of discipline that one may go through to reach termination, as in the case of this one. The inappropriate behaviors listed included the ethical guidelines mentioned in the handbooks. It is made clear to all the employees that all guidelines including ethical ones should be followed. With these disciplinary policies in effect a rational person would assume that the employees follow the guideline strictly but that does not seem to be the case.
Ethical guidelines, as you can probably see, are extremely important to all businesses. Without a code of ethics a company is more prone to operating unethically because of unclear guidelines. This type of operating can be caused by numerous factors. A company can have clear guidelines and not enforce them and cause unethical behavior. Whatever the cause of unethical operations, companies need to be aware of the harm they may be doing to themselves. The consumers of today have many options as to what they will buy and where. These numerous options are allowing people to become more observant as to how companies operate and how they treat customers. If someone sees a company as being unethical today, that person can refuse to do business with that company because of the many options. Although one person may not affect the company in a big way, you can always bet that where there is one person feeling that way, there are others.
For more information on Codes of Conduct (Ethics), check out the following links:
http://csep.iit.edu/codes/coe/DALU-CoE.htm
This site contains a sample Code of Ethics for Journalists. I know it is not exactly a code for businesses, but you will get the idea.
http://csep.iit.edu/codes/index.html
This is the home page for the Illinois Institute of Technology. This is the center of Ethical Codes Page.
http://ursus.jun.alaska.edu/archives/iabs/msg00989.html
The Management Archives was produced this page for the direct reason. It is a question and answer form. The author provides more relevant links on Codes of Ethics.