Benefit from an Ethical infrastructure!

In order to be successful a corporation needs a set of values which they can solidify a platform of regulation on. While regulation is still present employees should be rewarded in some way for accomplishments. They should not be treated as workhorses for then any system present will be deemed to fail for employees are vital in this scenario. The pressure faced by employees to commit misconduct will increase greatly if they are not treated decent and as assets. This is a systemic problem that exists and encourages good people to make bad decisions. Which is why a company’s code of ethics should be closely monitored to understand how well it is being internalized in every position from the highest to the lowest at a company.

The code of ethics is the outgrowth of a company’s missions, visions, goals, and even strategies. A thoughtful code can help the overall success and healthy growth of the business. Committees that enforce this code and ensure systems are in place to justify employee compliance with the code. Many additional measures may be taken to efficiently promote and actually justify the code of ethics at a company. On great way is to go public, an EPO, “Ethical Public Offering”. Companies that go public with their code of ethics, standards, and belief system are deemed to be trustworthy by the public eye than those who are private. Along with this it is smart to have all members of the board sign an agreement as well as employees that state they agree with and have decided to commit to the company’s code a conduct. Auditing firms and Law firms should be encouraged to do the same thing, and sign off on what the company’s beliefs and values are agreeing to acknowledge and accept. When dealing with auditing and consulting functions, one thing to keep in mind is in order to avoid conflict of interest, make sure auditing and consulting functions are separate. This leads to communication, which is one of the most vital skills in running an effective successful business. Proper communication with employees at all levels enables them to feel more part of the system.

Leaders need to effectively discuss the company’s goals, mission, values, expectations, and priorities. without proper communication, employees may feel neutral about a business situation or even regulations. Proper communication helps establish unification, which in turn leads to solidification of ethical systems making a company’s code of ethics much stronger. For bigger corporations and companies these actions should slowly and effectively be established into corporate systems. The seven main provisions in the 1991 federal sentencing guidelines are effective and should always be kept in mind by an ethics committee at a corporation. These guidelines keep in tact what the code of ethics represents and how to go about each aspect of it. Corporate values must be embraced in order to be effective. Employees are finally free to confidently make vital decisions when guidance may not be readily available. The code of ethics provides a common ground from which all employees’ decisions are made. There is no babysitting needed because now there is a system that positively provides a piece of mind.

http://www.ethics.org/resource/ten-things-you-can-do-avoid-being-next-enron

Business Ethics And Social Media

Both Ethics and Social media play a vital role in a business’s ability to grow and flourish. So where should the line be drawn between them? Should there be a line drawn between them? How are both positively manageable at the same time? These are important questions that have been coming up after the social media boom for both business and companies alike. As social media continues to rise over the years, new information and correlations have emerged regarding the individual using such a medium. One of the biggest questions in the business world is “does social media effect the views of employees regarding workplace ethics”? Meaning should social media be used to the full ability or should there be restrictions applied which limit what employees are able to express on social media. There are many questions such as this one that may question the whole concept of ethics itself and whether in avoidance of one issue another one is caused. National Business Ethics survey results indicates that a social media network user may not be a model employee. Research suggests that employees who are active social media network users are many times the same people who believe that questionable behavior is acceptable in the work place.

With stats like these it is hard to imagine the benefits of social media for an employer. The most shocking conclusion made in this report is that active social media users are found to have a higher tolerance for activities that are considered unethical. This does not make social media users cheaters, or liars; it simply suggests that they are more willing to work in the “gray areas.” They are willing to deal with issues that are not always clear in a company’s policy, issues that may have loopholes involved and can’t completely be proven wrong. Social network users have observed more misconduct and experienced more retaliation after reporting misconduct than regular employees. This suggests that the active social network users are more exposed to misconduct and therefore more prone to conduct such activities. Social media is proven to be one of the top time wasters, taking up an average of 30% of an active social networker’s day. All these things are true but it does not mean in any way that social media is the sole cause of destruction; it brings positivity to the table as well. To say that social network users are more bound to be unethical is a crazy insertion, Social networks do not promote any of this ludicrous. People cause this to happen, social media is important in the work place the question here is how to manage both. Ethical responsibilities can be expressed in social media terms or social media can be placed in ethical dilemmas but the easiest way to avoid such situations is to simply be responsible and professional. Unprofessional and irresponsible employees are bound to act unethically, social media or no social media at the end of the day. There are tons of questions that are brought up regarding this issue and very few legitimately universal answers that fit into each. This issue is much greater than it should be but it will remain this way for social media is still considered in the infancy stages at the workplace.

http://mashable.com/2012/03/17/social-media-ethics/

Really? Whistle Blowing?

Regardless of any skepticism this concept has been noted of growing over the years, and of course this is very beneficial to the economy and the government. In return the government has offered better protection for whistleblowers over the years but can they replace the guilt factor involved. It’s very evident that reporting wrong doing at work is not easy; people do not enjoy causing ruckus and making a mess. They may feel threatened of losing their job, they may fear loss of friendship, or it may simply just go against what they believe in. It may be difficult to overcome these issues, but in the end the best decision is the one in which the positives outweigh the negatives. Other than suggesting whistle blowing because it is the right thing to do, there are many other fruits of honesty that come along. Reporting wrongdoing is tough and knowing that it’s going on and not doing anything about it is tougher. Living with guilt is not ideal especially if you’re not involved and even if you are there is always a chance to step back. Making such a decision will not only subsidize your guilt but by doing the right thing it will empower others in such a situation to come out and report wrongdoing.

Whistle blowing can help all future employees with this issue in making it easier for them to justify a similar issue. The government for such reporting may provide full support and possibly money. Over the years whistle blowing laws have gotten much better in terms of protection for the long-term. Depending on various circumstances of the case, including winning it, the government will provide a financial windfall to help make amends with the destruction caused to you in any way due to your employer’s fraudulent actions. It’s evident that laws encourage whistle blowing; special status in our legislation is provided for such behavior.

Although the fruits of whistle blowing may seem enticing, there are certain drawbacks that make it very difficult to do. Whistle blowers are often times labeled; this is a type of label that can take its effects on a career. Although prospect employers may value a whistle blowers beliefs and trust, the only thing that should matter to them is skill. Whistle blowers are bound to face some sort of retaliation, accusing someone usually does not come with flowers and chocolates. It may be as serious as getting fired or even a transfer. There are laws that protect whistle blowers from retaliation but employers still do it. Legal action costs a lot of money and moving from lawyer to lawyer is very expensive. One of the worst drawbacks of doing the right thing is financial destruction. Until the case is won, dilution in ones finances may occur, as it will prove to be very expensive to fund. Although this may be such a setback one thing for sure is that when the legal case is won, expect justice to be served in all ways.

http://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/5-rewards-and-drawbacks-of-being-a-whistleblower/

A Great Recent Example

Related articles

• Snowden: Greater Threat to Whistle-Blowing than to the Government (jimleff.blogspot.com)
• Whistleblowers (psychologytoday.com)
• UK forgets ethics, mulls whistleblower rewards (fcpablog.com)
• Mafialeaks: The anonymous whistle-blowing site inspired by Wikileaks which aims (wikileaks-forum.com)

What are Code of Ethics?

Code of ethics for all business can be very similar or very different depending on the business. These values and principles are vital to a business’s growth and development and should be precisely enforced for positive results. Values, principles, management support, personal responsibility, and compliance all of these things fall under the code of ethics in business. Code of ethics for employees at a company can be the set of rules that they must follow to justify the company’s beliefs and values. These rules consist of what the company believes in and enforces that company’s values, which should always be first priority and displayed in all areas of the business by the employees. These 6 components are vital to a business’s success and growth. They should carry through almost everything done by the business. These values are usually set by the company to push in what they believe their company stands for and they want this to trickle down all the way down to every employee. Business Values are mostly expressed to the public during operations by employees dealing with customers and on a day-to-day interaction with suppliers. Employees are expected to define what the company’s ethics are and make it clear that the company is based on fairness and honesty through this interaction. Customers are the most vital part of a business so it is important they understand the company’s ethics and what it based on. Business principles are very vital to further the business values and keep order. Principles are like embedded goals that are always a part of the mission to maintain healthy growth of the business. Customer satisfaction, healthy business growth and profit maximization these are things that are always a part of the mission of a business and hold the ethical values of the business in place. Management support is very important to the employees in order to successfully embrace the company’s ethical values and principles. It also helps maintain order as an open door policy to report violations of ethical values is placed. Personal responsibility is one of the most important component as for it is totally the employees personal choice to truly uphold the company’s code of ethics. As a company it is much more than just making sure of that. A company wants to ensure that every employee supports the code of ethics by reporting all violations to management. Compliance is a must, laws cannot be broken in any aspect of the company’s dealings. This may lead to the most damage that can be done to a company due to violations. Sometimes compliance is violated in the system, and as has happened in the past with Goldman Sachs Company and Enron, they were legally shutdown due to violations. these are prime examples of what may come if ethical issues are not dealt with the right way. Close moniterization of transactions and clearly defined codes should help keep a company and its employees from violating laws and helping them feel comfortable while embracing these values and principles.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/key-components-code-ethics-business-244.html

forward.jpeg

Moral Development and Decision Making

One may ask themselves what decision to make when facing moral or ethical dilemmas. Some people face selfishness and may make the wrong decision, others may simply ignore the situation and walk away. Although the ideal person would step up and make an honest decision. Imagine a world in the business field where this question of “what should I do,” doesn’t stand a chance. This question comes up a lot and many times the decisions aren’t very well executed. So does that mean we need better people in this world? No. we simply need to help educate these people, that is all. Many firms and employees; managers and clients; all get heat every day of every year due to their lack of good judgement, and decision-making skills. Many people get fired, big firms shutdown, all these things are avoidable to a certain level of degree. Education  will empower people of better decision-making skills and  good judgement. This knowledge can prove useful even outside the business world. Moving back to square one, where it all begins, life is exactly what we decide it to be. Life is a collection of millions and millions of small, big, important, unimportant, vital decisions. With the knowledge of proper decision-making skills and good judgement the possibilities are endless. constituting this knowledge into someone’s life will definitely change major aspects of that person’s life including the quality. Improvements are evident in success, romance, wealth, persuasion, power, the possibilities are endless. this proves the value and importance of such knowledge and yet we find ourselves stuck, unable to decide, unable to decide what is right thing to do and then act upon it. Instead we find ourselves questioning our beliefs, when greed or hatred cloud up our decision-making abilities we are unable to perform at a high rate. Granted we are the most complex individual on this planet, and yes the adversity humanity has faced throughout history is great, yet some of our problems are so simple to fix. We can cut the rate of firms shutting down, employees getting fired, laws being broken both unintentionally and intentionally in the business world by providing proper education to these people before they professionally join the business force. This blog does not insult our present education system, it only asks to better it, help it move forward, help us as a whole move forward. The addition of an educational course which improves decision-making skills and good judgement could possibly change certain aspects of this countries economy.

It can help and educate millions of people to help them better their lives in hundreds of ways. In the end that’s what it’s all about, making people’s lives better by moving forward. We move forward everyday, everyday is a change, and as we live on we must decide to embrace this change and move forward with it. This is what humanity has done its whole life here on this planet. We move forward. I mean after all, an investment in knowledge does pays the best interest.

Related articles

• Moral & Ethical Issues (sanipatel6.wordpress.com)