The national Australia bank has many programs which help it to adhere to the ethical regulations which govern all businesses in Australia. For example, in 2004, the bank launched a customer relationship management system which enabled it to win the Cap Gemini financial innovations award in 2006. It also launched what it referred to as Ubank, a system which provides customers with an option of transacting business online with the aim of making them more satisfied by accessing banking services right at their homes or any other places of their convenience.
The bank has also invested in providing its customers with services and products which help them understand their environmental challenges and how to mitigate risks associated with the environment. It uses this approach because it believes that for sustainability purposes, it must build the capacity of the customers to enable them understand their environment and take good care of it.
The bank also has a program of motivating its employees based on the concept of employee voice, which has to do with employee engagement, employee involvement, and employee participation. In the field of management, employee engagement has to do with treating employees as organizational assets not as liabilities. Some of the employee engagement initiatives used by the bank include effective communication, cooperation, quality line management, and respect of the employees.
Effective communication involves using the correct language in communication between employees and their seniors. The language used should be neutral and inoffensive. For effective communication to be realized, managers should avoid discrimination of employees based on employees’ positions, age, gender, level of education, race, and religion. Cooperation has to do with establishment of teams which work together. These teams give themselves a social identity which bonds them together. Cooperation also leads to innovation because the employees are committed to the success of their organizations.
Quality line management, equitable pay, and respect for each other have to do with establishing policies which ensure that there is a good work environment for all employees to be productive.Employee involvement has to do with involving all employees in decision-making while employee participation has to do with treating the employees as important stakeholders through ongoing consultations.
The concept of employee voice has enabled the bank to increase its efficiency and effectiveness due to increased employee motivation and loyalty. It has also led to a cohesive organizational culture. Many organizational researchers agree that a cohesive organizational culture is one in which all members of organizations have similar beliefs and values which hold them together.
These programs on environment, customer service, and employee motivation are in line with the bank’s overall business strategy. The objective of the bank has always been to transform itself into a leading player in the banking industry. Over the last 12 months, it has taken measures aimed at boosting its position at the global level. At the local level, it has taken various measures aimed at boosting growth in Australia. It has also taken initiatives to strengthen its foundation and improve customer satisfaction. In addition, it has taken serious campaigns to expand its international market. The bank’s positioning initiatives are likely to remain the same over the next 12 months. The reason is that it aims at delivering quality and affordable products and services to all its customers over the next three years.
Through the mentioned programs, the bank has been able to realize impressive results. According to the Chief Executive, the focus of the bank over the last 3 years has been to strengthen its foundation by investing in areas which improve customer satisfaction. According to his assessment, the bank has made good progress, even though it has faced some hurdles. Some of the factors which have positively or negatively affected the performance of the bank include increased cost of promotions and production, efficient supply chains, inflation, and effective management of promotions.
The bank has also done well as far as corporate governance is concerned. Corporate governance is defined as the manner in which corporates are regulated, either by governments or other institutions. Since corporates play an important role in the economy of a country, there is need for them to be regulated so that their operations lead to maximum realization of returns, which in turn boosts the economy of the country. Different countries have different corporate governance frameworks, which are depended on the countries’ economic, legal, and cultural backgrounds. For instance, Australia’s system of corporate governance is based on principles not on rules and regulations.
The framework operates under the principles of the combined code of conduct. The code outlines what constitutes good corporate governance in terms of organizational structure, organizations’ boards, and the composition of various committees at various levels of organizations. It also allows organizations to decide which model of corporate governance is best depending on their prevailing internal circumstances. However, the code requires organizations to explain to their shareholders about the organizations’ internal governance and how it affects the profit margins of the organizations. This approach is market oriented and it gives the shareholders of an organization a big say on administrative matters of the organization.
The national Australia bank has been acknowledged by its shareholders for its excellent corporate governance model, which has ensured that there is transparency and accountability at all times.
One area where the bank needs to improve its policy on consumers is in regard to the number of staff in its branches. According to the naked office website, it is claimed that the bank places a lot of emphasis on cutting costs. This practice makes it have few employees in the branches to serve the constant or increasing number of customers. The employees therefore feel overworked without any additional compensation which is a form of exploitation. For the bank to make its customers more satisfied, there is need to recruit more employees to ensure that customers are served without delays. If it is not able to increase the number of employees, it needs to ensure that the employees are paid overtime so as to motivate them more.
The bank also needs to improve the efficiency of its online banking system so that the customers using it would be able to enjoy faster and reliable online services. The reason is that there have been some allegations that the bank’s online banking system is sometimes very slow, a situation which does not go down well with the customers.
In regard to its relationship with its environment, the bank needs to allocate more funds to environmental conservation. There is no evidence of significant activities which the bank undertakes to conserve the environment. It needs for example to contribute towards the management of greenhouse gases which cause global warming. It can also partner with other governmental and non governmental organizations to launch comprehensive environmental conservation programs both at the national and international platform. The bank also needs to not only educate its customers on environmental management but also all members of the community where it has operations. This would ensure that it reaches as many people as possible thus increasing the impact of its efforts towards environmental conservation.
According to the naked office website, the bank has been accused of having poorly trained and inexperienced personnel at top leadership positions. While it pays attention to the training of other staff, it has neglected the training and capacity building of its leaders and therefore, there is need for change so that it can have leaders who are not only experienced but also visionary and well equipped with the necessary skills and techniques of leadership.
Such leadership would enable the bank to come up with strategic business decisions which would propel it towards excellence.The bank needs to as well scale up its employee motivation efforts by introducing more employee motivation programs and policies such as sponsorship programs for employees to further their studies, provision of retirement benefits, medical scheme for the employees and promotions based on merit.
If I were to rank the bank based on its ethical commitment, I would classify it among the top ten companies in the world. The reason is that it has demonstrated high levels of commitment and dedication to ensure that it does its business in a manner which does not violate the rights of its shareholders and stakeholders.