Introduction
As the company moves forward in expanding its reach into various markets through merger and acquisition it is important to take note of the necessity of integrating a standard set of ethics and integrity into daily operations. The reason behind this is rather simple, through expansion and acquisition multiple corporate cultures and methods of operation have a tendency to have different levels of what can be considered “appropriate” or “ethical” actions and as such it is necessary to adjust such preconceptions into a line of action that is compatible with the company’s own goals and ethical culture (Stohl & Stohl & Popova, 2009).
The Necessity of Standards in Corporate Ethics
There is an old saying that states that “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”, in the case of corporations this takes on a more significant meaning due to the proliferation of various departments, operational sites and standards of doing business in particular areas. Not all departments actually know what other departments are doing and as such this leaves a great deal of ambiguity as to what sort of ethical practices particular departments are or are not engaging in. As such this presents the necessity of establishing a standard set of ethical practices and procedures across all departments due to the need to ensure that when represented by a particular department in a certain business venture their ethical practices don’t reflect badly on the rest of the company (Stohl & Stohl & Popova, 2009).
What must be understood is that when a particular operation, department or employee engages in a distinctly unethical practice this makes consumers think of the company as a whole as being unethical despite the action being isolated to that particular instance. It is based on this particular example that there needs to be a certain code of ethics in order to ensure a generalized form of ethical accountability across all departments in order to prevent any action that might jeopardize the company’s image.
Program Implementation
Based on the various facts that have been presented so far it can be seen that there is a need to implement a program in the company where standard ethical practices are implemented on a department wide basis. This program entitled “Employee Ethics and Integrity” will be a Code of Ethics that shall be strictly enforced by the company by which all employees are expected to conform to the ethical rules and responsibilities outlined in future versions of current company policy manuals.
The value of implementing these particular standards is that it ensures that the company has a proper ethical basis by which it conducts its business. This will reflect in aspects related to corporate social responsibility, adherence to proper ethical methods of accounting and environmental protection as well as generally ensuring that employees within the stick to practices which are to the benefit of the company itself.
Conclusion
It can be assumed that if such a program is properly implemented within the near future, problems related to corporate mismanagement, falsification of data, skirting laws and government regulations can be avoided with employees taking into consideration the consequences of their actions based on prescribed disciplinary action should violations of the ethical code of conduct be violated. Not only would this adherence benefit the company but it would most likely benefit consumers as well.
Reference
Stohl, C., Stohl, M., & Popova, L. (2009). A New Generation of Corporate Codes of Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 90(4), 607-622.