Social performance
Description of the company
My company is a partnership called XYZ and operates in the soft non alcoholic drinks segment. The company is two years old and is gaining some market in roads especially among the low income earning groups. It produces and markets wide range of soft drinks such as fruit juices and mineral water. It faces severe competition from global market leaders such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestle who also operate in the same soft drinks market and have larger market share. The mission statement is becoming manufacturers of the favorite and most affordable brands in the market.
Codes of conduct used by other industry players
The coca-cola company which is one of the main players in the industry provides two values in its code of conduct that are central to its success. These values are integrity, collaboration, leadership and honesty. Integrity implies that employees of the company are above reproach when it comes to use of company information, assets and business records. This means the company’s business and financial records are reliable since they are heavily relied on during forecasting exercises and also when the company is meeting its regulatory obligations such as paying taxes to governments. However, it would have been necessary for the company to include its appreciation for diversity as one of its core values in its code of conduct owing to large and diverse geographical areas that they serve. The company operates in more than 200 countries and this presents various cultural, demographic and social dynamics that can only be embraced by a firm recognition of diversity (Coca-Cola Company, 2013).
Pepsi adopts core principles that guide the ethical performance and behavior of their employees at all times. These principles are; upholding integrity while in the market, having respect and empowering people at the workplace, maintaining ethics while conducting company business and working responsibly to satisfy shareholders (Pepsi Company, 2013). These principles support the company’s commitment of sustained growth through empowering its employees and customers. It builds trust and responsibility among the company’s stakeholders. The adoption of respect by the company ensures that its employees across diverse markets create effective teams. Such teams leverage on their competencies to formulate products that adequately address the consumer tastes and preferences across various markets. This ensures quality and competitiveness of company products and guarantees acquisition of additional market share and growth. However, the company should also have incorporated honesty as one of its principles since people empowerment must go hand in hand with responsibility.
Nestle has adopted the following as the core principles that guides its operations in the business; integrity, honesty, fair dealing and compliance with all laws applicable to their operations (Nestle Company, 2013). This ensures that the company upholds its reputation throughout its global operations. This is because its employees avoid situations where they can put the repute of the company at risk. They also ensure that company interests come first before personal interests. This ensures speedy decision making in areas where conflict of interest may be reminiscent. It also guarantees investors and other stakeholders a return on their investment due to sound management policies. The statement by the company of their fair dealing initiatives affirms the company’s position against unfair competition in the market. It would have been proper for the company to also include a statement of their operations in regard to diversity. This is because they have operations in regions like Africa where legislation is weak and silent on most issues regarding diversity.
How ethical challenges affect the business
Employees face series of ethical challenges when performing their duties in the company. Some of them fail to adhere to laid down health and safety standards that expose the company to serious legal risks in case they are injured while on duty. There are also series of complaints from departmental heads of various workers who are not meeting their targets. This is due to their involvement with other unofficial work when using company resources. They utilize facilities such as e-mails and internet to conduct their personal activities with little regard to official duties. In some instances, their supervisors are forced to monitor what they are doing over the internet which can be considered an affront on their privacy and autonomy in duty performance (Hughes, 2005).
There are other reports that indicate lack of transparency in some sections of employees. This is mainly rampant in employees in the finance and marketing sections. Accounts reports are sometimes over or understated. Marketing messages are some times exaggerated. Such misdemeanors give a wrong view of the company and may harm its relationship with stakeholders especially customers and shareholders. This is due to misinterpretations and wrong decision making on the basis of such reports which may cause irreparable harm to the business.
Code of conduct for the company
Each and every employee of the company must uphold honesty, integrity, accountability and respect in their daily operations within the company. They must also adhere to the provisions of the code of conduct at all times.
Every employee must consider his/her actions and when in doubt should ask:
- Is my action in conformity with the code of conduct?
- Is it ethical and legal?
- Does it give the right image of me and the company?
If the answer is no to any of these questions, then the action should not be done.
The following are the main provisions of the code of conduct:
- Employees within the company precincts must adhere to safety regulations and standards. Those operating machinery must at all times use safety gadgets such as aprons, gloves, helmets and goggles for their personal protection. Managers and supervisors must ensure this is strictly adhered to.
- An employee should never falsify a document
- Transactions must be recorded using proper accounting records and standards as prescribed by internationally recognized standards and company provisions.
- Company assets should only be used for the benefit of the company. They should not be used for personal benefit and illegal deals like gambling.
- The company believes in free and fair competition. It will be considered unethical for any employee who creates wrong perceptions of the company and its products so as to influence the market.
These codes ensure that employee and stakeholder behavior is above board and does not in any way compromise the aspirations and objectives of the company.
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines influenced the ethics guidelines in order to limit criminal liability on the company. The guidelines informed the establishment of clear ethical principles to ensure compliance. It leads to strengthening of company systems especially in areas like monitoring, auditing and reporting of any wrong doing so that necessary disciplinary measures can be taken.
Challenges in adopting the code of conduct
There are expected degrees of resentment from employees especially in the use of company assets for personal activities. Managers must exercise caution during their supervisory activities so that employees do not complain that they are being micromanaged. There is also a need for recruiting more skilled managers to ensure adherence to ethical standards in the company. Employees would also require training through ethics training programs and induction to some of the ethical principles and standards (Lee, 2009). All these may require additional financial expenses to the company.
Addressing the challenges
The company must demonstrate the employees the need to focus on their company roles so as to boost performance. This ensures that the company can implement a rewards program where employees who demonstrate effective performance are rewarded. Such programs motivate employees to focus on their work-related assignments. The induction sessions can be done to select employees who can be used to train their counterparts on need for ethical principles at the workplace. The company can also do a cost-benefit analysis to convince the management on the need of these ethical principles.
Ensuring the code remain relevant
The code must aim at addressing and guiding managerial decisions in the company at all times. This ensures that the company adheres to regulatory and legislative provisions of national laws that are in operation within its jurisdiction. Its scope should cover the entire corporate and work group levels. It should be implemented in a non discriminative manner across all sections and regions where the company operates. There must also be sensitivity while implementing the code across regions which have varying degrees of cultural and social attributes.
References
Coca-Cola Company (2013). Code of Business Conduct-The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved on 5th September 2013 from www.coca-colacompany.com/investors/code-of-business-conduct
Hughes, F. (2005). The nature and relationship between corporate codes of ethics and behavior. Journal of Business Ethics 57(4):327-341.
Lee, S. (2009). Effective corporate codes of ethics. Cambridge. Cambridge university press.
Nestle Company (2013). Code of Business conduct. Retrieved on 5th September 2013 from http://www.nestle.com/investors/corporate-governance/codeofbusinessconduct
Pepsi Company (2013). Our Global Code of Conduct: Doing Business the Right Way. Retrieved on 5th September 2013 from http://www.pepsico.com/Company/Global-Code-of-Conduct.aspx
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