Free Essay On Ethical Issues In Business

Jane Doe

N/A
NA
Many believe that business entities should have a moral duty to be socially responsible, to work towards increasing its positive effects on society while decreasing its adverse impact. Many organizations look for opportunities to be socially responsible while also creating shareholder wealth.

Company Q

A small grocery store in a major metropolitan area- Company Q, is in an ethical dilemma. The company has closed a couple of their stores, located in higher-crime-rate areas where the stores regularly lost revenue. Another unfavorable issue, the stores had, were the long delay in implementation of customer demands for healthier foods and organic produce. Years of requests by the consumers resulted in a small section of the healthier natural foods. The last concern involves the problem associated with their disposal of old food. Food banks in the area have requested Company Q to donate day-old food not used by the store; instead the stores are throwing away food due to a lack of trusting their employees. One can assume that this is a business confronted with an ethical issue involving corporate social responsibility.

Current Attitude

The grocery store chain is not putting ethics and social responsibility on the forefront of the decisions they make for the organization. Instead the focus of the company has been to increase profits and minimize loss, all while ignoring the social responsibility they have to their employees, customers, and community. The global marketplace is abundant with options for consumers to shop for goods and services conveniently over the Internet; no longer is there the same need for a brick-and-mortar grocery store. In a competitive market, consumer loyalty is gained through sound ethical and socially responsible practices making a tremendous difference to the overall success of any business.
Company Q must realize that minimizing the importance of an organization with a culture and attitude of ethical practices will do more harm than good for the reputation and long-term revenue of the company.

Shifting Toward an Ethical Attitude

As Company Q acknowledges its shortcomings in the area of ethics and social responsibility, there are steps that the business can take about modifying the attitude and culture within the corporation. A few of the actions that can begin this process include developing or re-evaluating the company code of conduct (and code of ethics), implementing these concepts to employees through training and designing a program that gives back to the community.
The first step begins with a proper code of conduct that sets a foundation for the organization to conduct an ethical and socially responsible business. Lunday (2010), “Companies that view a code merely as a way to communicate legal rules miss much of the value that a code can provide" (What a Code Can Help to Accomplish). Employee loyalty is an area proven to be increased in organizations where there is a code of conduct that makes the employees feel connected and involved in the company's success (Lunday, 2010).
The code of conduct must become common practice by employees from the top level executives down the store clerks through structured implementation of an employee training system. This process will take resources, such as time and financial investment as training programs are established for employees; however with proper execution the results will become evident in the change of company attitude and culture.
The final recommended action, to take, is developing a charitable project that Company Q can partner with as a way to give back to the community. In the case of Company Q, there is already a request by local food banks for donations of old food to help feed the needy. Exploring a creative partnership with the food banks is an easy starting point for the organization. By taking on a socially responsible initiative, the company can transform the issues they had seen as a problem into positive deeds that they are providing for their employees and community. Fallon (2014), “Undertaking socially responsible initiatives is truly a win-win situation. Not only will your company appeal to socially conscious consumers and employees, but you'll also make a real difference in the world” (Examples of Corporate Social Responsibility).
With a well thought out plan to initiate the ideas discussed, Company Q will find success for the corporation beyond just financial profit. The culture and attitude associated with the organization will be one where employees and consumers feel satisfied to participate in what Company Q stores offers because they stand for more than corporate gain, but also the well-being of people.

References

Fallon, N. (2014). What is corporate social responsibility?. Retrieved from
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4679-corporate-social-responsibility.html
Lunday, J. (2010). Creating an effective code of conduct (and code program). Retrieved