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Implementation of New Policies and Practices at Acme

Name

Instructor

Course

Date

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Background

Acme is a reputable organization that has earned the respect of its peers

The organization needs to implement new policies to enhance integrity

The policies will enhance the employees’ compliance of rules and regulations

The new policies will assist in establishing integrity at Acme

S

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Importance of Ethical Decision Making

Sustains Trust

Demonstrates respect and responsibility

Promotes employees’ adherence to rules and regulations

Enhances competitive advantage

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Ethical Approaches

Rules Approach

Virtues-Based Approach

Morality is absolute and based on one’s conformity to rules

The morality of an action is based on its consequences

Utilitarian Approach

The morality of an action is based on the level of happiness it produces

Ethical Approaches

The three lens of ethical decision making applicable to Acme’s new rules and practices include the rules, utilitarian, or virtues-based approach. The rules, or deontology ethics determines the morality of an action based on agreed-upon principles regardless of the consequences. The rules-based approach considers morality to be absolute (Heinzelmann, 2018). The utilitarian, or consequence-based ethics, determine the morality of an action based on its results. The utilitarian lens of ethical decision making was judges the ethics of an action based on the level of happiness it produces. In contrast to the rules-based approach, the utilitarian approach is not absolute, but relative. Therefore, right and wrong are a matter of sentiment rather than fact (Smart, 2020). Virtues-based approach determines ethics based on what a virtuous person would do. Virtues-based ethics looks at the virtue or morality of the person conducting an action. In this way, it is different from rules-based approach, where morality is determined by rules, and utilitarianism, where morality is determined by consequences of actions (Van Zyl, 2018).

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Ethical Lens Guiding the New Policies and Practices

The new policies are aligned with deontology, utilitarian, and virtue ethics

The policies focus on conformity to rules

Deontology ethics

The policies will have a positive impact on the organization

Utilitarian ethics

The policies support stakeholders’ interests

Virtue ethics

Ethical Lens Guiding the New Policies and Practices

The decision to amend Acme’s policies is aligned with deontological ethics. The presence of the organizational policies would introduce rules and regulations for employees to follow. If the employees choose to violate the policies, they would be liable for acting unethically under the rules-based ethical theory. The new policies also support utilitarian ethics, which indicates that an action’s consequences determine its morality (Smart, 2020). Compliance to the rules and regulations will be beneficial to the attainment of Acme’s objectives. Also, the new policies support the virtues-based approach as the organization’s compliance with ethics will be aligned with the interests of customers, employees, the management, and the community.

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Need for New Policies and Guidelines

Lack of a Reporting Mechanism

The lack of a mechanism to monitor, report, investigate, and manage ethical violations encourage organizational members to violate ethics

Lack of Ethical Policies

The company lacks specific guidelines on gift-giving

Unethical Culture

Acme’s organizational culture that prioritizes financial performance over ethics.

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Components of the New Policies and Guidelines

Responsibility

Reporting Unethical Conduct

Integrity and Professional Behavior

Accountability

Responsibility

Reporting

Confidentiality

Integrity

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Integrity and Professional Behavior

Integrity

Integrity and professional behavior are associated with the demonstration of moral and ethical principles and values

Dependability

Respect

Trustworthiness

Honesty

Employees are expected to uphold:

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Responsibility

Responsibility entails making organizational members responsible for their actions and performing one’s duty in conformity with the organization’s laws and regulations.

Being committed

Being responsible

Accepting ownership for their actions and decisions

Organizational members should demonstrate responsibility by:

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Accountability

Confidentiality

Accountability involves upholding commitments to the organization, customers, and other relevant stakeholders

Being responsible for assigned tasks and projects

Collaborating with other organizational members

Valuing and treating people with dignity

Organizational members should demonstrate accountability by:

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Reporting Unethical Conduct

Reporting

Employees should report unethical conduct to the Ethics committee, whose responsibility is to maintain ethics at the organization. Unethical conduct is anything that violates the company’s policies on integrity and professional behavior, respect, and accountability.

1. Submitting an anonymous report

2. Signing a written report

3. Requesting a private meeting with the ethics committee

How to Report Unethical Conduct

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Justification of the Choices made for the New Policies and Practices

Policies specify employees’ obligations to the organization and other stakeholders

Policies will prevent ethical misconduct

The new policies specify clear guidelines on acceptable behavior

The policies provide a mechanism of reporting misconduct

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Organizational Change needed to Reinforce New Policy Implementation

Make changes to corporate culture

Facilitate employee training

01

02

03

Implement monitoring measures to check for compliance

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References

Amran, N. A. (2020). Whistleblowing: A Mechanism for Better Governance. In Ethics, Governance and Risk Management in Organizations (pp. 67-76). Springer, Singapore.

Dekker, S. (2018). Just culture: restoring trust and accountability in your organization. Crc Press.

Ferrell, O. C., & Fraedrich, J. (2021). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. Cengage learning.

Heinzelmann, N. (2018). Deontology defended. Synthese, 195(12), 5197-5216.

Huberts, L. W. (2018). Integrity: What it is and why it is Important. Public Integrity, 20(sup1), S18-S32.

McGrath, S. K., & Whitty, S. J. (2018). Accountability and responsibility defined. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business.

Merkle, A. C., Hair Jr, J. F., Ferrell, O. C., Ferrell, L. K., & Wood, B. G. (2020). An examination of pro-stakeholder unethical behavior in the sales ethics subculture. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 28(4), 418-435.

Moon, M., Macauley, R. C., Geis, G. M., Laventhal, N. T., Opel, D. J., Sexson, W. R., ... & Committee on Bioethics. (2019). Institutional ethics committees. Pediatrics, 143(5).

Setiawan, R., Cavaliere, L. P. L., Mohideen, M. A., Jalil, N. A., Koti, K., Haleem, A., & Christabel, G. (2020). Business Ethics Code of Ethics and Business Conduct (Doctoral dissertation, Petra Christian University).

Smart, J. J. C. (2020). Utilitarianism and its applications. In New Directions in Ethics (pp. 24-41). Routledge.

Van Zyl, L. (2018). Virtue ethics: A contemporary introduction. Routledge.