Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility
Involved Parties:
Kirk is a bright individual who is being groomed for the Controller’s position in a medium-sized manufacturing firm. After his first year as Assistant Controller, the officers of the firm were starting to include him in major company functions. For instance, today he was attending the monthly financial statement summary given at a prestigious consulting firm. During the meeting, Kirk was intrigued at how all the financial data he had been accumulating was transformed by the consultant into revealing charts and graphs.
Kirk was generally optimistic about the session and the company’s future until the consultant started talking about the new manufacturing plant the company was adding to the current location and the costs per unit of the chemically plated products it produced. At that time, Bob (the President) and John (the chemical engineer) started talking about waste treatment and disposal problems. John mentioned that the current waste facilities were not adequate to handle the waste products that would be created by the “ultramodern” new plant in a manner that would meet the industry's fairly high standards, although they could still comply with federal standards. Kirk’s boss, Henry, noted that the estimated cost per unit would be increased if the waste treatment facilities were upgraded according to recent industry standards.
While industry standards are presently more stringent than federal regulations, environmentalists are strongly pressuring for more stringent regulations at the federal level. Bob mentioned that since their closest competitor did not have the waste treatment facilities that already existed at their firm, he was not in favor of further expenditure in this area. Most managers at this meeting resoundingly agreed with Bob, and business continued on to another topic.
Kirk did not hear a word during the rest of the meeting. He kept wondering how the company could possibly have such a casual attitude toward the environment. Yet he did not know if, how, or when he could share his opinion. Soon he started reflecting on whether this was the right firm for him. What should Kirk do? Putting Corporate Responsibility first, but recognizing the politics at play, what is the most ethical thing to do? The most practical? What strategy would you suggest to Kirk if he came to you for advice?
Use the Instructions for Case Analyses to craft a response to this case, articulating the main issues and ethical dilemma. Review the assessment criteria below before you begin writing.
Submit a written paper which is 2-3-pages in length exclusive of reference page and that is double-spaced. You should cite relevant resources in APA format.
Papers will be assessed using the following criteria:
The Written assignment:
We were given the following:
Involved Parties:
Kirk is a bright individual who is being groomed for the Controller’s position in a medium-sized manufacturing firm. After his first year as Assistant Controller, the officers of the firm were starting to include him in major company functions. For instance, today he was attending the monthly financial statement summary given at a prestigious consulting firm. During the meeting, Kirk was intrigued at how all the financial data he had been accumulating was transformed by the consultant into revealing charts and graphs.
Kirk was generally optimistic about the session and the company’s future until the consultant started talking about the new manufacturing plant the company was adding to the current location and the costs per unit of the chemically plated products it produced. At that time, Bob (the President) and John (the chemical engineer) started talking about waste treatment and disposal problems. John mentioned that the current waste facilities were not adequate to handle the waste products that would be created by the “ultramodern” new plant in a manner that would meet the industry's fairly high standards, although they could still comply with federal standards. Kirk’s boss, Henry, noted that the estimated cost per unit would be increased if the waste treatment facilities were upgraded according to recent industry standards.
While industry standards are presently more stringent than federal regulations, environmentalists are strongly pressuring for more stringent regulations at the federal level. Bob mentioned that since their closest competitor did not have the waste treatment facilities that already existed at their firm, he was not in favor of further expenditure in this area. Most managers at this meeting resoundingly agreed with Bob, and business continued on to another topic.
Kirk did not hear a word during the rest of the meeting. He kept wondering how the company could possibly have such a casual attitude toward the environment. Yet he did not know if, how, or when he could share his opinion. Soon he started reflecting on whether this was the right firm for him. What should Kirk do? Putting Corporate Responsibility first, but recognizing the politics at play, what is the most ethical thing to do? The most practical? What strategy would you suggest to Kirk if he came to you for advice?
Compliance and ethics are like two (2) intersecting circles. There is a place where they overlap and need careful thought. When they do not overlap and there is an ethics issue, to whom do employees go for a solution? Compliance is a reactive reality; one reacts to a law that one did not write. Ethics, however, is only proactive; it is a personal choice to be ethical. Compliance is the letter of the law, while ethics is the spirit of the law (Watson, 2014).
Employees that will do whatever is required to succeed require a structure to prevent them from crossing the line. Organizations that create a culture of ethical behavior get employees to follow the rules, not just because they have to, but because it is the right thing to do.
To be ethical is to focus on values, character, and principles that build a foundation on which one can make tough decisions. If organizations spent as much time, effort, and money on ethics training as they do for compliance training, and develop proactive training in both areas, the way business is done would take a massive step in the ethical direction. This could help people choose to do the right thing, rather than make them do the right thing (Vaux, 2017).
In a corporate setting, strong ethics creates better employee morale. Organizations with strong ethics and compliance programs discourage employee misconduct, while encouraging employees to report misconduct by others. Improving an organization’s ethical culture requires planning, commitment and follow-through, but doing so has several benefits (Vaux, 2017).
Strengthening the ethical culture of the organization builds feelings of self-worth across the company. It creates a place where employees want to come to work. The result of a strong ethical culture is a financially strong organization with strong prospects for operational sustainability. While developing a strong ethical culture takes a large commitment of time, it has minimal impact on the corporate budget (Rough, 2018).
Actually, having an ethics and compliance program and strengthening workplace ethics costs very little in comparison to the benefits that organizations receive from it. Creating a robust ethics and compliance program will not strain the corporate budget, and does not require significant resources for implementation (Rough, 2018).
The ethical thing to do here would be to upgrade the waste treatment facilities, although that would cost money. The chances are high that federal regulations will become stricter, and the organization will be forced to upgrade the waste treatment facilities anyway. However, their closest competitor does not have the waste treatment facilities that already exist in the firm. In addition, the existing waste treatment facilities comply with federal standards. For these reasons, the most practical thing to do would be to hold off on upgrading the waste treatment facilities. The author of this paper would recommend that Kirk suggest a training program for ethics and compliance, but to remain silent about the upgrades.
In conclusion, the conflict between ethics and expenses is common and can happen in any industry. Organizations need to ensure that they do not fail to address this conflict. Ethical organizations tend to perform better financially than unethical organizations.
References:
Rough, J. (2018). What is an Ethics and Compliance Program, and Why is it Important to Rehabilitation Providers?
Vaux, R. (2017). Ethical Business Culture.
Watson, A. (2014). Ethics vs. compliance: Do we really need to talk about both?
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Topic: Corporate Social Responsibility Involved Parties: Bob, President John, Chemical Engineer Henry, Controller Kirk, Assistant Controller...