6 1 Discussion Self Regulation PDF

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6-1 DISCUSSION SELF-REGULATION Corporate self-regulated ethics programs are made up of values between the employee and the employer. It’s understood that employees and employers have rights and responsibilities to honor and respect one another. Typically, employers will motivate employees and seek results or employers will enforce and regulate ethical behavior. Employee tend to have a better outcome and be more responsive to motivational approached as oppose to enforcement, however, the best way to achieve results is to incorporate both (Weiss, 2014). Having an ethics program in place gives employees a perimeter and set of guidelines that are clear and concise. Self-regulated programs tend to depend on the employee’s values. These types of programs can be found incorporated into sections of regulated ethics, such as the code of conduct. Having a balanced of self-regulated and enforceable ethics leads to a balance workplace but there are issues that can come up. Major challenges and issues to enforce for the code of ethics In corporations having rules and regulations such as a code of conduct is important for employees to have guidelines to follow when making an ethical decision, but also ethical programs teach employees the skills to make those ethical decisions (Weiss, 2014). Corporate self-regulation ethics programs are high dependent on employee and manager’s self-values. These self-values are more valuable than rule and regulation-based programs. According to Weiss (2014), “a values approach is grounded and motivated in personal self- governance.93 Employees are more likely to be motivated to “do the right thing” than threatened if they violate laws and rules (p. 385). However, it has been noted that utilizing both types of programs is even more successful. While having a set of rules does allow employees to

look to a set of written guidelines to help make some decisions, a proper ethical program must teach them when they may need to make decisions that could potentially hurt the company in the short run but are still the right choice. Many organizations may have a set of values in place in their codes of conduct, but for these values to be credible and mimicked by employees, the leaders of the organization must set the example. With proper role models these values can be instilled into the company. There are, however, some issues involving these codes. Often, they may not be enforced or are not clear enough for them to be meaningful to employees. Any grey areas in these codes may also lead employees to seeing these codes as indirect or unrelated to their given tasks. Employees are also often confused how they should prioritize ethics, profits, and beliefs. This can lead to uncertainty (Weiss, 2014). Another type of program that companies have in place are peer review programs which enforces self-regulation. This allows employees to gather a second opinion on their work and allows their ethical decision to moderately be monitored. The issue here is that this can create some animosity amongst managers and employees sometimes feel that managers may retaliate to their decisions. I personally believe this helps managers more than hurts them. In my current company we utilize peer review quite successfully (Weiss, 2014). In general, self-regulation can be extremely successful, but it does require some reinforcement. This gives employees and managers confidence in their work. Putting in place peer review, proper training, and codes of conduct ensure the most proactive method to reducing ethical issues. Businesses tend to follow both ethics and regulations; ethics is subjected to governance and regulation but must also find and follow the “right thing to do”. “Ethics codes are value statements that define an organization” and include six core values which are desirable in ethics

codes: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship (Weiss, p.387). Codes are most effective when employees comply, issues that can arise are lack of enforcement and misinterpretation. Based on the example you gave regarding explicit language; I think that could be misinterpreted. If a word I use in my everyday vocabulary is harmless in my opinion, but you consider it to be offensive or vulgar, there could be a violation of the code of conduct. This way of communication could lead to other ethical issues such as damaging employee relationships or moral. In the line of a police officer, vulgar language and swearing may be the best form of communication in some cases and could prevent further issues. This a difficult area and issue facing self-regulating programs. It would also depend if this section of the code was enforced. In my current position, explicit language is frowned upon, but not address in our code of conduct. I work primarily with commercial contractors and developers, not setting I would need to communicate vulgarly in. However, we have a dress code in our office, and at times I am excused from that to perform on-site inspections. There is no section that excludes my position, but it’s understood by upper management if I show up to work in jeans and chucks, I am probably scheduled to be inspecting development. Moral codes aid in setting guidelines for the moral and ethical cultural of a business. These can further translate into policy and procedures, problem solving protocols, and codes of conduct for employees to follow. These guidelines can be difficult to enforce in a black and white mindset, as many people come from a variety of moral and ethical backgrounds. Translation of ethics may differ from employee to employee. Management needs to make it explicitly clear what they expect of their employees which can be accomplished through trainings and dialogue. Some employees may not want to participate in certain aspects of a code of conduct at all, which can make it difficult to enforce and challenges preconceived notions.

Additionally, codes of conduct can be vague and open to interpretation; they don’t prioritize beliefs and values, and don’t always translate to every position within a company (Weiss, 2014). I can relate to this last issue. In the code of conduct policy as a police officer, it explicitly states that use of vulgar language and swearing is not tolerated, but some people I interact with on patrol do not understand language that is not explicit. This is partially sarcastic, but also partially true. It is difficult to enforce this aspect of the code of conduct because it is subjective. Major challenges and issues that self-regulating programs can have when enforcing the code of ethics is the voluntary way its conduct. Codes are only effective when employees comply (ASCE, 2014). There are also ethical issues between safeguarding the interest of the public and promoting personal self-gain. Other issues with codes could be the ambiguity in meaning, uninformed employees, misinterpretation of intent, and lack of inspiration and motivation to increase productivity. At times the lack of enforcement is not in the code but through the management and leaders of these self-regulating programs. For these types of systems, there can be challenges in not having good examples for employees to base their values on (Weiss, 2014). Peer reviews can be beneficial because it serves as an opportunity for an employee to voice their opinions and concerns. Issues that could arise with this form of self-regulation are the insertion of opinions and potential for destructive criticism in the workplace (ASCE, 2014). Selfregulating programs have the potential of being successful with the incorporation of guidelines, enforcement, and consistency. Giving employees proper tools, such as training, peer review, code of conduct, and open communication are best practices for preventing ethical issues. For managers to build a sustainable and ethical company, they must hold a high standard of morals themselves and their subordinates will follow. Weiss states that people are more likely to adhere to moral guidelines without punishment because it is the “right thing to do” instead of

fear-based/rule-based programs (Weiss, 2014). This is the basis for self-regulation. Moral people tend to surround themselves with moral people and expect them to adhere to the ethics they profess to follow. This is a sort of checks and balances from person to person, but people are easily influenced. The problem with peer-review is the same as the issue with the translation of ethics: one company or firm may not be ethically aligned to another company or firm. A readiness checklist is a tool which can help a company “evaluate the ethics of their business practices and relationships” (Weiss, p. 392). Some of the question’s managements can ask themselves includes: REFERENCES ASCE. (2014). Self-Regulation Is Not without Ethical Challenges. Retrieved from: https://www.asce.org/question-of-ethics-articles/dec-2014/ Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

In response to your classmates, analyze the features and benefits of internal self-regulation business ethics. Do you agree with the challenges of and issues of self-regulation presented by your peers? Why or why not? Develop the ideas of your peers by adding comments. Melissa, I agree with you, self-regulating programs can be highly effective only if those participating have a level of moral and ethical standards. Corporate self-regulated ethics programs are made up of values between the employee and the employer and it’s understood that employees and employers have rights and responsibilities to honor and respect one another (Weiss, 2014). An issue that could arise is the difference in morals and ethics among employees. There could be a difference in perspectives thus causing a communication and perception issue when relating to ethics. Though the code of conduct addresses many areas of concern, employees and employers could have a difference of opinion when enforcing what is perceived to be an issue. For example, if I work in a jewelry store and I have knowledge that merchandise will be on sale next week, but this week and I share that with customers to save them money. If my manager thinks it’s unethical to share company sales information with customers, I could be violating the code of conduct. However, if my manager feels that saving customers money by delaying a sale is a way of building clientele, my actions could be deemed ethical. It seems the best option is to have a balance of self-regulating programs and enforceable policies to govern the actions of employees and managers. Reference Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Brad, I agree with your post in that there are risk and concerns in today’s business world. Compliance with ethics and regulations are imperative to companies who specifically have a lot to risk. Compliance programs, ethics, training and communications and improving risk assessment systems while nurturing corporate culture can help to negate risk (Weiss, 2014). I also agree that self-regulated ethics in the code of conduct help encourage employee values and ethical behaviors. Codes are most effective when employees comply, issues that can arise are lack of enforcement and misinterpretation. It has been shown that companies who have “responsible self-regulation” among their employees can reduce costs and that companies who lead by fear and threats, end up facing legal issues and negative press (Weiss, 2014). All businesses should have a code of conduct that must be enforced for it to be effective. Codes of conduct often include such things as “ethical principles, intellectual property, workplace violence, illegal business practices, and conflicts of interest” (Weiss, 2014). The company that I currently work at has a hotline were employees can call and leave “anonymous” comments when they feel there is an issue that is not being properly addressed by their leader. We also utilize an open-door policy in which everyone from the president down is willing and available to address issues of employees. It is however encouraged to start with your direct leader before going straight to the top. Reference Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

Based on the example you gave regarding explicit language; I think that could be misinterpreted. If a word I use in my everyday vocabulary is harmless in my opinion, but you consider it to be offensive or vulgar, there could be a violation of the code of conduct. This way of communication could lead to other ethical issues such as damaging employee relationships or moral. In the line of a police officer, vulgar language and swearing may be the best form of communication in some cases and could prevent further issues. This a difficult area and issue facing self-regulating programs. It would also depend if this section of the code was enforced. In my current position, explicit language is frowned upon, but not address in our code of conduct. I work primarily with commercial contractors and developers, not setting I would need to communicate vulgarly in. However, we have a dress code in our office, and at times I am excused from that to perform on-site inspections. There is no section that excludes my position, but it’s understood by upper management if I show up to work in jeans and chucks, I am probably scheduled to be inspecting development. An issue is that corporates must recognize that their greatest resource is their workforce. Employee welfare must come first, and they should not be used as pawns in order to make maximum profit. Another issue is not addressing the principal activities in the business code, instead the standards will largely address benchmarks (Lunday, 2010). This means the employees will not understand how their actions across the board can impact the integrity of the company (Lunday, 2010). Sometimes the code of conduct may not include the required details and is not approachable. Employees must feel welcomed and better connect with the code in order to embrace it. When employees are facing issues, the code must include necessary guidelines or

resources to help them resolve the challenges. These resources can be approaching a department personnel or a helpline phone number. I think if the code is developed based on honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, integrity, responsibility and civic virtue, it will cover all activities and relationships of the corporate world (Mintz, 2016). REFERENCES Lunday, J. (2010). Managing the Workplace ethics of Social Media. Retrieved from: https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/managing-the-workplace-ethics-of-socialmedia/ Mintz,

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(2016).

Integrity

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