The company should adapt internal and external communication strategies which help in creating an organizational climate valuing and following certain ethical values and cultures (Ethisphere, 2012). Also employees should be motivated and encouraged in following and maintaining ethical standards. This can be attained by rewarding ethical conduct. Employees should be counseled and trained in anti corruption measures. Also the top management including CEO and senior leadership should encourage and act as role models for encouraging honesty, integrity and complying with certain set standards. Certain fair practices should be adapted in business like treating all clients and partners with respect and in a fair manner. Information disclosed to relevant stakeholders with respect to the firm’s quality, products, technology, business related issues and timelines should be authentic. Personnel should be discouraged to make false and defamatory statements with respect to lack of solvency, competency, integrity or quality of other firms. Personnel should also be discouraged to deliberately misuse confidential information from competitors (Siltaoja & Lamsa, 2011).
The resolutions which will be considered by the Board of Directors of singUSA are as follows:
- The first resolution is to recognize certain ethical obligations under the Caux Round Table Principles of Globalization to conduct business by aiming to expand employment, investment and markets globally.
- singUSA must recognize that there may be certain chances to contribute towards developing social and economic markets for underdeveloped nations and it will invest in such nations after assessing certain conditions favoring commercial success.
- singUSA will try to be consistent and reasonable in carrying out fiduciary obligations and also adhere to Caux Round Tables Principles for Business.
- singUSA will decentralize operations in alien nations except capital and financial expenditures which will be handled by the corporate management.
- singUSA will follow safety guidelines of USA
- singUSA will apply safety standards better than the guidelines for care during caliber and training of workforce as set in USA
Currently the market assessment in Singapore has been found to be completed revenue oriented with less or no attention to consider an ethical environment. Moreover, it has also been witnessed that ethical companies are those which thrive in the long run as they practice sustainable development along with a policy to provide certain ethical considerations and also participate in corporate philanthropy. In fact such firms have introduced innovative notions for welfare of the public (Ethisphere, 2012). Hence, singUSA needs to follow an ethical path in order to attain success.
The recommendations made will aim for an ethical atmosphere in the firm which is of utmost importance. The internal customers should value ethical practices and should refrain from corruption to provide best products and services to its external customers. Also such practices should be recommended by top management and senior leaders for all employees to follow it. The leader should adapt an ethical approach and pose as a role model for conducting ethical tasks. This will encourage subordinates to ape the leader.
The first and foremost task is to build a culture supporting ethical conduct. For this the timetable is as follows:
- The human resource department should develop and strictly adhere to certain policies which follow and support ethical conduct in the organization. The guidelines mentioned in the Caux Round Table should be consulted while making such ethical codes of conduct. This should be done in consultation with experts and approval should be taken from the senior leadership within a week’s time (Caux Round Table, 2012).
- The relevant ethical codes would be provided via intranet so that all employees can view them. Also the existing procedures and practices would need some modifications for them to be compliant with certain ethical codes. This will take some time and hence around 15 – 20 days should be allotted to make and then further adjust to these changes.
- Fair and transparent internal and external communication strategies should be developed. The firm should be able to implement this within 15 days and also implementing transparent communication strategies are a continuous process.
- The human resource team should strive for diversity by employing individuals from all strata irrespective of difference in race, ethnicity, sex and gender. This is a continuous process and needs to be adhered and implemented with immediate effect.
- Transparency and honesty – the business practices should display fairness and integrity. In fact the business establishment should be transparent and honest in its dealings. Employees should be trained annually on anti corruption measures and statutory compliances and should be encouraged to strictly follow compliant principles to ethical business practices.
- Corporate Philanthropy – At a later stage, the firm may decide to put across some fix percentage of its revenue towards social causes. This may be done at the end of the year after the formulation of profit and loss statement.
The above recommendations and implementation would help an organization to recognize the importance of ethical business practices. Not only this, the firm would serve to benefit not only itself but also the environment in which it functions. Hence, it is recommended to abide by the above mention statutes and strategies for effectively and ethically conducting business practices.
REFERENCES
Caux Round Table (2012). Principles for business. Retrieved December 12, 2012 from
Ethisphere (2012). World’s most ethical companies best practices in ethics communication workshop. Retrieved December 12, 2012 from
Ethisphere (2012). Ethisphere recognizes exceptional ethical leadership at the Global Ethics Summit and World’s Most Ethical (WME) Companies Honoree Dinner in New York. Retrieved December 12, 2012 from
Siltaoja, M. & Lamsa, A. (2011). From theory to practice in business ethics. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organizational Studies, 16(1), 4 – 5.
