What is the meaning of ‘Violation’?
Ethics is the study of understanding whether what an organization’s employees do is good and right (Manikutty, Being Ethical p. 19). As for the HR office of XYZ corporation, which now has a fully functional Ethics Officer and a Corporate Code of Ethics, the main responsibility is to create a procedure through which its employees can report any violations of its ethics code. But before creating a procedure, it is very important to first fully understand the true meaning of the word ‘violation’.
A ‘violation’ refers to several actions that the employees and other stakeholders of the organization take that result in unethical action and even result in criminal proceedings if reported and required (Ingram, 2014).
What are the examples of ‘Ethical Violation’?
- Human Resource Ethics: Sometimes, even the HR department does some sort of discrimination against some of its employees, managers and supervisors. This discrimination can occur in hiring, compensation or normal work processes and can lead to a violation.
- Financial Ethics: It is quite possible that the finance managers’ report the company’s financial information in unethical ways. This is possible by misrepresentation of financial outcomes and the company balance sheets.
- Unethical behavior: Another example of an ‘Ethical Violation’ is the nature of behavior that the supervisors exhibit towards their subordinates. For example, if a Finance Manager at XYZ corporation ‘forces’ his subordinate to submit a false financial compliance report, the Finance Manager would be ‘violating’ from an ethical behavior.
Who reports ‘Ethical Violation’?
Ethical violation is a serious issue that needs to be immediately reported to the concerned authorities in the organization or even the state government.
- Whistleblowers: Whistleblowers are the individuals who expose and bring out the alleged ‘ethical violations’ in the organization (James, 1983). Whistleblowers can be either the organization’s own employees or can even belong to external party. It is very important that the HR managers at XYZ Corporation create a comprehensive ‘whistleblowing policy’ in order to report any ‘ethical violations’.
- Ethics audit committee: An ethics audit involves an active investigation and documentation of incidence of dubious ethical value (Singh, 2009). HR managers at XYZ corporation must conduct an ‘ethics audit’ that regularly checks and analyses the ‘ethical morality’ of the employee behavior in the organization and which brings out any ethical violations.
Who accepts the ‘ethical violation report’?
Once an ‘ethical violation’ has been reported in XYZ corporation by the HR department, an ‘ethical violation report’ needs to be generated which has all the details about the alleged violation and details of the employees who are involved in the alleged violation. This report has to be accepted by the Ethical Officer of XYZ Corporation. In case the report involves criminal allegations, the state government needs to be involved as per the applicable law.
How is the report submitted and how often?
Although the report can be given in an oral form (with a subsequent sound recording), it is advisable to submit a written report that is attested and has signature of all the employees and whistleblowers (if applicable) who are involved in the issue. An ethical violation report needs to be submitted every time a violation is reported in an ethical audit or by a whistleblower.
What information should be included in the report?
An ‘ethical violation report’ has to be a comprehensive document that has all the information pertaining the incident that resulted in the alleged violation. Information such as the employee details, nature of violation, severity of violation, time of violation and recommended action must be included in the report.
Conclusion
An ‘ethical violation’ is a serious incident that can have a serious impact on the long term strategy of XYZ Corporation. It can create some unnecessary rifts and difference among the employees which can lead to dissatisfaction and lack of motivation. In order ensure that such a situation does not arise, the HR department of XYZ Corporation needs to devise a comprehensive ‘ethical violation’ program that takes care of any unethical incidents.
References
Manikutty, S. (2011). Being Ethical: Ethics as foundation of business. IIM Books, India. Print.
Singh, K. (2009). Organization Behavior. India, Pearson. Print.
James, G (1983). In Defense of Whistle Blowing. McGraw Hill. USA. Print.
Conclusion
Once a proper ethics program has been created and implemented at XYZ Inc., it is a job of the ethics manager to analyze the results of the program and take necessary action. If it is found that the sales personnel are still over-selling to their customers, a stern action must be initiated. Such sales persons must be either asked to improve in a specific span of time or leave the organization.
References
Manikutty, S. (2011). Being Ethical: Ethics as foundation of business. IIM Books, India. Print.
Notes (Attached) Creating and delivering Ethics Education. Print.
Kotler, P., Keller, L., Koshy, A. (2009). Marketing Management. United States, Pearson. Print
Sekerka, L. (2014). Ethics Training In Action. United States, Information Age Publishing Inc. Print.
Singh, K. (2009). Organization Behavior. India, Pearson. Print.
