An individual, a group, or an organization that gets affected by the actions of another organization is called stakeholder. Business ethics influence the relations with the organization’s different stakeholders such as vendors, workforce, clients, and communities. In this case study, the stockholders are Chantale as an employee, hospital as a client and public as a community. Solution 2:
Business ethics suggest the conduct of the organizations in policy formulation and daily operations. Avco Environmental services deals in disposing hospital waste, the organization should consider about the public health issues and protect the environment. But, this organization disposes waste in ordinary landfills. The Avco Environmental Company has violated customer safety issues for maximizing profit, if the public get in touch with these hazardous wastes; it is harmful to their health and may affect the well-being of the public.
According to the Environment agency laws, Toxic waste disposal companies should safely sterilized this waste with bleach and disposed of to a sanitary gutter which escorts to a sewage treatment plant or should be obliterated in an incinerator, licensed by the concerned authority.
The local hospital hired Avco Environmental for disposing a biomedical waste in a safe place, but the organization misled and provided the false information to the local hospital as a client. The local hospital was not aware about their unsafe practices. The hospital management assumed that Avco environmental company is disposing the bio medical waste as per the guidelines issued by regulatory authority.
Avco Environmental had not divulged all the operations of the company to the employees. Company should clarify all the policies and operation activities of the company to its employees at the time of recruitment.
Ethical issues for chantale:
Being an employee, Chantale is not supposed to reveal company’s confidential information to anyone, since organization expects its employees are loyal. But, Chantale tried to discuss the issues with her immediate superior, Dave Lamb and operation head Angela. But their response was pessimistic and not helpful. She believed that protecting the environment and health issue of public is a bigger responsibility as a human being. Therefore, she decided to resolve the matter.
Solution 3:
Firstly, Chantale should confirm the laws related to the disposal of medical waste prevailing in her state. She can also go to any environmental agency or NGO and take assistance confidentially. The other option may be that these agencies or NGO may visit the office and supervise the activities of the organization and this action may compel the company for starting the fair practices. As her friend informed that some environmental groups demonstrated their concern on this issue and started to find out such landfills where waste disposal companies are dumping the waste. She could also tell about the place to such groups, where Avco is dumping the waste, so that they can monitor Avco practices to stop them.
As a junior clerk, Chantale could not take the liability personally to dump the hospital waste as per instructions by the Environmental Protection Agency because it would be very expensive for her. She could persuade Angela for practicing fair practices, probably, she may listen. But the higher management or owner of the company decides these decisions and policies; even Angela could not help the Chantale in this matter.
Chantale could insist her newspaper buddy to publish an article without mentioning her employer name. This article would explain the government actions against those organizations that are involved in unsafe and unfair practices. This article may coerce the organization to leave unethical practices.
