Discussion

Write an essay on Corporate Ethics.

The ethical code is concerning the documentation of business ethics that are needed to be maintained by the business officials. Shaw (2016) opined that each of the employees and the business associates need to maintain such codes of ethics that helps in improvising the professional practices. The business companies generally implement the business codes of ethics to provide the employees insights to the business goals and objectives. More specifically, practicing the proper business ethics is the key to strengthen the competitive position of the business. The maintenance of the proper business ethics is the driving force for the future sustainability of the business.

The study will be discussing the theoretical analysis of the business codes of ethics related to the corporate social responsibility. The association of the identified issues and the role of human resources in term of mitigating such problems will be presented in this study. The discussion will be focusing on the effectiveness of the codes of ethics on the business companies. The diversified effects related to both the positive and negative influences will be structured more specifically. 

In the previous part of this study, the ethical consequences related to the health care industry have been discussed in a structured way. The ethical considerations related to the health care context are assembled with the confidentiality, commitments, and relationships.  The professionals are hereby required to be much committed to the improvisation of the performance skills and needed to be concerned with the maintenance of integrity. According to Blome & Paulraj (2013), health care professionals usually promote the high commitments regarding the professional practices and establish the dignity of the professions. Therefore, it is important to maintain the honesty, accountability, and integrity. It is to be noted that the primary focus of the health care professional is to provide the safety and care to the services users. Hence, the elimination of the falsified documentation, fraudulent acts, and deceptive activities is required to maintain the effective professional codes of ethics (Weiss, 2014). Since, the complexity in the public health care centre has been increasing, the ethical dimensions related to the decision making process is also restructured. Imposing such ethical considerations on the health care context is therefore fruitful for concerning the efficient health care services for the patients.

In defining the theoretical perspectives related to the business corporate and social responsibilities, it has been seen that the application of the stakeholder’s theory is justified. As stated by Frederickson & Rohr (2015), the stakeholder theory is concentrating on the skilful bondage between the organisation and the associated stakeholders. The assimilations of them would ensure the skilful procedure of conducting any business. More specifically, in case of the health care services, the recognition of the stakeholders is necessary in determining the promotions of the business ethics. As per the theory specification, the stakeholder theory is focusing on the stakeholder group associated with the business practices (Parker, 2013). The group of the stakeholders is divided into two diversified classes. The first group is the internal stakeholders that are business partners, employees, management, and investors. On the other hand, the external stakeholders are the customers, government, suppliers, and media. In case of the health care context, the internal stakeholders are the health care personnel, upper authority, and the workers. On the contrary, the external stakeholders are the service users and the government. The major focus on implementing the stakeholder theory is to recognise the needs and requirements of both the internal and external stakeholders. It is to be indicated that the fulfilling the queries of these stakeholders would enhance the reliability and determines the transparent relationship with the organisations. The business codes of ethics related to the health care context is subjecting the usefulness of the proper services availed by the service users. If the healthcare professionals can provide the effective services to the service users, the remarkable experiences would lead to the positive word of mouth. Hence, satisfying the stakeholders is one of the major aspects for the future benefits. In considering the application of the stakeholder theory, some of the factors are needed to be taken into consideration. Firstly, the health care centres need to be much committed towards monitoring the interests of the stakeholders (Purtilo & Doherty, 2015). In addition, the development of the fruitful strategies for efficient dealing with the internal and external stakeholders is necessary. It is noted that the division and categorising of the identified interests into the suitable segmentation is also essential in determining the business ethics. Finally, it is required to ensure that the functionalities associated with the business practices must address the stakeholders’ needs.

Challenges and Strategies for Efficient Dealing with Stakeholders

The major challenges faced during the implementation of the codes of ethics are associated with the service delivery processes in health care centres. It has been seen that most of the challenges are found during the delivery of the services, preventing the diseases, developing the health policies, and promoting the healthcare services (Schenker, Arnold & London, 2014). It has been seen that in this current scenario, the health care centres have been utilizing the advanced technologies for providing the effective treatments to the service users. However, many of the people cannot afford the costs of these technicalities, which is a major concern for the business ethics. The health care personnel face the potential challenges in treating these people and using such technologies. More specifically, the issues with decision making process are also much concerned in such cases. In determining the public health practices, the ethical values and professionalisms have been providing the implicit grounds (Abdelhak, Grostick & Hanken, 2014). However, in recent times, the health care professionals have been investing time in identifying, conceptualizing, and defining the public health ethics, which is much important.

Another most significant challenge has been found in imposing the government policies on the health care context. It has been seen that the governmental taxes imposed on the health care centres due to the utilization of the advanced technical equipment sometimes seems much expensive. Moreover, using such technologies may sometimes create the safety issues for the healthcare professionals (Chun et al. 2013). Hence, these associated risks are affecting the implemented business ethics. It is noted that the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) has restructured the terms of professionalisms, which is ensuring the capability to demonstrate the values, ethical choices, and practices (Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2016).  In fact, the initiative is helpful enough for the decision making process. The process is even enhancing the commitment among the employees that engage them even more interestingly and determines the enhancements of the productivity.

In this current world of business, the issues associated with the health care ethics have become much prominent. The pervasive form of the healthcare ethics is featuring the conflicts related to the advancements of the medical equipments and the life extending treatments. These segments are indicating the real suffering for both the health care professionals and the service users. In considering the ethical principles, some of the segments are necessarily needed to be concentrated. The first aspect is the selflessness, which indicates the decisions that are evaluated as per the public interests (Schenker, Arnold & London, 2014). Next one is the integrity, which is ensuring the governance applied for preventing the diversified obligations. The next factor is objectivity that highlights the decisions and the actions needed to be undertaken in a fair and justified manner. Another factor is accountability, which substantiates accountability of the actions taken against the mitigation of the risks. Openness is a factor, which is considering the transparent structure in making any relevant decision. The final principle is honesty, which determines the truthful behaviour of the business professionals. The issues related with any of these factors can be taken into considerations as the major obligations in the healthcare settings. Therefore, it is important to keep the concentration on the specific values associated with such ethical principles.

Conclusion

It is to be noted that some of the initiatives are needed to be undertaken to mitigate the issues. The human resource management needs to pay attention towards mitigating such issues. Firstly, the development and approval process is much necessary. When the upper authority provides the codes of conduct for the business purposes, it is required to seek the input from the stakeholder group. The consultation process with the stakeholders before implementing the codes of ethics would thus be fruitful for the health care context (Straus, Tetroe & Graham, 2013). The next stage should consider the introductory part of the codes of ethics. The human resource management needs to address such codes of ethics to the health care professionals that can clarify the concept. It is to be stated that introducing the codes of ethics to the professionals required the involvement of the beneficial strategy that can create efficiency in the further process implementation. The human resource management needs to promote the internal training session for the employees and this initiative is the key to introduce the ethical code related to the health care setting. The internal training session is even effective enough to provide the proper guidance to the employees about the maintenance of the business codes of ethics. It is seen that without the proper training session, the codes would be perceived as authoritarian. The employee may misinterpret the ethical guidance, which may create the hazardous scenario in future. The effective training session has been providing the facility of addressing the issues and clarifying the core concept to each individual (Chretien & Kind, 2013). Moreover, it has been observed that the effective training session provides the opportunity to recognise the underlying flaws related to the code.

Supporting the nursing codes of ethics is much fruitful in considering the ethical business practices. However, the identification of the exceptional cases is also much prominent. Offering the education is thus considered as the most required field. Apart from the health care settings, the issues of applying the business codes of ethics are prominent in the other business sectors as well. The new employee orientation sometimes may create the challenges for the human resource departments, as they need to introduce them with the applied rules (Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, 2016). However, the proper educational process associated with the training and development session would be effective enough in addressing such issues in the business companies. Bringing the disciplines together for upcoming experiences is must identified. Moreover, the experts’ advices related to the business codes of ethics are also much fruitful in such cases. On the contrary, it is to be indicated that signing the codes of ethics by the human resource management is not enough to address the issues. Introducing and guiding the principles to the professionals helps them availing the sense of democratic thoughts. Hence, the employees usually think that their contribution towards the organisation can be concerned as the fruitful outcomes. It is helpful enough in motivating them to follow the guiding principles and business ethics that bring the future sustainability. The business codes of ethics are indicating the diversified segmentation for the diversified organisational structure. The recognition of the stakeholders’ needs are sometimes considered as the major aspect of implementing these business codes of ethics.

Conclusion

This section of the study indicates the theoretical analysis of the corporate social responsibility. The major focus of this segment is to implement the business codes of ethics in the health care settings. In concentrating on such requirement, the stakeholders’ theory is indicating the necessity of implementing the business codes of ethics. It has been seen that the application of the governmental rules and taxation process to maintain business ethics sometimes create the hazardous situations for the healthcare centres.  However, the effective contribution of the human resource management in addressing such issues would be beneficial for determining the proper evaluation of the ethical business. The effects of the internationalised legal environment are also much essential for addressing the underlying risks related to the codes of ethics. However, introducing and consulting the ethical guidelines with the existing employees and other associated professionals can reduce the risks of emerging violations against such concerns. 

References

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Blome, C., & Paulraj, A. (2013). Ethical climate and purchasing social responsibility: A benevolence focus. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(3), 567-585.

Ccab.org.uk, 2016. [online] Available at: <https://www.ccab.org.uk/PDFs/Code_Guidance_final_SG_Amends2.pdf> [Accessed 12 Jun. 2016].

Chretien, K. C., & Kind, T. (2013). Social media and clinical care ethical, professional, and social implications. Circulation, 127(13), 1413-1421.

Chun, J. S., Shin, Y., Choi, J. N., & Kim, M. S. (2013). How does corporate ethics contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of collective organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Management, 39(4), 853-877.

Frederickson, H. G., & Rohr, J. A. (2015). Ethics and public administration. Routledge.

Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, (2016). Professionalism and Ethics in the Public Health Curriculum. Public Health Reports, [online] 123(Suppl 2), p.27. Available at: <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2431097/> [Accessed 12 Jun. 2016].

Parker, M. (2013). Ethics and community in the health care professions. Routledge.

Purtilo, R. B., & Doherty, R. F. (2015). Ethical dimensions in the health professions. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Schenker, Y., Arnold, R. M., & London, A. J. (2014). The ethics of advertising for health care services. The American Journal of Bioethics,14(3), 34-43.

Schenker, Y., Arnold, R. M., & London, A. J. (2014). The ethics of advertising for health care services. The American Journal of Bioethics,14(3), 34-43.

Shaw, W. (2016). Business ethics: A textbook with cases. Cengage Learning.

Straus, S., Tetroe, J., & Graham, I. D. (2013). Knowledge translation in health care: moving from evidence to practice. John Wiley & Sons.

Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.