Code of Ethics, Essay Example

In establishing a code of ethics an organization should adhere to the Global Business Standards Codex. The codex examines eight principles in which ethical behavior of an organization can be evaluated. If these eight principles are successfully met, the company is considered an ethical organization of worth. The principles are fiduciary, property, reliability, transparency, dignity, fairness, citizenship, and responsiveness (Paine, Deshpande, Margolis, & Bettcher, 2005). Fiduciary Principle refers to the legal structure of an organization and states that each employee, officer, and director of a company has a legal obligation to act in the best interest of the organization. All company stakeholders must therefore act in a way that will generate positive benefits for the company.Property Principle is based on the belief that employees should respect company property as well as the rights of the property owners. Theft and misappropriation of funds are examples of violating this principle. Reliability Principle requires that an employee follows through with commitments he or she made to the firm. Breaching a contract or failure to fulfill a promised action is considered a violation of the reliability principle.Transparency Principle refers to the expectation that each employee should operate in a truthful and open manner. In other words, employees should not act in a deceptive manner, or out of personal interest. Employees are expected to present accurate and up-to-date records as it refers to the company. The transparency principle also requires the organization to present accurate marketing materials to its customers as far as safety and health issues are concerned. Lastly, it requires the company to develop and honest and accurate financial reporting strategy to its clients, stakeholders, and investors. Dignity Principlerequires each employee to respect the dignity of all other individuals. This refers to the human rights, health, and safety of all individuals within or outside an organization.  Additionally, the company is also responsible to ensure that employees are not faced with unnecessary physical or health risks when conducting company business. Fairness Principle in its most basic sense is based on the belief that any stakeholder who has invested time, money, or effort in the organization should be treated fairly. Fairness consists of four different categories: reciprocal fairness; distributive fairness; fair competition; and procedural fairness. Citizenship Principle promotes the idea that each employee should act as a responsible citizen in his or her community. This principle mandates that each employee respects criminal, environmental, and corporate social responsibility laws. Responsiveness Principlefocuses on the employee’s responsibility to respond to requirements from stakeholders who require information about company operations. It also states that the organization should respond to, or exceed customer expectations with regards to services offered. A responsive organization is expected to resolve any outstanding issues in a timely fashion while adhering to the ethical standards of the international business community (Paine, Deshpande, Margolis, & Bettcher, 2005).