Ethics Assessment Essay

It is a fact that any business organization must have its principles of code of conduct. These principles must be generally accepted as they act as a mirror to the company’s or organization’s policy of ethics and responsibility, its employees, and the entire marketing team in maintaining consumer as well as community relationships. The organization’s policy has to be based on high-level ethical principles that are fair to all its stake holders. The aim of these principles is to provide a general guidance to the organization without which no meaningful business can take place (Dubois & Fattore, 2009). The mission statement, just like the code of ethics or code of conduct, is very essential as part of the organization’s business plan. It is very vital in giving the organization a clear direction concerning how the organization’s plans should be implemented as well as its future plans. The employee handbook Is another equally as important document and it is often used to evaluate the worker’s organization’s overall performance in terms of profitability and its relation with its customers and the general community. The management of any company or organization is supposed to take routine evaluation based on the key areas of the company’s or organizations set-up. These are the Mission Statement, the Ethics Code or Code of Ethics, the Supervisor’s manual as well as the employee handbook. These are the basic things that a company needs so as to be able to survive in the highly competitive world of business where excellent service delivery is the secret to success. The mission statement of any company or organization should be clear to all concerned; the employees, the supervisors and the managers in that order. The mission statement originates from the management and it is here that the managers map out the company’s guide and modes of operation (Stone, 2008). The overall manager or director of the organization should then discuss it thoroughly with fellow managers of the various departments to make sure that it meets the right description of the company before it is released to the employees and subsequently the general public who make up the target market. In order for a mission statement to be deemed successful, it must reach the intended audience as fast as possible and in a clear manner. The services or goods that the company or organization offers are sometimes not well spelt out. This leads to a misunderstanding, miscommunication or misinterpretation . This in turn leads to loss of business because the customers do not know much about the business or exactly what it is that they offer. An example is that of the hospitality industry. Some companies or organization do not care to include in their mission statement full details of what they offer. In such a case a customer may enter a business premise not knowing anything that the organization offers. If prospective customers do not know the full details of the company’s or organizations mission, then disappointment is the result and this The result in most cases is disappointment and loss of prospective customers. Such an oversight should be avoided by setting out clearly on paper what it is that the organization is dealing in instead of leaving it upon customers to guess. A mission statement is the heart of the company’s operations and therefore the managers should make sure that the set code of ethics or conduct is adhered to for the implementation of the company’s or organization’s mission to be successful. Two different companies dealing in the same goods and services were evaluated in terms of how their structures for the communication of their mission statement with relation to their business ethics and standards. In some strange way it was identified that the organization with a wide range of mission statement content performed worse than the organization with a wider range of code of ethics content (Shafritz & Hyde, 2007). The above fact is characteristic of the mission and vision statement of the giant Coca Cola company which they describe as enduring, a declaration of their purpose as a corporation. This mission statement acts as the yardstick against which they weigh their decisions and actions. The company acknowledges that the world is fast changing and as such they have to look at the future. They have to understand the forces and trends likely to shape their business in the foreseeable future and the only solution is to move with speed in preparing for any challenges that may come up. The mission statement takes one only a few seconds to go through but the clarity of the message is outstanding. The three point statement reads; ‘To Refresh the World†¦ in body, mind, and spirit. , To Inspire Moments of Optimism†¦ through our brands and our actions. , To Create Value and Make a Difference†¦ everywhere we engage’ (Fry, 1989). The company’s mission is communicated to the public in a clear and simple way and this is the reason for the continued confidence consumers have always had confidence in their brands over the years. Theirs is a perfect example of an inspiring, well-crafted mission statement from a very successful corporation in the world. The company communicates its mission statement through an aggressive campaign aimed at sensitizing the consumers about their aims and goals. The inspiration for everything they do I attributed to their enduring mission. Both the workers and the management find the resolve to go on with the challenges of the corporate world by drawing from the inspiration in the mission statement. Coca Cola has as a result managed to outsmart other well positioned companies like Pepsi Cola and Schweppes Cola which had for sometime rivaled the corporation. The company is socially responsible. It has, through its mission statement managed to create stable communities by manufacturing superb brands that has provided an alternative to other less health-sensitive drinks. The factors behind this are the code of ethics under which the company operates. The customer is the most important person to the company and in essence they strive to keep him satisfied. It is the mission statement, source of their inspiration, which keeps everyone in the company focused with a view to achieving this goal (Kettl & James, 2009). Coca cola’s employee manual and the supervisor’s manual provide for all the needs of the employees and the management, ranging from health benefits to reasonable pay allowances. The company has a strict program of ethics and compliance to ensure that its code of ethics is adhered to. This code of conduct requires employees be honest and have integrity in everything they do for the company and has so far been successful in guiding its business conduct (Stone, 2008). This is communicated through reading the manual and all the directors are supposed t understand and exercise them within the company and the outside community at large. The company has an ethics and compliance committee whose job is the evaluation of the compliance with relation to the company’s productivity and its relations with the outside community. This committee determines code violation and recommends the action to be taken against the violator. The code of ethics is routinely revised to improve its effectives. The company needs to improve the code of ethics and update it so as to meet the challenging and changing trends in the business fraternity. Some regulations need to be adjusted so that the employees can interact with the outside community more freely, but this should be done with some regulations so that the people who work in the production department do not leak the company’s production formula to other rival companies (Fry, 1989). Company needs to urgently review mission statement. The statement is too sketchy and many other companies have come up with more catching and better worded mission statements and this has made them sneak their way into the company’s consumer base therefore reducing Coca Cola’s share of the market. Many people all over the world who used to rely on Coca Cola for refreshment have in the recent past turned to other means like tea, water and coffee and therefore the company should redraft its mission statement to reflect the current needs of the consumers. These changes should be communicated in a very aggressive advertisement exercise that will reach all the concerned people (Shafritz & Hyde, 2009). This will surely make a change in the consumers’ hearts and renew their confidence in the company’s products. If I were the general manager of the Coca Cola Company, would hire a team of experts to review the company’s ethics, evaluate it and come up with suggestions on how make the existing one better. The team would have to the consumers armed with questionnaires and ask the relevant questions to determine how best the company can improve its services to suit the likes of the consumers. REFERENCES Dubois, H. F. W. & Fattore, G. (2009). ‘Definitions and typologies in public administration. Routledge. Fry, R ( 1989). Mastering Public Administration; from Max Weber to Dwight Waldo. Chatham, New Jersey: Chatham House Publishers, Inc. Kettl, D & James (2009). The Politics of the Administrative Process. Washington Shafritz, J & Hyde, A (2007). Classics of Public Administration. Routledge. Stone, D (2008) ‘Global Public Policy, Transnational Policy Communities and their Networks,’ Journal of Policy Sciences.