Describe the Social Implications of Business Ethics Facing A Selected Business In

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BTEC Business – Unit 38 Task 3        Daniel Atta                                                  Colette Tavernor                                                                                                                                   Colette Tavernor
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

             Describe the Social Implications of Business Ethics Facing A Selected Business In
                                                        Its Different Areas of Activity

In this task I will be looking at various business practices in any area of activity and explain how those actions have an effect on society as a whole, the areas of activity I will be discussing in this report are:

- Ethics in finance, e.g. bribery
- Ethics in human resource management e.g. discrimination
- Ethics in production, e.g. animal testing
- Ethics in sales and marketing, e.g. spamming
- Ethics in intellectual property, e.g. software privacy

I will also be investigating how my chosen business  Timberland considers these issues and addresses them.

The Timberland company was set up in 1955 by the Swartz family. Originally a shoe store based in Abington, Massachusetts the small family business has grown into one of the most easily recognisable brands of modern times.  Since its inception in 1955, be it either under the Abington shoe company brand name or under the Timberland company brand name, one thing has remained the same, its business Code of Ethics Charter.

Timberland Code of Ethics Charter
Timberland has a site dedicated to their beliefs of ethics and explains what is expected of their employees and what consumers should expect from Timberland as a business regarding ethics. Their mission statement reads, ‘We believe the honest and ethical conduct of our employees is an essential prerequisite to our success as a company. There is a direct relationship between the code of conduct of the company and the employees, and the attainment of our corporate missions and goals. Maintaining the highest standard of ethical behaviour is consistent with our core values of Humanity, Humility, Integrity and Excellence. ‘

Area of Activity: Ethics in Finance
In regards to ethics, when most people think of ethics they think of various scandals and illegal trading which appears to be ever present in the news such as insider trading, bribery, lobbying and executive pay. Some of the more recent unethical actions which have happened are the MP’s expenses scandal which occurred in mid 2009 and the banking crisis which started in late 2008. This is a concern for ethics as individuals want to know who they are doing business with and if they can trust them, for example If a business is accused of being unethical because they bribed a member of parliament in order to gain an unfair advantage over competitors so they could evade paying a certain amount of tax or VAT then not only are they giving themselves a bad name but they are also ruining the reputation of their business associates and partners who may decide they no longer wish to provide their service to that business in order to save their own credibility.

NEED TO WRITE AN INTRODUCTION EXPLAINING WHY THIS AREA IS A CONCERN FOR ETHICS…….CHECK YOUR NOTES!

There are several key areas where ethics can be questioned in terms of finance and these include:

  • Insider trading is the illegal trading, buying or selling of corporate stock based on information received which has not been made public and is supposed to remain confidential; insider trading is a common law broken by employees.  The Timberland Company set up its Code of Ethics Charter to provide assurance to its customers but also to provide guidelines to employees so that they can clearly understand what is expected of them from the business.  The Timberland Code of Ethics Charter clearly states that the securities laws set up within the business strictly prohibits insider trading and tells employees what to do if they are in doubt as to what information can be shared and what to do if they are in any doubt as to what information can be shared and what information must remain private.  Employees and directors may not trade in or even recommend company stock whilst in possession of any information. Timberlands insider trading policy applies to all employees and directors.
  • Bribery is a form of corruption in which an individual or business may offer a payment or gift to a person in a position of trust in order to gain an unfair advantage over other competitors. On the 20th of July 2010 the UK ministry of Justice announced that a new, modern and comprehensive bribery act will be brought into force in April 2011. The new act replaces the existing legislation known as the Prevention of Corruptions Act of 1889 – 1916. The Timberland Company’s general principles, Code of Ethics Charter and compliance guidelines state their policy on bribery is that they are not permitted in any circumstances and that they believe a bribe can be anything from a simple gift or an undercover payment. Their general principles also state that any individuals suspected of accepting or being involved in bribery in anyway will be held accountable in a court of law and will be dealt with by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    BRIBERY – NEED TO DISCUSS
  • Executive pay is the financial compensation paid to an executive official within an organisation, most executives would receive their basic salary along with added incentives such as share options, annual bonuses, salary rises and pension schemes. Many employees in a business may feel disheartened by the gulf in salary between them and their chief executive, especially in the middle of a recession as the public are being made more and more aware of the bonuses many executives are receiving whilst other employees are being made redundant. Many people regard this to be unethical as it is taking money away from a bunch of employees and putting it into the pocket of one executive who may not even work as hard as the individuals who may be regarded as below them in the hierarchal structure of the business. Recent news reports suggest that the new chief executive of the bank Barclays Bob Diamond is in line to receive a bonus of £8million despite only being in the job for just 9 days, the story so far has caused outrage amongst Barclays employees who feel the money should be given to existing employees or pumped back into the economy. The Timberland Company don’t currently have any publicly viewable policies or corporate guidelines regarding executive pay.

    EXECUTIVE PAY - NEED TO DISCUSS
  • Lobbying is a form of corruption when a business will use personal contacts, peer pressure, public pressure or political action in order to persuade a politician to make a decision which will benefit the business. Currently lobbying is not illegal which means it is easy for big multi national organisations to get away with changing legislation to benefit them but affected their competitors if they have the right connections to the right people in power.  The Timberland Company’s policy on lobbying is that no director, executive, officer or manager has the authority to breach or violate any government law in any country that Timberland operates in, nor may they engage in any activity that involves benefiting one individual party whilst others don’t have the opportunity to.


    LOBBYING – NEED TO DISCUSS
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Area of Activity: Ethics in Human Resource Management
Human resource management is the management of the workforce of a business to ensure sufficient staff levels with the right skills that are properly motivated and equally rewarded.  The human resource department is one of the key elements in Timberlands organisational structure, without it the business would be an inefficient, unproductive business which manufactured sub standard products. The human resource department in the Timberland Company is responsible for overseeing a variety of issues such as contract of employment violations and employee problems and queries.  The human resource department of Timberland recently put into ...

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