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You are required to read a series of news articles and other information about an Australian company. The details of the Australian company, the news articles and other information will be supplied to you in due course.

You must then draft a Code of Conduct for the Australian company that specifically addresses :

a. Discrimination

b. Exploitation 

c. Corruption

d. Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour

e. Whistleblower Protections

f. Enforcement

Applicability and Coverage of the Code of Conduct

The Australian and New Zealand Banking Limited (ANZ)

The aim of the following code of conduct is to ensure that the business operations of the organisation, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) are conducted in accordance with the professional, ethical, and the applicable regulatory standards. Thus, the code of conduct is designed taking into consideration the various acts and guidelines such as the Australian Accounting Standards, pronouncements of the Australian Stock Exchange, compliances of the Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth) and incidental acts, industry regulations and others. The following code of conduct will shed light on the policies with respect to the workplace practices, dress code guidelines, anti-money laundering practices, and such. Thus, the code is a guide to deal with the business dilemmas that scars the reputation of entity.  

All the members of the organisation including the directors, employees, and others, who are a part of the organisations, must adhere to the following code of conduct. The code of conduct does not covers each matter that may arise, but is aimed at setting forth the guidelines that represent the overall policies and ethics of the entity. In addition, it is to state that the code is dynamic and would be subject to review and change at periodical basis, as per the changes in the laws and regulations.

The entity ANZ is committed towards the prohibition of the any form of the discriminatory activity, harassment, or intimidation of the employees at the organisation. The entity lays down the following comprehensive guidelines with respect to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). These are in addition to the federal and the state anti-discrimination laws. Together these guidelines are formulated to develop a framework of mutual respect, dignity, integrity, and professionalism at the workplace of ANZ.

The discrimination at workplace can be based on various cultural, physical, economic, and national attributes (Zgheib, 2014). The Equal Opportunity Act 2010 has prescribed a number of personal characteristics, because of which the discrimination can be initiated intentionally or unintentionally at the workplace (Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2018a). These personal characteristics are origin, race, nationality, sex, age, marital status, colour, physical features, industrial activity, employment activity, political belief, religious belief, parental status, disability, and others (Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2018b). Thus, the discrimination at workplace would refers to the favourable or unfavourable treatment based on the characteristics protected by law, as listed above (Gaze and Smith, 2016).

Some of the examples of the discriminatory practices at the workplaces are listed as follows. An employee being dismissed from the job because of ill health, initiating promotions based on the gender (Booth and Leigh, 2010); supervisor, or co-worker treating the other unfairly based on the religious beliefs, age and other attributes (Roberts, Davies and Jupp, 2014); offering of unfair terms and conditions during the hiring or the recruitment process, and many more.

It is the duty of the every leader, manager and the employees as well, to create a healthy work environment that would be built on the pillars of mutual respect, cooperation, tolerance, and understanding towards each other. Thus, it is significant to ensure that the workplace relationships are free from personal bias, the failure of which would result in the penalties as described in the later parts of the code.

Discrimination

The entity understands its responsibility to prevent any form of exploitation arising out of the bullying or harassment at the workplace. There have been constituted various acts such as Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and others that regulate the provisions of various kinds of harassment. The organisation is committed to abide by the guidelines stated therein.

Examples of the harassment behaviour  are such as telling insulting jokes, sharing explicit or sexually suggestive messages or mails, asking intrusive questions about personal life, passing of derogatory comments about a person’s disability or physical appearance and many more (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2018).

As per the Fair Work Amendment Act, 2013, bullying refers to the unreasonable behaviour that is being consistent towards an individual, which poses a risk of health and safety for the employee (Australian Government, 2018). Thus, the bulling behaviour include the various forms of abuse, i.e. the physical, verbal and even psychological.

Examples of the bulling behaviour at workplace are use of the offensive language, yelling or screaming, excluding or isolating the employees, making changes to the work roster that purposefully results into inconvenience for some employees (Appelbaum, Semerjian and Mohan, 2012). This also includes assigning tasks that are out of the capacity of the employees, or withholding information that is critical for the performance of a task.

Thus, the code of conduct requires the employees, leaders and managers to be aware of their language, and behaviour all the time, while associated with the entity. The members of the organisation are required to abide by the ethical and moral principles of the entity, the failure of which would lead to the disciplinary actions.

The entity recognises bribery and corruption as against the integrity, ethics and the overall goals and objectives of the enterprise. The entity accords the belief as stated in the ASX 200 that the above-mentioned issues adversely affect the strength and success of an enterprise, and creates hurdle in the long-term growth and stability of business. Accordingly, the code would shed light on the meaning of the terms and the example of activities included therein.

According to the Corruption and Crime Commission, corrupt conduct refers to an improper purpose involving deliberate intention towards the failure to perform the functions of the office, improper use of the exercise or the power, and dishonesty (CCC, 2018).

The term bribe means an act that involves influencing the actions or decisions of a person in order to avail a certain advantage in the business transaction, which is otherwise not available (Vickers, 2014). Thus, the person concerned is induced by anything of a value in monetary terms and is offered, accepted, promised to pay the same directly or indirectly to earn the advantage (Zgheib, 2014).

The entity ANZ is committed on working towards corruption and bribery and thus adopts a zero tolerance policy for any such acts on part of members or employees of the organisation. These activities can take various forms, for instance few activities are stealing of information or data of the enterprise, falsification, or embezzlement of money, acts of bribery, deliberate concealment of the information in the systems, destruction of the physical documents and other such acts. The above list is not exhaustive and would include any activity that involve loss of information or property of enterprise directly or indirectly.

Exploitation

Thus, it is the duty of the employees and the members of the organisation to not to accept the monetary benefits, gifts, or any other kind of the incentives or entertainment, other than the remuneration unless the same falls in the framework of the rules of entity. The employees are suggested to not to accept the above from the suppliers, customers or any other stakeholders in order to do such acts that do not fall within the preview of their official duties. It is suggested to consult such a circumstance with the immediate senior management. It is further suggested to inform the entity about the people or organisation that are suspected to be involved in these acts directly or indirectly. In addition, the organisation in serious about the compliance with the anti money laundering laws and regulations and therefore, it is suggested to be aware of the transactions or the persons, who are engaged in activities the proceeds of which are to be invested in the activities of criminal or illegal nature.

Another serious concern towards which the entity has a zero tolerance policy is the dishonest and fraudulent behaviour. This can occur at various hierarchal levels, from top to bottom. The dishonest or the fraudulent behaviour means prioritizing personal interest over the organisational interests (Cubbage and Brooks, 2016). Few of the instances, in which the same can occur are the entering into a business agreement or transaction that is detrimental to interest and the policy of the organisation, passing on the confidential information to the competitors or others that has been acquired during the duties of the enterprise (Loudon, McPhail and Wilkinson, 2015). It also includes the entering into simultaneous other professional engagements outside ANZ, using the property or facility of the entity for own benefits, and accepting gifts of the amount and nature that are not permitted.

The employees and members are required to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and integrity while performing the functions of the part of the organisation.

Any employee or member who wishes to report to the organisation in relation to the activities or the fraud of illegal or unethical nature is welcomed, and is referred to as the whistle blower (Brown et. al, 2014). The reporting may be done in relation to any of the matter described in the previous parts, that is the activities involving sexual harassment, dishonest or fraudulent behaviour, unlawful discrimination and bullying, or corruption or bribery.

The entity is committed towards safety and security to such whistle-blowers and considers the whistle-blowers protection its prime responsibility. The reporting should be done as per the following laid down framework.

Whistle-blower Protection Officer (WPO): The entity has employed a WTO who would be committed to conduct the consultations with the financial, legal, and operational experts in order to primarily protect the interests of the whistle-blowers. In addition, it is the duty to comply the various provisions of the code of conduct and other organisational guidelines.

Whistle-blower Investigations Officer (WIO): The entity has further engaged a WIO whose prime responsibility is to consider the reports received from the whistle-blowers and conduct the preliminary investigations into the matters concerned. Thus, the duty would include conducting enquiry or conversations within or outside the entity, collection of evidences or calling third party information’s, which will either support the claims of the whistle-blowers or regard it baseless, and not conduct further investigation after that.

Corruption

Manner of reporting for the whistle-blowers: The whistle-blowers can either report to the immediate senior managers or choose to report it anonymously by dropping a mail or call or post at the contact details mentioned in the appendix of the code of the conduct. It is the duty of the senior managers to provide the support to the employees coming out with such a report.

Few other activities that are essential part of the code of conduct and the members and employees must not engage in the same. These are protection of the confidential information with respect to the employees, extending support and coordination with the regulators of the industry; and not to engage in activities like the insider trading. Insider trading can occur while having access to the non-public information that is material (Reamer, 2013). The basic general dress code and use of information systems guidelines must be followed, along with non-engagement in alcoholism, littering, smoking, and abusing. It further involves compliance maintenance of the necessary account books, vouchers, documents, and records as required by the various statutes. In addition, the KYC guidelines must be followed. Further to note, media communications must be made only by the authorised representatives in this behalf and employees and members are suggested to not to engage in making unnecessary public statements.

It is the duty of the employees and managers to affirm to the code of conduct. It is mandatory to comply with the code of conduct on a consistent basis and the management would is free to take actions in event of breach of the guidelines. The actions may be in the form of the penalties, warning, trial, demotion, withholding of promotion, or termination of the services, depending upon the gravity of the offence and the situation.

References 

Appelbaum, S. H., Semerjian, G. and Mohan, K. (2012) Workplace bullying: consequences, causes and controls (part two). Industrial and Commercial Training, 44(6), pp. 337-344.

Australian Government (2018) Fair Work Amendment Act 2013. [online] Available from: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00073 [Accessed on 20 December 2018].

Australian Human Rights Commission (2018) Workplace discrimination, harassment and bullying. [online] Available from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-good-business-factsheets/workplace-discrimination-harassment-and-bullying [Accessed on 20 December 2018].

Booth, A. and Leigh, A. (2010) Do employers discriminate by gender? A field experiment in female-dominated occupations. Economics Letters, 107(2), pp. 236-238.

Brown, A. J., Lewis, D., Moberly, R. and Vandekerckhove, W. eds., (2014) International handbook on whistleblowing research. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Corruption and Crime Commission (2018) What is Corruption? [online] Available from: https://www.ccc.wa.gov.au/what-is-corruption [Accessed on 28 December 2018].

Cubbage, C. J., and Brooks, D. J. (2016) Corporate Security in the Asia-Pacific Region: Crisis, Crime, Fraud, and Misconduct. United States: CRC Press.

Gaze, B., and Smith, B. (2016) Equality and Discrimination Law in Australia: An Introduction. Australia: Cambridge University Press.

Loudon, R., McPhail, R. and Wilkinson, A. (2015) Introduction to Employment Relations. Australia: Pearson Higher Education AU.

Reamer, F. G. (2013) Social work values and ethics. United States: Columbia University Press.

Roberts, C., Davies, E. and Jupp, T. (2014) Language and discrimination. UK: Routledge.

Vickers, M. H. (2014) Towards reducing the harm: Workplace bullying as workplace corruption—A critical review. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 26(2), pp. 95-113.

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. (2018a) Discrimination – Workplace. [online] Available from: https://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/the-workplace/workplace-discrimination [Accessed on 20 December 2018].

Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. (2018b) Types of discrimination [online] Available from: https://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/discrimination/discrimination/types-of-discrimination [Accessed on 20 December 2018].

Zgheib, P. W. ed., (2014) Business ethics and diversity in the modern workplace. United States: IGI Global.

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