Code Of Conduct For An Australian Company

Assessment Description.

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

General code of conduct

Established under the Commonwealth Bank Act in 1911, the commonwealth bank of Australia started operating during 1912, with a vision of providing the people with one stop financial services. Over the years of operation the organisation has set benchmarking standards of service in the finance industry. The company is aligned with the advancements in the industry in order to provide the customers with best possible solution to the financial problems (Commbank.com.au 2018).  

The vision of the organisation is to provide excellent financial solutions for securing and upholding the wellbeing of people, businesses and communities (Commbank.com.au 2018).

The values that the company upholds are: integrity, accountability, collaboration, excellence, service.

Integrity: It is expected from all the employee of the company to maintain and uphold the integrity of the institution. This is brought about with the help of doing the work that has been allocated with honesty and care. Fairness not only towards the customers but also towards the suppliers and the stakeholders should be the foremost approach. The company and the people associated are expected to avoid any illegal or unethical activities (Commbank.com.au 2018).

Accountability: With the help of honest and fair approach the company is committed to build a valuable relation with the stakeholders. This develops a sense of reliability, people commit to the company with their hard earned money and people associated with the organisation should respect that trust.

Collaboration: Expected collaborative behaviour and approach form the employees towards the other stakeholders like customers, suppliers and shareholders (Commbank.com.au 2018).

Excellence: The company acts according to the dynamic nature of the industry and encourages innovation in order to achieve excellence. With the help of HR policies the employee have fair share of chance to develop their career and grow with the organisation.

Service: The commonwealth bank of Australia is committed to provide the customers with premium quality services and hassle free options for financial aid. The services of the company are committed to provide the customers and other stakeholders with security and confidentiality (Commbank.com.au 2018).

Following are some of the important aspects that the company considers to be a part of the code of conduct that should be followed in within the organisation:

A. Discrimination

According the Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986, decimation is when an individual is treated differently based on factors such as race, gender, age, nationality, ethnicity and cultural background etc. The Commonwealth bank of Australia is a prestigious institution that has been operating in the international finance market for a long time now. The HR policies of the company encompass the regulations of encouraging diversity, promoting a safe environment and most importantly respect everyone (Wood et al. 2013). Discrimination on the basis of any of any factor will not be tolerated within the organisation. It is beyond the value of integrity and all the employees should promote a respectable environment for mutual development of one another. The organisation encourages diversity among the employees and ensures that all the employees feel that their interest is aligned with the objective of the company.  The company deals with a diverse clientele and thus it is important for the company to ensure that the employees are also diverse in nature to understand the requirements and issues closely (Okechukwu et al. 2014) 

Specific attributes

The employees are expected to treat all the others employees with respect and avoid any kind of prejudices or assumptions regarding any individual (Ozeren 2014).

In case an individual associated with the company is facing discrimination issues is encouraged to report the problem with the human resource department.

The safety and wellbeing of the all the employee is recognised by the company to be one of its greatest responsibilities. The company acknowledges the fact that the employees who enjoy working are the most productive (Ghumman et al. 2013).

The company will not tolerate any unlawful treatment or harassment against any employees.  The fundamental values of each individual are encouraged to be respected by all the people in the organisation (Bayl?Smith and Griffin 2014).

B. Exploitation

When the skills and talents of a person is utilised to an extent where they are forced and are made to work beyond their will is a form of exploitation (Sledd 2013). The organisation always looks ahead to align the interest of the employees with the objectives of the business and helps the people associated to grow and develop their career during the course of operation in the company.

There are shift hours mentioned in the agreement during recruitment and the people are encouraged to wrap up their daily work within the time.

The remuneration of the employees are fixed to a slab and then the people who are eligible for extra incentives or bonus get their fair share of remuneration according to the terms and conditions that are discussed in the agreement (Crane 2013).

 Employees are encouraged to work under the KPI that they have been asked to serve and have been agreed upon during recruitment.  

If any employee feels that they have been pressurised or has been asked to perform a tasks that is not a part of their job profile can easily notify the human resource department along with the reporting manager or superior and actions will be taken according to the HR policy of the company (Chelliah 2016).

C. Corruption

As mentioned before the values that the company and the management follow begin with integrity in the services. This highlights the strong negation the company has towards corruption of any kind (Vickers 2014). In the finance industry it is important for the company to develop an image of trust and reliability, hence providing all the customers with fair and honest services is the prime objective of the company.

Discrimination

The employees are encouraged to work according to the jurisdiction of the company as well as the country of operation. In Australia corruption is a punishable offense according to The Criminal Code Act 1995 (Forsyth, A., 2017).

The employees are expected to work according to work according to their area of operation and in no case should anyone take any professional relation and use it for personal benefit, this benefit can be in monetary terms or can be in cash. Bribery is considered to be one of the most non-torelearble acts in the company and under no circumstance will the company support or promote any such action.

The company does not encourage any kind of favour offered and also does not give any kind of favour to the third party organisations like public officials or any authoritative bodies or any other suppliers. The business partners of the company are also not provided with any kind of extra favour beyond the contract that is in between the organisations (Kemp 2014).

As a service organisation the employees are in direct contact with the customers on a daily basis, during the course of this process if any customer or an employee is found guilty of accepting or providing any extra favours, strict disciplinary actions will be taken against the same.  

The company is not associated with any political organisation in any country of operation. There is no accepting or providing donation from the company to any political association. The company has a separate social and environmental commitment which is beyond the association with any political association.

The employees and the shareholders are encouraged to inform any knowledge of corruption, fraud or dishonesty within the organisation, as the company wants to take action and investigate the matter before it further escalates the situation (Kemp 2014).

The company has to conduct a number of verification for several services like loans and opening of accounts etc. In such cases the procedure should be followed as prescribed by the management in compliance with the government regulations any breach in the process will not be accepted and strict actions will be taken against the parties who are involved in the breach.

CBA is committed to manage all the cash and finance of the clients and the customers ethically. The employees that deal with cash and other liquid assets understand and cater to their responsibilities with utmost care so that there is no gap in the calculation. They also double check that there is no unauthorised credit or debit of money from the accounts under their care (Kemp 2014).

Exploitation

In the finance industry it is very essential for the organisation to develop a sense of trust and reliability. Any act of dishonestly marks an end to the goodwill of the company in the long run. This segment is associated with corruption and follows all the codes that are mentioned above (Purnamasari and Amaliah 2015).

The employees are explained their job role during the time of their induction and they are expected to follow the same.

Any employee who is found involved in any kind of Fraudulent Behaviour will be under enquiry and depending upon the gravity of the situation decisions will be taken.

The employees of the company can be identified with the identity card and this identification is non-transferable. CBA does not encourage any outsider to work for the company under any circumstances.

The CBA is also committed in protecting the information of the customers and the suppliers. In case of any purposeful breach in the security of the customer information will be secretly dealt with. On the other hand, any information that is required to be stated by the customers should be authentic and in compliance with the government and companies policies. Any breach in the process of authentication is considered to be dishonest and is not encouraged or promoted by the company.

The management of CBA is expected to act upon the reported case of dishonesty and fraud with strict measures.

The employees of the company are urged to inform the company any conflict of interest case which might impact the objective of the business. The company is determined to uphold the reputation that it has built over the years thus, this is important. If any act is proved to be demeaning the goodwill of the organisation, disciplinary actions would be taken against the people who are involved.

The employees should be able to explain and justify all the action he or she is liable to and dealings they have been involved with.

Employees are also advised to not be encouraged by any person who is involved in any kind of dishonest act, rather reporting the event is advisable. Escalation of potential dishonestly can also avert situation to take a bad turn, thus the employees must take rational decision based on their knowledge and gravity of the situation.

E. Whistleblower Protections

Reports of any dishonest or fraud cases are dealt strictly in the organisation, however, the company recognises the importance of protection of the Whistleblower who are responsible for bringing forth these misdeeds (Bjørkelo 2013).

Corruption

The company keep all the information regarding the whistleblowers confidential, apart from the people who need to know information is not leaked any further.

CBA recognises the security threat that the whistleblowers may fall under, and thereby offer these people protection with the help of government bodies or third party organisations.

Any information that has been transferred from the whistleblowers should also be kept in watch as it is important for the company to first investigate on the matter before reaching a conclusion.

F. Enforcement

In case of enforcement of disciplinary actions these will be in compliance with the HR policies of the company. However, the gravity of the situation and its impact will be considered while taking the action.

Any case which is against the legal jurisdiction of the country of operation will be informed to the respective authority.   

This code of conduct applies to every employee who is associated with The Commonwealth Bank of Australia. This code is applicable to the individual throughout the time span that an individual will be serving with the company; this also includes special situations where the people are outside the working hours or work place.

The general code of conduct is base on the value that the company follows and thus it is expected by every stakeholder to abide by these principles while their association with CBA.

Reference list:

Bayl?Smith, P.H. and Griffin, B., 2014. Age discrimination in the workplace: Identifying as a late?career worker and its relationship with engagement and intended retirement age. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 44(9), pp.588-599.

Bjørkelo, B., 2013. Workplace bullying after whistleblowing: Future research and implications. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 28(3), pp.306-323.

Chelliah, J., 2016. Labour exploitation: Recent examples from Australia. Human Resource Management International Digest, 24(3), pp.4-6.

Commbank.com.au., 2018. Our Commitments: Living our vision and values. [online] Commbank.com.au. Available at: https://www.commbank.com.au/content/dam/commbank/about-us/docs/our-commitments.pdf [Accessed 31 Aug. 2018].

Crane, A., 2013. Modern slavery as a management practice: Exploring the conditions and capabilities for human exploitation. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), pp.49-69.

Forsyth, A., 2017. Law, politics and ideology: The regulatory response to trade union corruption in Australia. UNSWLJ, 40, p.1336.

Ghumman, S., Ryan, A.M., Barclay, L.A. and Markel, K.S., 2013. Religious discrimination in the workplace: A review and examination of current and future trends. Journal of Business and Psychology, 28(4), pp.439-454.

Kemp, H., 2014. Supporting staff to fight corruption: Companies rise to the challenge by setting the right example. Human Resource Management International Digest, 22(6), pp.33-36.

Okechukwu, C.A., Souza, K., Davis, K.D. and de Castro, A.B., 2014. Discrimination, harassment, abuse, and bullying in the workplace: Contribution of workplace injustice to occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial medicine, 57(5), pp.573-586.

Ozeren, E., 2014. Sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace: A systematic review of literature. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 109, pp.1203-1215.

Purnamasari, P. and Amaliah, I., 2015. Fraud prevention: relevance to religiosity and spirituality in the workplace. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 211, pp.827-835.

Sledd, J., 2013. Disciplinarity and Exploitation: Compositionists as Good Professionals. Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, (7).

Vardaman, J.M., Gondo, M.B. and Allen, D.G., 2014. Ethical climate and pro-social rule breaking in the workplace. Human Resource Management Review, 24(1), pp.108-118.

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.

Wood, S., Braeken, J. and Niven, K., 2013. Discrimination and well-being in organizations: Testing the differential power and organizational justice theories of workplace aggression. Journal of business ethics, 115(3), pp.617-634.