MGMT3016 Business Ethics

Brenda’s Dilemma

Brenda is facing a dilemma with the fact that she noticed several junior management employees making error to enter data while using the new accounting software adopted by the company. The company expressly mentions it in its policy that the staff’s identity would be kept confidential. Now, Brenda’s dilemma is to find a way to tackle this corporate issue without disclosing the identity of the staffs.

MacDonald’s methodology of resolving issue

Chris MacDonald’s methodology has been applied in the given case study to resolve the dilemma. It says that there are some standards that are to be considered for handling the given issue. The most relevant standards under MacDonald’s methodology applicable to the given case are listed below:

Specific code to be made for specific businesses

Brenda’s company should adopt particular set of codes for its employees to follow strictly and be open to penalty in case of breach. Such deterrence is essential to safeguard the company from such ethical issues in near future. A set of fresh standard of care must be incorporated for the employees of the company to follow, focusing on their job role and requirement (Brussalis and Pallitto 2017).

Employees to be involved in the policy making sessions of the company

It is now a widely accepted fact that companies should involve its employees in the policy-making sessions and should ask for their feedback for shaping and incorporating the set of rules and code of conduct. This additionally gives the employees a sense of responsibility and makes them feel valued by the company (Brussalis and Pallitto 2017).

Specified Implementation

It is the ethical duty and responsibility of the every modern company to specify the rules and regulars of the corporation to its employees. Brenda should implement the code of conduct of the company for the better implementation and subsequent results. An appendix providing the implementation schemes should be attached to the code so that it is convenient for the employees to get a quick glance of them as per necessity (Brussalis and Pallitto 2017).

Employees’ formal education of the code of conduct

It is the duty of the company to educate the employees regarding the rules, regulations and code of conduct o which the company stands erect. Such education and training would facilitate the adoption and implementation the essentials code of conduct which is a must for any corporate house. Here, Brenda should take the toll to converse with the employees personally and ensure that they understand their mistake and make sure not to recur it further.

Rules of enforcement

Without further delay, Brenda must call for a one-on-one meeting with the defaulters who have been making the mistakes. The defaulters must be made aware of the consequences of the breach of their standard code of conduct and must be warned for such continuing act. However, such employees must be given a second opportunity to continue with their job and their salary should not be docked. This would bring in some changes in the situation of the company (Liu, Mai and MacDonald 2018) 

Advice to Brenda

The APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants states that it is essential to follow the major and substantial principles of the company. In this case, Brenda should ensure whether the defaulter employees are observing the major rules and regulations of the company and may ignore the insignificant ones that do not affect the company in any way. The employees are supposed to carry out their duty with integrity, professionalism, objectivity and confidentiality. Along with these aspects, competence and care towards the work is extremely essential that needs to be followed by the employees, as stated in the Section 100 of APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants. Section 100 lays down the professional code of conduct and the ethical process to resolve conflicts like the one faced by Brenda presently. Section 100.18 of the Code specifically provides the resolution for the ethical dilemmas and it lays down the aspects relevant for the resolution. Section 100.21 directs the members to take professional help and advice from legal advisors pertaining to the concerned ethical dilemma and issue, without disclosing the confidentiality of the employees (Apesb.org.au 2018).

Brenda is advised to communicate with the employees who are making the error, let them know about their mistake and give them the chance to rectify themselves; failure to do so would attract penalty (Dellaportas et al 2014). While, Brenda must ask the management to extend the time for the proper implementation of the newly introduced accounting software as it is time consuming and complex (Acwa.org.au 2018).

Communication about the issue

Brenda must communicate with the defaulters to let them know their mistakes so that the rectify themselves. Additionally, she should communicate with the team dedicated to company governance, like the Board of Directors to allow the employees some extra time to make use of the software better (Apesb.org.au 2018).

List of ACS Code of Ethics and Professional conduct:

ACS Code of Ethics:

1. Competence
2. Honesty
3. Professional development (Acs.org.au 2018).

ACS Code of Professional Conduct:

1. Honesty:must hold trust in a professional capacity.
2. Professional development: employees are required to upgrade their skills and knowledge as per the job requirement.
3. Competence:must be aware of the code of conduct of their organization and the relevant laws that are to be followed.
4. Public interest: employees must let the stakeholders know of any probable conflict about his actions in the course of employment that the potential to jeopardize a public policy or interest.
5. Professionalism:one must refrain from a derogatory actions that would disrepute the organization or make the company suffer substantial loss (Acs.org.au 2018).

In the given case, Brenda should apply the code of ethics of competency, honesty and professional development to resolve the ethical dilemma in her organization. Competency would require her make the defaulter employee know their responsibility and code of conduct, honesty would require the employees to operate at their maximum capacity professionally and professional development would require the defaulters to upgrade their skill and knowledge. Public interest would require the defaulters to take the responsibility of the error or conflict that is arising out of the wrongdoing that might affect the business of the organization, eventually affecting the public, if related. With professionalism, the employees would be aware enough not to indulge into unprofessional or derogatory activities that harms the organization.

References:

Acs.org.au. (2018). ACS - The Professional Association for Australia's ICT sector. [online] Available at: https://www.acs.org.au/ [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].

Acwa.org.au. (2018). Code of ethics and Practice guidelines - Australian Community Workers Association | ACWA. [online] Available at: https://www.acwa.org.au/resources/ethics-and-standards [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].

APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants

Apesb.org.au. (2018). Accounting Professional and Ethical Standards Board. [online] Available at: https://www.apesb.org.au/page.php?id=12 [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].

Brussalis, C. W., & Pallitto, J. R. (2017). MANAGEMENT CONSULTING 94-808. Cell, 724, 3517.

Dellaportas, S., Kanapathippillai, S., Khan, A., & Leung, P. (2014). Ethics education in the Australian accounting curriculum: A longitudinal study examining barriers and enablers. Accounting Education, 23(4), 362-382.

Liu, Y., Mai, F., & MacDonald, C. (2018). A Big-Data Approach to Understanding the Thematic Landscape of the Field of Business Ethics, 1982–2016. Journal of Business Ethics, 1-24.