Essay Sample on NCAA Ethics and Compliance Program

Introduction

Ethics are used in the process of governing decisions and activities in any profession. In a company, the term widely used is the code of ethics which is set of rules that are used by a firm in all its operations, policies and in the process of decision making .The ethical philosophy employed by an organization is used in running the business and may affect its reputation, bottom line of the firm, and productivity in either a positive or negative way. Ethical issues have faced the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) in recent years. The NCAA primary objective is to set rules, principles and then enforces the guidelines for colleges and universities. Rules set should be communicated to all stakeholders to make them understand what is expected of them. As seen in the discussion of this paper, ethical issues have faced the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) in recent years.

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NCAA's Ethics Failure in Preventing Scandal at Penn State, Ohio State, and the University of Arkansas

Despite NCAA efforts in ensuring all set guidelines are followed the association program in recent years has failed to prevent scandal cases at Ohio State, Penn State, and the University of Arkansas leading to these institutions breaching the NCAA rules. The Penn State scandal occurred in 2011 when allegations charged a previous colleague manager of the Penn State football crew of sexually attacking a few young men over a range of years. The behavior has been taking place for quite some time, but nothing was done over the issue (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2015). The examination uncovered the critical report of unfortunate behavior which took place in 1998, and was reported to senior vice president Gary Schultz and university police; in any case, the issue was , and no criminal accusations were recorded dependent on the absence of proof. Another report was made in 2001 when an alumni student allegedly saw the culprit sexually attacking a young man in the Penn State football crew's training and afterward answered to Head Coach Joe Paterno (Ferrell et al., 2015). The former student saw the incident and reported the case. As indicated by Paterno, he informed university police; in any case, the authorities did not report to the relevant authorities. The NCAA rule prohibits any sexual assault to all its stakeholders. In this case, it failed to prevent it from taking place. The athlete was the victim of this brutal incidence, and no one was brought to justice.

The scandal at the University of Arkansas occurred back in 2012 when an investigation conducted proofed their football head coach, Bobby Petrino, procured the services of Jessica Dorrell, who was a former student. Dorrell was hired as the athlete coordinator and development. According to the rules set by NCAA Petrino was supposed to report to the institution about his relationship with Dorrell who was to become a state employee. The reason why Petrino was supposed to report was due to the breach of the NCAA ethics due to conflict of interest resulting from the relationship between the two (Ferrell et al., 2015). Also, it was uncovered that Petrino used to give Dorrell gifts worth $20,000. The scandal unveils a personal relationship which failed to be reported. Also, the funds spent on the gifts signified that there was a connection between the two.

The scandal at Ohio State was a consequence of the breach of the rules from the student who were athletes and the team head coach covered the incidence. The manager wanted to protect his athletes by covering up the rule violation. Once the breach was unveiled, five players were suspended for utilizing football crew provided to trade for money and tattoos (Ferrell et al., 2015). The rules of the NCAA prohibits any Division one athlete from taking any profit by anybody that is not displayed to the general population (Ferrell et al., 2015). Such a person should be known to the public before engaging with the athletes. Jim Tressel who was the team head coach ended up identifying the breach of the rule and decided against reporting the matter to the relevant authority (Kelchner, 2015). The head coach was doing it as a way of protecting his players from the NCAA but as a result become he also become an offender. The players together with the head coach violated the NCAA rule.

The Principal way the Leadership of NCAA Contributed to the Ethical Violations

The NCAA leadership is the weakest link and has in great ways contributed to all the cases of ethical violations identified in the three universities. In relation to the scandals at Ohio State and the University of Arkansas, it appears as though the board failed communicating the rules and ethical standards to the stakeholders at each university (Gilman, Harned, Navran, and Brown, 2015). Communication is one of the principal roles of the ethics association and they seem to have failed. Some of the new laws were not known by the stakeholders. One of the new rules not communicated is the selling of the gear. The law was relatively new, and most of the stakeholders were not familiar with it. The rule was implemented in 2003, restricting all athletes from selling any of their gear. It was implemented after nine footballers who were from the University of Georgia were caught selling their jerseys and rings on eBay. At the University of Arkansas, Bobby Petrino was unaware that he was required to report a conflict of interest after hiring a former student of which he had a personal relationship. Although Petrino did not end up violating NCAA rules, as the governing body, the NCAA should have informed their coaches about all of their reporting requirements (Kelchner, 2015). The leadership failed in their key role, and this should have prevented such scenarios taking place.

At Penn State, the NCAA leadership should have conveyed the mandate to report all violations; especially ones criminal in nature. For instance, the Penn State sexual assault scandal. The NCAA has failed to communicate the rules, policies, and procedures to its stakeholders. In an area with various stakeholders such as players, coaches, students, professors, and fans of the universities, communication and oversight are paramount (Ferrell et al., 2015). Also, the NCAA leadership should be vigilant on monitoring to prevent the occurrence and note breach of rules immediately.

A Difference in the Scenario that Occurred at Penn State and the University of Arkansas

To establish efficient ethics program at both the University of Arkansas and Penn State the scandal outcome of each would have been a bit different. In the case of Penn State, the University should have enacted a mandatory reporting policy for misconduct on a criminal level (Ferrell et al., 2015). This policy would have triggered an investigation into the first accusation of sexual assault in 1998 and subsequently prevented more victims as well as more criminal and ethical violations.

By now, everyone should know the NCAA rules that prohibit the use of team equipment to barter and accepting money from boosters. These two rules appear to be the most common violations committed by players and coaches. In the case of Ohio State, the University should make all coaches and players sign a code of ethics that outlines each violation in detail (Kelchner, 2015). This policy would prevent players and coaches from saying that they did not know or understand the system.

In the case at the University of Arkansas, the NCAA determined that University and Bobby Petrino did not violate any rules. Nevertheless, the Athletic Director decided to fire Petrino for failing to report his conflict of interest as required by state law. The University of Arkansas should have a clear and detailed policy on the rules and regulations that govern the hiring of state employees. They could have also had an independent review board to hire employees (Ferrell et al., 2015). This policy could help prevent a conflict of interest.

Two Actions for NCAA Leadership to Regain Trust and Confidence of Students and Stakeholders

The NCAA needs to change on the various issues to restore its trust and confidence to all its stakeholders and the Students. One of how the NCAA can regain its previous status is by communicating its position on the issues of ethics to all concerned parties. To ensure the students and stakeholders understand their position he can be accomplished by broadcasting a commercial about ethical conduct during every televised NCAA sporting event. The NCAA should portray a message of zero tolerance and set clear standards that outline the punishments for anyone who violates the code of ethics. Also, the NCAA should have more oversight and require each employee of a school's athletic program signs a code of ethics statement. They can also build a coalition of coaches and players to lead by example and take a stand against ethical violations (Kelchner, 2015). I believe the NCAA will regain the confidence and trust of stakeholders and students by implementing the steps mentioned above.

Measures for HR Department of Colleges and Universities to Prevent Similar Incidents in Future

The HR departments of all universities and the colleges should take particular measures to keep similar episodes from happening later on. The principal action the HR department should execute is inspecting the moral atmosphere and set up protections. A formal evaluation of the way of life ought to depict the viewpoint of demeanors, observations, values, benchmarks of lead, weights to submit wrongdoing, dangers, vulnerabilities, and communication (Ferrell et al., 2015). It is critical to give careful consideration to the corporate qualities and how well the Board has received them, senior initiative, representatives, and key partners at all dimensions.

Another measure the HR department should actualize is manufacturing a solid morals foundation that is self-supporting. In doing so, they ought to compose a set of principles that is bolstered at best and conveyed to their mentors and players. The college also ought to have an advisory group of autonomous non-official executives on its Board of Directors who are obligation regarding guaranteeing that frameworks are set up in the enterprise to ensure representative consistency with the Code of Ethics (Gilman et al., 2015). Also, the school or college can build up autonomous "hotlines" or "help lines" where people can ask for direction when looked with a moral quandary or when they experience exploitative lead (Gilman et al., 2015). To guarantee self-sustainment, HR should hold a yearly code of morals preparing and setting up a standard audit framework to safeguard the Code.

References

Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2015). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases (Tenth ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Gilman, S., Harned, P., Navran, F., & Brown, J. (2015).Ten things your company can do to avoid being the next enron. Retrieved from http://www.ethics.org/resource/ten-things-you-can-do-avoid-being-next-enron

Kelchner, L. (2015). The importance of ethics in organizations. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-ethics-organizations-20925.html