Ethics: The Key to a Successful Business - Lockheed Corporation Example - Essay Sample

Introduction

Ethics is a very crucial aspect of any successful business enterprise. It plays a major role in influencing the perception that stakeholders and the general public may have on an organization. Ethical conduct is born through well designed ethical programs, and it brings significant good to any organization. Some of the benefits include reduced employee turnover, attracting new employees and investors as well as boosting sales of the company. Lockheed Corporation, for example, has a well-designed code of ethics, and this has helped the company maintain a positive public image over the years, earning it a position as the preferred contractor for the federal government.

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Importance of the Code to the Ethics Program of the Company

The prescribed code of conduct at Lockheed Martin Corporation is contained in a single document named 'Setting the Standard: The Lockheed Martin Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.' The code of ethics program is very important to the company since it acts as the skeleton upon which the vision ethics of the company is created (Terris, 2013). It puts down the ethical conduct that each employee of the company is supposed to observe and follow to the latter.

The code of ethics also serves as legal protection for the company, whereby it is absolved from any blame arising from the unethical behavior of an employee (Terris, 2013). It also acts as evidence that Lockheed Corporation has taken all necessary steps to educate the employees on the expected code of conduct; hence each one of them is liable for their behavior.

Importance of Ethics Training and Employee Involvement

Ethics training programs are essential to all organizations as they play very important roles. First and foremost, they promote the knowledge of the ethical code of conduct of a company, hence building a positive image of the company to the stakeholders and the general public. The training also assists in boosting employee morale, and the result of this is seen in increased efficiency and productivity among employees. It also creates harmony among employees as they understand their roles and those of others.

Lockheed Martin Corporation achieves its training through undertaking annual awareness programs. The programs are meant to ensure that all the employees of the company are fully knowledgeable about their expected ethical code of conduct (Terris, 2013). The success of the training programs is attributed to employee involvement. The training changes their format after every one or two years. Some of the formats which have been there consisted of trust-building, ethics challenge, ethics daily, and the effect of ethics, among others (Terris, 2013)s. The training engages employees of the company in the process, and they each tackle different ethical angles.

Training is made more interesting when the executive of the company is highly involved. This brings out the seriousness of the program on top of bringing out some fun aspects (Terris, 2013). Employees are put in groups, and volunteers from each group role-play some ethical problems to try and bring out possible solutions to the problems. The fun makes the program interesting to participate in, as well as allowing the employees to put themselves in situations where they are required to think ethically.

Measuring Success of Ethics at the Workplace

Lockheed Corporation measures its success to see its progress as well as help in designing future ethics training. To measure success, the company uses a tool known as a biennial survey with the entire employee body as the subject (Terris, 2013). The company employs the services of the Ethics Resource Centre to help the director of Ethics operations in the exercise. The survey contains multiple-choice questions with room for individual comments and opinions (Terris, 2013). Recent years have recorded positive feedback on the same with most employees expressing knowledge on what the expected code of ethics is and where they can get information on the same.

The survey has also recorded negative results over the years. Employees have failed to report cases of unethical behavior for fear of intimidation by senior employees of the organization (Terris, 2013). Employees have also expressed concern over the poor response by senior management on reported cases of ethical misconduct. The latter is an indication that there is a lot the management needs to do to support the ethical code of conduct of the organization.

Activities at Operational Level

Lockheed Martin Corporation greatly depends on the ethics officers to implement the ethics programs done at the operational level. The officers have a variety of roles, all of which are embodied in the code of ethics guidelines of the company. One of the roles is the guidance and counseling of employees in regards to ethics. Secondly, they are mandated to carry out investigations on reported cases of ethical misconduct. They also teach and market to the employees the ethical principles and standards of the company.

The company has also established local hotlines through which stakeholders can report cases of unethical conduct, which they may have observed in the workplace. The hotlines are answered by one of the ethical officers (Terris, 2013). Anonymity is ensured, but the officers encourage the employees to divulge their identity with a promise to protect them unless they are compelled by the law to do so. This paints the ethical officers as the people mandated to protect and uphold the ethical strategy of the company.

Reference

Terris, D. (2013). Ethics at work: Creating virtue at an American corporation. Brandeis University Press.