About this Assignment
Managers and workers make daily decisions that may have a direct or indirect ethical impact. Whenever employees make decisions, they must be aware of both the legal and ethical implications of their decisions. Consideration must be made as to how these decisions affect others.
Many daily decisions may not appear to be an ‘issue’: hiring an employee based on a gut feeling or giving preference to customers based on whether you agree with their opinions. However, these small decisions can have much larger impacts down the road. In order to reduce the exposure from managerial decisions, companies have established policies and procedures to guide managers on their decision points.
For this assignment, you are playing the role of the Human Resources Director for E-Z Printing Office Supply Company. You are to create seven ethics policies for the small company. Here are some guidelines to help you get started:
- Your company has 30 employees; seven of these are managers.
- Write 7 ethics policies for both employees and managers to follow.
- Each policy will focus on one decision-making event, such as hiring practices, promotion rules, discipline, time-off/vacation approval, relationships with vendors, acceptance of gifts, financial reporting, reporting expenses, or customer returns and refunds. These are just examples; you may select any appropriate topics you wish for your policies.
- Each policy will clearly identify the process that it discusses and provide direction on how employees and managers are to address the situation. The policy should provide specific expectations, give advice on resources available to the manager/employee, and state if an ethical situation should be escalated to another management level. You must ensure that you specify any consequences for breaking the policy, such as the level of discipline (even up to termination)
- Keep in mind the scope of these policies. This is a smaller organization, and so there may be managers or even the company’s president or owner who oversee multiple departments and employees. One of those employees is you! Therefore, you can specifically state who will handle certain problems. For example, in the case of an allegation of workplace harassment, you may want to state that the reporting party goes directly to the manager in charge of Human Resources.
- Keep your policies practical. Again, this is a local, smaller company specializing in printing. There will not be as many detailed policies as you would see in a larger organization. These policies are a guide for all employees and managers as they make day-to-day decisions, so select appropriate topics. As an example, because it is a small company, a fair time-off policy would take into account the fact that not all employees can be gone at the same time. However, this policy must also comply with legal requirements such as FMLA, employment contracts, and laws on wages or hour limits.
- While doing research, try to find a policy format that you like so you can use it to create the 7 policies; this will help you focus your writing and make it cohesive so the reader can understand and apply it. You can find examples online, as well as templates that are available on government websites like the U.S. Small Business Administration. Be sure to cite sources in the body of the paper, as well as including in the references section.
Related Lessons
- Why Ethical Problems Occur in Business
- Code of Business Conduct: Ethics, Standards & Examples
- Ethical Considerations of Leaders & Managers
- An Employee’s Ethical Obligation to an Organization
- Identifying, Evaluating, & Resolving Ethical Issues in Business Management
Formatting & Sources
Please write your paper in APA format. As part of your research, you may refer to the course material for supporting evidence, but you must also use at least three credible, outside sources and cite them using APA format as well. Please include a mix of both primary and secondary sources, with at least one source from a scholarly peer-reviewed journal. If you use any Study.com lessons as sources, please also cite them in APA (including the lesson title and instructor’s name).
- Primary sources are first-hand accounts such as interviews, advertisements, speeches, company documents, statements, and press releases published by the company in question.
- Secondary sources come from peer-reviewed scholarly journals, such as the Journal of Management. You may use JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Social Science Research Network to find articles from these journals. Secondary sources may also come from reputable websites with .gov, .edu, or .org in the domain. (Wikipedia is not a reputable source, though the sources listed in Wikipedia articles may be acceptable.)
If you’re unsure about how to use APA format for your paper and sources, please see the following lessons:
Grading Rubric
Your assignment will be graded on the following rubric:
| Category | Unacceptable (0-2) | Needs Improvement (3-6) | Good (7-8) | Excellent (9-10) | Total Possible Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Content (x2) | Student fails to present seven ethics policies | Seven ethics policies are presented, but they fail to cover a specific decision making process, lack advice on how to make the decision, and/or do not discuss consequences for violating the policy | Seven ethics policies are presented, and are easy for the reader to understand and apply | Seven ethics policies are presented and each fully addresses the expectations, guidance, escalation, and consequences for the situation | 20 |
| Structure (x1) | Structure is illogical, significantly hindering understanding of each specific ethics policy | Policies are presented, but each policy is difficult to identify; ideas are disjointed or overly broad for the topic | Each policy is provided & is relevant to the assignment and connects ideas | Each policy is well integrated and organized, with a logical flow; main points are identifiable and in compliance with standard management practices | 10 |
| Mechanics (x1) | Incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and use of standard English grammar hinders understanding | Several instances of incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage of standard English grammar | Few instances of incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage of standard English grammar | No or very few instances of incorrect spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and usage of standard English grammar | 10 |
Before You Submit
When you complete your assignment, we suggest taking some time to check for any errors or to add any finishing touches. We also suggest that you use online plagiarism checkers such as PlagScan or DupliChecker to make sure that your assignment is not too similar to any existing materials. Plagiarized submissions will NOT be graded.
