Lynn University Corporate Governance Discussion

1. Summarize how corporate governance fosters ethical decisions.

2. Identify a time where you felt a company did not behave ethically and briefly explain the situation. You may describe this company within a certain industry if you rather not name the actual company specifically. If you cannot think of an unethical situation, then please provide one where a company behaved ethically and describe that situation.

Respond to the following classmates discussion

Student 1:

1. Summarize how corporate governance fosters ethical decisions.

Corporate governance deploys accountability checks, allocation of duties, and auditing to ensure that ethical decisions are upheld (Hitt et al., 2020). For example, corporate governance facilitates ethical decisions by implementing rules and regulations to determine how its operations and functions are carried out. Conceptually, these accountability impositions foster subordinates’ and management’s overall ethical conduct and efficiency by holding them accountable for their behaviors (Hitt et al., 2020). Also, Hitt et al. (2020) contend that governance allocating duties and responsibilities ensures that employees, through a skill-based scheme focus on value creation, carry out their tasks efficiently and behave in line with the moral expectations of the organization.
Additionally, corporate governance fosters ethical decisions by vetting an executive board of individuals committed to core ethical values. Integrity lays the foundation for good and acceptable business ethics (Hitt et al., 2020). Also, an organization’s governance facilitates ethical decisions by incorporating training programs on ethical values and decision-making for its staff. Further, (Hitt et al., 2020) denoted that monitoring and systematically auditing employees’ conduct through performance appraisals fostered subordinates’ efficiency and ethical conduct, facilitating ethical decisions.

2. Identify a time where you felt a company did not behave ethically and briefly explain the situation. You may describe this company within a certain industry if you rather not name the actual company specifically. If you cannot think of an unethical situation, then please provide one where a company behaved ethically and describe that situation.

For instance, I recall when I felt a certain company, a multinational company in the food and beverage industry, behaved unethically. The firm’s local bottler, based in the Philippines, violated human rights when it unlawfully laid off many workers following the event of the imposition of taxes on sugar. Conceptually, the unlawful termination of employees sat as a breach of human rights hence unethical. Also, in another incident, the same company unethically exhausted water aquifers across India in pursuit of water for its plant operations. Consequently, the event aggravated water shortages in India. Proper company governance would have averted these unethical issues.

Student 2:

summarize how corporate governance fosters ethical decisions

• Companies and organizations are facing scenarios and feeling the pressure to operate ethically. Corporate governance is the system that companies and organizations and controlled and directed. There are numerous ways in which corporate governance can foster ethical decisions. Some examples are…
  • Ensuring the board directors are composed of individuals with integrity and are committed to the ethical values.
  • Making policies clear and establishing procedures for ethical decision making.
  • Providing training to employees in ethical values and decision making.
  • Organizations should hold individuals accountable for their actions.
• Accountability, fiduciary duties, and auditing mechanisms are three key elements in corporate governance. Promoting ethical decisions on managers will provide effective structure that caters to all stakeholders and will encourage development and a focus on value creation.

Identify a time where you felt a company did not behave ethically and briefly explain the situation. You may describe this company within a certain industry if you rather not name the actual company specifically. If you cannot think of an unethical situation, then please provide one where a company behaved ethically and describe that situation.

• In today’s world we are finding numerous companies and organizations who does not behave ethically. So instead, I am going to focus on a company who does behave ethically. The company that comes to mind is Toms. Toms is known for their footwear and their “buy a pair, give a pair”. They are committed to the environment and social philanthropy. They are known for their brand value. Toms has partnered up with Water for People, to help provide safe water to developing countries around the world. To date they have provided communities with over 722,000 weeks’ worth of safe drinking water. They have also donated nearly 100 million pairs of shoes to people in need.