Importance of ethics in an organization
Ethics is one of the most important aspects, that must be maintained by all the people of the organization in order to make site that they are not violation the rules and the regulations of the organization. It is the sole duty and the responsibility of the organization to make sure that they are not making any kinds of false promises to the people of the organization. Ethics are like the rules and the regulations of the organization that forms the building blocks of the Organization. The members working in the organization have to make sure that they are not making any false promises to the employees who are working in the organization. One of the big companies of Australia is Google.
Though it makes sure that they will, be taking proper care of each and every employee working within their organization, there have often been some or the other kinds of complaints against them.
One of the most highlighted feature that has been coming to the headlines in the past few months is the issue of the sexual misconduct This needs proper investigation because it is the duty and the response for working. This is really one of the very unforeseen cases of the female employs are complaining about sexual harassment or the ethical misconduct that is taking place in the organization. However in this context, one needs to look after the ethics or the code of conduct that is actually followed by the organization. One of the major code of conduct that is followed by Google is the
Respect Each Other
The subcategories that fall under this head are as follows
- Equal Opportunity Employment
- Positive Environment
- Drugs and Alcohol
- Safe Workplace
- Dog Policy
By taking a look at this category, one may think that Google is one of the safest and best places for the female employees to work. The employees’ may get this view that working in Google will give them one of the very good and pleasant experiences. On the other hand, this has been seen that all the employees of Google Australia are coming put in marches or in protest in order to fight against the ethical misconduct or the harsh treatments that are going on against them. Several men and women who are the employees of this organization have come into the protest in order to battle against the prevalent gender biasness or the inequality on the pay scale that is often going on around in the organization.
Google Australia’s code of conduct and policies
On one hand the ethics of Google says that there is a freedom for all the employees to deliver their speech and their expression. In other words, the company promises to allow all their workers irrespective of their age, socio economic background, gender and other such aspects. However on the other hand, it has to be kept in mind that the company has failed to maintain or stay true to this particular code of conduct. It has been aid by one of the female employees that bullying or getting disrespected is becoming a horrible part of the company culture or part of the corporate culture. It has been said by one o the speaker “This is a terrible part of our culture that’s here in Sydney, and part of the wider Sydney tech community.”
This statement itself is evident of the fact that the employees working in Google Australia have suffered through many of the incidences that have made them question then ethics of the organization. However this news has not stayed hidden from the eyes of the media. The famous media sites like the news paper, business inside have made it possible to cover the news and make sure that these issues are coming to the lime light and the people are being able to understand the true incidents that are going on inside the renowned and the well known organizations.
Apart from this, one of the codes of conduct that is used by Google is the safe workplace. It must be noted in this context that the employees who have joined the march them protest have felt the workplace that they are working in so not a very safe environment. Thus it can be said that this particular ethical code of conduct has not been maintained by the organization. The other important code of conduct that the company uses is the Obey the Law. Under this particular head, we have other subcategory that is Anti bribery laws. However there is a chance that the company might try to hide the actual problems that the employees are going through. A similar case has also been seen in other well known companies like that of MacDonald’s. Several workers Claimed to have faced huge discrepancies and workplace harassments as well. It is for this reason that the employees’ have often started huge protests in order to fight against these evil or wrong doings within the company culture.
Issue of workplace misconduct, particularly sexual harassment
This is also evident from the fact that during the ongoing protests, some of the employees were of this opinion that they were asked to not share the stories of their bad experiences or the kinds of bullies and the sexual harassments that they have been suffering throughout their lives in the office organization. This shows that the organization is really irresponsible and does not want their reputation to goat take. However as far as the news that has been covered by the media, the company has tried its level best to provide proper support to the employees who have passed through this horrible scenario.
On one hand the company makes sure to provide a complete freedom and security to the people who are actually taking part in the protest. As a part of their protest, many of the employees were seen stepping out of the organization in order to show that they are totally against these repeated misconducts that are taking place in the organization. It is for this reason that the employees of the organization started to show their protest and their anger against this repeated workplace harassment by signing to carry on a mass walk out. It is also said by some of the Google Australia employees that they were actually being encouraged to not share about their stories perhaps to keep ye entire matter hidden from the eyes of the people in general.
However it was also said by the company that there will be psychologists after the protest march. This will be helping the employees to get a moral support after carrying on their protest. The company has finally realized that the employees are facing many problems that are becoming very harmful. It is for this reason that the organization has to take very strict actions in order to deal with these issues.
One of the major codes of conduct that is included within the code of conduct of the organization is also responsiveness. This is one of the very important codes of conduct that the company must never be violating under any circumstances.
However at some point of time, it was seen that the organization is trying to protect and safeguard their own interests by asking their employees to not speak about the experiences that they were going through. This shows that the company is actually trying to get over of their responsive and their responsibility towards this particular problem. However this must not have been the case. The company must have made sure to take proper actions for the problem of sexual harassment that the employees of the company are going through. However after analyzing through this problem properly, the company has really come to certain conclusion. They have decided that it is their duty to render some good support to their employees. This will help the employees to regain the trust and the good will that they had in the company. In order to do this the company thought of bringing about some changes in their code of conduct and their list if rules and policies. In order to do this, they have made sure that they are finding out one new policy called the arbitration. In order to provide ample support to their employees, they have made sure that they are being able to provide proper support to their employees. This will also help them to abide by the code of their conduct called Support for each other. This new policy that will allow the arbitration to be option la on the case of sexual harassment will be helping the company to provide m ore transparency to their employees this matter of sexual harassment. The CEO of the company Sundar Pichai is also of the opinion that this new will be helping them to move forward and provide proper support and transparency I each other, Sundar Pichai also agreed to this fact that this policy will be helping the company to provided more support to their employees in the long run.
Employee protests against wrongful practices
Thus, it can be concluded that the company must be taking up the help of the other NGOs like BSR. This is one of the well known organizations that help the company to develop a proper and fair work culture within their organization. Their main objective is to make sure that they are being able to develop the world into a happy fair and good place.
References
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