American Red Cross Ethics

For decades, America has fought in many different wars with the need of health assistance for their soldiers. The American Red Cross is a worldwide organization that helped during the times of war but also provided a path for scientific advancements. Through the American Red Cross and other organizations of this time, they opened up the doors for women to take the chance to advance in the medical field by participating in scientific experiments and being at the aide of wounded soldiers. During this time of scrutiny, the Great War was a hidden opportunity for the encroachment of medical research with the contribution to the expansion of nursing.

i) Whistleblower Protection: SOX prohibits non-profit organizations (as well as profit-organization) from retaliating against the whistleblowers. In other words, no entity cannot harass, fire, demote or assault any employee who reports of improper functioning in the organization even if eventually such reports turn unfounded. However, the employee should have a reasonable belief and proper grounds to justify his belief about the wrongdoing in the company. (Perlman and Perlman LLP, 2006)

The American Red Cross’s organizational structure and compensation has a tremendous effect regarding the ethical behavior among the chief executives when addressing the frequency in turnovers of top executives that helped to weaken the organizations ability to carry out its federal mandate. The American Red Cross’ reputation also began to take a downward fall as the rewarding of large bonuses and severance packages were given to top executives when they left the organization. There were leadership issues among the local chapters that lead to management misconduct and it dampened the fundraising efforts. When a well-known nonprofit agency such as the American Red Cross cares more about paying out executives than saving lives it creates a low

The American Red Cross developed an ethics handbook to guide employees and volunteers to remain in line with the espoused values of the company. However, the organization is broken down into many local chapters with leadership that may not all remain on course with companies’ values. For example: there have been many allegations of fraud, misappropriate of funds, and unfair labor practices within local chapters. According, to an article written by Knake (2011)

The American Red Cross has been known to be one of the most humanitarian organizations in the United States and throughout the world aiding and helping in different series of generous contributions in many disaster areas as well as bringing health care advancement to communities in the Unites States and in the world that need help in development (Dulles, 2014). For an organization it is important to make sure that their values and organizational ethics are reflected in what they do and how they do within the organization as well as the community. In order to speak about ethics it is important

For example when online donations came in for these disasters they were not equipped to handle them. They had to have tech employee’s work round the clock to make sure the websites could handle the amount of traffic it received. Another ethical problem is, trusting its leaders and workers implicitly. Times have changed and we cannot have that. People in today’s world do not have the same morale fiber that they used to have when we were little. Organizations like the Red Cross now need to come up with better ethical standards. They have done so by not having too many people at the top. Instead of 50 they now have 20. They also need to have controls in place that will ensure that employee misconduct will no longer be a problem. In addition people need to be trained in ethics and be made to sign ethical documents that spell out the companies ethical procedures, which the Red Cross has done. The Red Cross needs to be more transparent about where its money donations are going. Transparency is huge and there would be no question if the ARC adopted this practice(Thorne,

The American Red Cross handles emergency situations and catastrophes with the help of staff, volunteers, and donors nationwide (Ferrell, L., Ferrell, O., & Thorne, 2011). Conversely, the ARC has faced numerous ethical issues regarding the organizations culture (Ferrell, 2011). The ARC has dealt with the lack of leadership from top level executives who ultimately shaped a platform for misconduct, miscommunication, and mismanagement throughout the organization (Ferrell et al.). In addition, the ARC was not meeting the regulations of the federal government; yet, the government did not impose (Ferrell et al.). However, the government took action following the tragic event of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina due to the fact of the ARC’s lack of response

The American Red Cross is a not for profit organization which primarily focuses on the public service, social welfare, disaster relief etc. While considering the chief executive position of this non-profit organization the organizational structure and the compensation plays a vital role in their ethical behavior.

The American Red Cross had a lack of leadership which ultimately incurred long-term effects on the organizations culture (Ferrell, L., Ferrell, O., & Thorne, 2011). Systemic issues revealed negligence including, fraud, bribery, and theft amongst volunteers and staff (Ferrell et al.). According to James (2012), systemic problems presented in the organizations highest level of hierarchy essentially poses problems throughout the hierarchy to the lowest level. The problems became transparent at the time of the 9/11 tragedy with the ARC not responding quickly (Ferrell, 2011). The ARC was questioned regarding management and communication mishaps (Ferrell, 2011). Moreover, upper management was essentially condoned due to the response issue in such

OGC – Can your provide any information on ethics rules the Administrator should be aware of when meeting with this group?

The American Red Cross failed when they did not carry out or provide formalized responsibility in their operation model. The employees and volunteers were not held accountable for their actions of misconduct and unethical behaviors. In research, there was no indication that ethics was neither a priority nor a requirement within the organization. In fact, there was no formal training provided by management. When top executives assume that their staff and volunteers would naturally behave ethically they fail both the public and employees. In failing to provide this training and upholding policy and procedures the organization saw donation mismanagement, inappropriate management of funds, stealing, and slow response to disaster situations.

I feel the main reason for the ARC’s ethical dilemmas is its failure to adapt to changes evident in America’s moral fiber. Before, it was more acceptable for the ARC to trust its leaders and workers implicitly because of the difference in the times. Unfortunately now many Americans do not have the same moral standards or work ethic they did a few decades ago. Although there was corruption then too, it was nowhere near the levels that we see in America now. More than ever before, organizations – especially charitable organizations like ARC – need to spell out their ethical stance. Everyone who works for the ARC as an employee or volunteer needs to be trained on how to act ethically. Furthermore, the ARC needs to establish inventory controls,

Ethical issues in the culture of ARC created problems exemplified by the wrong doing of top executives. The employees and volunteers imitated the conduct of the leaders. They saw there were no consequences for illegal and dishonest behavior so there was a repeat of unethical behavior. “Chen, Sawyers & Williams point out that individuals are influenced by ethical culture of an organization it is the guidance or principles to determine if one’s action is right or wrong…depending on their goals, policies, structures and strategies “(pg. 856). There was a high turnover rate in the executive level due to constant change in the president and CEO position. ARC kept firing and hiring in the top management position. People who contributed donations to the 9/11 attack in 2001 are annoyed about how some of the money was redirected for future relief efforts instead of being used for the disaster that prompt their

Is it the Board of Directors? There needs to be a checks and balance at all levels. The CEO should welcome others within the company to question his/her actions. The Board of Directors hire CEO’s to generate revenue for the company and their shareholders. There have been CEO’s who were hired and knew nothing about the companies operation, however they have the skills to unite employees and turn the company around into a profit making organization. Lockheed Martin’s leadership is reactive instead of proactive when dealing with ethical issues. Key positions normally identifies leadership positions within an organization however, everyone should conduct himself or herself as a leader. Just as the CEO has a responsibility, so does the Chief Ethics Officer. The Chief Ethics Officer has a responsibility to develop and enforce ethics at all levels within the organization. This does not seem to be the case with Lockheed Martin. Daniel Terris (2005) raises many questions that should make the ethic officers question themselves. Senior Leadership’s lack of over site contributes to Lockheed’s unethical actions. Senior Leaders in any organization can be intimidating to employees. Many employees are afraid to ask questions for fear of reprisal. Due to the limited over site at the top levels, Terris (2005) identifies pure greed and greater

As mentioned before the Red Cross is known as nonprofit company who demanded the highest quality of ethical performance from their employees down to the volunteers who help and assist them. The Red Cross operates under an ethical code of business which helps them maintain a high standard of conduct that is expected by the American people who allows them to continue their services. Red Cross has an Ombudsman as an impartial way of resolving disputes who provides informal assistance to individuals who may have complaints on the company. The constituents or internal stakeholders consist of volunteer’s employees of the company, donors and suppliers. Information is voluntary and confidential, the informal processes are to be fair and offer different alternates to resolve issues. Formal resolution of