Critical evaluation of the effectiveness of Unilever`s approach to ethics
Highly visible business ethics issues influence the public’s attitudes toward business and may destroy trust. It is important for Unilever to undertake ethical decisions and follow ethical principles as failing that would result in large financial loses as well as destroy reputation of the company which in a great degree would also affect shareholder and stakeholders.
According to Unilever’s annual report (2016) company has well developed approach to business ethics which is reflected in Code of Business Principles which are constantly reviewed and improved due to challenges that company faces as it operates globally.
In the past Unilever has been accused by the UK
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Additionally, company decided to do not target children under six years old and do not use size zero models in advertising which reflected in one of the Unilever’s brand- Dove and its very well received by consumers ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ (Moriarty, Mitchell, and Wells, 2015).
According to Kant, freedom, honesty as well as rational decision making is highly valued. He points that individuals have a right to make decisions and company need to respect that. Moreover, he believes that organisation has a duty to deliver all information to its consumers about products even if it is adverse. It can be stated therefore that company cannot undertake decisions which are mainly based on the consequences that may occur, it need to make them due to the good will of the business. It is also not considered as an ethical if organisation provides all the information to consumers only because of not wanting to receive bad reputation. According to Kant, company need to provide information to all consumers as it is the right thing to do (Fisher, Lovell, and Valero-Silva, 2013).
Another ethical issue took a place in Unilever’s Thermometer Factory in India where company has been accused by Greenpeace in 2001 of health and environmental damage caused by dumped highly toxic mercury waste in the tourist resort area (SOMO, 2009). However, in current operations Unilever aims to avoid aforementioned events and achieved of 96% per tonne of production of total waste which were sent for
Every business develops a set of ethical principles that they abide by. The business ethical principles intentions: it construct the business certainty in the community , maintain the employees liveried in what the business attempt to have as structural conducts and aid the employees consume principles to make ethical choices that guards the business. In a culture with a diverse assessment structure and augmented judgment visibly by companies with changeable ethics and interests, there appears to be further difficulties on business individuals to make tougher ethical assessments. In our day-to-day performances, we depend on on our ethical principles to monitor us in the correct path and do the correct things. The substance of any efficacious and perpetual business is they segment a mutual ethical matter concentrating on presenting and generating value along with allocating their business values with the citizens they network with on a day-to-day basis.
Under this task I will explain the ethical issues that business needs to consider in its operating activities and how a business they could improve the ethical of their operations and also I will evaluate the influence of stakeholders exert in one company.
Based on the mission of an organization and its HR philosophy, HRM relates to strategically aligned practices towards employee management (Shani, Divyapriya and Logeshwari 2011). Influenced by the beliefs of a company’s leadership, as well as by its culture, values, and external environment, HR philosophies “are able to further define how employees are to be treated” (Schuler, R. S., Dowling, P. J., & De Cieri, H., 1993). A summarised illustration of Unilever’s SIHRM can be found in the appendix (appendix 1).
Unilever believes in the sustainable growth and use of renewable sources of energy. It is also very watchful of employee health and has managed to bring down its accidental rate by a high margin. Unilever’s vision includes a better way for living for its consumers and better use of the products that they use. It maintains a high standard of its products by following stringent standards which helps in maintaining consumer satisfaction. Over the years, after working for different social projects like Water conservation and Food for all, it has grown its image as a socially aware and responsible
The two articles provided for comparison, “How Consumers Perceive The Ethical Conduct of Businesses And Their Managers” by Derrek Choy, and “Reconciling Traditional Morality and the Morality of Competition”, by Adam D. Bailey, both analyze ethical and unethical behavior in business, and conclude that moral and ethical standards in business actions are not only
Businesses should make it imperative that its officers, directors and employees act at all times in an honest and ethical manner in connection with their service to that particular company. The principles of integrity and accountability are the cornerstone of that companies' success. This code of business conduct and ethics sets basic principles to guide all employees, officers, and directors of that particular company. All of the personnel and directors of that business should conduct themselves accordingly to avoid in fact and the appearance of improper behavior. Ethical business conduct calls for all companies and their personnel to assume responsibility for safeguarding and preserving that company's assets and resources in the
Industries around the world, some more than other, have revenue and assets higher than the GDP of a number of nations. This makes them more powerful than those nations. These companies are run by Individuals who essentially make decisions on how the profit is made and how operations and activities are carried out. Their actions and decisions could potentially have an impact on a number of things, generally; the environment, national economies and even the lives of people somewhere on the globe. Making ethical decisions entails the decision maker(s) moral judgement about what is right and wrong and is carried out based on what they think is the right course of action. This may involve whiling away what could potentially increase a business’s yield financially but will also cause harm or pain for other stakeholder’s involved. This is why among many other reasons, ethics is very important for both the businesses and the society.
(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.
Within a competitive world, companies should become ethical throughout many perspectives. Ethics refers to the standards of right and wrong in an attempt to influence behaviour. (Kinicki 2015, p.83) In stating this, companies can be ethical within numerous occasions such as ethics and financial performance, ethical performance, ethics and sustainability and ethical competition such as competitive advantage. Despite the positive side, there are also some negative implications towards ethics.
This article supports all the training and courses that I have taken reaffirming that ethics and making ethical decisions is extremely important. At any given time, a company’s productivity and profitability are greatly influenced by ethical decisions its managers and employees make on a daily basis. To most companies its reputation is its greatest asset and once stained, it is hard to bounce back. A prime example is Enron. Enron is still in business today but is haunted by the unethical decisions it made over 10 years ago.
According to the case study, early results from the self-assessments led to improvements in a variety of areas. For example; the case study touts on page 8 "improvements were identified in the areas of communication, process management and goal deployment". Since communication in any form is a strong component of a successful business, this one facet alone is well worth the self-assessment process if it succeeded in initiating those improvements.
Ethical business behaviour requires acting in ways that society and individuals think are good values. This tends to be good for a business, since it involves in demonstrating respect for key morale principles and includes honesty, fairness and equality. Ethics are values on what is right and wrong. Markets have become immensely more competitive and businesses need to act more ethical to ensure that their products are being sold, since brand image could increase because consumers can see that the business is more environmentally friendly. Especially nowadays, that people are starting to realise more about the current state of their environment, therefore customers are more likely to buy the product that has a more ethical background.
In 2003, there has been increased pressure on many companies and managers to acknowledge their responsibility to society, and act in a way which benefits society overall (Lindgreen and Hingley, 2003). The major societal issue threatening food retailers has been environmental issues, a key area for companies to act in a socially responsible way. Hence, by recognizing this trend within the broad ethical stance, Tesco 's
In recent times there has been an emphasis on following business ethics, as it is believed to have an impact on the way business is run and how its prospects turn out. In the past, business ethics were often ignored, as entrepreneurs had other priorities that took the front seat to ethics, such as, profit-making and stakeholder interests. However, business ethics are a tool to improve the business image in the future if followed in the present. An adherence to business ethics can lead to returns in non-monetary terms such as increased customer loyalty, improved public relations and brand image, as well as high employee morale. The improved brand/business image can lead to a boost in the sales growth and can foster good public relations.
This helps product development as internal chefs can freely do experiments and explore new food solutions