A Successful Social Enterprise ETH/316 A Successful Social Enterprise Ethical issues can strengthen both people and the community. Businesses in the community will generate a much more loyal following if they behave in an ethical manner with regard to the community. In this paper I will describe the ethical issues and how those issues may be used in organizational and personal issues, and the association between legal and ethical issues shown in the film, Greyston Bakery. The bakery has operated since 1982 and employs convicted felons and homeless people. The company places the profits into a nonprofit foundation that benefits the entire community (CBS News, 2009). Film Summary The film is about Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, New …show more content…
Secondary Issues The secondary issues are the community programs and employee benefits. The Greyston Foundation, where the profits are deposited, sponsors many social programs (Liberty Mutual, 2011). Childcare, computer classes, medical clinics, and housing are a few examples of the good work the foundation is doing. The foundation supports community programs such as housing, health care, and childcare (Liberty Mutual, 2010). In return the relationship with the community will always be supportive. Greyston Bakery is making the world a better place by acting as a role model for businesses to help communities be successful. External Social Pressures Pressures Relevant to Organizational Issues The original vision of the founder set the tone for the bakery’s organizational issues. The open hiring process is a pressure that the organization must deal with. The workers are hired as apprentices and placed on the brownie line. One-half of the workers quit in a relatively short span of time (CBS News, 2009). The high turnover rate could be reduced by instituting a background and reference check on each potential employee. This would reduce turnover rates, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. The company chooses not to do this and still makes a profit, but not as large a monetary profit as it could. The company sees profit in giving an individual the chance to succeed at employment, thereby succeeding in life.
Lau, T., & Johnson, L. (2013). The legal and ethical environment of business. (1st ed., p. 11.2-11.5).
Company Q is a small local grocery store chain that has a poor attitude toward social responsibility. After reviewing the given, I feel the chain is more committed to profit than social responsibility. Most companies are in a business to make a profit, however, the difference in what is considered reasonable and what is considered ridiculous comes into play. Most people start companies because it something they are interested in and to make a living. In today’s society the line between outright social responsibility
The author Robert Solomon argues that ethics has to an integral part with regard to business management. He does not believe that business management must include unethical or illegal methods to be able to succeed. Solomon preaches that business management is not as simple as obtaining revenue. “Businesses need to abide by fair policies and their owners have to be ethical in dealing with their customers” (Shaw p. 37). The author acknowledges that while illegal practices in business management could bring positive results at first, eventually the business is bound to fail. This is why Solomon recommended eight important policies that can help businesses in integrating ethics into their operations.
Greyston Bakery is definitely a unique company. This company offers so much more than just brownies to its community. As I stated previously, the company gives somewhat “undesirable” employees a chance to transform from “hard-to-employ” into easy to employ. It also offers shelters to the local homeless, facilitates programs geared towards individuals’ personal growth, and offers health care programs for individuals suffering from HIV/AIDS. In addition, Greyston’s ten guiding principles focus mainly on being a model and a light in its community for other corporations to mimic. Even though it is a for-profit corporation, the company is definitely not merely profit-oriented. While all of these attributes make up a great community-oriented company, I believe more companies do not follow suit because of the expense. Offering so many programs and benefits such as housing to the homeless and child development programs can cost a company millions. In the text, it states that Greyston’s foundation
This Harvard Business case is about two individuals, Ludmilla and Igor, who are the creators of Iggy’s Bread of the World and their determination to their unique mission statement of not only making the highest quality breads with the highest standards of service and integrity but cultivating a caring environment with plenty of communication in order to have a successful growing company. This is evident in their mission statement which states: “We are committed to providing a nurturing and respectful environment at our workplace that fosters cooperation, communication and sense of accomplishment for all employees. We provide tools for growth through education, health benefits and access to alternative medical treatments. We
The ethics case contemplation, Dilemma at Devil’s Den, is an unblemished precedent of the challenges that can appear at an establishment that question’s the moral ethics of business. The Devil’s Den is a snack bar on a college campus, which employed approximately 36 students with 6 of them in management positions. Evening and weekend positions were difficult to fill, and wages were low, making employees valuable. Therefore, the managers were more flexible in their actions and correction measures were not enforced. In order for this den to carry on in an ethical manner it transpired to be a challenge and culture shock for all staff involved.
The problem to be investigated is the application of business ethics. In the business world, ethics are extremely important. Ethics are prime elements that help a business to grow and to become more productive. It is by applying proper business ethics that a business can operate in a moral or ethical business environment and managed to conduct all activities in a manner that maximizes profits while not compromising all other non-economic concerns(Schwab, 1996). Businesses have over the years failed to nurture business ethics in order to fulfill shareholders' interests and to have a culture that is oriented towards profit maximization and high performance(Jennings, 2012; Sims & Felton, 2006). This has led business to have gray areas in their activities. Gray areas are those situations or problems that do not fit exactly into any ethical analysis. These are the activities which may be represented to be immoral as a result of lying and false representations on the part of the business.
Ethics in business addresses the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behaviours of business practises, and how these practices impact the employees, shareholders, the general public and the environment.
Shaw, W.H. (2014). Business ethics: A Textbook with cases, (8th ed.). Boston, MA : Cengage.
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011).Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. (8th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
This will be an over view of ethics as it relates to business in our society. Concepts from Philosophy will seek to describe the correlation between actions that are classified as morally right or ethical in our dealings with each other as human beings. Clear and concise examples will be given as well as ways in which to improve upon business ethics.
Ethics are values and principles that individuals use to govern his decisions and activities. Ethics are about moral judgment of an individual about right and wrong. In an organization, code of ethics refers to set of guiding principles and organizations use these principles in their policies, programs, and decisions for business. Within organizations, decisions are taken by groups or individuals and these decisions are influenced by the culture of the company. Decision making and relevance of ethics may also differ for nonprofit and for profit organizations. In contemporary business environment, organizations must have a clear ethical policy and implement it in proper manner. There are many social, legal and economic outcomes that company has to face in case of any ethical dilemma, so there must be a smart strategy to deal with ethical dilemmas. In this paper, we will address the ethics for nonprofit and profits organizations, ethical dilemmas being faced or faced by each of these companies and the outcomes of these ethical dilemmas. Critique of actions of each of these companies will be provided from the point of view of applicable philosophical theories of organizational ethics.
The case “Does this milkshake taste funny?” presents a situation, where company employees were confronted with an ethical decision. Their thoughts and actions were shaped by several factors, including their personal moral values and the corporate culture engendered by the management of the company for which they work. This case provides an example of how a lack of a code of ethics or ethical training within a corporation can lead to negative consequences. The major players in the case are the night shift employees of Eastern Dairy, and the management of this company that set up the rules and expectations for the night shift. The background and the ethical situation
Another limit to ethical behaviour at McDonald’s might be training and discipline within the company. For example, if an experienced employee was selected for a course or was offered a promotion, another employee might find it unfair and discriminative. Similar situation could possibly happen when it comes to discipline, for example a manager would treat employees making the same mistake differently and favour one person more than another. If any of the employees made an official complaint about any of those, it could lead to publicity’s hesitation and bad relations between employees within the company and its suppliers.
In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important