Brief description of the company
Motorola Mobility Holdings is a company in the telecommunication industry. Its operations mainly involve the sale of mobile devices, data delivery as well as end to end video. The company is based in the United States of America. The company was part of the Motorola Company where it was operating as a mobile devices division, prior to its separation in the year 2011.
After it separated from Motorola, it started executing its own independent operations. Since its separation, the company has been trying to plan its policies, as well as ethics that will be guiding its operations and facilitate achievement of its goals and objectives.
Code program benchmark
It is important to have an effective ethics program as emphasized by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations for any company to succeed. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations is a set of rules and regulations that are used in the United States of America to ensure that individuals and organizations that are found guilty of serious misdemeanors are sentenced uniformly in the Federal Courts (Wulf, 2012).
It is important to note that these guidelines are only applicable in cases of serious misdemeanors. When setting this program, it is always important to put in mind that the current business environment is changing rapidly in terms of technology, culture, while the political and economical changes are facilitating the changes.
Therefore, the codes should be such that they will be effective for the business organization for a long time (Lawrence & Weber, 2011). In addition, it is important to consider the challenges that the organization might encounter in its bid to adopt to the ethics program. This is important since it will help managers to proactively deal with such problems and facilitate smooth running of business.
Business in America has been affected by criminal misconduct over a long period of time. These actions have been in the manner with which organizations conduct their business.
There have been legal sanctions to business organizations, as well as cultural changes and compliance practices as a result of such misconducts (Wulf, 2012). The ethical program issues have grown more complex as globalization continues establishing itself. Questions on what is and what is not ethical have become more difficult and complex.
The telecommunications industry is one that has grown very fast in this technological era, thereby affecting ethics concerned with freedom of expression, privacy, cultural diversity, intellectual property, as well as information access. Some of the ethics in these industries include: Samsung, a company that deals in electronics and mobile devices, is guided by ethics that are summarized into 5 principles.
These principles are compliance to law and ethics, maintenance of clean culture, respect to its stakeholders, environmental, safety and health responsibility, as well as CSR.
It is not easy for the company to fully comply with laws, considering the rapidly changing political and economical environment (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2011). For instance, the company has found itself in lawsuits with Apple regarding smartphones as a result of competition. Maintaining a clean culture is also a challenge.
Apple Inc. is the other company in the telecommunication industry with ethics that are meant to ensure that all stakeholders comply with the way the company wishes to conduct worldwide business and achieve its goals. Apple’s ethics include corporate governance, reporting guidelines and conflict of interest. These are guided by four principles that include compliance, honesty, integrity, and respect.
Compliance and honesty are sometimes difficult to adhere to due to the increasingly competitive environment. Employees are tempted to act in non-compliance manners in order to gain competitive advantage. For instance, Apple Inc. has been accused of its product quality and privacy issues.
Finally, Nokia is a company that has been successful in this industry. Its ethic program focuses on respect for customers, use of technology, marketing, as well as competition. It is not easy for the company to maintain its competitive and marketing ethics since it is operating in a highly dynamic industry (Wulf, 2012).
Codes of conduct for Motorola Mobility Holdings
Respect
The company should respect all its stakeholders, who include customers, employees, shareholders and directors among others. This will help in building good reputation and gaining competitive advantage.
Conflict of interest
The interest of each party will be clearly stated to avoid conflicts. Conflict of interest is likely to bring division among the company’s stakeholders. Guidelines on conflict of interest should, therefore, be clear.
Technology
The company will adopt a culture that embraces technology and encourages dynamic development. The current business environment is changing rapidly, and organizations should not be static.
Compliance
The company will always comply with the law and national policies. Motorola Mobility Holdings will be flexible to adapt to any changes that may be implemented.
The above ethic guidelines have a direct effect on any company that is in the telecommunication industry. For instance, technology is a factor that cannot be avoided in telecommunication. Motorola Mobility Holdings deals in mobile devices and data delivery. The latter requires high technology to succeed, while the former is changing rapidly.
However, the company should ensure that it maintains the trust of its stakeholder through respect while venturing in technology. The company should respect the privacy of customers and ensure quality production (Lawrence & Weber, 2011).
The company should also comply with national laws to avoid lawsuits and other conflicts with the government. Telecommunication and technology industries are likely to be affected by compliance issues.
Likely challenges
The company is likely to endure difficulties in adhering to the compliance principle due to the changing business environment. Managers and employees might be tempted to break some rules in order to gain competitive advantage.
For instance, employees might be caught up in copyright issues when trying to counter their competitors. Privacy issues will also be a challenge. Generally, the telecommunication industry has had privacy issues due to the nature of its business.
Finally, the costs of production are increasing. Consequently, the profitability of the company is bound to down if swift action is not taken to intervene. The company might be forced to produce low quality goods to maintain its profitability. This is a challenge that might affect the development of Motorola Mobility Holdings in the future if costs continue to increase.
Ways of addressing the challenges
Motorola Mobility Holdings will have to proactively deal with the above challenges to succeed. Managers need to be aware of any technological, economical and political changes early enough to have time to act. It would be highly helpful if managers predict the changes in order to take timely action. Communication among the members of the organization will be effective in ensuring that stakeholders’ conflicts of interest are eliminated.
Finally, the company can find alternative substitute inputs that are cheaper in order to deal with the increasing costs of production. This will ensure quality production at a relatively lower price. Another way to deal with this problem is to differentiate its goods so that it can sell at higher prices and maintain its profitability.
References
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2011). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Lawrence, T. A., & Weber, J. (2011). Business and society stakeholders, ethics, public policy. New York, NY: Wiley and Sons.
Wulf, K. (2012). Ethics and compliance programs in multinational organizations. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.