More than twelve and a half Americans are employed in the restaurant industry. This makes the restaurant industry a significant contributor to the gross domestic product of the United States. As a fast-food operator, the main ethical and moral dilemmas are centered on health and safety. There is an increasing awareness of food safety issues by the American populace. All over the nation people are concerned about the quality and outcomes of fast foods on their health.
These concerns in turn impact the way fast food outlets like Donut shops will do business. For example, recent lawsuits leveled against some fast food outlets alleging that consumption of some of their products has resulted in widespread obesity have given the fast foods business negative publicity. This might impact negatively on future business prospects. Government agencies continue to demand absolute compliance with Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures which small firms like Donut shop struggle hard to meet.
Reflections on such recent developments in the industry and anticipation of similar situations in the future, lead the company to develop an elaborate ethics program that can be used as a framework for decision making. The program has three main components. The first one is strategy development whose aim is to ensure business sustainability through effective planning, both in the short and long term. This is aimed at increasing the probability of success and decreasing the chances of failure. The second component of the program is the quality statement which outlines the basic values followed in production. These values include continuous quality improvement and quality assurance. The third component is a code of ethics that guides relations within and outside the company. These three components are used as tools to manage ethical, moral, and social concerns in the daily operations of the company.
As a result, production is based upon demand; this ensures that the customers get ready-prepared products at the point of need. The program’s main objective is to ensure accountability in all activities undertaken by the company as this ensures that customers will enjoy the quality of the products at all times. The company has a code of ethics that is used to socialize employees on the values of the company, their responsibilities and also guide the decision-making in case of confusion.
The code has the following parts; the preamble describes the mission of the company. The second part explains core values upon which the quality statement of the company is based. The third part explains a wide range of ethical principles based on the company’s core values. The last part of the code of ethics explains the ethical responsibilities of the company to the community, the responsibility of employees to the company and vices versa. The code also explains the ethical responsibilities the employees have to one another.
The company conducts seminars to orient the new employees on the provision of the code of ethics and how it relates to their future responsibilities to the company. The employees retain a free copy of the code of ethics and continue to receive reviewed copies of the document from time to time. The code of ethics is enforced through a dispute resolution committee that is made up of members of the management and employee representatives. It’s also backed by provisions of various pieces of national legislation as spelled out in the national constitution. Benefits and privileges awarded to employees are not based on performance alone but also on whether they practice in accordance with the ethical principles and core values of the company.