The World’s Most Ethical Companies Essay

Introduction

Business ethics constitutes how organizations relate to their internal and external environments. The ethical climate therefore touches on things like working environment, safety of the employees, care and conservation of the environment and practices which promote the interests of the consumers.

Ethical conduct of corporations is also intertwined with what is referred to as corporate social responsibility. This concept is generally used to refer to the relationship between businesses and their environment. All businesses operate in social, political and economic environments.

The concept therefore takes into account how businesses interact with these environments, either positively or negatively. The topic of corporate social responsibility can be broken down into four main components namely the ethical, economic, philanthropic and legal components (Aras & Crowther, 2010).

This paper is based on the topic of business ethics. It looks into the topic through analysis of a single company selected from the database of the world’s most ethical companies. Key issues which are discussed include how the company behaves in a morally responsible manner towards its consumers, employees and the environment.

Other issues which are discussed include how the morally responsible behavior can affect the company’s bottom line as well as recommendations on how the company can improve its policies to enhance its relationship with the consumers, employees and the environment. The paper is based on various academic readings about the topic of business ethics.

The company under focus in the paper is the National Australia Bank (NAB). The bank’s main products include consumer banking, wholesale banking, business banking, insurance and wealth management (Murray, Poole & Jones, 2006).

The consumers of the bank include individual bankers, private and public institutions, businesses and community groups. According to the bank’s Chief Executive Officer Mr. Clyne Cameron, the bank’s strategic policy is aimed at putting the customers at the center in all operations to ensure that they realize their full potential.

How NAB behaves in a morally responsible way towards consumers

One way in which the bank behaves in a morally responsible manner towards its consumers is through the provision of quality services at fair prices. The bank also aims at having a relationship with consumers which is based on the principles of advice, guidance and help.

The provision of quality services to consumers reflects a morally responsible behavior because it ensures that consumers are protected from any form of unfair treatment such as fraud, exploitation and poor services.

The other way in which the bank behaves in a morally responsible manner towards its consumers is through building prosperous communities.

The bank believes that prosperous communities are based on prosperous economy and that is why it helps the communities to flourish by investing in industries and organizations which bring people together in groups for economic prosperity.

Such groups are financed by the bank to tackle various issues such as social inclusion and education. Through its micro finance scheme, the bank provides loans to the groups at very affordable rates so as to enable them start or strengthen their business enterprises.

In 2004, the bank launched a customer relationship management system which made it win the Cap Gemini financial innovations award in 2006.

It also launched what it referred to as Ubank, a system which provides customers with an option of transacting business online with the aim of making them more satisfied by accessing banking services right at their homes or any other places of their convenience.

How NAB behaves in a morally responsible way towards the environment

In regard to the environment, the bank has established very clear guidelines in form of a policy which outlines its relationship to the environment. One way in which the bank behaves in a morally responsible manner towards the environment is through compliance with all laws and regulations which are put in place to protect the environment.

For instance, it takes the necessary actions to ensure that its operations do not negatively affect the environment either directly or indirectly.

Such a policy is a pointer of a morally responsible behavior because environmental pollution by corporates affects the health of the consumers. Having a clean environment ensures that the consumers enjoy a healthy environment and lead a healthy life.

The bank also invests in providing its customers with services and products which help them understand their environmental challenges and how to mitigate risks associated with the environment.

The bank uses this approach because it believes that for sustainability purposes, it must capacity build the customers to enable them understand their environment and take good care of it.

How NAB behaves in a morally responsible way towards employees

In regard to the relationship between the bank and its employees, the bank has a policy in form of employee code of conduct. The policy is guided by the principle that all employees should be treated fairly and accorded the dignity and respect which they deserve.

This policy reflects a morally responsible behavior because the respect of employees is central to the success of any organization. Treating employees with respect and dignity not only makes them motivated but also enables them get the intrinsic value of work.

The bank also embraces the concepts of cultural diversity and gender sensitivity in its employment policy. It does this by ensuring that employees are not discriminated based on race, gender or color. The policy has seen many women rise to the top positions of leadership of the bank.

The bank also ensures that employees are trained from time to time so as to enhance their capacity to discharge their duties. The training is part of the bank’s initiative to ensure that the customers get quality services at any given time.

Training of employees is a morally responsible behavior because it not only improves the quality of services but also makes employees grow in their career.

Such training is also important for the employees because once they leave the company, it serves as an asset by giving them a competitive edge over other job seekers thus increasing their probability of being employed in other companies.

Effects of these morally conscious decisions on NAB’s bottom line

If the bank keeps the spirit of treating employees with dignity, taking care of the environment and providing quality services to customers, it has a potential of increased growth which may see it open more branches in other countries.

The fact that the bank has a policy which ensures that there are no discriminations based on gender and race can make it the preferred employer of many qualified employees.

The nondiscrimination policy can also attract talented employees who like working in reputable and respectable organizations. Having talented and highly qualified personnel would inspire innovation which would trigger growth and expansion thus giving the bank a competitive edge over its competitors.

Review of NAB’s policies from a critical perspective

Towards consumers

One area where the bank needs to improve its policy on consumers is in regard to the number of staff in its branches. According to the naked office website, it is claimed that the bank places a lot of emphasis on cutting costs (Naked office, 2014).

This makes it have few employees in the branches to serve the constant or increasing number of customers. The employees therefore feel overworked without any additional compensation which is a form of exploitation.

For the bank to make its customers more satisfied, there is need to recruit more employees to ensure that customers are served without delays. If it is not able to increase the number of employees, it needs to ensure that the employees are paid overtime so as to motivate them.

The bank also needs to improve the efficiency of its online accounts so that customers using them are able to enjoy faster and reliable online services. There are claims that the bank’s online systems are sometimes very slow which is very embarrassing to the customers.

Towards the environment

In regard to its relationship with its environment, the bank needs to allocate more funds to environmental conservation. There is no evidence of significant activities which the bank undertakes to conserve the environment. It needs for example to contribute towards the management of greenhouse gases which cause global warming.

It can also partner with other governmental and non governmental organizations to launch comprehensive environmental conservation programs both at the national and international platform.

The bank needs to not only educate its customers on environmental management but also all members of the community where it has operations. This would ensure that it reaches as many people as possible thus increasing the impact of its efforts towards environmental conservation.

Towards employees

According to the naked office website, the bank has been accused of having poorly trained and inexperienced personnel at top leadership positions (Naked office, 2014).

While it pays attention to the training of other staff, it has neglected the training and capacity building of its leaders and therefore, there is need for change so that it can have leaders who are not only experienced but also visionary and well equipped with the necessary skills and techniques of leadership.

Such leadership would ensure that the bank comes up with strategic business decisions which would propel it towards excellence.

The bank needs to as well scale up its employee motivation efforts by introducing more employee motivation programs and policies such as sponsorship programs for employees to further their studies, provision of retirement benefits, medical scheme for the workers and promotions based on merit.

Conclusion

The National Bank of Australia is one of the companies listed in the data base of the world’s most ethical companies. The bank behaves in a morally responsible manner towards consumers, the environment and employees through policies and guidelines which govern its business strategy and operations.

It ensures that the consumers are provided with high quality services at affordable prices at any given time. It also has policies which require employees to be treated with respect and dignity as a way of motivating them to be more productive. In regard to the environment, the bank provides its customers with information on environmental risks and how to mitigate them.

These morally conscious policies have the potential of increasing the competitiveness of the bank in the banking industry, attracting talented employees and increasing innovativeness.

However, the bank can do better through deployment of more staff, payment of overtime for the employees and provision of employees with more benefits for them to become more productive.

It also needs to partner with other organizations to launch comprehensive environmental conservation programs as a way of scaling up its efforts towards environmental conservation.

References

Aras, G., & Crowther, D. (2010). A handbook of corporate governance and social responsibility corporate social responsibility series. Farnham GU9 7PT: Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Murray, P., Poole, D., & Jones, G. (2006). Contemporary issues in management and organizational behavior. South Melbourne, Vic.: Thomson Learning.

Naked office. (2014). NAB (National Australia Bank). Web.