Ethical Decision Making Process Essay

The first thing that needs to be done by management is clarifying the issue. Management needs to be able to answer the question, what is the problem? In this case the problem is call avoidance. The consequences of this action are widespread. First and foremost is the customer. By avoiding calls, the service level will inevitably drop. Service levels dropping means customers are not getting there issue resolved as quickly as they should, which then leads to dissatisfied customers. The company will also have ramifications of this type of behavior financially. Poor service levels usually lead to an increase in hiring. The company needs to have enough employees to meet the service level targets. Another, less tangible, consequence is satisfaction of fellow employees. If one person is not doing his or her part, it means someone else is working harder to pick up the slack.
Having a clearly defined code of conduct that identifies behaviors deemed, not acceptable, is important to maintain the image the company put in place. When the issue is identified and explained as inappropriate, the company can then move on to the consequences for the actions. A large company needs to have well defined rules in place that are fair for all employees. Management needs to be responsible for being consistent delivering the message to the front lines.
The second part is identifying who will influence how the company proceeds. Once the company has identified the key stakeholders in the organization by carefully outlining their specific interests, then the next stage can move forward. At Verizon Wireless the key stakeholder is the customer. It is clear that when a company has over 60,000 customers, keeping them becomes paramount. It is very costly to get new customers and cheaper to keep the existing ones. At Verizon Wireless, obtaining new customers requires offering incentives on new phones that takes about 12 months to recover through monthly service fees. Existing customers get discounts as well, but after the initial sale, the important part is keeping, and offering other products that will benefit the customer as well as the company. Other stakeholders include employees and stockholders. Both are impacted negatively if the customer is not satisfied. The employees have bonus and raises that are impacted and the stockholders are hurt by public perception lowering the value of their investment.
It is important to get Stakeholder support and feedback in order to have an effective resolution to the problem. Identifying the values that are involved helps to give guidance to the leadership team. It is important to communicate the importance of following ethical standards in an organization. Having a guiding set of principals to follow such as Verizon’s Credo, help the employees within the organization familiarize with the company culture. Management needs to cast the shadow of the leader and exemplify the core values in the company. The visual perception of the company is as important as the spoken terms the employees verbalize. It is easy to identify the values of a company by walking through the hallways and offices within it.
Having identifiable values is key in developing new employees into the vulture of the company. Hiring new employees who have the same outlook and values that the company is trying to promote is vital to maintaining the perception of a successful organization. Rewarding positive behavior and providing quick feedback to employees who are not in compliance is necessary and crucial to adapting these values as common.
It is vital for large companies to act in a consistent manner when making employee decisions. Resolving employee matters in a uniform, concise way helps build confidence that the company is doing the right thing. When an employee at Verizon Wireless breaks the code of conduct it needs to be documented and discussed with the employee. Like most companies, Verizon has employees who make mistakes, so it is important to have a document trail when behavioral issues are noticed. Depending on the infraction, having proper documentation can help managers terminate poor employees and it can also protect the company from repercussions of making improper decisions.
Having a clear action plan for employees who break the rules helps all employees know what will happen next. If an employee on my team gets terminated they should have no doubt as to why it happened. Documenting every coaching session as well as every interaction can make the difference in a large lawsuit. Having a structured approach that identifies the problem and shows the results is necessary.
Another key component is addressing the objections from a decision. It is important as critical thinkers to identify every angle of a situation. This should be done prior to a specific push back occurring. Good leaders have thought out the process and have identified key areas that could be areas of objection and have a well thought out answer. Objections to the process itself can be a good argument to have, as it will identify an objection that may arise during an employee discussion. Having more then one view- point is necessary to have a good plan. Good leaders will gain insight from several different perspectives in order to come to a decision that will benefit everyone, or will at least be fair to everyone.
When employees have objections to policies and regulations it is critical to address as well. Employees need to know they have input in the way the company runs the business. This will give the employee an extra sense of value, which will then provide them motivation to work harder. In a large company like Verizon Wireless (over 60,000 employees) there is also a good chance some key feedback can come from these objections.
When a manager decides on a course of action for an employee behavioral concern it should be based on prior incidences of similar conduct. In order to have a good resolution plan a company needs to have a designated group to go to for assistance. In our company the Human Resource department keeps records and develops the plan in order to act as a third party in disputes. This ensures compliance, coordination, and most importantly consistency in decisions. Verizon Wireless also has a compliance department that handles disputes where an employee feels mistreated by both management and HR.
Decisions in a large corporation need to be treated on an individual basis, but need to result in a fair, consistent manner. An example of a decision that could be considered difficult to make in an organization is an employee who has both parents die in a one-week time frame. In this situation the employee wants to come back to work after taking 6 days off in addition to the bereavement period. The employee could take off for 8 days and be covered under short-term disability for seeing a doctor to cope. This employee wants to come back to work to be around other people and be active. Because there is probably no previous case just like this one, it seems like a case where the employee should be allowed to come back without going on a written warning for absenteeism. Due to a manager not consulting with the Human Resource department to get guidance, they made a poor decision and put the employee on a final written warning for absenteeism. A decision can be consistent if there is no precedence based on, would you make the same decision for anyone else with the exact same scenario. Everything has to be taken case by case.
In most organizations, especially large ones, it is vital to have all of these components working together to have a positive result. Companies need to establish an image that the public likes and respects. Management must first take into account the bottom line, which in profit organizations is making money. The company needs to earn the respect of the buyers in order to sell the product. Having a brand that is good and people need is only half the battle. The other part is separating one company’s product from the others. At Verizon Wireless our goal is to have a company culture that gains the respect of the public. By having a product that worked during our countries worst natural disaster (hurricane Katrina), helps earn the trust and respect of the public. This also was an experience that helped employees feel a sense of pride in its product. One could speculate that the company only sent helicopters to the disaster area to make the phones work in order to capitalize its product. That is probably right and that is probably ok, because it was well after the disaster that the company was looking at. Taking from people during that time was not an option, giving was, and that was an ethical decision.