Ethics in Coles Group: Addressing Social and Economic Issues

The report discusses two ethical issues in Coles Group, related to social ethics and economic ethics. It provides an ethical framework for addressing each issue and justifies the choice. The duty approach is suggested for addressing the economic issue, while the fairness or justice approach is suggested for addressing the social issue.

Running head: ETHICS
ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Identification of issue 1...................................................................................................................2
Ethical framework for addressing issue 1 and justification of choice.............................................2
Identification of issue 2...................................................................................................................3
Ethical framework for addressing issue 2 and justification of choice.............................................3
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
The importance of business ethics in the work place cannot be undermined. Although the
profitability of the organization is taken to be of the utmost importance, the way an organization
is managed is also crucial. It is the duty of any organization to ensure that it engages in ethical
practices (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). There may be many situations where the organization might
be faced by an ethical issue. In such a case, the company needs to apply a proper ethical
framework to solve the issue. The report will be discussing two ethical issues which might arise
in an organization like Coles Group and address those using ethical frameworks.
Identification of issue 1
The first issue which may be identified in the Coles group is the issue related to social
ethics. An organization is made up of different people and hence, it is the duty of the
management to ensure that all the employees in the organization are treated well and they
undergo no bullying or harassment. However, this is not the case at Coles. It was observed that
whenever a new employee joins the organization then they are mistreated by the senior
employees. They are often bullied and thus this is against ethical considerations. Ethics states
that no harm needs to be caused to any group of people working in a firm and that all of them
need to be treated equally (Shaw, 2016). The different employees are harassed and due to this
reason the work environment often becomes very hostile and offensive to a certain group of
people. This can be described as an ethical social issue whereby the different employees become
a victim of the harassment of the other group of employees.

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Ethical framework for addressing issue 1 and justification of choice
The given issue relates to the issue of not being able to provide equal treatment to the
different employees. Hence, in order to find a solution for the given issue, the Fairness or the
Justice Approach needs to be applied. The given approach states that all men should be treated
equally and that all employees are alike. When the given theory is combined with the theory of
Rights approach then it can be figured out that it is applicable for all human beings. This theory
is greatly valid in the work of the philosopher John Rawls along with the Kantian lines that the
ethical principles are applicable to all people (Rossouw & Van Vuuren, 2017). All actions
conducted in organization need to be fair and that fairness can be described as the beginning
point for the principle which is considered just. Hence, if the given theory was applied for the
decision making then it could be stated that, those who cause harm or mistreat the employees
need to be punished because the Justice approach states that all the employees are equal in the
eyes of law and that there shall exist no discrimination.
Identification of issue 2
At the Coles group, there have been various issues with respect to the false reflection of
the accounting statements. In this scenario, it is often observed that in order to save oneself from
the various taxation payments and to reflect better profits in the eyes of the customers, the
different accountants often tend to cook the accounting books to reflect false profits (Weiss,
2014). This has various impacts on the organization as it spoils the relationship between the
investors, stakeholder, customers and the employees as well (Crane & Matten, 2016). Looking at
the false profits and figures, the investors may very often make wrong decisions which may then
lead to a long term loss for the organization. This issue can be descried as an economic ethical
issue. Hence, the given issue may lead to the downfall of the organization in the long run.

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Ethical framework for addressing issue 2 and justification of choice
In order to resolve the stated issue the framework of the duties approach needs to be
adopted. The organization is a social entity and for this reason it has certain duties towards the
firm which it needs to abide by. It is the responsibility of the organization to present a fair
financial statement to the different stakeholders in order to ensure that they conduct fair dealings
and the integrity as well as the honesty of the financial statements is maintained (Bowie, 2017).
To solve the given issue, the duty approach can be followed which states that the organization
needs to pay direct attention to their duties and conduct in actions which are always true and not
fails one duty.
Conclusion
Hence, from the given analysis it can be stated that, an organization has certain duties and
ethical aspects to be followed considerably. However, there may exist different scenarios
whereby the organization may face a dilemma and hence, in such a case the company needs to
apply a proper ethical framework to resolve the given issue.

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References
Bowie, N. E. (2017). Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. . Oxford University Press.
Rossouw, D., & Van Vuuren, L. (2017). Business ethics. . Oxford University Press.
Shaw, W. H. (2016). Business ethics: A textbook with cases. . Nelson Education.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. . John Wiley & Sons.
Weiss, J. W. (2014). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. . Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.