Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Workplace Issues: Insights on Management

In this document we will discuss about Ethics, Code of Conduct, and Workplace Issues and below are the summary points of this document:- Ethics and code of conduct are essential for organizations to maintain integrity and avoid false promises. Sexual misconduct and harassment cases highlight the need for proper investigation and adherence to ethical standards. Google's code of conduct emphasizes respect, equal opportunity, positive environment, and safety in the workplace.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management

2MANAGEMENT
Ethics is one of the most important aspects, that must be maintained by all
the people of the organization in order to make site that they are not violation the
rules and the regulations of the organization. It is the sole duty and the
responsibility of the organization to make sure that they are not making any kinds
of false promises to the people of the organization. Ethics are like the rules and the
regulations of the organization that forms the building blocks of the Organization1.
The members working in the organization have to make sure that they are not
making any false promises to the employees who are working in the organization2.
One of the big companies of Australia is Google.
Though it makes sure that they will, be taking proper care of each and every
employee working within their organization, there have often been some or the
other kinds of complaints against them3.
1 Joseph, George, and Anwar Hashmi. "Legitimacy and Institutionalization of Code of Conduct: The Management of Business
Ethics." Research on Professional Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting. Emerald Publishing Limited, (2018). 53-82.
2 Morral, Andrew R., Kristie L. Gore, and Terry L. Schell. Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the US Military: Evaluating
Estimates from the 2014 RAND Military Workplace Study. No. RB-989 (2016). RAND National Defense Research Institute Santa
Monica, (2016) 31
3 Bishop, Jonathan. "Detecting Sexual Harassment in Workplace Electronic Communications Networks: The Role of “PROTEGER”
for Augmentive Behaviour Monitoring." Social Issues Surrounding Harassment and Assault: Breakthroughs in Research and
Practice. IGI Global, (2019). 44-79.

3MANAGEMENT
One of the most highlighted feature that has been coming to the headlines in
the past few months is the issue of the sexual misconduct This needs proper
investigation because it is the duty and the response for working. This is really one
of the very unforeseen cases of the female employs are complaining about sexual
harassment or the ethical misconduct that is taking place in the organization4.
However in this context, one needs to look after the ethics or the code of conduct
that is actually followed by the organization. One of the major code of conduct that
is followed by Google is the
Respect Each Other
The subcategories that fall under this head are as follows
1. Equal Opportunity Employment
2. Positive Environment
3. Drugs and Alcohol
4. Safe Workplace
5. Dog Policy
4 Cheung, Catherine, Tom Baum, and Amy Hsueh. "Workplace sexual harassment: exploring the experience of tour leaders in an
Asian context." Current Issues in Tourism 21.13 (2018): 1468-1485. Henry, Nicola, and Anastasia Powell. "Beyond the ‘sext’:
Technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment against adult women." Australian & New Zealand Journal of
Criminology 48.1 (2015): 104-118.

4MANAGEMENT
By taking a look at this category, one may think that Google is one of the safest
and best places for the female employees to work. The employees’ may get this
view that working in Google will give them one of the very good and pleasant
experiences. On the other hand, this has been seen that all the employees of Google
Australia are coming put in marches or in protest in order to fight against the
ethical misconduct or the harsh treatments that are going on against them5. Several
men and women who are the employees of this organization have come into the
protest in order to battle against the prevalent gender biasness or the inequality on
the pay scale that is often going on around in the organization6.
On one hand the ethics of Google says that there is a freedom for all the
employees to deliver their speech and their expression. In other words, the
company promises to allow all their workers irrespective of their age, socio
economic background, gender and other such aspects7. However on the other hand,
5 de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes. "Understanding the genesis of green supply chain management: lessons from leading
Brazilian companies." Journal of Cleaner Production87 (2015): 385-390.
6 Valentine, Sean R., Sheila K. Hanson, and Gary M. Fleischman. "The Spiraling and Spillover of Misconduct: Perceived
Workplace Bullying, Subclinical Psychopathy, and Businesspersons’ Recognition of an Ethical Issue." Employee Responsibilities
and Rights Journal 29.4 (2017): 221-244.
7 Stremic, Stacey M., et al. "The effects of self-efficacy, perceptions of ethical misconduct, and guilt-proneness on CWBs."
(2017).89

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it has to be kept in mind that the company has failed to maintain or stay true to this
particular code of conduct8. It has been aid by one of the female employees that
bullying or getting disrespected is becoming a horrible part of the company culture
or part of the corporate culture. It has been said by one o the speaker “This is a
terrible part of our culture that’s here in Sydney, and part of the wider Sydney tech
community.”
This statement itself is evident of the fact that the employees working in Google
Australia have suffered through many of the incidences that have made them
question then ethics of the organization. However this news has not stayed hidden
from the eyes of the media. The famous media sites like the news paper, business
inside have made it possible to cover the news and make sure that these issues are
coming to the lime light and the people are being able to understand the true
incidents that are going on inside the renowned and the well known organizations.
Apart from this, one of the codes of conduct that is used by Google is the safe
workplace. It must be noted in this context that the employees who have joined the
march them protest have felt the workplace that they are working in so not a very
safe environment. Thus it can be said that this particular ethical code of conduct
8 Stone, Thomas H., I. M. Jawahar, and Jennifer L. Kisamore. "Predicting workplace misconduct using personality and academic
behaviors." Crime and corruption in organizations(2016): 97-119.

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has not been maintained by the organization. The other important code of conduct
that the company uses is the Obey the Law. Under this particular head, we have
other subcategory that is Anti bribery laws. However there is a chance that the
company might try to hide the actual problems that the employees are going
through. A similar case has also been seen in other well known companies like
that of MacDonald’s. Several workers Claimed to have faced huge discrepancies
and workplace harassments as well. It is for this reason that the employees’ have
often started huge protests in order to fight against these evil or wrong doings
within the company culture.
This is also evident from the fact that during the ongoing protests, some of the
employees were of this opinion that they were asked to not share the stories of their
bad experiences or the kinds of bullies and the sexual harassments that they have
been suffering throughout their lives in the office organization9. This shows that
the organization is really irresponsible and does not want their reputation to goat
take10. However as far as the news that has been covered by the media, the
9 Stremic, Stacey M., et al. "The effects of self-efficacy, perceptions of ethical misconduct, and guilt-proneness on CWBs."
(2017).89
10 Scharrer, Barbara, Josef Neuert, and Manuel Woschank. "The Impact of Ethnicity on an Employees Readiness to comply with a
Code of Conduct: Differences between German/Austrian and Chinese Employees." Journal of Applied Business and
Economics 20 (2018): 3.

7MANAGEMENT
company has tried its level best to provide proper support to the employees who
have passed through this horrible scenario.
On one hand the company makes sure to provide a complete freedom and
security to the people who are actually taking part in the protest. As a part of their
protest, many of the employees were seen stepping out of the organization in order
to show that they are totally against these repeated misconducts that are taking
place in the organization11. It is for this reason that the employees of the
organization started to show their protest and their anger against this repeated
workplace harassment by signing to carry on a mass walk out12. It is also said by
some of the Google Australia employees that they were actually being encouraged
to not share about their stories perhaps to keep ye entire matter hidden from the
eyes of the people in general13.
However it was also said by the company that there will be psychologists after
the protest march. This will be helping the employees to get a moral support after
carrying on their protest. The company has finally realized that the employees are
11 Gutek, Barbara A. "Sexual harassment." Wiley Encyclopedia of Management (2015): 1-1.
12 PETER FARQUHAR and SARAH KIMMORLEY, "Google's Australian Staff Walked Out And Heard That Sexual Misconduct Is 'A Terrible
Part Of Our Culture That's Here In Sydney'" BUSINESS INSIDER AUSTRALIA, 2019 <https://www.businessinsider.com.au/googles-
australian-staff-are-protesting-and-say-sexual-misconduct-is-a-terrible-part-of-our-culture-thats-here-in-sydney-2018-11>.
13 Jose, P. D. "Corporate sustainability initiatives reporting: a study of India’s most valuable companies." Corporations and
Sustainability. Routledge, (2017). 55-94.

8MANAGEMENT
facing many problems that are becoming very harmful. It is for this reason that the
organization has to take very strict actions in order to deal with these issues14.
One of the major codes of conduct that is included within the code of conduct of
the organization is also responsiveness. This is one of the very important codes of
conduct that the company must never be violating under any circumstances.
However at some point of time, it was seen that the organization is trying to
protect and safeguard their own interests by asking their employees to not speak
about the experiences that they were going through. This shows that the company
is actually trying to get over of their responsive and their responsibility towards
this particular problem15. However this must not have been the case. The company
must have made sure to take proper actions for the problem of sexual harassment
that the employees of the company are going through. However after analyzing
through this problem properly, the company has really come to certain
conclusion16. They have decided that it is their duty to render some good support to
14 Sethi, S. Globalization and self-regulation: The crucial role that corporate codes of conduct play in global business. Springer,
(2016).
15 Searle, R. H., et al. "Bad apples? Bad barrels? Or bad cellars? Antecedents and processes of professional misconduct in UK
Health and Social Care: Insights into sexual misconduct and dishonesty." Professional Standards Authority (2017).67
16 Morral, Andrew R., Kristie L. Gore, and Terry L. Schell, eds. Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the US Military: Volume 4.
Investigations of Potential Bias in Estimates from the 2014 RAND Military Workplace Study. Vol. 4. Rand Corporation, (2016) 32

9MANAGEMENT
their employees. This will help the employees to regain the trust and the good will
that they had in the company. In order to do this the company thought of bringing
about some changes in their code of conduct and their list if rules and policies. In
order to do this, they have made sure that they are finding out one new policy
called the arbitration. In order to provide ample support to their employees, they
have made sure that they are being able to provide proper support to their
employees. This will also help them to abide by the code of their conduct called
Support for each other. This new policy that will allow the arbitration to be option
la on the case of sexual harassment will be helping the company to provide m ore
transparency to their employees this matter of sexual harassment. The CEO of the
company Sundar Pichai is also of the opinion that this new will be helping them to
move forward and provide proper support and transparency I each other, Sundar
Pichai also agreed to this fact that this policy will be helping the company to
provided more support to their employees in the long run.
Thus, it can be concluded that the company must be taking up the help of the
other NGOs like BSR. This is one of the well known organizations that help the
company to develop a proper and fair work culture within their organization. Their
main objective is to make sure that they are being able to develop the world into a
happy fair and good place.

10MANAGEMENT
References
Bishop, Jonathan. "Detecting Sexual Harassment in Workplace Electronic
Communications Networks: The Role of “PROTEGER” for Augmentive
Behaviour Monitoring." Social Issues Surrounding Harassment and Assault:
Breakthroughs in Research and Practice. IGI Global, (2019). 44-79.
Cheung, Catherine, Tom Baum, and Amy Hsueh. "Workplace sexual harassment:
exploring the experience of tour leaders in an Asian context." Current Issues in
Tourism 21.13 (2018): 1468-1485. Henry, Nicola, and Anastasia Powell. "Beyond
the ‘sext’: Technology-facilitated sexual violence and harassment against adult
women." Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology 48.1 (2015): 104-118.
de Sousa Jabbour, Ana Beatriz Lopes. "Understanding the genesis of green supply
chain management: lessons from leading Brazilian companies." Journal of Cleaner
Production87 (2015): 385-390.
FARQUHAR, PETER and SARAH KIMMORLEY, "Google's Australian Staff
Walked Out And Heard That Sexual Misconduct Is 'A Terrible Part Of Our Culture
That's Here In Sydney'" BUSINESS INSIDER AUSTRALIA, 2019
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/googles-australian-staff-are-protesting-and-
say-sexual-misconduct-is-a-terrible-part-of-our-culture-thats-here-in-sydney-2018-
11

11MANAGEMENT
Gutek, Barbara A. "Sexual harassment." Wiley Encyclopedia of
Management (2015): 1-1.
Jose, P. D. "Corporate sustainability initiatives reporting: a study of India’s most
valuable companies." Corporations and Sustainability. Routledge, (2017). 55-94.
Joseph, George, and Anwar Hashmi. "Legitimacy and Institutionalization of Code
of Conduct: The Management of Business Ethics." Research on Professional
Responsibility and Ethics in Accounting. Emerald Publishing Limited, (2018). 53-
82.
Morral, Andrew R., Kristie L. Gore, and Terry L. Schell, eds. Sexual Assault and
Sexual Harassment in the US Military: Volume 4. Investigations of Potential Bias
in Estimates from the 2014 RAND Military Workplace Study. Vol. 4. Rand
Corporation, (2016) 32
Morral, Andrew R., Kristie L. Gore, and Terry L. Schell. Sexual Assault and
Sexual Harassment in the US Military: Evaluating Estimates from the 2014 RAND
Military Workplace Study. No. RB-989 (2016). RAND National Defense Research
Institute Santa Monica, (2016) 31
Scharrer, Barbara, Josef Neuert, and Manuel Woschank. "The Impact of Ethnicity
on an Employees Readiness to comply with a Code of Conduct: Differences

12MANAGEMENT
between German/Austrian and Chinese Employees." Journal of Applied Business
and Economics 20 (2018): 3.
Searle, R. H., et al. "Bad apples? Bad barrels? Or bad cellars? Antecedents and
processes of professional misconduct in UK Health and Social Care: Insights into
sexual misconduct and dishonesty." Professional Standards Authority (2017).67
Sethi, S. Globalization and self-regulation: The crucial role that corporate codes
of conduct play in global business. Springer, (2016).
Stikeleather, Bryan R. "When do employers benefit from offering workers a
financial reward for reporting internal misconduct?." Accounting, Organizations
and Society 52 (2016): 1-14.
Stone, Thomas H., I. M. Jawahar, and Jennifer L. Kisamore. "Predicting workplace
misconduct using personality and academic behaviors." Crime and corruption in
organizations(2016): 97-119.
Stremic, Stacey M., et al. "The effects of self-efficacy, perceptions of ethical
misconduct, and guilt-proneness on CWBs." (2017).89
Valentine, Sean R., Sheila K. Hanson, and Gary M. Fleischman. "The Spiraling
and Spillover of Misconduct: Perceived Workplace Bullying, Subclinical

13MANAGEMENT
Psychopathy, and Businesspersons’ Recognition of an Ethical Issue." Employee
Responsibilities and Rights Journal 29.4 (2017): 221-244.