Professional Ethics: Approaches to Improve Ethical Behaviour in Organizations

This report discusses approaches to improve ethical behaviour in organizations, with a focus on the case study of Marks and Spencer. It identifies and explains various approaches, such as creating a code of conduct, engaging with employees and customers, reinforcing the benefits of the code, being a good role model, and promoting ethical behaviour. The report suggests that the best approach for Marks and Spencer is a code of conduct. It also emphasizes the importance of protecting employee privacy and employer rights.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................2
Identification and explanation of approaches in improving ethical behaviour in organisation.......2
Suggest on the best approach for the selected organisation.............................................................4
Protect employee right of privacy and protect employer.................................................................6
Summary..........................................................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................9
1

INTRODUCTION
Professional ethics is defined as principles which govern the behaviour of a person or group in
business environment. This conclude with values, behaviour tutorial on fact that employee should
behave in organisation and such related factors. This project is based on the case study of Marks
and Spencer Company in respect to professional behaviour. Company was established in the year
1884 by the founders Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Headquarter of the company is located
in London, United Kingdom. Organisation is currently catering its business practices into retail
sector across the globe. Henceforth, report will emphasis on explaining approaches over improving
the ethical behaviour in the organisation. Best approach of professional ethic suitable for the
organisation will also disclose in the project. Furthermore, discussion will be done on the protection
of employees right and privacy.
MAIN BODY
Identification and explanation of approaches in improving ethical behaviour in organisation.
Ethical behaviour refers to all the characteristics that are belongs to honesty, equity and
fairness in interpersonal, academic and professional relationship in the research and scholarly
activities. The ethical behaviour are help to respecting diversity and dignity with rights of the
individual and other group of people (Qiu and Rooney, 2019). Also, it is important to having the
string work ethics in order to make the business sense and company are proud on their colleagues so
that it helps to maintains the dignity. Along with this, when the potential customer and client are
choose the company it is important to showcase the ethical behaviour so that they can feel good and
improving the work accordingly. There are some of the approaches that are help to improving
ethical behaviour in the organisation.
Creating a code- There are some of the codes of practice that are necessary to followed by
the organisation so that they can set the values and engaging with the customer ins order to satisfy
their need. Mark and Spencer are believing for boosting the entrepreneurial spirit for maintaining
the good image of the firm. The strong value of the company are one of the important factor that are
related to enthusiasm and togetherness. For maintaining the good ethics this is important to manage
all the work on the basis of ethics. All the codes are unique for the organisations because its depend
on the values and visions of the company that is why all the related practices are unique. There are
different types of codes of practices are followed by chosen firms ins order to retaining the good
image of company such as company's values, employees behaviour, dress code, leave policy etc
2

(Driscoll, McIsaac and Wiebe, 2019). So that employees get motivated and try to achievable the
target of the organisation.
Engage with employees and customer- M&S are focused for engaging the employee and
customer by investing more on ethics code for developing the business. The firm are help to
engaging the sessions wits the client so that it helps to updating and creating the policies in order to
making company's vision and mission. To provide new policies for the employees are help to
developing the good relation with customer (Spencer, 2019). Also, M&S are one of the biggest
chain in the retail industry that provide variety of products in the stores. For engaging with
customer are refers to build good relation with them so that it helps to attracting the customer. First
of all when the client come to store it is important to provide good facility to them regarding
sanitisation and other safety measures. Then customer are expecting for fast payment and services
which are help to build the good relation with the client.
Reinforce the benefits of code- This is important for having good code of practice that are
help to work with consisting environment. For reinforcing the benefit that is most important for
achieving desirable and achievable complement that are need for enhancing the business
opportunity. To provide target to employees regarding increase workforce or sales target it is
necessary to develop the ideas so that they can implement the strategies accordingly. To encourage
the employees by providing them extra benefit are help for increase the workforce and help to
achieve the toughs target (Ahmad, 2018). M&S are good at providing training to the employees so
that it helps to helps to improve their skill ans help them to build relation with the employees.
Be a good role model- To set the example of good role model is one of the part of
encouraging other also it has been analysed that in UK there are more 70% people are thinking that
their manager are not belongs for good role model. Also, in the organisations it can bes promote
good ethics ins the organisations so that they can improve the good relations its top as well as lower
management. Chosen company are focused on senior management so that they are helps for
improving the good relations with other employees because they are help for motivating them.
Positives nature of the manager are help tos develop the good images of them so that employees are
feeling motivated and inspire from their manager. The managers are responsible for creating
positive environments ins the organisation avoid any bias in the company for providing equal
opportunity the same level people.
3

Promoting ethical behaviour- There are different code of practice are uses by the company
in order to developing the good image of the form. To promoting ethical behaviour there are
different ways such as giving task to employees so that they can achieve those which are help to
build ethical practices in the organisation (Corfield, Williams and Machin, 2021). It is important to
showing all the aspect of the company to the employees so that they can understands the situation
and behave accordingly. There are some of the important practices such as sustainable ors waste
management which are help to improving the goods image of the organisation s well as it helps to
build good relations with the employees.
Suggest on the best approach for the selected organisation
The best approach for Mark and Spencers are code of practice because it helps to comply all
the legal duties of the employee by following act and regulations regarding the company. This is
important to apply for the chosen firm ins order to encouraging the employees wits the helps of
discussion of compliance and ethics (Lynch, Weinbrot and Stein, 2020). To handle ethical
dilemmas for encountering everyday work it is helps for serving valuable references so that it helps
to maintaining the document of the employee with other services. In UK it is the common practice
that helps to encourage reasonable and responsible behaviour for union as well as other campaign
activities. There are some of the reason so that Mark and Spencer should used this approach in order
to demonstrating the value of the company by posting the code of conduct on people, website etc.
also there are some of the potentials customer, stakeholder and client that are help tos improving the
good image of the company with the help of organisation's value, ethics and morale. Also, it helps
to provide guideline regarding expectation and rules which are helpings for figuring the behaviour
that are related to appropriating the work which are help to creating better relationship with the
other co-workers that are important to manage. With the help of this it is important to acting within
laws so that employees can work accordingly by following all the related laws in order to assures
about other policies which are confines the workplace laws. Further, the senior level of Mark and
Spencer are increase the morale of other employees which are help to developing the respect for the
co worker and motivating them by increasing the morale. It also helps to retaining the employees by
attracting them. So, it helps to measuring the success of the employees that are need to improve the
need of workers (Frye, Butterfield and Hoffman, 2021).
There are different types of codes of conduct practices such as company's values which is
need to maintains so that employee are follow the rules and regulation accordingly. Dress code of
4

the employees who are working in stores of M&S so that it shows ethical behaviour of them also it
helps to shows equality for both male and female. Regarding the leave policy of the workers it is
important to building good relation with the employees there are some of criteria that are fixed for
leave such as numbers of leaves annually given to employees that can be used anytime. On the
monthly basis some of the leaves are fixed so that employee can take accordingly also the sick leave
are given to worker which are necessary for their health and safety. The another ethic is related to
the communication that is the important measure which are needs to followed by employees for top
to bottom management. The employees can formally communicates with their senior so that it
develop healths relations at the workplace and the co-workers have their own limit that are need to
followed by them. Ethics related to discrimination are need to followed by the company so that it
helps to provide equal right to all the employees which are working at the same place (Lynch,
Weinbrot and Stein, 2020). According to legislation the equality act 2010 are help to protects the
employees from the unfair treatment. The unfair treatment are regarding marital status, sex,
pregnancy, gender, disability, race, religion cultural etc. for example, if the manager nots provide
promotions to dedicated employee just because of their religions, however they can punished for the
same on the basis of discriminations policy.
Ethical practices related to codes of conduct for takes care of maintaining privacy and
security of the company and employees are responsible for if the any privacy policy of the
organisation is out. Therefore, it is necessary tos secure all the element that are related to
maintaining the ethical practices. M&S should focus on health and safety of the employees so that
they can managing the risk in order to protect the people at the workplace because in the
productions department is is necessary to developing the equipment so that its can not harm the
employees. That is also important to maintain the professional ethics at the workplaces so that
employees are followed all the rules ans regulations by making the formal relations with each other.
Along with this, the organisational structures of the company are functional so that each department
has their own responsibility in order to manage the ethics accordingly such as marketing department
are responsible for takes care of customer's opinion as well as their safety (Saurwein and Spencer-
Smith, 2020). After pandemic it is necessary to use the precaution regarding customer safety wits
the help of sanitiser or entry with mask so it helps to creates positive culture at the workplace.
Further, it has been analysed that there are some of the measures that are used regarding
organisational code of practice so that there will any law can nots affect the ethical practice in the
5

company. It improve the culture at the workplaces as well as improving the proving the productivity
of the organisation.
Protect employee right of privacy and protect employer
Privacy is a legal right employee hold against the employer. This is the legislative right
employee hold against joining any of the organisation tat all the information company has collected
during the interview about the personal as well professional life should not be disclosed in any
given way (Zhang, 2021). This is the legal right of employee that employer should not disclose the
information ab0ut employee with any other individual if the prior consent is not provided by
employee. Proper system with password protected can be deigned or installed top protect the
confidential information about the employee. Designing a system is a best way to do the data
protection of an employee. It is necessary that system that is designed for such a part should be
password protected than only proper privacy can be provided to the personal and confidential
information of employees in organisation (Ebert, Wildhaber and Adams-Prassl, 2021). Data should
also be used only for the intended purpose. This is also required for the organisation and
management that the data company utilise should be done for intended purposes only. This will
allow the organisation to execute the operations in the best way possible along with it will also
support the company to sustain ethical values. Electronic surveillance should also be limited. This is
required that the organisation should contain a strict vigilance over its system. Many times issue
like data hacking found in the organisation where data get misused at the company. Many cases
have been report where personal information of the employee get leaked or mis used by the
management. Data hacking is a very serious issue or problem company face in which people hack
the system of company protecting the personal information of the employee and further to utilise it
for the own personal interest (Suder, 2021). This is a major issue company is facing in order to
protect the confidential information of employees. Camera surveillance can also limit by the
organisation. This is another suitable technique or process company can adopt which involve
limiting to the camera surveillance used by the organisation. Many times unintentionally data get
hacked due to much access of camera in surrounding to the office premises. This create a huge
problem or issue for the organisation in order to protect the confidential information of employee
work at the Marks and Spencer.
Proper employee monitoring policy can also develop by the organisation that will favour to
the organisation to protect the confidential information of employees. Marks and Spencer Company
6

should focus over designing and developing a proper employee monitoring policy which will favour
to the organisation to sustain the confidential information of its employees. This is required to
develop a proper policy which completely prohibit sharing any of the personal information or
confidential information of employee at the organisation (Ebert, 2021). Monitoring policy will
definitely help an support to the organisation for maximising the employee values and also it will
delegate the extra responsibility on employees to protect the personal information of the work force.
Employee friendly productivity management software can further be used by the company that will
favour to the organisation to further strengthen the data protection and privacy at work place. This
software protects every information with unique password which create extra data protection and
strengthen to the privacy of employees at the workplace. This is a very effective technique that can
be used to improve the data protection and privacy of the employees at the organisation.
Human resource team should also involve a team looking at the employee related issues
specifically. This team will look after to the privacy related issues of employee and data protection
related topic which will favour to the organisation to support the protection of data and information.
Employee grievance policy will also work on such a matter (Kim and Bodie, 2021). This policy will
allow the employee to complaint anytime if they feel that the confidential information belong to
them are misleading or misused in any given ways than they are capable to place a complaint
against the issue. This practice will allow the department to look into the whole matter and address
the issue at the same time. Focus of leadership in Marks and Spencer Company is also needed to
improve and strengthen the privacy and data protection at the organisation. Leadership at Marks and
Spencer prioritise data protection and privacy related aspect associated with employees at
organisation. This further lead the organisation to take necessary steps to sustain privacy and data
protection at the organisation.
Summary
Ethical practices refer to the moral values that should be implemented in an organization in
order to create an environment which promotes as well as attracts good candidates. Ethical practices
include promoting morality, equality, truthfulness and understanding. Ethical practical helps an
organization in retaining employees and recruitment and hiring of new employees within the
organization. This project is based on the ethical practical that are being followed by the Marks and
Spencer. The existence of ethical practical within an organization plays an important role in
attracting investors towards the company as investors prefers investing their money in those
7

organization which prioritizes the high morals in their code of conduct (Betts, 2019.). It helps in
building customer loyalty, enhancing the company’s reputation in the market and helps the
company in gaining competitive advantage. There are several practices which have been discussed
above that helps promoting ethical behaviour in the organizational space. For the same, the Marks
and Spencer sets a code of ethical practices which are based on the mission, vision, and the values
of the company which needs to be followed by employees. It analyses the positive impact and
reinstates the codes which proved to be beneficial for the company. The creation of code of ethical
practical is recommended as the best approach for the Marks and Spencers. This practice makes it
easier for the company to regulate the functioning and operations of the workforce on the basis of
the set standards specified within the code. Ethical practical involves providing the right to privacy
to all the employees. Thus, it involves formulation of codes which allows the same.
CONCLUSION
Ethical behaviours denoted as sustaining the morale values and ethical values of the
employees at the organisation. Privacy of employee is very important as this is the legal and
fundamental right of the human resource at the organisation to own the complete data protection
and safety at the organisation. This is a legal right of the employee that company may channel a
policy which will allow to the employer to take initiatives such as strengthening policies, systems
and such other to protect privacy and data protection of employees.
8

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ahmad, S., 2018. Can ethical leadership inhibit workplace bullying across East and West:
Exploring cross-cultural interactional justice as a mediating mechanism. European
Management Journal. 36(2). pp.223-234.
Betts, S.C., 2019. JOB CHARACTERISTICS, PERSONALITY AND JOB ATTITUDES AS
PREDICTORS OF ETHICAL BEHAVIOR. Copyright 2019 by Institute for Global Business
Research, Nashville. TN, USA. p.95.
Corfield, L., Williams, R. A. and Machin, L., 2021. Prepared for practice? UK Foundation doctors’
confidence in dealing with ethical issues in the workplace. Journal of Medical
Ethics. 47(12). pp.e25-e25.
Driscoll, C., McIsaac, E. M. and Wiebe, E., 2019. The material nature of spirituality in the small
business workplace: from transcendent ethical values to immanent ethical actions. Journal of
Management, Spirituality & Religion. 16(2). pp.155-177.
Ebert, I. L., 2021. AI at Work–Promises and Pitfalls of Digital Workplace Monitoring.
Ebert, I., Wildhaber, I. and Adams-Prassl, J., 2021. Big Data in the workplace: Privacy Due
Diligence as a human rights-based approach to employee privacy protection. Big Data &
Society. 8(1). p.20539517211013051.
Frye, S., Butterfield, R. and Hoffman, J. M., 2021. SNMMI Clinical Trials Network research series
for technologists: ethical issues and regulations in the medical workplace. Journal of Nuclear
Medicine Technology/. 49(4). pp.303-310.
Kim, P. T. and Bodie, M. T., 2021. Artificial Intelligence and the Challenges of Workplace
Discrimination and Privacy. Journal of Labor and Employment Law. 35(2). pp.289-315.
Lynch, J., Weinbrot, H. and Stein, S., 2020. 1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early
Modern Era (Volume 25) (Vol. 25). Rutgers University Press.
Qiu, J. X. and Rooney, D., 2019. Addressing unintended ethical challenges of workplace
mindfulness: A four-stage mindfulness development model. Journal of Business
Ethics. 157(3). pp.715-730.
Saurwein, F. and Spencer-Smith, C., 2020. Combating disinformation on social media: Multilevel
governance and distributed accountability in Europe. Digital Journalism. 8(6). pp.820-841.
Spencer, M. S., 2018. Leadership Challenges Associated with Organizational Restructuring: A
Phenomenological Study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Phoenix).
Suder, S., 2021. Processing employees’ personal data during the Covid-19 pandemic. European
Labour Law Journal. 12(3). pp.322-337.
Zhang, Q., 2021. Workplace surveillance and protection of worker’s privacy in Covid-19. In Queen
Mary Postgraduate Law Conference.
9

10