Ethical Issues at ANZ Bank: Applying the GVV Framework - BUGEN 5930

This assignment presents a detailed analysis of an ethical dilemma faced by ANZ Bank, focusing on a case of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. The student explores the situation through scenario and script development, ultimately applying the Giving Voice to Values (GVV) framework. The scenario involves a female employee, Ms. Oyo, facing discrimination and harassment from a senior male employee, leading to an ethical conflict for the bank's management. The assignment outlines the conflicting interests of the parties involved and the potential impact of various decisions on the bank's reputation and operations. The script development showcases how the central character, Ms. Oyo, could apply the GVV framework to address the ethical challenges. The assignment also highlights the importance of the GVV framework, which involves values, normalization, choice, purpose, self-knowledge, alignment, reasons and rationalizations and voice to effectively address ethical issues in the workplace. The analysis also includes stakeholders' interests, reasons, and counterarguments to the situation. The assignment concludes with an overview of the seven pillars of the GVV framework and Ms. Oyo's application of the GVV framework in the case.

Running head: ETHICAL ISSUES
ETHICAL ISSUES
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
PART A: SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT.......................................................................................2
PART B: SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT.............................................................................................4
PART C: ROLE PLAY TRANSCRPIT..........................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................15

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PART A: SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT
The ANZ bank or the Australian and New Zealand Banking group limited is a
multinational financial and banking company that is headquartered in Australia. It is considered
as the second largest bank of Australia because of its assets and the four largest bank of
Australia. It mostly operates in Australia and provides retail banking facilities and commercial
facilities. The company operates in about 34 countries besides its operations in Australia and
New Zealand. The bank is also known for its sustainable activities. The company has values of
Integrity, Accountability, collaboration, respect and excellence. Their culture comprises of
meeting the customers’ needs by incorporating their values, code of conduct and purposes.
Moreover they also have the culture of customer orientation, learning culture and a culture of
making things simple (Grace & Cohen, 2015). Their code of conduct and other supporting
policies laid down the behavior standards for all the employees of the organization. Moreover all
the contractors and employees of the company are required to undergo training in order to
reinforce all the codes of conducts and values of the company within two months of commencing
their jobs and also on an annual basis to ensure that they behave according to the codes of
conducts. The training is given to the contractors and the employees such that they can comply
with all the codes of conducts, and they have to give a declaration that they have also complied
with the same while carrying out their work (Ferrell & Fraedrich, 2015).
Therefore the company believes that it is the responsibility of all the employees to
identify and report about any violation of the code of conduct by anyone in the organization. For
this purpose, the company has a whistle blowing policy which ensures that everyone in the
organization is given a chance to share their concerns freely with the management without being
exposed. The company also believes in taking corrective actions immediately whenever any

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violations are identified as claimed by the company. However, the company recently stood
against its own values recently by overlooking the case of discrimination and sexual harassment
of a female employee.
An ethical dilemma refers to a situation in which the management of an organization is
faced with conflicting interests between two parties and the management is required to make a
decision out of the alternatives available (Jenkins, 2016). An ethical situation has been faced
with the management of the ANZ bank where the two parties involved are- a female employee
Ms Oyo who is an African who is the victim and a male employee who belongs to a much higher
position in the organization who is the accused. Ms Oyo was working as a salesperson in the
foreign exchange sales of the organization (Anz.com.au., 2019). It was then when she had to face
racial discrimination and sexual harassment in the organization. The accused openly targeted her
and made any sexual comments upon her in the workplace. In fact the skills of Ms Oyo were also
compared to that of a monkey by her supervisor and this term is basically used as a racial epithet.
According to Ms Oyo the bank has continuously harassed her since then. However, the accused
said that she did not have any proof with herself. He even said that when asked to discuss about
the event she said started discussing about various other events that happened to her during her
college life and was not discussing about the main issue. A lawyer was employed by the accused
and he asked a few questions to Ms Oyo to which she was unable to give proper answers.
In this case, the management of the bank is faced with an ethical dilemma as whatever
decision it will make it will have an impact on their reputation and public image and will also
affect their actions (Kaptein, 2017). If the bank makes a decision in favour of Ms Oyo who is the
salesperson, they will lose one of the experienced supervisor of the company and its activities
may get affected. If the company takes any decision in favour of the accused then its public

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image will be hampered as the case details and information have reached the media (Schwartz,
2017). In this situation the company can arrive at a solution by understanding the situation
properly and by hearing to both the parties personally, gathering all relevant facts and
information related to the issue, the company will also look after their duties and obligations in
such situations if any such situation has occurred previously, understanding the interest of both
the values and the values of the two parties has to be understood by the company. An action plan
needs to be developed accordingly and that plan needs to be implemented by the management
and the last stage includes reflecting upon the decision of the organization (Lefkowitz, 2017).
PART B: SCRIPT DEVELOPMENT
The main ethical dilemma being faced by the ANZ Bank is that according to one of the
employees, she has been faced with racial discrimination and also sexual harassment in her
workplace and her skills have been referred to as that of a money which is also sometimes used
as a synonym of racial discrimination. She has also been subjected to sexual comments being
passed upon her. According to Ms. Oyo, she is still being harassed by the company on grounds
that she is being asked questions related to her personal life and she has recently written an open
letter to the company’s board of directors which according to her is still making her embarrassed.
She said in her letter that the company has failed to take any responsibility for its senior
employees action, and is instead taking every opportunity to intimidate her in response to her
decision of filing a lawsuit against the company. Instead of focusing or giving any attention to
the claims made by her, the company is trying to embarrass every sensitive matters of her life.
That is also one of the major reasons that she had to write an open letter to the company because
many people and companies use this tactics against the company to embarrass all those women
who stand for their rights. This is also a major reason that the companies are not being able to

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provide equality to women. The high positioned employee on the other hand believed that Ms
Oyo did not have any reason to prove the claims as true and when she was being asked about the
way she was harassed she could not give any answer which according to the high positioned
employee showed the company that he was not wrong because she was unable to explain the
situation. The company now is in an ethical situation because it has to take a decision and it is
unable to decide who is correct and who is not. Taking a decision that is in favor of any of the
two parties will impact them and the image of the organization negatively.
The stakeholders involved in this case are Ms. Oyo or the victim, the high positioned
employee or the accused, the management that has to take a correct decision and the lawyer of
the high positioned employee. Ms. Oyo was working as a sales person in the foreign exchange
department and therefore she has right to a workplace where there is no discrimination of
employees and where they can work safely. Being an employee she can negatively affect the
organization by influencing others also. The accused or the high positioned employee is working
as the supervisor of the company and even he has a right of being heard and therefore the
management should not take any decision without giving both the parities a chance of being
heard. He is a senior high positioned employee therefore the management has to think twice
before firing him because they will have to bear many expenses to fill in his position and also to
train the new staff. The lawyer of the senior employee has an interest in protecting the image of
both the company and of the high positioned employee because he is appointed for this purpose.
The management’s interest in this case will be to take such a decision which will not be incorrect
on part of both the parties.
The reasons and the rationalizations and the arguments

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First reason and rationalization and counter argument:
High-positioned employee: Calling Ms. Oyo’s skill as that of a monkey is not such a big issue
and it was said jokingly
Counter argument: No jokes should be made that even hints any form of racial discrimination
and that hurts the sentiments of people.
Second reason and rationalization:
Lawyer: How was the harassment that you said happened with you actually carried out. Describe
briefly.
Counter argument: no form of personal questions should be asked that further causes discomfort
to the employee.
Third reason and rational and counter argument:
Lawyer: Has any such event of harassment happened with you previously and show me your
medical reports of the last five years
Counter argument: It is just a tactics to stop a woman from raising her voice in front of everyone.
In order to influence the people with whom I disagree, I would say that both the parties
should be given a chance to be heard but irrespective of that fact any inappropriate comment or
any comment related to racism should not be made in a company that has a code of conduct of
behaving appropriately and further the lawyer should have asked the victim only professional
questions and not any personal questions. However, the victim was asked many personal
questioned that further intimidated and embarrassed her.

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The most powerful and persuasive response to all the rationalizations and reasons was
made by Ms. Oyo who decided to stand up for her rights and filed a lawsuit against the company
and when she wrote an open letter to the directors of the company. Therefore it can also be said
that she applied the framework of giving voice to values. The GVV framework or the giving
voice to values framework, is a value driven approach. It helps in enhancing the values of people
by being morally aware of the same, taking moral decisions, having a moral intent and taking a
moral action. The framework helps in voicing the values such that the deeply held convictions of
what is right and wrong can be changed. This is what happened in the case of Ms. Oyo, she could
have kept quiet like any other employee and kept her employment. However she decided to stand
up for values not considering the consequences and that is when she got fired from her job
because she raised her voice against all the unethical activities carried out in the company as
compared to her peers who decided to keep quiet.
The seven main pillars of the giving voice to value framework is that of Values,
normalization, choice, purpose, self-knowledge and alignment, reasons and rationalizations and
voice. The GVV framework begins with the way a person raises the issue that is challenging
their values, in this case the employee raised her voice from the first day however no response
was given to her and then she decided to file a lawsuit and write and open letter to the company
directors. She made a self-assessment of her sense of purpose with that of the company and
identified that she could not move ahead in her life with her values being violated. She gave a
counter argument to every reason and rationalization she was faced with. Many people from the
same department decided to remain quite but she did not agree to that and made a counter
argument to everything she was being asked for. She also got many feedbacks from her
colleagues and peers but that did not affect her. By making application of the giving voice to

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values framework, Ms. Oyo helped the management take a correct decision because firstly she
brought this issue to the notice of the management who would not have known that such an event
is taking place in the organization had Ms. Oyo not spoken up. In fact according to different
reports the management of the ANZ was unaware of the entire situation of discrimination against
Ms. Oyo and moreover the management was unaware of the questions asked to her by the high
positioned employee’s lawyer to protect the image of the company and to suppress her voice. By
making use of the framework, Ms. Oyo helped the organization in protection of interest of the
employees and helped the employees to a safe environment that is free from any form of
discrimination and from any other ethical scenarios.
Figure1: The GVV process
Source: (de Camargo et al., 2017)
From the above diagram, it can be understood that the process of GVV starts with
identification of the ethical issue, the next step includes identification of purpose in the voicing

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the values, the 3rd step includes analysis of the interest of the stakeholders involved in the
scenario. The next step is creation of a powerful response to all responses and rationalization. In
the final stage an individual is required to decide how they will respond and what will they use as
counter arguments. This process was first applied by Ms. Oyo who further helped the company
take a decision that is acceptable to all and also helps in the protection of the interest of the
people. Therefore Ms. Oyo helped the organization by following the GVV process. She
identified the ethical dilemma that was being faced by her that is to wither stand up for her
values and voice the same or to continue with her job. She decided to stand up for her values
because she knew that she could not continue working with such unethical activities being
carried out in the organization. She recognized the stakeholders in this scenario and she created a
powerful response in this scenario and she finally made a counter argument against all the
rationalizations and reasons. She further helped the management to take a decision in the
unethical dilemma faced by the organization. Therefore the organization also made application
of the GVV framework in order to reach a solution to the ethical dilemma faced by it and with
the interest of so many people being involved in the same and also form a strong response to the
situation.
PART C: ROLE PLAY TRANSCRPIT
Participants:-
Ms Oyo: The victim or the ethical party
Mr X or High Positioned employee: The accused or the party who carried out unethical
practices
The lawyer or Mr L: Appointed by the high positioned employee or the unethical party

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The management Representative: has to take a decision
The narrator: Narrate the entire scenario
Scenario or background: an unethical activity has taken place in the company by one of the
high-positioned employees and the victim decided to raise her voice instead of staying quiet and
the management is required to take a correct decision in order to save its image and also to
protect the interest of all the shareholders.
The narrator: Good morning everyone! Today we will be seeing the ethical dilemma being
faced by the ANZ bank management and the decision that is going to be taken by it to solve the
dilemma and to protect the interest of the interested parties.
The management representative: Good morning Ms Oyo and Mr X and Mr L. I hope you both
are well aware of the situation that our company is being faced with presently and how it has
become so necessary for us to reach a decision as soon as possible before the public losses their
trust on us.
Ms Oyo: Good morning Sir. Yes sir I am well aware of the situation.
Mr X: Good morning sir. Yes sir even I am well aware of the situation.
Mr L: Good morning sir. Yes sir I have already seen the headlines.
The narrator: As we see the company is being faced by with much pressure from all the
stakeholders to take a decision and how its image can be damaged by any wrong decision. Let’s
continue with the play.

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Management representative: Today we are here such that both of you can get a chance of being
heard and so I will be listening to both of you and Mr L as well.
Ms Oyo: Ok sir.
Mr X: Ok.
Mr Y: Ok.
Management representative: Ms Oyo you were the sales person of the foreign exchange
department of the organization right?
Ms Oyo: Yes sir I was the sales person of the foreign exchange department.
Management representative: Ms Oyo can you please tell me what was happening with you in
the workplace and did you approach any of your seniors regarding the same issue?
Ms Oyo: Sure sir. I was working as the salesperson of the foreign exchange department when the
incident happened. I was harassed by my supervisor with the use of inappropriate sexual
comments and my skills were also compared to that of a monkey that is also used racial epithet.
Initially I kept quite because of other employees and they had accepted the same. However I
could not work in an environment where I felt ashamed of myself and I was being discriminated
for my colour and also harassed. I started feeling unsafe. I even approached many of my seniors
with the same complaint however my claims were not taken seriously and I was told that those
commitments would have been passed jokingly. That is the main reason I had to file a lawsuit
because I was not being heard by any of my seniors. I was even fired for raising my voice and
for filing the lawsuit.

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Management representative: I am really sorry you had to face so much of problem and we will
be taking a decision as soon as possible. We did not have any information that such incidents
were taking place in our organization. Do you want to say anything more Ms. Oyo?
Ms Oyo: Yes sir.
Management representative: Please go ahead.
Ms Oyo: I was asked various personal questions by Mr L and in many cases I was unable to
answer his questions because it was too personal. He used it as defence and said that I was
unable to say anything because no such incident had occurred and also said that I have a habit of
thinking too much about the situations that occurred with me when there is nothing to think
about.
Management representative: I feel really guilty that our corporate lawyer asked you such
questions and told you such things. Thank you for discussing your issue with us.
Ms Oyo: Thank you sir.
The narrator: Here we can see that the employee or Ms Oyo made use of the GVV framework
to voice her values and to stand up against all the unethical practices taking place in the
organization and decided to even lose her job but not to withstand such unethical practices taking
place in the organization irrespective of all the reasons and rationalizations she was faced with.
Management representative: Mr X can you please explain the entire scenario to me that has
happened in the workplace?
Mr X: Sure sir. I have a habit of joking around with my subordinates such that they do not feel
pressurised and to change their mood. I did a joke with Ms Oyo as well but she took that

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seriously and therefore she thought that she was being targeted by me and was discriminated by
me and similarly maybe I had said something else about her and she took it in a writing way and
felt that I harassed her through my comments.
Management representative: Ok so you say that you were joking with her so do you know that
no racial epithet should be used jokingly also as you compared her skill to that of a monkey.
Mr X: I did not say it intentionally or to hurt her feelings and moreover she has no proof for the
same as she could not answer to many question that was asked by our corporate lawyer.
Management representative: Mr L can you please tell in details what all questions did you ask
Ms Oyo?
Mr L: I asked her a few questions related to her past and if she can describe any similar situation
that occurred with her in the past and she was unable to answer that which showed that no such
incident had taken place.
Management representative: Mr L I know you wanted were employed to protect the image of
one of our employees but why did you ask her personal questions when you could could have
asked her questions about her workplace. Why did you ask about her past or why did ask her
about her medical reports.
Mr L: I just wanted some information and that is why I asked for the same.
Management Representative: Mr L hopes you know that you and Mr X have broken our code
of conduct related to ethical behaviours by not informing the senior management before taking
any actions. This type of behaviour is unacceptable in our organization.

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The narrator: We can see here that the management applied the GVV framework here to
identify the ethical dilemma and the interest of parties concerned by listening to both the parties
for understanding the situation and for taking a decision.
Management representative (to both the parties): After listening to both of you views and
collecting all necessary information, it can be said that Mr X and Mr L have violated the code of
conduct of our company and though he is an important member of our organization, we will have
to fire Mr X for carrying out unethical practices in the organization.
The narrator: we can see that the management understood its value of carrying ethical activities
in the organization and took an ethical decision though it has to lose one of its best employee of
the organization because the code of conduct is same for all.

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References
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