MGT301A Ethics Report: Evaluating Sustainability at Coles Australia

This report provides an analysis of the ethical and sustainability issues within Coles, a major retail organization. It identifies key challenges such as leadership ethics, workplace discrimination, and the maintenance of ethical codes of conduct. The report reflects on how ethical frameworks can shape future workplace behavior, emphasizing the importance of professional ethics, senior management influence, corporate governance structures, and organizational culture. It explores how ethical codes of conduct can foster a more ethical culture within organizations. The analysis draws upon various sources to provide a comprehensive overview of the ethical landscape at Coles and offers insights into promoting ethical practices and sustainability in the retail sector. Desklib provides students with access to this and many other solved assignments.

Running head: ETHICS
Ethics
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Summary of issues and frameworks............................................................................................................3
Reflection on future workplace behavior.....................................................................................................3
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
Reference list...............................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The report is prepared to discuss about the various ethical economic, commercial, social
or environmental issues experienced at the organization within the retail sector. There will be
various ways or approaches to deal with the issues and ensure that the proper ethical standards
are maintained. The topic will illustrate how the behaviors of individuals will be influenced to
create a positive ethical culture, furthermore maintain good corporate governance and utilize the
good leadership skills properly (coles.com.au, 2018).
Summary of issues and frameworks
One of the major ethical issues at Coles was the lack of leadership qualities in the leader,
who exhibited unethical behaviors, because of which, there was lack of motivation and
encouragement. The employees felt less interested in carrying out their roles and responsibilities,
which further hindered the management of business operations and even questioned the ability of
the leader to manage the workforce. The ethical social issues could be the emergence of
discrimination within the workplace, due to which, some of the team members were not treated
equally and even felt less interested to perform their tasks. This often leads to social isolation and
the culture of the workplace gets deteriorated as well (Menzel, 2014). There were issues
regarding maintenance of codes of conduct and ethics, which further deteriorated the culture.
Due to the presence of an inappropriate culture, the working environment deteriorated and
created difficulties for the employees perform to their potential too.

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Reflection on future workplace behavior
How might you change your behaviour in the future based on what you have learned about
the two ethical frameworks?
After learning about the two ethical framework, I think I am more likely to assess and
address the things that are actually ethical and the ones that are not. I shall work properly as an
individual by creating responsible organizations and businesses and make my society a lot more
ethical. It has provided me a wide set of standards for my behaviors which would further help me
in deciding how I ought to take actions in a wide range of situations. I shall make use of
utilitarian ethical framework for making decision through considering the good and the bas
aspects about it that might emerge (Verschoor, 2013). I shall never practice discrimination in the
workplace in order to ensure that there is no lack of proper management of an organizational
culture that would further deteriorate the working conditions and would also affect the workplace
behavior.
How does your professional ethics influence how you might behave?
My professional ethics will determine what I believe about morality and the right and the
wrongs in my workplace. It will influence me in several ways so that I could prevent my
behavior which would not fall in line with the mission and objectives of my company. It will
help to keep in compliance with the laws and the regulations of the organization and maintain a
code of ethics. It also impacts my decisions on certain level (Weber & Wasieleski, 2013). With
the same, my professional ethics and my ethical behavior will also benefit my career and would
improve my working environment. It could help me in developing my own effective working
habits at the same time.

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How might the behaviour of senior management influence your behaviour?
The senior management needs to have a very good leadership quality and competencies
within them. This is because of the fact that their behavior determines how long the employees
will be productive. He must always motivate me and should treat everyone with due respect and
equally so that I can find him approachable and feel that I am important and needed in the
organisation. In this way I will be more interested in giving productive work (Samnani, Salamon
& Singh, 2014). The ethical environmental action could produce the best good and create lesser
negative impacts on me, which might again impact the business negatively. The managers must
prioritize on their own behavior and the behaviors of employees to make sure that they are
managed well and provided with necessary benefits.
How might corporate governance structures influence your behaviour?
The corporate governance structure would determine my duration of employment in an
organization. This is because it is something that will encompass several issues such as my
rights, internal control, the social responsibility of the business as well as it manage transparency
as well. I will help me in accelerating my performance in my organisation (Khan, Muttakin &
Siddiqui, 2013). These major characteristics will not only assist in influencing my behaviors, but
will also help me in maintaining a good workforce where I will be able to work in coordination
and as a team through a shared vision, mission and objectives. If I find that I am given my rights
as an employee and if the company ensures ethical practices in the organisation, I am likely to go
for a long term plan with that organisation.
How might the culture of the organisation influence your behaviour?

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With the presence of a positive work culture, I will feel more interested and at the same
time, work with cooperation and as an unit to achieve the desired goals within the allocated time
frame. The lack of management of proper behaviors among the employees was another ethical
issue, which deteriorated the working environment and tasks were not delegated properly to them
as well (Khan, Muttakin & Siddiqui, 2013).
How can ethical codes of conduct be used by organisations to create an ethical culture in
organisations?
By following the ethics and codes of conduct, it will be much more convenient to make
the employees aware of the laws and rules that shall be followed (Dion, 2017). They will also be
cautious about not committing any unethical behavior that can make them face penalty of
permanent termination from the organization.
Conclusion
From the topic, it could be understood that there were several ethical issues that created a
bad impact on the culture and working environment of the organization and had been focused on.
The issues were needed to be managed for influencing the future workplace behavior as well as
for ensuring that a proper workplace culture should be maintained in the future. The various
approaches that would be undertaken included proper management of professional ethic and
codes of conduct, managing corporate governance and ensuring that the employees were
provided with adequate information and training for facilitating the behaviors of employees
within the workplace of Coles, Australia.

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Reference list
coles.com.au. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.coles.com.au/
DesJardins, J. R. (2014). An introduction to business ethics. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Dion, M. (2017). Corporate citizenship as an ethic of care: corporate values, codes of ethics and
global governance. In Perspectives on corporate citizenship (pp. 118-138).
Khan, A., Muttakin, M. B., & Siddiqui, J. (2013). Corporate governance and corporate social
responsibility disclosures: Evidence from an emerging economy. Journal of business
ethics, 114(2), 207-223.
Menzel, D. C. (2014). Ethics management for public administrators: Building organizations of
integrity.
Samnani, A. K., Salamon, S. D., & Singh, P. (2014). Negative affect and counterproductive
workplace behavior: The moderating role of moral disengagement and gender. Journal of
Business ethics, 119(2), 235-244.
Verschoor, C. C. (2013). Ethical behavior differs among generations: a new study shows that the
ethical behavior of younger workers differs from that of older generations. Business
leaders should strengthen their ethics and compliance programs to address these
differences. Strategic Finance, 95(2), 11-14.
Weber, J., & Wasieleski, D. M. (2013). Corporate ethics and compliance programs: A report,
analysis and critique. Journal of business ethics, 112(4), 609-626.