Coastal Medical Center: Ethics Committee's Role in Strategic Planning

This memorandum addresses the role of the Ethics Committee in the strategic planning process at Coastal Medical Center (CMC). It begins by emphasizing the importance of ethics in strategic planning, highlighting how ethical considerations impact customer and employee satisfaction, production, and safety. The memo then analyzes a case study where CMC's strategic plan to cut employee duty hours raises ethical concerns due to the lack of employee consultation and potential financial impacts. The author identifies this as a key ethical issue and calls for the Ethics Committee to intervene. Furthermore, the memorandum applies biblical principles, including solidarity, the principle of work and workers (beneficence and non-maleficence), and rights and duties, to the ethical dilemma, arguing that CMC has a responsibility to protect employee rights, provide information, and consider their opinions. The memo concludes by requesting the Ethics Committee to take action to address the ethical concerns raised by the strategic plan.

Running head: ETHICS COMMITTEE OF COASTAL MEDICAL CENTER
MEMO TO ETHICS COMMITTEE OF COASTAL MEDICAL CENTER
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ETHICS COMMITTEE OF COASTAL MEDICAL CENTER
DATE:
TO: The Ethics Committee of Coastal Medical Center
FROM: Healthcare Strategic Development Team
SUBJECT: Role of Ethics Committee in Strategic Development
A strategic planning is used for developing plans that will help a particular
organisation to achieve success in a particular field of focus, such as better production, client
satisfaction, employee satisfaction or various others. A strategic plan is a well-developed
plan, in which various important factors including both the positive and the negative factors
are considered in depth prior to the plan development. The consideration of ethics is one of
those important factors that should be considered prior to a strategic plan development
(Rothaermel, 2016). It is very important for an organisation to follow the ethics from both the
social and moral perspective. The ethical consideration helps in maintaining the moral
standards of an organisation, which is closely related with customer and employee
satisfaction, better production yield and various safety practice including the financial and
legal safety. The ethical consideration involves protection of the rights of both the employees
and the customers, consideration of all the stakeholders, providing truthful information to
both the employees and the customers, treating everyone with proper respect and integrity,
meeting all the promises, respecting the autonomy of both the customers and the employees
and various others. The other advantages of considering the business ethics, while developing
a strategic plan involve a better reputation of the organisation and the avoidance of the
unnecessary legal and financial issues (Smith, 2017).
The strategic plan to increase the profit of CMC, the leaders decided to cut the duty
hours of the employees into short. When this planning is being considered, there is no
mention of discussing this whole plan with all the employees. The planning involves reducing
the duty hours of the workers, which would surely be affecting their financial conditions as

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there will be a deduction in their salaries (Docs.google.com, 2020). There should be an
effective communication between the strategy development team and the workers. The
communication session must include a brief explanation of the situation to the employees and
asking them to provide their opinions on this matter. According to the ethics it is a duty of
any organisation to share honest information with their employees and customers and not
holding any information back. It is also necessary for an organisation to consider the
necessities of their employees along with their thoughts and opinions, especially when they
are one of the main stakeholders of a particular strategic plan (Docs.google.com, 2020).
Hence, this can be identified as an important ethical issue in this strategic planning. This
memorandum to the ethical committee is to bring the problem into your notice. By this
memo, we request you to take necessary actions against this ethical issue.
The biblical principles that can be applied to this ethical issue are the principle of
solidarity, the principle of work and workers and finally the principle of right and duties.
According to the principle of solidarity people have mutual and physical responsibility
towards others, which is to protect the devotion of one human towards the other (Guitián,
2015). When considered from an organizational perspective, the organisation have a
responsibility towards their employees to protect their rights and conditions. One of those
rights include the right to the proper information. The employees must be informed properly
prior to cutting their duty hours into short. The second principle that is applicable to this
matter is the principle of work and workers. This principle involves two main principles,
which are the principle of beneficence and the principle of non-maleficence. According to
these principles the workers must not be subjected to any harm and their welfare should
always be in the main focus of their employers. They should not be denied any of their rights
(Sison, Ferrero & Guitián, 2016). This strategy adapted by the strategic team of CMC, will be
lowering the salaries of the workers. Even though it is a necessary requirement to lower the

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expenditure in that particular field, the employees have the right to give their opinions on the
matter. They have the right to suggest other solutions to solve this issue. Mostly, they have
the right to be communicated properly about the condition of their employer organisation.
The last biblical principle that can be applied to this matter is the principle of right and duties.
According to this principle, anyone has a duty to protect the rights of the others (Moyn,
2015). In this case the organisation, CMC, has a duty to protect the rights of their employees,
which is the right to access proper information.

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References:
Docs.google.com. (2020). Coastal Medical Center Comprehensive Case Study.pptx.
Retrieved 28 February 2020, from https://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxyZWJlY2NhanRheWxvcnRpbGx
lcnl8Z3g6Mjk5ODk3NDY1MzNiMzFmNA
Guitián, G. (2015). Service as a bridge between ethical principles and business practice: A
Catholic social teaching perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 128(1), 59-72.
Moyn, S. (2015). Christian human rights. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Rock, M. J., & Degeling, C. (2015). Public health ethics and more-than-human
solidarity. Social Science & Medicine, 129, 61-67.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2016). Strategic management: concepts (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
Sison, A. J. G., Ferrero, I., & Guitián, G. (2016). Human dignity and the dignity of work:
Insights from Catholic social teaching. Business Ethics Quarterly, 26(4), 503-528.
Smith, R. D. (2017). Strategic planning for public relations. Routledge.