Report on Ethics, Sustainability, and Business Practices at J&J

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the ethical and sustainability practices of Johnson & Johnson (J&J). It begins with an introduction to the company, its Credo, and the importance of ethics in its operations, exploring topics like corporate culture, consumer confidence, and financial liabilities. The report then assesses J&J's alignment with ethical imperatives within its industry, referencing the company's Credo and its responses to crises, such as the Tylenol incident, and lawsuits. It also examines the global relevance and ramifications of J&J's ethical considerations, including alternative perspectives derived from various cultural and ethical theories like Utilitarianism and Deontology. Furthermore, the report delves into employee experiences, offering recommendations to improve communication and celebrate successes. Finally, it reviews J&J's business and human resource practices, including activities, rewards, training, and hiring, concluding with an overview of how ethical reasoning and best practices contribute to the company's success and societal impact.

ETHICS AND
SUSTAINABILITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1 – IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS FOR JOHNSON & JOHNSON .....................................1
TASK 2 - ALIGNMENT WITH THE ETHICAL IMPERATIVES WITHIN ITS INDUSTRY.. .2
TASK 3- GLOBAL RELEVANCE AND RAMIFICATIONS / ALTERNATIVE
PERSPECTIVES.............................................................................................................................3
TASK 4 -EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE & RECOMMENDATIONS.............................................4
TASK 5 - BUSINESS AND HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES ...............................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Johnson & Johnson is an America based multinational company which deals in medical
devices, customer package goods and pharmaceuticals. It has approximately 120,000 employees
and operates in 57 countries (Johnson & Johnson 2018). The company’s Credo, values and code
of conduct (Johnson & Johnson 2017) is discussed throughout this essay; alongside the
importance of ethics and how they relate.
TASK 1 – IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS FOR JOHNSON & JOHNSON
Organisation ethics are the procedures, culture and policies of doing the right things in
the situation of controversial and difficult issues (Tawney 2017). Organisational practices and
ethical issues are important for an organisation such as Johnson & Johnson in the present world
of social media that highly influence reputation or goodwill of a business. The various
importance of ethics for the chosen company can be describes as below -1. Positive corporate culture – Johnson and Johnson is devoting resources to develop
processes and policies that motivate ethical actions that help in building a positive
corporate or working culture in the organisation (Leipziger, 2017). Morale of team
members improves when they feel protected against retaliation for individual beliefs.
These policies include open door policies, equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory
that assist growth and development (Heinrich, Habron and Goralnik, 2015). The
employees feel good and secure while working in an organisation. They develop
effectiveness and efficiency in their work, leading towards high performance of
company(Visser & Tolhurst 2017).2. Consumer confidence – Another importance of ethics in Johnson & Johnson includes
confidence among the consumers. The organisation can retain consumer loyalty by
performing ethical practices that depend upon honesty and fair marketing methods to the
overall selling procedure. Therefore, ethics can assist company to build confidence
among the employees to achieve success in long run (Lee and Steers, 2017).3. Reduced financial liabilities – Johnson & Johnson needs to maintain processes and
policies to avoid any type of discrimination or harassment within workplace. It can
reduce any kind of financial liabilities such as accusations or harassment claims that can
highly affect the health of business and owners of a company (Heald, 2018). It can avoid
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any kind of negative impact on the financial condition of Johnson and Johnson as well as
assit in maintaining effective chas flow in the organisation. As Johnson and Johnson is a
multinational company financial liabilities can also negatively affect its repuation and
brand image.
.Although, there are effective policies for ethics and values individuals often gets into
conflicts becasue of communication gaps, impartial dristibution of rewards (Chatterjee, 2017).
TASK 2 - ALIGNMENT WITH THE ETHICAL IMPERATIVES WITHIN ITS INDUSTRY.
Johnson & Johnson (2007) company works according to Credo, the management
document introduced more than 60 years ago by former chairman Robert Wood Johnson. The
overarching approach or philosophy that guides the company is its credo which is deeply held
with set value that have served the moral and strategic compass for generations of the
organisation's employees and leaders (Swanson, 2018).
Johnson and Johnson (2017) has adopted various approaches to align with its ethical
imperatives in the Cedo. The Credo of Johnson & Johnson's(J&J) states that the company
believes that their first and most crucial responsibility is towards the doctors, patients and nurses,
also to all others who use their products & services (Johnson & Schaltegger 2016). Nevertheless,
J&J had a crisis where consumers died from taking Tylenol extra strength tablets (Benson 1988).
Following this J&J aligned their Creedo to deal with the crisis. Nevertheless, have had many
lawsuits that claim that the health and safety of consumers were not being considered and the
companies Creedo and values was not followed (Mintz 2011).
Another example; another industry ethical imperative is the right of consumer to be
informed. Johnson & Johnson(2017) clearly states through their credo, value and conduct
statement that they give high priority to the consumers of their products, each and every products
offered by the company has transparent information regarding the usage and ingredients of the
products (Painter-Morland and Dobie, 2014). Nevertheless, one of the major lawsuits against
J&J where clear transparent communication about metals being shed into patients’ bloodstream
from metal hip implants failed. This is another example where J&J did not follow their own
Creedo.
Another ethical imperative is protecting human rights (Eisenhauer & Wynaden,2001) The values
and conducts of Johnson & Johnson highly relies upon policies regarding human rights and
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protection. The company avoid producing or selling any kind of product that can harm a
consumer in any form.Yet, as per the example above, products still harmed consumers.
 Employees protection – Johnson and Johnson follows policies related to employees are
highly protective with respect to employees rights such as discrimination, harassment etc
(Sarkar 2017).
 To align with this, one of the company’s strategic initiatives is to deliver training for their
staff. Training is an ethical imperative in the industry (Ziv et al. 2003).
 From the above examples, it is evident that J&J puts in place many written sentiments to
align with industry imperatives. Nevertheless, are not able to follow through and keep to
their credo at all times.
TASK 3- GLOBAL RELEVANCE AND RAMIFICATIONS / ALTERNATIVE
PERSPECTIVES
Johnson & Johnson (2017) is an organisation of enduring strength, the management of
the company believes that they are privileged to play a significant role in assisting millions of
people all around the world to stay well through a century of change. This change is associated
with the global environment it plays in. Even more so, its changes that impacts on a much larger
scale due to technology (Châlons and Dufft, 2017). There are many other changes that are
impacted by the global environment; for example, the growth in science of well-being and
human health, Johnson and Johnson (2018) has grown itself to meet the current needs and
demands of the people.
Alternative perspectives of ethics and corporate social responsibilities are derived from different
cultures in different locations (Donaldson & Dunfee 1999). There are various theories on the
basis of which perception for ethics can be developed. These differences in perspectives may
create an issue or problem for the company leading towards improper achievement of its
business goals (Swanson, 2018). These ethical theoretical perspective in the global environment
include: Utilitarianism – It is a prominent perspective on ethics and CSR states that it is well
aligned with the free market outlook and economics which is dominating current thinking
about management, business and economics (Goetzel and et.al., 2012). Johnson and
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Johnson is a company that produces ethical goods such as skin and health care products
that means that it follows Utilitarianism theory. Rules and Duty: Deontology This perspective believes that ethical actions are raised
from doing one's duties which are well defined rational ideas. Duties are not particular to
an individual, there are owned to each and every human being (Swanson 2018). Johnson
and Johnson motivate each and every employee to perform his or her role ethically with
respect to the well-being of their customers.
 Social Justice Theory & Social Contract Theory – This concept or perspective focuses
on distributive justice which refers to the fair method or way for distribution goods
among a group of individuals or customers (Yigitcanlar, 2015). Johnson and Johnson has
established stores in different countries along with strong suppliers in order to make their
products available to the customers easily.
All the above theories determined that there are various theories on the basis of which
perception for ethics can be developed. These differences in perspectives may create an issue or
problem for Johnson and Johnson leading towards improper achievement of its business goals
(Swanson, 2018).
TASK 4 -EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE & RECOMMENDATIONS
As an employee, it can be stated that Johnson & Johnson provides a good working
environment to their employees. It has been observed by the employees that the organisation
takes care of employees and ensures that they do not face any kind of discrimination or
harassment while working in the company (Paap, 2018).
A leader's perspective on Ethics, -company's group chairman Nick states an example
regarding how Johnson and Johnson's values their business by motivating transparent discussion
and believe responsibilities towards patients, employees and communities. He also talked about
why it is crucial to build an ethical culture in the Johnson and Johnson and advised to the current
and potential leaders to create an ethical culture and be authentic (Ozminkowski and et.al.,
2012). J&J have invested millions of dollars on ongoing redesigned initiatives to increase
employee’s health and wellbeing. This has been suggested to have added to the long-term
sustainability of J&J and the positive experience of the employees (Goetzel et al. 2002). There
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are two main recommendations which can help Johnson and Johnson to improve employee’s
experiences such as -
Communication –Johnson and Johnson can give more energy in improving communication in
between various levels of the management. It can motivate employees to work more effectively
(Herzberg, 2017).
Celebration – Achieving goals and objectives of the business is essential for Johnson and
Johnson but along with this, it should also celebrate success with the employees to boost their
morale (Zsolnai, 2015).
The above recommendations are very important for Johnson and Johnson because
communication is important to share information and ideas essential for decision-making. On the
other hand celebration can help in motivating employees which is also an important element for
improving productivity and performance.
TASK 5 - BUSINESS AND HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES
In order to deliver value to their customers, patients, care providers, employees and
communities, company needs to learn the ways to manage the risks experiences across their
companies (Deresky, 2017).
Conducting activities
Johnson and Johnson can conduct various activities such as games, parties to motivate or
encourage employees. It is an effective way to relieve stress among the employees as it helps in
bringing fun in work (Bolman and Deal, 2017). On the other hand it can be a issue or challenge
for Johnson and Johnson due to cultural differences and beliefs employees can get into a conflict
situation while performing a activity (Borgatti, Everett and Johnson, 2018).
Rewards or Incentives
Johnson & Johnson can also provide rewards and incentives to their employees for good
performance. It helps in boosting the employees to work more efficiently as they are being
rewarded for the same (Borkowski, Welsh and Kristin, 2010). There is also a negtaive part of
this practice by Johnson and Johnson, it requires continuos flow of income and inequal
dristibution of rewards can give rise to conflicts (HOW FIRMS SHAPE INCOME
INEQUALITY, 2017).
Training and development
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Another effective recommendation for Johnson and Johnson that can enhance employee’s
experience is providing training to the employees. It can help them to learn and increase their
knowledge or skills (Thompson, 2017). Training and development also require funds and
resrouces that is effectively done by Johnson and Johnson.
Hiring the right people
Hiring the right management will help with the issues J&J are having with following their Credo
and Values. Highly skilled, talented and rigth peope can assist the company to create
colloboration, effectiveness and efficiency in the business functions as well as it can help to
impvoe business perfromance of Johnson and Johnson(Borkowski, Welsh and Kristin, 2010)
CONCLUSION
The overall report concluded that Johnson and Johnson's vision is not only reflected
through Credo, but it also boosts at every stage by adopting the best practices within
organisation. Company also proved that ethical reasoning in this world of business can assist an
organisation to expand. Moreover, Johnson & Johnson's Tylenol case proved that a business has
the potential to impact the society positively by having commitment to a framework created of
values.
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