Code of Conduct: A Report on National Australia Bank (MBA402)

This report provides a detailed analysis of the Code of Conduct for the National Australia Bank (NAB), addressing key aspects of governance, ethics, and sustainability. The report examines the NAB's approach to crucial issues including discrimination, exploitation, corruption, dishonest and fraudulent behavior, and whistleblower protections. It highlights the company's existing policies and proposes recommendations for strengthening the Code of Conduct, ensuring ethical business practices, and fostering a positive work environment. The report also includes a review of the NAB's code of conduct, emphasizing the importance of compliance, transparency, and building trust with customers and stakeholders. The analysis incorporates relevant academic references and recent news articles to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter, fulfilling the requirements of the MBA402 course assignment.

Running head: GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
National Australia bank is one of the largest financial institution in the country Australia in
terms of earning, customers and capitalisation step in terms of market capitalisation National
Australia bank has ranked 21st largest in the world. This organisation has different divisions
in which it operates. These divisions include business banking, personal banking, UBank,
NAB and MLC Wealth in Australia. It operates NZ Banking in New Zealand and wholesale
banking, corporate functions and specialised group assets for the global market. National
Australia bank is a large user of Siebel and Teradata CRM systems. In 2009, this organisation
became the largest fair trade accredited work place in Australia (Nab.com.au 2019). The
company has a very strong and in depth code of conduct based on which the company has set
the rules and regulations for working ethically and asks the members of the organisation to
abide by those. The code of conduct of this company is well defined and easy for
understanding. This code of conduct helps it to survive in this competitive world of business
and fulfil the demand of the customers in Australia, New Zealand and all over the world
where ever it is operating currently. the code of conduct give the company a scope for
earning trust of the customers as well as the other stakeholders including employees because
this places the organisation to be transparent in its functioning. Thus the code of conduct
helps to build compliance and gives extra leverage for the growth. National Australia Bank
has been working in the economic market of the world along with Australia and New
Zealand. Therefore they need to make sure that all their transactions are error free and ethical.
The code of conduct of National Australia Bank is divided into five categories like
discrimination, exploitation, corruption, dishonest and fraudulent behaviour, whistle blower
protections and enforcement.
A. Discrimination
Discrimination is an act of differentiation among the individuals on the basis of race, gender,
religion, economic status, physical and mental abilities, culture, skin tone and social status

2GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
(Stone and Carlisle 2018). In the work place there are instances of harassment among the
employees on the above-mentioned basis. This incidents may take place among the
employees of same level and by the higher authorities to the ground level employee’s. there
are instances of inequality and discrimination where the management show inequality among
the employees on the basis of gender discrimination that result in the male worker higher
salary than women staffs. In the recruitment process and the performance appraisal
discrimination has been shown clearly. The management for the human resource Department
often discrimination in preferring the candidates of their own race then the other. This is
somehow related to the racial discrimination and discrimination on the basis of culture and
ethnicity. In performance appraisal also the employees of other culture or nationality often do
not get proper support from the management then there counterparts (Agrawal et al. 2018).
The denial of performance promotion to the aboriginal community employees can be an
instance by the management of Australian companies. There are discriminations among the
indigenous and non-indigenous .s where the employee belonging in minority groups do not
get exposure in the organisation despite having skills and capabilities (Langner 2018). These
are the reasons why National Australia Bank needs to promote a positive and dependable
work culture where the duty of the employees will be follow the standards set by Australian
Banking Association in eliminating issues of discrimination. the NAB has focused on:
1. The recruitment process must be following proper standards of recruitment without
showing any preference to class caste religion and ethnicity.
2. No differentiation among the employees based on religion, gender, class, culture and
linguistic background will be entertained in the performance appraisal aspect.
3. Information has to be circulated among the department before any recruitment process
or appraisal.

3GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
4. The deserving employees will be given post and promotion on the basis of Australian
fair work act 2009.
5. The company management will ensure that they are giving equal opportunities to the
employees respective of their gender or cultural background
6. The management of the department will immediately take steps whenever an instance
of discrimination takes place so that there is no harm in the dependability and trust of
the employees on the organisational code of conduct and efficiency.
7. Any issues or Complaints against any manager or any employee in terms of bullying
or harassment both physical and mental will be punishable and tried by legal actions.
8. Through proper show of respect and understanding among the employees from
different culture and ethnicity the conflicts for instances of harassment will be
mitigated.
B. Exploitation
The exploitation refers to the act of treating the workers in an unfairly manner for the own
benefits of the individuals. Australia is a land of multicultural people who contribute a
large portion of Australia's labour force. In the workplace the instances of exploitation
has become quite common in Australia. This is due to the fact that the consciousness of
wealth gap and have become so important that at the ethical function of the companies in
terms of human resource management has become affected. Exploitation issues which are
practiced by the upper class people having strong economic power upon the poor or lower
level of the society (Meyer et al. 2016). Similar issues are seen in the workplace also.
Here the more powerful employees try to exploit the less powerful (Chan 2016). This can
be related to the exploitation in terms of work hour for sexual abuse. in many instances it
has been found that the male employees are the managers try to exploit the female
employees through sexual harassment which may often lead to blackmailing and torture.

4GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
In order to. all these problems the national Australia bank has strategize code of conduct
as follows-
1. Equal opportunity for the women under the workplace Act 1999, the racial and sex
discrimination act will be followed by the company properly
2. Happy Hours policy supported by the government of Australia that relates to the 8
hours job will be promoted
3. Making the employees working after their shift timing and pressurizing them for
working in the national holidays will be strictly prohibited
4. In case the employees needs to work on the holidays, the will have incentives and
extra payment
5. Every employee will be we having right to voice against exploitation if treated
unequally in the organisation.
6. The employees will have proper health facilities, accident coverage and insurance
policies supported by the company.
7. No claim of over work will be supported if there is no proper documentation or proof.
C. Corruption
Corruption is unethical activities and dishonest actions that the powerful persons in
the society indulge in. In the political parties they are leaders who engage in in corruption and
ultimately harm the interest of the common harm the interest of the common people (Chen
2017). In the organisational setting the employees can get engaged in the unfair actions that
affect the interest of the organisation in all inclusive manner. In some cases the managers get
engaged in in sharing some information vital for the interests of the company in return of
huge amount money or reward (Kisamore, Jawahar and Stone 2016). This can be done
physically or now in this advanced technological framework, digitally. The corruption level

5GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
effects the companies so much that it can lose the reputation in the market or ground of
competition. In the case of national Australia Bank the threat corruption is high as this
operates in the financial service industry. The bank managers can unethically take bribe and
sanction loans unjustifiably or leak personal information of the customers to destroy them
economically. The code of conduct focusing corruption is as followed
1. The company must follow the anti-bribery policy placed by the Australian
government and Australian Bank Association.
2. No employee must indulge in favouritism for that matter unethical communication or
action with the customers
3. The managers and ground level employees are accountable for the decisions and
actions they make to reduce corruption in the company
4. The employees must not participate in any illegal or unethical activity in leaking any
type of information of the customers to the third party.
5. No employees can take any gifts or monetary assistance from the clients for
professional reason.
D. Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour
Dishonest and fraudulent behaviour in the workplace include sharing the professional
information or the information of the clients to the other company’s third party, theft,
physical violence and lying to the higher authority on personal information after recruitment
(Houdek 2017). In the case of national Australia Bank dishonesty and fraudulent behaviour of
the employees can affect the company in a far reaching way. This is due to the fact that the
company is operating in the financial sector of the world. Therefore the clients put complete
faith on the operation of the company (Iyer and Samociuk 2016). In case the debit and credit
transactions get exposed, the reputation of the organisation along with the financial balance

6GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
will be harmed. Similarly is the personal details of the customers get exposed to the third
party they can extract funds from the victim’s account. Moreover it is easy for the employees
of national Australia Bank to steal money from the clients. Therefore this organisation has
developed a strong code of conduct in this respect.
1. No employee must explore the personal information of the client in anyway.
2. No manager can recruit any employee dishonestly on their personal choice.
3. No employee must share wrong information about his personal or professional life.
4. Any issues regarding third party involvement in sharing information will be tolerated.
5. Physical violence in the workplace will not be supported but will be punished on legal
ground.
E. Whistle-blower Protections
The whistle blowers are the persons who expose any type of information as well as activities
which seem to be illegal comma wrong and unethical within the organisations either public or
private. this type of persons work ok in the organisation like normal employees but report
about the valuation of company policies, regulation, law and threat to the client interest,
instances of corruption and fraudulent behaviour of the managers or other employees directly
to the higher authority (Wilson and Pender 2017). There are various laws which protect the
interest of the whistle blowers as they can face social stigma, legal actions against them,
criminal charges and termination from their job or position while they expose any unethical
within their workplace. The Australian government both state as well as Federal has initiated
whistle blower protection act. The eligibility of whistle blowers however depend upon the
requirement of the applicable regulations and the subject matters of the disclosure.
Transparency International Australia looks after the issues of protection of the whistle
blowers in the private sector. However all this highly depends upon the corporation

7GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
legislation and internal company procedures. The national Australia bank has mandated that
it would divide by the whistle blower protection act of Australian legislation properly.
1. The whistle blower employees will be protected from mental and physical harassment
by the other employees or managers or termination from their position on the ground
of disclosing illegal or unethical information.
2. Security and access to the resources must be available for the whistle blowers in the
corporation.
3. The films of the whistle blower employees will be e registered based on which the
company authority will be investigating the issue.
4. Proper disclosure of workplace policies will be initiated to support the claims of the
whistle blowers.
F. Enforcement
1. The employees who will not support or avoid why this code of conduct will be found
guilty and face huge penalty
2. The issues of corruption and dishonest activities will be punished with imprisonment
and lawsuits if found true.
3. The employees indulging in bribery, sexual harassment and sharing personal
information of the clients will be terminated.

8GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
References:
Agrawal, R., Foresti, K., Rajadurai, J. and Zubaran, C., 2018. Assessing workplace
discrimination among medical practitioners in Western Sydney. Australasian
Psychiatry, 26(5), pp.491-495.
Chan, A., 2016. China's Workers Under Assault: Exploitation and Abuse in a Globalizing
Economy: Exploitation and Abuse in a Globalizing Economy. Routledge.
Chen, F., 2017. Subsistence Crises, Managerial Corruption and Labour Protests in China.
In Key Papers on Chinese Economic History Since 1949 (4 vols) (pp. 874-899). BRILL.
Houdek, P., 2017. Professional identity and dishonest behavior. Society, 54(3), pp.253-260.
Iyer, N. and Samociuk, M., 2016. Fraud and corruption: Prevention and detection.
Routledge.
Kisamore, J.L., Jawahar, I.M. and Stone, T.H., 2016. Predicting Workplace Misconduct
Using Personality and Academic Behaviors. In Crime and Corruption in Organizations (pp.
117-140). Routledge.
Langner, C.A., 2018. Discrimination in the Workplace: Using Psychological Research for
Prevention.
Meyer, S.R., Decker, M.R., Tol, W.A., Abshir, N., Mar, A.A. and Robinson, W.C., 2016.
Workplace and security stressors and mental health among migrant workers on the Thailand–
Myanmar border. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 51(5), pp.713-723.
Nab.com.au 2019. Personal. [online] Nab.com.au. Available at: https://www.nab.com.au/
[Accessed 26 Apr. 2019].

9GOVERNANCE IN NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK
Stone, A.L. and Carlisle, S.E., 2018. Examining Race/Ethnicity Differences in the
Association Between the Experience of Workplace Racial Discrimination and Depression or
Negative Emotions. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, pp.1-9.
Wilson, J. and Pender, K., 2017. A new era?: Whistleblower protections in Australia. Ethos:
Official Publication of the Law Society of the Australian Capital Territory, (243), p.25.