MBA402: Governance, Ethics and Sustainability - Code of Conduct

This assignment presents a comprehensive Code of Conduct for Retail Food Group (RFG), Australia's largest multi-brand retail food brand, addressing key areas of governance, ethics, and sustainability. The code, designed to establish ethical, moral, professional, and statutory standards, covers aspects of the Corporations Act, employment laws, and anti-money laundering practices. It applies to directors, employees, suppliers, and business partners. The code specifically tackles discrimination, exploitation, corruption, dishonest and fraudulent behavior, whistleblower protections, and enforcement mechanisms, with a minimum of 15 references, including at least five from academic journals or textbooks. The assignment emphasizes the importance of a healthy workplace, intolerance for discriminatory behavior, and the eradication of exploitation, bullying, and harassment. It also provides guidelines against corruption and fraudulent behavior, and emphasizes the need for whistleblower protection. Enforcement of the code is mandatory, with disciplinary actions for violations.

governance ethics and sustainability

CODE OF CONDUCT

Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Application of the code of conduct............................................................................................3
Discrimination............................................................................................................................3
Exploitation................................................................................................................................4
Corruption..................................................................................................................................5
Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour.........................................................................................5
Whistle-blower Protections........................................................................................................6
Enforcement...............................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

Introduction
The organisation Retail food Group being the Australia’s largest multi-brand retail food
brand, recognises its responsibility towards the stakeholders and the community as a whole,
in terms of doing the right thing, respecting and motivating people and creating a better
society and ecosystem. The said responsibilities are recognised with the aid of the following
code of conduct.
A comprehensive code of conduct has been designed by the company to establish a guideline
in terms of ethical, moral, professional, and statutory standards in the business environment.
The various aspects of the Corporations Act, 2001 (Cth), employment laws, anti-money
laundering practices and other relevant statutes are covered as applicable on the entity.
Application of the code of conduct
The code is multidisciplinary in nature and covers the various aspects of the business conduct
and therefore is applicable on the various member groups of the entity namely the directors
and employees of the company, suppliers and business partners, and others associated with
the organisation.
Discrimination
The human resources personnel of the company are recognised as the most significant assets
of the entity, leading to the recognition of the responsibility of eradication of any form of the
discriminatory behaviour, such as harassment, or intimidation from the workplace. The
federal and the state anti-discrimination laws are dedicatedly being followed together with the
adherence to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth).
Discrimination represents the favourable or unfavourable treatment in context of the traits
that are preserved by the law, such as the colour, physical features, physical disability, marital
status, sex, age, origin, religious beliefs, employment activity, political orientation, industrial
activity, parental status, nationality, and others . The said treatment can be intentional as well
as unintentional (Loudon, McPhail and Wilkinson, 2015). Some of the examples of the said
behaviour are elaborated as follows. Employees and seniors providing the unfair treatment in
terms of the job assignment to the subordinates based on the age, religious beliefs, gender,
and marital status are regarded as discrimination. Further, when the reasons like health,
parental status, and religious beliefs form the base for the promoting or dismissal of the

employees, the same also falls in the ambit of the discriminatory behaviour (Victorian Equal
Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, 2019).
The organisation has a strict intolerance for the above mentioned conducts as it aims to create
and maintain a healthy workplace comprised of cooperation, tolerance of differences, mutual
respect of the similarities, overall professionalism and harmony. Thus, it must be ensure that
the integrity and objectivity are not dominated by the personal biases. The enforcement of the
above principles is mandatory.
Exploitation
Being one of the country’s largest and oldest brand having global operations the entity
understands, and acknowledges the responsibility to eradicate from the workplace any form
of exploitation. This includes bullying or harassment activities. There is a strict abidance of
the statutes namely the “Racial Discrimination Act 1975”, “Disability Discrimination Act
1992”, and the “Sex Discrimination Act 1984”, including the incidental acts and guidelines
for the regulation of the various systems and practices of harassment.
Workplace harassment is inclusive of the offensive or threatening behaviour that violates the
health and peace of the individuals (Booth and Leigh, 2010). The distinguishing characteristic
of the harassment and bullying is that the individuals purporting it are not aware of the
graveness of the issued and the repercussions as well. Some of the activities that fall in the
ambit of the harassment behaviour are telling insulting jokes, sending explicit mails
comprised of offensive content, sharing sexually suggestive messages, and verbal or written
derogatory comments (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2019). The above is not an
exclusive list. Bullying denotes unreasonable behaviour that is an extension of risks of health
and safety for the individuals (Vickers, 2014). The physical, verbal, and psychological abuses
are comprised therein (Einarsen et. al, 2010).
Some of the examples of the above mentioned behaviours are the screaming to get the tasks
done by the subordinates, use of the offensive language to address someone, withholding
significant information while assigning tasks, assignment of unofficial works with coercion
and undue influence, isolating the employees purposefully and others (Fair Work
Commission, 2019).
The organisation mandates all the employees at the workplace to be aware of their conduct in
terms of the use of language and other activities. Any instances of violation the principles of

the code of conduct and mindfully engaging into harassing and intimidating behaviour would
result in severe disciplinary actions as described in the enforcement section of the code.
Corruption
The organisation identifies the bribery and corruption as key ingredients to undermine the
morals, strength, integrity, and success of any business. Not only the stability of business is
affected by the corrupt activities and culture, but also long-term growth is affected. A
guideline is provided herein to facilitate the employees understand the meaning and
significance of the corruption. It is referred to as the conduct or activity, which involves the
failure of the performance of the duties of the professional engagement, and involves the
inappropriate use of power of a position, dishonest and fraudulent mindset as well as conduct
(CCC, 2019). The deliberate intention is the key ingredient of the said activities. Bribery
arises when behaviour of others is influenced with the aid of certain benefits and rewards
other than those associated with the office (Zgheib, 2014).
The following is a guide which is in the form of recommendation and not exhaustive list of
the instances of the corrupt behaviour, and the organisation RFG has a zero tolerance
approach towards such activities and conducts. The acts of embezzlement of money,
falsification of the records and accounts during the course of employment, stealing of
sensitive information, falsification of the documents are referred to as the corrupt activities
(Robinson, 2012). In addition, when the facts are suppressed in the information systems,
documents are deliberately destructed, the same would also be referred to as the corrupt
behaviour (Rabl, 2011).
The code of the conduct extends the duty on every member of the organisation to not be
accepting towards any forms of entertainment, the gifts, or monetary incentives apart from
the emoluments from the employment contracts. An exercise conscious judgement is
significant and must be implemented while accepting benefits that are apart from the official
duties. The dealing with the customers, suppliers or any other persons must be conscious and
due diligence must be exercised at all times.
Dishonest and Fraudulent Behaviour
The organisation Retail Food Group has a zero tolerance approach in place towards the
dishonest and fraudulent behaviour due to which the very foundation of the entity is affected.
The sharing of the business secrets, entering into contracts or business transaction with

conflicting interests are example of these. Further, use of the official property or facility for
individual benefits, extending the business amount into the money laundering activities are
also included therein (Brown et. al, 2014).
The timely reporting and consultation of such moral problems with the heads of department
and immediate senior managers must be done. The complaint cell of the entity RFG must also
be reported either directly or anonymously on timely and consistent basis of such culture at
workplace. The anti-money laundering laws and regulations are also a key consideration of
the entity to be embedded in its culture. The conscious conduct is necessary to be
implemented in transactions or the activities that have a criminal or illegal connection (Crane
et.al, 2019). The organisational policies should not be violated; else, the penalties and other
disciplinary actions would follow.
Whistle-blower Protections
The entity is dedicatedly engaged towards extending the sufficient security and guidance to
the member and employees who report the key irregular activities to the organisation. Thus,
the employees can report any matters related to the discussions conducted in the previous
parts. The hierarchy for reporting and to seek the redress for the issues is the immediate
seniors, departmental heads, and the Whistle-blower protection cell. The physical as well as
the anonymous reporting is welcomed at all times.
Further, it is the responsibility of each employee of the company to extend sufficient support
to the subordinates and colleagues when such a reporting is made.
Enforcement
The organisation renders a mandatory duty on all the employees and managers to strictly
abide by the provisions of this code of conduct while discharge of the duties and follow the
clauses mentioned therein. The senior management of the company possesses discretion to
take the requisite actions in the events of the guidelines being violated, on examination of the
severity of the issue and intensity of harm. The actions that can be taken by the management
are inclusive of the warning letters, withholding of promotion, monetary and other penalties,
or termination of the services, trial, and others.

References
Australian Government (2019) Fair Work Amendment Act 2013. [online] Available from:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00073 [Accessed on 25/08/2019].
Australian Human Rights Commission (2019) Workplace discrimination, harassment and
bullying. [online] Available from: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/employers/good-practice-
good-business-factsheets/workplace-discrimination-harassment-and-bullying [Accessed on
25/08/2019].
Booth, A. and Leigh, A. (2010) Do employers discriminate by gender? A field experiment in
female-dominated occupations. Economics Letters, 107(2), pp. 236-238.
Brown, A. J., Lewis, D., Moberly, R. and Vandekerckhove, W. eds., (2014) International
handbook on whistleblowing research. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Corruption and Crime Commission (2019) What is Corruption? [online] Available from:
https://www.ccc.wa.gov.au/what-is-corruption [Accessed on 25/08/2019].
Crane, A., Matten, D., Glozer, S., and Spence, L. (2019) Business ethics: Managing
corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization. UK: Oxford University
Press.
Einarsen, S., Hoel, H., Zapf, D. and Cooper, C. (2010) Bullying and harassment in the
workplace: Developments in theory, research, and practice. United States: CRC Press.
Fair Work Commission. (2019) Anti-bullying. [online] Available from:
https://www.fwc.gov.au/disputes-at-work/anti-bullying [Accessed on 25/08/2019].
Loudon, R., McPhail, R. and Wilkinson, A. (2015) Introduction to Employment Relations.
Australia: Pearson Higher Education AU.
Rabl, T. (2011) The impact of situational influences on corruption in organizations. Journal
of Business Ethics, 100(1), pp. 85-101.
Roberts, C., Davies, E. and Jupp, T. (2014) Language and discrimination. UK: Routledge.
Robinson, M. (Ed.). (2012) Corruption and development. UK: Routledge.

Vickers, M. H. (2014) Towards reducing the harm: Workplace bullying as workplace
corruption—A critical review. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 26(2), pp. 95-
113.
Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission. (2019) Discrimination –
Workplace. [online] Available from: https://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/the-
workplace/workplace-discrimination [Accessed on 25/08/2019].
Zgheib, P. W. ed., (2014) Business ethics and diversity in the modern workplace. United
States: IGI Global.