Analyzing Ethical Operations: A Study of Sainsbury's Business Model

This essay examines the ethical operations of Sainsbury's, a major supermarket chain. It explores how Sainsbury's applies ethical principles through sustainable sourcing, fair trade practices, and stakeholder engagement. The analysis covers key aspects of ethical behavior, including honesty, openness, consistency, fairness, and promoting stakeholder interests. The essay highlights Sainsbury's commitment to employee training and development, diversity and inclusion, and community support. It references Sainsbury's sustainability plan and demonstrates how the company strives to operate ethically in all its business activities, making it a case study for responsible business practices. The essay also discusses how Sainsbury's addresses community issues and supports charitable causes. The essay is well-researched and uses academic sources to support the arguments and the analysis of the company's ethical stance.

ESSAY-
Operating ethically

Operating in an ethical manner is the prime need for businesses in today’s world. This
requires the organizations to act in a way threat is considered to be honest as well as fair (Khatun
and et.al., 2015). Operating ethically is concerned with considering the impact of the decisions
taken by organization on others. Along with this, it is also concerned with taking fair decisions.
The present essay analyses the ways in which the theory of ‘Operating Ethically’ works in
Sainsbury.
Ethical behavior means that a business behaves honestly and does not take any decision
of deceiving others. Further, the second aspect of operating ethically is to carry out business
activities openly (Hough, Green and Plumlee, 2015). This indicates that organizations should
kept others well informed about its decisions. It should not conceal any important information
from those who are directly or indirectly linked with it. The third aspect of ethical behavior is
behaving consistently. This implies that an organization does not alter its quality of services and
operations over time without reason. Consistency ensures that a business will interact and serve
its customers with the same dedication and responsibility that it has been doing so far (McAlpine
and et.al., 2015). Operating fairly is the fourth aspect which is concerned with providing equal
treatment to all the members of a group. The fifth dimension of operating in an ethical manner is
concerned with carrying out the business operations in the best interest of others. Every business
possesses a number of stakeholder groups. An ethical business is one that actively promotes the
interests of its stakeholders.
Sainsbury, being the second largest chain of supermarkets in the whole United Kingdom,
takes every step to apply the theory of operating ethically. The retail organization sources its key
raw materials in a sustainable manner. The products of its brand also do not contribute to
deforestation. Moreover, it also takes steps and works in close integration with the farmers and
suppliers to improve the sustainability of its business. The firm is engaged in promoting the
interests of others associated with it. it also invests in training and development of the
employees. The firm supports career progression of internal colleagues that are aligned to its
talent vision. Also, externally credited training is also provided to the employees by Sainsbury.
Further, Sainsbury undertakes fair trade and has also become the largest retailers of Fairtrade
food products in the year 2014/ 15 (Our Sustainability Plan, 2017). Sainsbury believes in
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diversity and inclusion. It has an inclusive workforce and all the members of the community are
offered equal employment opportunities.
In order to operate in an open manner, the chosen retail organization engages its employees in
the long term success of the business. Sainsbury makes efforts to support the local communities
in the best possible manner. It also support various charitable causes. The resources that
Sainsbury uses are repaid and given back to the local communities in the form of volunteering,
food donation partnerships, addressing the community issues etc.
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REFERENCES
Hough, C., Green, K. and Plumlee, G., 2015. Impact of ethics environment and organizational
trust on employee engagement. Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues. 18(3).
p.45.
Khatun, M. K. and et.al., 2015. A Review on Trends of Corporate Social Responsibility. The
Social Sciences. 10(2). pp.166-170.
McAlpine, C. and et.al., 2015. Transformational change: creating a safe operating space for
humanity. Ecology and Society. 20(1).
Our Sustainability Plan. 2017. [Online]. Available Through:
<http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/responsibility/our-sustainability-plan/our-commitments?
commitment=rawmaterials>. [Accessed on 18 March 2017].
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