MGMT20134: Internal Analysis of Telstra Corporation - Report

This report provides an internal analysis of Telstra Corporation Ltd., examining its approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), ethical behavior, and corporate governance. The analysis delves into Telstra's internal CSR framework, highlighting its commitment to employee well-being, ethical conduct, and adherence to its code of conduct. The report contrasts Telstra's approach with relevant CSR models, such as Prakash Sethi's and Carroll's Pyramid. It identifies factors where Telstra excels, such as employee training, and areas where improvement is needed, including enhancing ethical training and fostering open communication. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of fostering a truthful work environment and further developing the ethical culture within the organization. The report references several academic papers, including those that discuss CSR and ethical practices.

Running head: INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Organization’s Approach to Internal CSR:......................................................................................2
Contrast of the Approach:................................................................................................................4
Factors that Telstra has met:........................................................................................................4
Factors that Telstra Needs to Improve:........................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

2INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
Introduction:
Telstra Corporation Ltd. is a telecommunication company that was originated in the year
1901 and became a legal corporate name of a merged entity in the year 1993 (Leipziger, 2017).
The organization of Telstra is strictly committed to the excellence in the corporate governance,
ethical behavior and accountability. Telstra is well aware of the fact that in the long run, the
long-term success that they desire, largely depends on how they do business (McFarlane, 2013).
There is a reason why Telstra did not place a high value on the aggressiveness and winning; if
they had done so, it would have placed a low value on the act of helping others and the members
would not have the opportunity to learn and grow in their workplace.
Organization’s Approach to Internal CSR:
In the year, 2004 Telstra was awarded with AHRI National Award for their excellence in
the area of People Management in their sector (Petrenko et al., 2016). Over that fiscal year, the
“Mental Health- Create a Supportive Workplace was also introduced in order to raise the
awareness of the issues of mental health and also how can the employees assist by providing
adequate support in the workplace (Kaptein, 2017). There are a number of health and wellbeing
programs that Telstra support which includes National Skin Cancer Action week (Calabrese,
2013). The employees of Telstra also celebrate the International Women’s Day, Harmony Day
and more. The organization had also launched an innovative Life and Career transition Program
that supports employees who are on individual contract and leave due to retrenchment. The
Internal CSR approach of the organization also enhanced when they became more flexible with
the leave options for all the employees on individual contracts (Hameed et al., 2016). Paid leaves

3INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
were also provided for all primary carers and in addition to this, a new set of Principles were
introduced that set certain employee work practices, standards of behavior and also a new code
of conduct. The employees and Managers have the option to resolve their issues through a new
Internal Resolution Process. Most importantly, Telstra made a commitment in their fiscal year
2003 that they will recruit employees from the Aboriginal and Islander origin (Grant et al.,
2014). Their representation of women in the management increased a long way from what was in
the year 2003.
Prakash Sethi’s CSR model uses a three-stage stigma which describes an organization’s
involvement in its social responsibility. These responsibilities include Social Obligation, Social
Responsibility and Social Responsiveness. Social Obligation covers the external CSR whereas
Social Responsibility covers the grounds of Internal CSR (Sethi, Martell & Demir, 2017).
According to Sethi, Social responsibility occurs when the company’s approaches to the social
responsibility appreciates the importance of the socially responsible and ethical behaviors.
Telstra’s codes of conducts abide by the CSR model of Prakash Sethi on the grounds of the
Social Responsibility. There are policies that make the employees aware of the seriousness of
this responsibility (O’riordan & Fairbrass, 2008). On the other hand, Caroll’s Pyramid of CSR
can be summarized as serious consideration of the impact of the action of company on the
society. Her pyramid is divided into four parts, namely, the Economic responsibilities, the Legal
Responsibilities, the Ethical Responsibilities and the Philanthropic Responsibilities (Lachman,
2014). Both the ethical and the Philanthropic responsibilities are expected of the business from
the society and it provides the basic ground rules that the organization is expected to follow.
Being a good corporate citizen and doing what is just and fair by avoiding any harm is what the

4INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
ethical and philanthropic responsibilities emphasizes on and this is what Telstra focuses on its
Codes of Ethics.
Contrast of the Approach:
Best framework of Internal CSR refers to the way a firm responds to their responsibilities
with regards to their employees. In simple words, Internal CSR covers the sphere of Work
relations (Soltani & Maupetit, 2015). There are several international documents that provide
details of the information that helps in creating certain principles that would help an organization
to maintain an ethical behavior. Workplace should have policies that eliminate risks that can
pose any kind of threat to the health of the workers. The Internal CSR framework encourages on
individual level focus that would address their needs specifically. Such framework constitutes of
programs that focuses on professional development, sponsoring required training and also taking
initiatives that would attends to the employees’ needs outside the workplace; this includes
offering of pension plans and more.
Factors that Telstra has met:
In the Financial Year of 2017, Telstra Corporation Ltd introduced the Enterprise
Standards in order to bring consistency as well as clarity all across the company to know what
they expect of workers and their relationship with each other and also what the customers think
of them. On 30th of June, 2017, almost every employee and contractor of Telstra Group
completed their mandatory compliance training of Financial Year 2017 or FY17 refresher course
(Maurushat, 2013). Their independent service provider who specializes in handling the sensitive
reports and disclosures as a part of their policy of whistle-blowing was enhanced in order to
bring improvement in then accessibility for their international operations and also the

5INTERNAL ANALYSIS OF TELSTRA
stakeholders. As a consequence, the numbers were seen to increase drastically, since on 1st July,
2016, the number of whistle-blowing alerts in progress were 19; however, on FY17, the numbers
increased to 76 alerts that were opened and 78 alerts were closed and till the date of 30th of June,
2017, 17 alerts were remained in progress.
Factors that Telstra Needs to Improve:
Telstra Corporation Ltd. can develop their ethical culture by offering training on their
ethics through some workshops and seminars or any kind of similar training programs. These
sessions can be used to clarify about practices that are permissible and to address all the possible
dilemmas regarding the code of ethics (Mory, Wirtz & Göttel, 2016). They must recruit members
with both affluence and influence and through this they can establish an organizational corporate
culture by providing examples of both moral and ethical issues, decision making and
circumstances. The organization can also educate their staff about the things that are at risk if
they are unable to abide by the code of conduct (Nalband & Kelabi, 2014). If any organization
ignores any unethical behavior, it creates ethical lapse and that endangers the ethical corporate
culture of the organization (Aplin, 2015). One of the most important ways to promote the ethical
decision making is that the company or Telstra should create such work environment where the
workers can speak out their concerns truthfully. If low profile workers hesitate to speak the truth
to their authority, it would mean that the work place is not abiding by the ethical policies and it
has not been promoted properly.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that the internal analysis of the organization Telstra Corporation Ltd.
revealed the code of conduct it follows. It also highlighted the existing policing that helps in

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maintaining an ethical corporate culture in the organization. However, the CSR models highlight
certain areas that Telstra can improve and thus enhance their code of ethics. It will also help
them to create a truthful work environment where the employees feel appreciated.

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References:
Aplin, T. (2015). When are compilations original? Telstra Corporation Ltd v Desktop Marketing
Systems Pty Ltd. Digital Technology Law Journal, 3(1).
Calabrese, A., Costa, R., Menichini, T., Rosati, F., & Sanfelice, G. (2013). Turning corporate
social responsibility‐driven opportunities in competitive advantages: A two‐dimensional
model. Knowledge and Process Management, 20(1), 50-58.
Grant, R., Butler, B., Orr, S., & Murray, P. A. (2014). Contemporary strategic management: An
Australasian perspective. John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd..
Hameed, I., Riaz, Z., Arain, G. A., & Farooq, O. (2016). How do internal and external CSR
affect employees' organizational identification? A perspective from the group
engagement model. Frontiers in psychology, 7, 788.
Kaptein, M. (2017). The living code: Embedding ethics into the corporate DNA. Routledge.
Lachman, V. D. (2014). Ethical issues in the disruptive behaviors of incivility, bullying, and
horizontal/lateral violence. Medsurg Nurs, 23(1), 56-60.
Leipziger, D. (2017). The corporate responsibility code book. Routledge.
Maurushat, A. (2013). Disclosure of security vulnerabilities: legal and ethical issues. Springer.
McFarlane, D. A. (2013). The importance of business ethics to small ventures. Entrepreneurship
and Innovation Management Journal, 1(1), 50-59.

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Mory, L., Wirtz, B. W., & Göttel, V. (2016). Factors of internal corporate social responsibility
and the effect on organizational commitment. The International Journal of Human
Resource Management, 27(13), 1393-1425.
Nalband, N. A., & Kelabi, S. A. (2014). Redesigning Carroll’s CSR pyramid model. Journal of
Advanced Management Science, 2(3).
O’riordan, L., & Fairbrass, J. (2008). Corporate social responsibility (CSR): Models and theories
in stakeholder dialogue. Journal of business ethics, 83(4), 745-758.
Petrenko, O. V., Aime, F., Ridge, J., & Hill, A. (2016). Corporate social responsibility or CEO
narcissism? CSR motivations and organizational performance. Strategic Management
Journal, 37(2), 262-279.
Sethi, S. P., Martell, T. F., & Demir, M. (2017). Enhancing the role and effectiveness of
corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports: The missing element of content verification
and integrity assurance. Journal of Business Ethics, 144(1), 59-82.
Soltani, B., & Maupetit, C. (2015). Importance of core values of ethics, integrity and
accountability in the European corporate governance codes. Journal of Management &
Governance, 19(2), 259-284.