Management Ethics: Westpac and Hostile Indigenous Community Relations

This presentation analyzes the ethical challenges faced by Westpac in its dealings with remote Indigenous communities in Australia. It begins with an introduction to ethics in the workplace and the role of managers in guiding employee behavior. The presentation outlines the case, detailing the socioeconomic complexities of the Cape York region and Westpac's operations there, including the financial difficulties faced by Westpac and the resulting impact on customer satisfaction and employee morale. It identifies key ethical issues such as the lackadaisical approach towards community well-being, conflicting initiatives, and the impact of financial constraints. The analysis explores why these issues are ethical, examining the implications of neglecting community needs and the impact on customer and employee turnover. The presentation assesses the morality of Westpac's actions, highlighting initiatives like revised recruitment policies and training programs. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of community well-being, ethical conduct, and the value of training and cultural understanding. The presentation references relevant sources and provides a comprehensive overview of the ethical considerations in this business context.

MANAGEMENT: HOSTILE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN BANKERS AND REMOTE
INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES IN AUSTRALIA

Introduction
 Ethics is an important segment of the workplace behaviour. Ethics
shape the behaviour of the employees, supporting in the formation of
their professional approach.
 The managers are entrusted with the responsibility of guiding the
behaviour of the employees towards the workplace operations.

Contd…..
 Proper guidance helps the employees to be courteous while dealing
with the needs, demands and requirements of the clients and the
customers
 Courteous approach is crucial in terms of attracting customers in a
large scale
 This presentation takes up the issue of hostile relationship between
the bankers and the indigenous communities in Westpac

Outline of the case
 High levels of unemployment, poor job prospects, high rates of
preventable diseases, low education involvement and substance
abuse adds to the complexities of the inhabitants in the remote Cape
York region.
 Westpac operates the Cape for almost a decade, catering to over 10
million customers. Hard efforts of 37000 employees helps in
conducting the commercial banking operations in an efficient and
effective manner

Contd…
 1980 was the era when Westpac encountered financial difficulties,
stalling the productivity
 Low employee morale and customer satisfaction is an addition to the
complexities towards the stalled productivity
 Inappropriate results in meeting the community expectations
degrades the corporate social responsibility for Westpac
 Association with the indigenous banks was an initiative towards
enhancing the scale of understanding for the employees regarding
the maintenance of workplace ethics. The focus was on developing
initiatives for enhancing the welfare of the Aboriginal people

Ethical issues from the case
 Lackadaisical approach towards community wellbeing in case of the
officials contradicts the aspect of organizational behaviour
 On the contrary, joint venture with the Indigenous Working Groups
and senior leaders reflects an initiative towards upgrading the
standards and living for the community people
 Philanthropic mind set resulted in extensive dialogues with the
communities for developing strategies in terms of ensuring radical
transformation in their standards of living

Contd….
 Secondees pay visit to Cape for providing assistance and aid to the
local communities
 Recruitment is done through intensified and critical hypothesis for
regulating the focus of the employees on the attitude and aptitude
needed for performing the activities
 Challenges are also evident in providing a life changing experience to
the employees regarding the cultural understanding and its
sensitivity

Why are these ethical issues?
 When Westpac indulges in the task of ensuring community wellbeing, the approach needs
to be ethical, as it involves the matter of self respect
 Absence of ethical approach in the initiatives reflect gaming mentality with the survival
strategies of the community people
 As the people in the Cape York region suffer from inadequacies, this negligence adds an
interrogative parameter into their existence
 Financial difficulties is an addition to the complexities in terms of fulfilling the basic
survival needs of the community people
 However, the motive was to ensure the wellbeing of the community, absence of strategic
planning yielded negative results
 This negativity indicated towards the issues of customer and employee turnover, which
Westpac could have encountered if the initiatives of revision in the recruitment and
selection and management programs were not undertaken

Morality of the protagonists’ action
 Extensive dialogues with the community people is a wise approach in
terms of improving the stability in the professional relationship
 Revision in the recruitment and selection policies reflects the
initiatives towards building up effective teams, holding flexibility
towards catering to the needs of the community people
 Pre-reading activities enhances the awareness of the secondees on
establishing stable communication with the Aboriginal people

Contd…
 Training programs have been developed for the secondees, which is an initiative towards
enhancing the family business through effective management.
 Typical components of this training program include Individual Budgeting Skill and
Business facilitation
 The training programs prepare the employees for adjusting within the workplace
environment
 Through the training programs, the employees of Westpac attain prospective placement
opportunities within one and 12 months
 Short term investments lay strong foundation for individual line managers in terms of
replacing the employees
 Joint venture with IEP assists in yielding proper results through longer term investments.
This is through the means of strategic planning

Conclusion
 Financial instabilities aggravate the complexities of companies in terms of fulfilling the specific needs, demands and requirements of clients
and customers
 Community wellbeing is an important aspect in the business of Westpac. They specially focus on the upliftment of Cape York region
 Programs like revisions in the recruitment and selection policies is an initiative towards building a team of members, holding the flexibility to
perform the tasks in such a manner in which the productivity can be enhanced
 Training programs are essential in terms of assessing the capability of the Westpac employee towards making practical application of the
learnt skills towards performing the allocated duties and responsibilities
 Assessment of the skills, abilities and competencies is assistance in terms of offering them placement, which would enhance their
professional skills
 Providing cultural understanding to the employees can be difficult, however, consideration of Ethical Code of Conduct is necessary in terms
of protecting the individual sentiments of the community people
 Offshore management would be productive in terms of gaining an insight into the prospective clients, whose investment can help in
introducing lucrative programs for transforming the standards of living for the community people

References
 Black, L., Westpac Australia and the Cape York Indigenous Partnership
(2006) http://www.unglobalcompact.org/case_story/478
 Ferrell, O. C. (2016). A framework for understanding organizational
ethics. In Business ethics: New challenges for business schools and
corporate leaders (pp. 15-29). Routledge.
 Lindebaum, D., Geddes, D., & Gabriel, Y. (2017). Moral emotions and
ethics in organisations: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of
Business Ethics, 141(4), 645-656.
 Westpac.com.au (2019). About us. Retrieved 14th Jan 2019 from
www.westpac.com.au