Business Ethics Dilemma

Abstract

A recent Liberty University, Benji, has been given the opportunity to fly out to a “Get to Know Us” event put on by a potential employer, New Gen Health Services (NGHS). NGHS is a fast growing company in America and was featured in Fortune Magazine. Benji has done some research on NGHS, discovered many pros and cons about the company, and witnessed the lack of company ethics while at the event. He is now facing a dilemma on whether to sign an employment contract with New Gen Health Services. This discussion will use ethical and spiritual references to provide reasons on why Benji should turn down the contract.

I would strongly advise Benji not to sign the employment contract with NGHS. It was a very wise move to do some research prior to arriving at the NGHS “Get to Know Us” event. Benji mentioned in one of the articles he read the CEO talked about their “mission” and “leading ethics code.” Mission is defined by Entrepreneur as “defines what an organization is, why it exists, and its reason for being” (“Mission statement”, n.d.). Codes of Conduct or Codes of Ethics usually have the words “Honesty”, “Integrity”, “Sustainability”, “Respect”, “Accountability” and so on. It is impossible to know what an employee's personal values are; however, a code of ethics will establish which behaviors are expected and required while a person is an employee of the company. Having clear expectations assists employees to meet employment obligations and the company to establish and protect its reputation. These requirements need to be up-held by everyone, management most importantly, in order to be effective.

Based on the response that came from the recruiter, I am getting a signal that NGHS doesn’t have the word “integrity” in the code, or they choose to not abide by it. NGHS should not just go through the motions of compiling an ethics code if it means nothing. The recruiter’s response of “Well, of course you have to have something like that these days...