Running head: CODE OF ETHICS

Code of Ethics
Glenda Reese
OMM 640
Ashford University
April 6, 2014

CODE OF ETHICS

Code of Ethics
The Code of Ethics for a business is what people consider when deciding if the business
is good or bad. Within this document will be a discussion concerning the authors own ethical
standards, where her values and principles emerged, and how they have evolved over time. The
next section will discuss the Code of Ethics and the requirements a company must have to have a
modestly effective ethics and compliance program under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for
Organizations (FSGO). Following those four sections will be a reference to the moral
philosophy or social issues affecting the approach to the Code of Ethics for Glendas Place, a
mock hotel facility. The next section will provide a Code of Ethics list for Glendas Place. The
rest of the document will be discussions concerning the statement of values, training and
communication plan, an implementation plan, the role of leadership, corporate social issues, laws
and regulations affecting the hotel industry, monitoring the program, and ethical concerns for
working internationally.
Glendas Ethical Standards
Glendas ethical standards endorse ideals such as trust, kindness, politeness, and
understanding. The endorsement of these ideals is part of what keeps a company in good
standing. Most ethical standards stem from how a person was raised. When people are instilled,
at a young age to have ethics as described, the tendency to continue acting accordingly lasts
throughout adulthood. Furthermore, people with good ethical standards show confidence and
intelligence when conducting business.
Values and Principles Emerged
Glendas values and principles emerged from viewing other peoples actions plus what
they believed. The people she viewed were not just family and friends, but people from all over.

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Working for the majority of her life enables her to meet and learn from a wide range of different
cultures. For Glenda to be a successful person in the hotel industry means having to learn how to
treat people from different cultures because not all beliefs are the same.
How Values and Principles Evolved
Glendas values and principles evolved over time from being what was told she must do
into what she believed was the right thing to do. People can be told repeatedly something is the
right thing to do, but if the person does not actually think so, then it is someone elses belief and
principle. An honest person will also say the evolving process is a never-ending process.
Therefore, Glendas values and principles are still evolving and becoming better.
Code of Ethics
A Code of Ethics defined is the most comprehensive set of statements and consists of
general statements, sometimes altruistic and inspirational, serving as principles and the basis for
rules of conduct (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013, p.223). Every business will have its own
unique Code of Ethics, which pertains to and fits the business being conducted. For example, a
Code of Ethics for a nursing home would differ from a Code of Ethics for the hotel industry.
However, every type of business has to meet a number of requirements to have a simple ethics
and compliance program. According to Hopkins (2013), the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for
Organizations requirements consisted of nine issues. The first necessity was standards and
procedures should prevent and notice unlawful behavior. The second necessity was
communication of the standards and processes conveyed to the board, all workers, and
representatives as suitable and effectual training programs. The third necessity was a wellinformed board, which engages sensible supervision over the ethics and compliance program.
The fourth necessity was a sophisticated person with complete accountability for the program

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and a person with routine accountability who occasionally reports to upper administration and to
the board on the curriculums efficiency. The fifth necessity was observing and reviewing of the
ethics and compliance program to notice unlawful behavior. The sixth necessity was occasional
assessment of the efficiency of the curriculum. The seventh necessity was a method where
workers and representatives can describe or look for leadership about unlawful behavior without
fear of reprisal. The eighth necessity was requirement to obey the programs through
inducements and corrective actions. The final necessity was suitable steps to avoid similar
behavior once unlawful behavior was noticed (pp. 43-44).
Moral Philosophy
The moral philosophy most associated with the Code of Ethics for Glendas Place will be
deontology. According to Ferrell et al., deontology refers to moral philosophies focused on the
rights of individuals and on the intentions associated with a particular behavior instead of its
consequences (p.159). Johnson (2014) says he believes Kants, a philosopher associated with
deontology, view means two things primarily. The first thing was unlike anything else there is
no conceivable circumstance where we regard our own moral goodness worth forfeiting in order
to get some object. Second, possessing and keeping ones moral goodness is the condition in
which anything else is worth having or pursuing (pp.4-5). The two situations apply to Glendas
moral philosophy because they explain how she believes when making ethical decisions.
Glendas Place Code of Ethics
Glendas Code of Ethics consists of twelve ideologies. The first ideology is to be
committed to the notions of efficient and autonomous regional authority by answerable chosen
civil servants and believe qualified general administration is necessary to the accomplishment of
this goal. The second ideology is guarantee the respectability and benefit of the services

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provided by the staff and provide an effective, innovative, and rational attitude toward all
cultures visiting the facility and a deep impression of social accountability as a hospitality
servant. The third ideology is to be committed to the topmost standards of respect and sincerity
in all hospitality and personal affairs so the representative may benefit the respect and certainty
of the chosen agents and workers, and the community. The fourth ideology is to know the main
capacity of the hospitality staff is to serve the leading activities of all customers. The fifth
ideology is to acknowledge policy ideas to chosen staff; administer them with facts and opinions
on issues of policy as a ground for making judgments and shaping hotel objectives; and support
and apply hotel policies selected by administration. The sixth ideology is to remember chosen
agents are allowed the credit for the creation of hotel policies; bringing about policies is the
responsibility of the members. The seventh ideology is to abstain from all activities that threaten
confidence in hotel servants. The eighth ideology is to make it an obligation to promote the
hospitality servants ability and to expand the qualifications of people in use of administrative
style. The ninth ideology is to keep customers knowledgeable on hotel affairs; promote
communication between customers and staff; highlight friendly and respectful service to the
public; and pursue improvement to quality and images of the hotel industry. The tenth ideology
is to refuse any infringement on responsibilities thinking the staff should carry out policies
without interruptions, and solve each issue minus discrimination based on principle and justice.
The eleventh ideology is to handle all issues of personnel on the premise of talent so fairness and
impartiality control a staff members decisions, pertaining to talks performed, pay raises,
promotions, and correction actions. The twelfth ideology is to look for no approval; believe
personal tribute obtained through private data or by misuse of hotel, time is wrong.
Statement of Values

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Ferrell et al. defines a statement of values as serving the general-public and addressing
distinct groups, such as stakeholders (p.223). Glendas statement of values would read as
follows:
Glendas Statement of Values
April 6, 2014
Glendas Place strives to provide clean and refreshing rooms of maximum quality-to
further the boundary of cleanliness and to prepare the staff with the greatest ability for dealing
with people of different cultures and beliefs. Completing these intentions depends on the
training of everyone working at the hotel. Whatever a persons job, and wherever they work
within the hotel, everyone owes it to each other to maintain certain fundamental values. The
values include: (a) trust and respect for the rights, differences, and dignity of others, (b) kindness
and integrity in everything a person does, (c) politeness when dealing with everyone associated
with the hotel, (d) understanding for everyones different opinions, (e) responsibility for ones
actions and behavior at work, and (f) conscientious quest for excellence in ones job. The more
these values are grasped in daily living, the more an atmosphere of trust, cooperation, inquiry,
and understanding are developed and maintained-and lead an assurance to a quality hospitality
business.
Training and Communication
The type of training to be used at Glendas Place is hand on because it will allow
employees first hand sight on how to deal with different situations. Ferrell et al. says many feel
hand on training helps employees understand how their business would prefer them to handle
possible issues (p.227). The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2006) claim
conducting ethics training provided you the chance to raise awareness, address employee

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inquiries, and concerns and reinforce the companys need for ethical conduct (para.5).
Communication is done by top administration. They should talk with mangers at the operations
level and enforce overall ethical standards inside the facility (Ferrell et al. p.227). At Glendas
Place, communication is done from the general manager to each departmental manager, who will
then convey to the workers the ethical requirements they must adhere to while working at the
hotel.
Implementation Plan
Implementing the ethics program will consist of several steps. First a thorough written
lost of policies and procedures enforcing the code of conduct and addressing precise risk areas
indentified are established. Second, will be a conducted useful training program and distributed
data concerning the compliance curriculum to executives and workers. Third, will be a provision
and publicized arrangement for narrating offenses. Fourth will be an immediate thorough probe
into any reports of questionable misbehavior and proper action taken if necessary. Fifth will be a
response to workers who expressed possible misbehavior so the workers will know their claim(s)
were taken sincerely and a viable solution was arrived at. Sixth will be documentation of the
charges received and the process taken to settle them. Seventh will be a continuous review for
misbehavior and regular assessments on the efficiency of the compliance curriculum.
Role of Leadership
Ferrell et al. defines leadership as the ability or authority to guide and direct others
toward achievement of a goal, have a significant impact on ethical decision making because
leaders have the power to motivate others and enforce the facilitys norms and policies as well as
their own viewpoints (p.138). Taking Ferrell et al.s definition into consideration, the role of
leadership is to create a framework to administering compliance with the rules and laws of the

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business; leadership should constantly watch the administrative environment and decide the
efficiency of the curriculum. Furthermore, leaderships role is to take the favored position in
creating tools to create the facilitys culture, regardless f the tools used (i.e. messages, updates,
distribution of the Code of Conduct, help lines, or distribution of surveys asking how the
program is working).
Corporate Social Issues
According to Ferrell et al., there are four levels of corporate social issues (p.39). The
four levels are economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. Economic means increasing
stakeholder resources and /or financial worth. Legal means adhering to all laws and government
regulations. Ethical means ensuing standards of satisfactory conduct as deduced by stakeholders.
Philanthropic means, Giving back to the community (Ferrell et al., p.40). Experience in the
hotel business showed how some of the issues were conducted, such as the philanthropic. The
last hotel worked at would host a free buffet every Friday for anyone who wanted to attend.
Advertising for the event was done through an outside signboard, ten feet in the air with two feet
tall letters for easy visibility. Glendas Place will do something of similarity to give back to the
community.
Laws and Regulations
While some laws and regulations such as the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for
Organizations, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and the Dodd-Frank Act pertain to all organizations. The
hospitality industry also has specific laws and regulations, such as United States Hotel Liability.
According to Ferrell et al., the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations set the tone for
business ethical compliance programs in the 1990s based on six principles of the Defense
Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII) (p.14). Further comment defines the

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Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which made securities fraud a criminal offense and strengthened
punishment for corporate deception (p.14). The Dodd-Frank Act seeks to improve financial
control, raise oversight of the industry, and prohibit the kinds of risk-taking, dishonest routines,
and lack of omission that led to the 2008-2009 fiscal dilemmas (Ferrell et al., p.110).
Laws pertaining specifically to the hotel industry are concerned with anti-trust issues,
franchise agreements, supply chain and other commercial transactions, labor disputes, and other
legal problems (HGExperts, 2014, para.5). The HGExperts go on to say American Hotel
operators have several legal obligations to their customers, for example, protection of guests
safety and negligence avoidance. Another example is a hotel must hire, manage, and fire
workers like all other businesses. Furthermore, they must endure a guests protection against
criminal misconduct (HGExperts, para.3). The labor laws for hotel resident managers are
different from those of a manager for a production facility. For example, Stone (2014) says it is
within the law to recoup the hotel resident with room and board in lieu of cash payments, but it
still has to comply with minimum wage and overtime pay laws (para.3). Further comment from
Stone shows certain exemptions to the minimum wage and overtime pay law. Three
requirements must be met for the exemption to apply. The first requirement was the employees
compensation must be at least $455 per week. The second requirement was the employees
primary duty is office work pertaining to managing business procedures. The last requirement
was the employees primary duty includes the use of discretion and independent judgment
concerning important matters (para.4).
Since Glendas Place is a small operation, the hotel resident manager will be Glenda.
Being on-sight 12 hours a day is figured into the compensation plan for the manager. The other
12 hours will be split between the front desk clerks. Labor laws pertaining to this type of split

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duty are not developed. Therefore, compensation will be based on the regular pay scale because
most business is conducted during the day and the two night shift clerks will have ample down
time to solve any issues that may come up.
Monitoring and Enforcement of Auditing Plan
According to Ferrell et al., an ethics audit is a systematic assessment of a business ethics
program and performance to decide whether it is efficient (p.243). Monitoring and enforcement
was completed through regular scheduled processes or activities, generally used to identify red
flags or hot spots needing a more in-depth assessment. Several things can be used to monitor
and enforce the plan, for example questionnaires, surveys, evaluation of the ethics hotline
reporting trends, and red flags for possible misconduct. A big tool for monitoring and enforcing
the plan is to listen to interactions because issues may be discussed but not reported. Monitoring
and enforcing done in various ways can be successful, but the largest and probably the best way
to monitor and enforce is through actions.
Ethical Considerations for Working Internationally
According to Ostasiewski (n.d.), a major challenge in developing an international
framework is shortening the gap between abstract principles and their application in daily life
(para.15). Further comment from Ostasiewski claims that as larger firms expand their
international operations, they will interact with more governments. Therefore, the interaction
will increase the possibility of greater ethical inconsistencies (para.22). Expanding
internationally entails an understanding of several aspects, such as different countries laws.
Laws concerning employment, human rights, corruption, and pollution are the laws most
considered. According to Markgraf (2014), trying to use United States standards would not be
realistic and usually disrupts the recognized market (para.2). Corruption done by gifts to secure

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business is illegal, but sometimes is done. However, some societies do not consider this an
unethical procedure. Some countries have little regard for human rights by allowing very small
children to work. The United States allows teenage children to work, but only with a work
permit. In some countries, children work in factories as a requirement from their parents. When
people from the United States decide to expand internationally, consideration should be taken for
how they are going to do business while trying to impose proper human rights. Pollution is a
problem worldwide, but some foreign countries have no legislation proclaiming it wrong to
pollute (Markgraf, para.3-5). Ferrell et al., provides risk factors affecting international business.
The first is bribery (p.290). The second is antitrust activity (p.292). The third is internet security
and privacy (p.293). The fourth is compensation (p.297). The last one is consumerism (p.298).
Closing
A companys Code of Ethics helps define whether the business is good or bad. Within
this document were discussions about the authors ethical standards, where the values and
principles emerged, and how they evolved over time. The next section was a talk about the Code
of Ethics followed by a reference to the moral philosophy affecting the approach to the Code of
Ethics for Glendas Place. The next part of the document was the developed Code of Ethics.
The next section will be the statement of values followed by the training and communication
plan. The implementation plan discussion was next followed by the role of leadership. The next
section discusses corporate social issues followed by laws and regulations concerning the hotel
business. The final section covers ethical concerns for working internationally. Ethics is what
causes a person or business to do the right thing. Ethics is a difficult issue to enforce because not
everyone may have the same beliefs. Making sure a companys ethical program is working
means a constant process of updating, watching, listening, and assessing all areas of problems.

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References

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2006). How to create an ethical culture in
any size business. Retrieved April 4, 2014
http://www.calcpa.org/Content/nr/exeres/f2ce48b5-2207-4254-a28f17315f18f30aframeless.aspx
Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics & social responsibility
[OMM 640 Custom Edition]. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
HGExperts (1995-2014). Hospitality law. Retrieved April 4, 2014
http://www.hp.org/hospitality-law.html
Hopkins, S.L. (2013). How effective are ethics codes and programs? Financial Executive,
29(2), 42-45.
Johnson, R. Kants Moral Philosophy, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (spring 2014
Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), forthcoming URL=<
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2014/entries/kant-moral/>
Markgraf, B. (2014). Legal & Ethical Issues in International Business. Demand Media.
Retrieved April 4, 2014
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/legal-ethical-issues-international-business-expansion68066.html
Ostasiewski, P. (n.d.) Considerations for a global business ethics framework. Retrieved
April 4, 2014 http://www.wju.edu/academics/bus/iscm/ostasiewski1.pdf
Stone, J. (2014). The labor laws for hotel resident managers. Retrieved April 7, 2014
http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/labor-laws-hotel-resident-managers-27755.html