There has been a challenge when dealing with criminals. The prosecutors and law enforcement officers have had a battle between following the law or ethics. Coming up with an agency policy of ethics can be tedious and a big challenge, especially if it has to do with the law. In the justice environment, going against the ethics can lead to a strained relationship between the law enforcement group and the public. For this reason, when creating an agency ethics policy, communication with all the stakeholders, monitoring and implementing the policy, and reinforcing the implementation is important.
How Ethical Policy Will Be Established
Establishing an agency policy of ethics begins with communication to the stakeholders to make them understand the importance of the change. Managers need to realize that a policy change has a great impact on the culture of an organization. As the Agency’s head, I would make communication with the managers and persuade them on the need to have the policy. When a change is announced in any organization, the employees split into 3; those that support it, agnostics, and those who deny it (Knox, 2016). For this reason, I would sell the vision in the most compelling way possible. The managers would communicate to the employers on the importance of having the new policy. In turn, the employees would give feedback through questionnaires on whether they support the policy and provide suggestions for the same. When the change is supported, I will codify the policy using clear principles agreed on by the managers and employees. The code will pay close attention to the existing culture, norms, law, and community needs.
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How it Will Be Communicated to Ensure Awareness
After the policy is codified, I will post it on the Agency’s official website. The managers and employees will then be provided with a link to the page. Sharing the information makes the employees understand it better, thus easy to live the values (Serrat, 2017). The website page will have a button to allow the stakeholders to send feedback after reading the incoming code of ethics. The feedback will then be collected and analyzed. The employees’ involvement will not only provide important information but also motivate them to achieve the code requirements because they will feel like part of it. Both positive and negative feedback should be considered in policymaking (Daugberg & Kay, 2020). Possible proposed changes will be added in the code while the unwanted parts will be deleted if possible.
After corrections are made on the code, the draft will be presented to the employees and managers to decide whether they support the new policy. If the majority of the stakeholders decline it, the code will be worked on. If the majority that is two-thirds of the stakeholders support it, the process of implementing it will begin. For 30 days, those who violate the code will be warned. After the grace period, those who do not adhere to the code of ethics will be punishable. Continued violation will lead to a dismissal of the manager or the employee.
How it will be Inspected to Ensure Compliance
The managers and the employees will be required to follow the code, having been involved fully in the establishment. The code will be inspected and monitored to avoid continued violation of the code, which would render it useless with time. To prevent this, a committee will be established to inspect and investigate professionals who violate the code of ethics. Further, there will be an officer in charge of the code. The work of the officer will be to report any cases of violation to the committee. The committee will then take disciplinary action against those who violate the code (Ivy, 2019). It is important to note at this point that no violation case will go unpunished. All the stakeholders, including the employees, should report any case of violation to the department heads. The heads of the department will issue a letter to the defaulter. Failure to correct the behavior, a control officer, will file the case and present it to the committee for further action.
How it will be Reinforced so that Members of the Agency Clearly Understand the Seriousness
Measures will be taken to ensure that the stakeholders follow the established code of ethics. Those who violate the code will be sanctioned. An inspection will be done from time to time to ensure that all the managers and employees conform to the set principles. Training will be offered to employees and managers to ensure that they do not forget the code of ethics. This will be useful, especially for new employees. Sanctions will be imposed on the employees, followed by a warning letter with the code of ethics attached at the back of the letter. Continued violation will lead to the loss of the job. It is good to have a team that lives the values of the organization. Failure to live the established values will amount to dismissal from the organization.
Conclusion
In retrospect, the establishment and implementation of a code of ethics are sensitive, especially when related to law. Various considerations, such as people’s culture, should be put into consideration. The involvement of the employees and managers is of great importance because they are the implementers of the code of ethics. The new code of ethics should be monitored to prevent professionals from breaching it and rendering it useless after some time. The employees should be trained to keep them updated on the code of behavior they should depict in the workplace.
References
Daugbjerg, C., Kay, A. (2020). Policy feedbsck and pathways: when change leads to endurance and continuity to chance. Policy sci 53, 253-268. https://doi.org/10/1007/s11077-019-09366-y
Ivy Panda. (2019). Importance of Involving Employees the Decision-Making Process. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/importance-of -involving-employees-in-decision-making-process/
Serrat O. (2017). Engaging Staff in the Workplace. In: Knowledge Solutions. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0983-9_49
Knox, H. (2016, October 4). Converting Fence Sitters To Change Champions. HR Magazine . Retrieved from https://www.hr.com/en/magazines/all_articles/converting-fence-sitters-to-change-champions_itvb7jdy.html
