Introduction
The New Oriental Dipont is a large Chinese education company that is based in Beijing. It is an AIRC-certified institution and a leading education company in China. This institution was established in 2004 as a subsidiary of New Oriental Education and Technology Group. The company employs about 3500 employees including staff and counselors in its offices in China. Being an educational institution, it is certified by AIRC a certification that was to last up to 2018. The certification standards of AIRC require that all its members comply with the principles of integrity and transparency of services rendered. This principle states that any agency should conduct itself in an accountable and transparent manner whereby only truthful claims should be made. It also advocates for an unbiased service to both institutions and the student community. Failure to comply with AIRC principles can lead to probationary measures or a revocation of the certification. AIRC lays much emphasis on a commitment to quality services and the compliance to the ideals of NOVO. The operations of the company are governed by stringent policies and procedures aimed at guarding the ethical behaviors of employees. It main objective is to have a positive influence in bettering the lives of students and the education sector in general.
Ethical Issues facing the Organization
However, in the recent past, the education company has been facing allegations of unethical practices in its interaction with students. The company has been accused of unethical practices with regards to university admissions. The firm has been engaging in university and college application fraud by writing application letters and teacher recommendations including the falsification of high school transcripts (Study International Staff, 2016). The main reason for doing this is because most Chinese students lacked language skills to write their own personal statements and essays. This is why the counselors decided to write them. It is only the bright and gifted students that were allowed to do their own applications and essays. However, the company has denied these allegations of application fraud at a time when many universities in America are in need of Chinese students who are known for paying full tuition.
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HR Intervention to resolve Unethical Practices
Unethical practices can have serious ramifications for an organization even though they may not be illegal. These practices can poison the work environment which may cause the organization and its employees to suffer. However, the human resource department can create an avenue in which employees can report incidences of unethical behavior of their colleagues to enable the formulation of policies and procedures as well as training programs (Singh & Twalo, 2015). It is, therefore, important for employees to have an easy way of reporting unethical practices at the work place.
New Oriental Dipont can adapt several intervention measures to resolve this unethical practice. The problem could have been avoided if the company had been able to set a behavior code at the workplace by creating a code of ethics. It creates values which are of importance to the company where employees understand the limits set by the company. Codes of ethics can help the company to communicate its ethical objectives to employees. It is advisable that the process of formulating codes of ethics should involve the participation of key employees
Secondly, the company should have an efficient way of reporting violations of the code of conduct. For instance, it can set up an anonymous hotline phone to report such behavior. By creating a protocol the company can be able to address an unethical issue in a systematic and discreet manner without exposing the reporter.
The company can also empower its employees with knowledge of how to identify and handle ethics violations in an appropriate manner. This can be done by organizing an ethics training program for all employees to make the code of ethics to work.
Mechanisms for Tackling Problem Areas
The problem of application fraud at the company can be dealt with conclusively without any chance of recurring when an ethics audit is done periodically. In the audit all employees should be made to understand what the audit means and why it is being conducted (Campbell). The audit should ensure that all employees do not engage in the unethical practice of application fraud. This can be done by monitoring the activities of all employees to ensure that the activity is not practiced. Also, the company should communicate to all students enlisting its services that application fraud is not condoned by the company. Additionally, a reporting protocol should be set up to report cases of violations. The company should, therefore, set a code of conduct that requires all employees to work in an honest manner by maintaining their integrity. Application fraud can only be discouraged if the company gives clear guidelines of how each employee is supposed to behave in a given situation. It should discourage dishonesty by setting out strict disciplinary measures for violations. The ethics audit is meant to reinforce the company’s values and prevent unethical practices from recurring. It should set out the duties and responsibilities of each employee and how they should behave. Additionally, it also develops an ethical culture in the company to reduce incidences of lawsuits, low morale, high turnover, or business demise. In this respect, it should set out disciplinary measures that can be meted out in case of ethics violations. Ethical guidelines need to be continuously reviewed and promoted to make them more effective. The guidelines need to be written in handbooks or other writing material that is convenient to the employees. Moreover, ethics audit demonstrates to the company’s employees that it is serious in creating an ethical and positive workplace. An ethics audit will consequently result in a better business environment that is happier and more secure to employees.
Promoting Ethical Awareness/Decision-Making
New Orient Dipont can formulate new ways of creating ethical awareness in the organization to curtail the unethical behavior of application fraud. Firstly, it can begin a process of recruiting and hiring new employees who are honest and willing to follow its code of ethics to replace errant ones. The recruitment process should touch of levels of the organization that will reinforce the company’s ethical culture (Snellman, 2015). These are employees who will provide a good example to the company’s moral and ethical obligations in its decision making process.
Secondly, the company needs to educate its entire staff on the need to engage in ethical actions and the risks involved in engaging in unethical behavior. It becomes risky when an organization ignores ethical actions and allows unethical practices to proceed unchecked. There are many things that are at risk when an organization ignores unethical actions. The company can risk its reputation and this is bad for business.
Thirdly, there is the issue of finances. Any unethical actions aimed at making illegal profits will not only harm the company but also employees. The fact that the company was engaged in fraudulent student applications to make students acceptable in foreign universities and colleges was purely based on financial gain. This could land the company in trouble with authorities not to mention the bad publicity that comes with it. The company needs to account for its source of income in a legal way and this call for ethical practices.
Fourthly, the organization should develop a corporate culture where employs are free to speak truthfully to the management. In this way the management is able to know what the employees feel is wrong with the company. Studies indicate that a great majority of employees in organizations who experience misconduct at the workplace fail to speak up because they believe that the employer will not take any decisive action or they fear that they are exposing themselves to retaliation if they do report. This situation tends to create an unhealthy tension at the workplace which is counterproductive.
Finally, the company should be able to differentiate between what is legal and what is ethical. The practice of falsifying student’s personal documents is not only illegal but also unethical. Anything that is illegal can lead to lawsuits which can further dent the image of the company. It should be noted that an unethical practice is not necessarily illegal. However, all illegal activities are unethical and should be curtailed. Employees should, therefore, be sensitized to be able to identify unethical practices from their own consciousness. It does not involve a great deal of intelligence to distinguish between right and wrong. All employees should be empowered to use their own discretion to know when an activity is unethical or even outright illegal. In this respect, New Orient Dipont should take measures to ensure that all its employees are aware of unethical practices by setting clear code of conduct guidelines that will guide employees in making the right decisions in the course of their duties. Some employees will engage in unethical practices because they believe that that is the way the company operates. However, when the organization sets out clear code of conduct guidelines all employees become aware of how the company expects them to behave in different situations.
References
Campbell, T., Houghton, K. A., & Australian National University. (2005). Ethics and auditing . Canberra: ANU E Press.
Singh, P. & Twalo, T. (2015). Mismanaging Unethical Behavior in the Workplace. Journal of Applied Business Research , 31(2):515-530.
Snellman, L. (2015). Ethics Management: How to Achieve Ethical Organizations and Management. Business, Management and Education , 13(2): 336-3567.
Study International Staff. (2016). China’s education companies accused of ‘unethical practices’ to get students into U.S. colleges. SI News . Retrieved from: https://www.studyinternational.com/news/chinas-education-companies-accused-of-unethical-practices-to-get-students-into-u-s-colleges/
