Ethics

Businesses do not operate in a vacuum but they operate in an environment which depends on it. A business deals with employees, customers, shareholders and the general community and thus for this reason it should be accountable to them. I would like to work in a juice manufacturing and marketing company where I expect the company to have written down principles to be followed in order to differentiate between bad and good decisions made in the company. The managers in this company should ensure that good business ethics are set and observed because they lead to better performance of the company in terms of revenue and profits made in the long run. The juice manufacturing and marketing company is expected to face some ethical problems which will not auger well with its operations.

MAJOR ETHICAL PROBLEMS
Attitude towards employee

This juice manufacturing and marketing company may fail to provide a conducive environment for its employees and take advantage of the fact that the rate of unemployment is very high and so the employees may not be having any choice. Employees may be prone to bad working conditions where for example those working in the production department may not be provided for with safety measure to protect them from the harsh chemicals they are using and also the manufacturing machines they are using (Rajendra, Sisodia, David  Jagdish, 2007). The managers may also not care about the welfare of the employees and so may fail to give them ample resting time because they feel that so long as they are paying them then they should work without resting.

Workplace discrimination
The managers in the juice company may treat the employees unfairly depending on their race, sex, the religion they belong to and also on disability. The managers may tend to favour employees from a certain nationality, those who are from their religion and those who are not disabled. This discrimination may occur in recruitment where certain people will be favoured, also certain people may be promoted regardless of their performance and some compensated fairly in the company regardless of their rank.

Gender gap in the work place
In most companies, men are favoured compared to women and thus it follows that this juice industry may also practice this unethical practice of creating a gender gap in the work place. The company when recruiting employees may decide to have more male employees than female (Rajendra, Sisodia, David  Jagdish, 2007).  The company may also not assign high posts to female employees despite the fact that they may be equally qualified like their male counterparts. Single women employees who have children to look after and having the same kind of job with a male employee may be paid less salary compared to him yet they are equally qualified. In promotion and in training and development, priority may be given to male employees. If the company is to perform a restructuring process as a result of poor performance, the female employees may be the first employees to be retrenched because most managers believe that a womans salary is a second source of income to that of his husband but they fail to understand that not all women are married.

Financial rewards
It is an obligation for each and every company to compensate its employees for the job they have done. Ethic practice requires that employees be paid what they deserve. The juice industry may decide to reward employees amount which cannot even meet their daily basic needs (Rajendra, Sisodia, David  Jagdish, 2007). Employees may be having a lot of work in the company which may not be equitable to what they get as their wages or salaries. Managers may decide to delay the employees salaries since they do not have a voice in that company and also with an intention of holding them to work for long period. Employees may also not enjoy the company benefits like bonus, recognition and even appreciation rewards since the managers may not include them in the payment scheme.

SOLUTIONS TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS
Solution to work place discrimination
Managers should come up with a strategy to prevent discrimination in workplace. First the strategy should legally define the meaning of workplace discrimination which means treating some people unfairly depending on certain issues like religion, race, sex or even disability when recruiting, promoting, in job evaluation or in training and compensation. Then a no tolerance policy should be developed and put in writing and every employee given a copy to read. A procedure to file workplace discrimination should be established and it should indicate the person to whom the complaints are to be made and a plan of how to carry out the complaint investigation.

The manger should discuss the ant discriminatory policy, explaining the incidences of workplace discrimination and their effects (Rajendra, Sisodia, David  Jagdish, 2007).  They should also be taught how to file an internal grievance when faced with discrimination. Finally the manager should train the employees on sex harassment and diversity explaining to them the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors in workplace. By coming up with ant discriminatory strategy, the employees will work together as a team and the right employees will be employed which will result to the success of the company.

Solution to financial rewards
A company should come up with an employee reward system to address the issues of employees compensation, recognition, appreciation and benefits. This system should ensure that employees are fairly compensated for the work done. They should be compensated as stipulated in the employment contract they signed. Managers should ensure that the employees salaries are paid on time to avoid inconveniences. The compensation given by a company should be high enough to motivate and attract new employees.(Rajendra, Sisodia, David  Jagdish, 2007).It should also be equal to the work done by them and in order to determine the compensation that is equitable to the work done, the managers should define the duties and responsibilities of the employees and the compensation rate used. This should then be compared to the set goals of the company in order to determine whether the company can sustain that kind of compensation.

Employees should be entitled to financial benefits like bonus since it is through their efforts that the company has made profits. The managers should ensure that the employees are entitled to pension schemes so that even after they retire they will be in a position to support themselves. Medical allowances, house allowance and transport allowances should also be included in the employees compensation.

Conclusion
Ethics in business is very crucial because it is through it that the behavior of those working is changed. For a company to succeed in its operation it should ensure that these ethics are well known to the employees so that they are able to know what is expected and not expected of them and at the same time take the right steps incase unethical behavior is practiced. The above essay gives some of the ethical problems expected in a juice manufacturing and marketing company and solutions to some of those problems.