Ethics Issues Arise at Different Levels
Coca Cola ethical issues started emerging in the 1990s. The firm ethical issues can be analyzed into four levels: personal level, managerial and organizational level, profession or industry level and societal or global level. In a personal level, the firm has been accused of racial discrimination. In the managerial and professional level, the firm intimidates the union workers and fails to timely respond to ethical issues that have been raised. Coca cola at industry or professional level has ethical issues concerning products safety and conflicts in distribution channels. In the societal and global level, the company has ethical issues regarding health concerns, pollution and depletion of resources (How ethical is Coca-Cola Company, The?, 2020).
Managerial Ethics and Ethical Principles
Managerial ethics and ethical principles can be elaborated by use of conventional approach, business principle approach and ethical test approach (Carroll, Buchholtz & Brown, 2017). Some managers in Coca Cola take convectional approach; this is taking an ethical decision based on solid principles. For example, the company allocates funds to improve its supply chain. In principle approach, managers are guided by ethical principles before taking a decision; for example, Coca Cola may improve working conditions to improve the safety of workers. In ethical test approach is based on three theories: teleological, deontological and aretaic. In teleological theory, the firm will focus on the consequences of ethical issues; for example, failure to address labour problems may lead to lawsuits. Deontological theory is concerned with duties; for example, the firm may show less concern for an employee being injured at work. The aretaic theory addresses the virtue of ethical issues; for example, providing recycling waste products for the benefit of society.
Managing Organizational Ethics
Business ethics are founded on the ethical decision made. A manager should be good in decision-making skills to make ethical decisions. The ethical decision of the company is affected by the moral climate of organization, industry, business and society. Coca Cola managers, policies and colleagues affect the moral climate of the organization. Industry moral climate will be affected by other close competitors such as PepsiCo. Inc. Business moral climate will affect all industries. For example, the decision of the Coca Cola to lay off workers during COVID-19 pandemic affected the global economy. The society moral climate may affect the ethics of the firm. For example, society may reject Coke’s products that have sugar.
Best Practices for Improving an Organization Ethics
Coca Cola can adopt three measures to improve organization ethics. First, the firm should have an ethic program that comprises ethics training, ethics officer and code of ethics. Secondly, the existing ethics should be integrated throughout the organization through practices, policies and policies. Thirdly, Coca Cola the executives, managers and board of directors should reflect the ethics to the public.
Moral Decisions, Managers and Organization
Coca Cola has failed to make moral decisions in response to ethical issues and led to the resignation of Warren Buffet (Reuters., 2015). The management should aim to make moral decisions that will result in moral managers; they will create a moral organization (Taylor, Turgeon & Gross, 2017). Coca Cola should set policies, behaviours and practices that will ultimately lead to moral organization.
Summary
The article discussed the moral issues of Coca Cola. Ethical issues have been discussed in four levels. Managerial ethics has been analyzed using convectional, principle ethics and ethical test approach. Factor affecting management include the moral climate of society, business, industry and organization. Organization ethics can be improved by having moral leaders, code of ethics and emphasizing the existing ethics. Moral leadership will finally lead to a moral organization.
References
Carroll, A. B., Buchholtz, A. K., & Brown, J. A. (2017). Business & society: Ethics, sustainability & stakeholder management. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
How ethical is Coca-Cola Company, The? (2020, February 25). Retrieved from https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/company-profile/coca-cola-company
Reuters. (2015, March 25). Warren Buffett to Leave Coca-Cola Board. Retrieved from https://www.foxnews.com/story/warren-buffett-to-leave-coca-cola-board
Taylor, T., Turgeon, B., & Gross, C. L. (2017). Helpers “Here on the Front Lines”: Welfare-to-Work Managers Moral Identity Work. Symbolic Interaction, 41(1), 45-61. doi:10.1002/symb.315