Essay on T-Mobile Code of Conduct
Each organization has certain corporate cultural and ethical standards, which influence the methods of interaction with external and internal organizational environment. The complex of ethical and organizational practices adopted within an organization constitutes organizational ethics. Organizational ethics is reflected through the organizational values and should be aligned with the mission, vision and strategy of the organization. There are four components of organizational ethics: codes of conduct and ethical codes (written codes), employee trainings in ethics, ethical consultancy in complex situations and mechanisms for confidential reporting of ethical issues (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). Each of these components is highly important for effective functioning of the organization.
The code of conduct plays an important role in the strategic development of the organization: it acts like a compass for operating in the business environment, allows to improve business relationships, helps ensure accountability of employees, outlines what is perceived as inappropriate behavior, and outlines recommended behaviors (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to consider the first element, written code of conduct, discuss the requirements and content of the code of conduct, analyze the code of conduct of T-Mobile and the extent to which it is aligned with the mission and vision of the organization, and to generate recommendations for revising the code of conduct for T-Mobile, if required.
- Theoretical background
The code of conduct is the background for the company’s ethics program. This document generally is the central reference and guide for the employees in the decision-making processes (Beach, 2007). Therefore, the code of conduct should clarify the mission, principles and values of the organization and link them to the professional standards of conduct (Beach, 2007). The code of conduct should also provide guidelines for decision-making and behavior. It should be noted that the code of conduct is meant to complement rules, standards and policies within the organization and link them into a whole ethical system. The code should not act as a replacement for the rules and standards; it should neither be viewed as a substitute to the ethics program nor should it be viewed as the source of solutions for all ethical dilemmas that might arise.
The code should not be too lengthy, because it would be too difficult to communicate the code to the employees; at the same time, the code should include concrete norms and clarifications and should not be too abstract. Therefore, the employer should find a reasonable balance and develop the code of conduct which is readable, memorable and effective. Possible solutions for the code of conduct are: dividing the code in different sections associated with different spheres of activity, outlining the general principles first and providing more specific application further in the document, creating booklets on different ethical aspects, etc (Beach, 2007).
- Requirements for the code of conduct
The code of conduct might typically include the following elements: organizational mission, rules, considerations, definitions and examples (Kaptein, 1998). The mission of the organization reflects the purpose of the organization and its reason for existence. Ethical considerations in the code of conduct might include general employee conduct, provision of information, and “rules of thumb” for employees (Kaptein, 1998). It is recommended to include examples and definitions in the documentation to help employees clarify existing rules and considerations. Therefore, the code should include both general principles adopted in the company and specific norms (Kaptein, 1998).
With regard to content, it is important to outline both the rights and the duties of the employees in the code of conduct, and show the common value of the code and its importance in the text. The recommended elements of the code include: clear preamble describing the goals of the code, value statement, the body of the code outlining actual rules (it is best if these are categorized for convenience), examples, clearly formulated penalties, and the process of imposing penalties and appeal (Trevino & Nelson, 2010). It is recommended to maintain a positive approach to employees, i.e. exhibit the confidence in the personnel in the text of the code.
- Analysis of T-Mobile code of conduct
The code of conduct of T-Mobile has quite user-friendly design and has convenient and understandable contents. The title of the Code states “Living up to Our Corporate Values. Creating Values – as a Team” (T-Mobile, 2012). The design of the document and its structure make a rather positive impression. The headers in the contents are clear and understandable: “General”, “Our Core Values”, “Our Work Environment”, “Protecting Customer Information”, “Conducting Business”, “Company Resources and Information”, “Dealing with Contractors, Vendors, Suppliers” and “Your Commitment” (T-Mobile, 2012). The structure of the document largely complies with the requirements for the code of conduct outlined in two previous sections: first general principles are outlined, and more detailed norms and recommendations are grouped into topics and provided after the general principles. The Code also has a clear and short preamble describing the purpose of the document.
The questions discussed in the “General” section of the document clearly explain how to use the Code and answer core employees questions related to ethical conduct and ambiguous situations. The Code of Conduct of T-Mobile also includes small boxes with typical questions and answers; this feature is highly helpful because it might be used to answer the most common questions and will likely increase the speed of decision-making for employees.
The next section outlines core values of the company, which is also an effective solution – employees can see the general ethical framework first of all. However, there is one disadvantage – most of the values are formulated as “I”, and only three values are formulated as “we”. Such formulations might affect team work, because from the very beginning, employees are positioned as individuals rather than a whole team. In addition to that, the mission of the company is not mentioned anywhere in the code of conduct (or is not explicitly mentioned). The presentation of principles and values in isolation from the company’s purpose and goals is not an effective solution.
The “Work Environment” section is effectively designed and covers the core questions associated with this sphere: equal employment, harassment-free and discrimination-free work environment and related procedures, filing complains, ensuring health and safety of employees, etc. The section devoted to protecting customer information also contains clear and effective guidelines.
However, in the “Conducting Business” section there are certain deficiencies. While the first page of this section deals with integrity and commitment, there is a lengthy list of the examples of misconduct which looks overwhelming and does not create a positive impression. The section devoted to gifts and gratuities is written in an effective and reasonable form. The section devoted to outside employment at work is very tough, in particular such statements as “Approval to engage in outside employment may be revoked at any time with or without notice or reason”, “Employees on any type of leave of absence, whether paid or unpaid, may not under any circumstances engage in outside employment or work unless otherwise permitted by law” (T-Mobile, 2012).
The next sections devoted to business practices and activities, sustainability and information security are written in clear and understandable language. However, lots of employee duties outlined, and very few rights or advantages for the employees are mentioned. This style of Code of Conduct does not comply with the position of T-Mobile as the company which emphasizes a proper life, values its human resources and is positioning itself as a “cool” place to work. Finally, the section called “Your Commitment” clearly states that the employees are expected to live in accordance with the company’s principles; however, nothing is stated regarding the commitment of T-Mobile to the employees. In the whole document, there are a lot of prohibitions, but there are few statements maintaining a positive tone. This approach might discourage the employees and hinder their effective use of the Code of Conduct.
- Recommendations
The analysis of T-Mobile code of conduct shows that the document is properly designed and organized, so that the employees can find the required information quickly and efficiently. However, the main issue of the Code of Conduct of T-Mobile is its emphasis on individual position of an employees (instead of team member position), and the prohibitive tone of the documents. The following revisions are recommended for T-Mobile Code of Conduct:
- include mission and vision of the company in the beginning of the document, and link them to the principles and values of the company;
- re-formulate values so that they would reflect team principles instead of individualized principles;
- maintain a balance of employee rights and duties in the code, and avoid outlining too many duties without appropriate rights;
- reconsider the approach to outside employment and the mechanisms for regulating outside employment, because in the current form they might restrain the freedom of the employees;
- in the integrity section, negative formulations should be changed to positive (e.g. examples of integrity should be shown prior to of integrity violations);
- for the examples of misconduct, it is recommended to add the examples of compliance to show what is recommended to do (along with what is not recommended);
in the whole document, the phrases with negative and prohibitive tone should be possibly reformulated to create more constructive and positive impression.
