The American Red Cross (ARC)
What is the American Red Cross? “The American Red Cross is a not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to providing services to those in need. The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. The American Red Cross provide service to disaster relief, support to military families, lifesaving blood, international services, and health and safety services such as First Aid and CPR certifications.” (Redcross.org, 2014)
This paper will discuss the dynamics of the American Red Cross case and how it affected the ability to provide adequate emergency response to catastrophic events. Over 10 years, the American Red Cross has been implementing strategies to ensure that the organization is better equipped when dealing with disasters. Not only has the American Red Cross has been faced with so much negativity, the organization is fighting very hard to change the concepts of how the organization can rebound from such criticism.
Determine the impact of this event on ARC’s “benefits of business ethics” (employee commitment, investor loyalty, customer satisfaction, and bottom line)
The impact of the event on American Red Cross benefits of business ethics was mostly negative. Employee commitment was very low. Most of the time, the employee mismanage donated funds to assist with catastrophic events to help others in need by obtaining it for their own capital gain. The investor loyalty morale decreased tremendously due to the misappropriate of funds. Investors are very hesitant about investing into a system whereas it is not confirmed about what the money is used for or where the funds are going towards cert...
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The American Red Cross must ensure that the monies received from donors are utilized for the cause should a certain disaster or event arise. This means that the American Red Cross must gain trust from their employees, customers, donors, and stakeholders in order to operate successfully.
Reference
Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J. and Ferrell, L. (2011). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. 1st ed. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning, p.327 -336.
Redcross.org, (2014). Mission & Principles | American Red Cross Mission Statement. [online] Available at: http://www.redcross.org/about-us/mission [Accessed 26 Apr. 2014].
AMERICAN RED CROSS CODE OF BUSINESS ETHICS AND CONDUCT. (2009). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4240155_Red_Cross_Code_of_Business_Ethics_and_Contact.pdf [Accessed 27 Apr. 2014]
Verschoor, CMA, Curtis C. "Ethics: Do The Right Thing." Strategic Finance (2006). Retrieved on 18 September 2006 .
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: John Wiley.
The American Red Cross is always present at different situations, as a medium of communication and humanitarian services; they give comfort to soldiers and their families. The symbol of the Red Cross is a worldwide known. The Red Cross ...
Considering the size of an organization, in addition to current ethical issues and concerns, determining factors can be established concerning whether to implement a formal ethics audit or whether to use other guidelines and perform an audit within the organization. After reading the debate issue on page 263 of our text, and reviewing various methods, I would consider the BBB Torch Award criteria to be the best option for ABC Specialty Marketing, Inc. Although concerns have surfaced concerning ethical issues, by establishing a set of guidelines to follow, in addition to electing an ethics chairman to head the audit, an internal audit could be conducted, identifying problem areas and suggesting change within the organization (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013).
Importance of ethics in the business world is superlative and global. New trends and issues arise on a daily basis which may create an important burden to organizations and end consumers. Nowadays, the need for proper ethical behavior within
The American Red Cross has faced multiple ethical dilemmas associated with their operations. Since their goal is to provide aid in emergency situations and they receive donations for that aid, their organization and many like it, are held to higher standards in the public eye. Individuals expect them to do the right thing and abide by their code of ethics. Many believe that organizations which are dedicated to helping others are more inclined to do the right thing always and be free of ethical dilemmas. But many times organizations can lose sight of their own internal operations because they are too busy focusing on the external mission.
Mission Statement/Goals: Our mission statement, “The American Red Cross prevents and alleviates human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. Being there in times of need, community readiness and preparedness for disaster, and always having trained individuals nearby are all criteria that we feel necessary to be successful in our service and in following the mission statement. For the Red Cross, being there in times of need, does not simply mean arriving at the scene of a disaster and getting thithings under control, it means arriving at the scene, bebeing actively involved as soon as they arrive, getting th the women and children to safety and helping the peepeople of the community rebuild their lives. And as forfor community readiness and preparedness, we Red Cross volunteers helping in disaster want to do everything in our power to help relief fulfilling our mission and goals different communities be prepared for
Seawell, Buie 2010, ‘The Content and Practice of Business Ethics’, Good Business, pp. 2-18, viewed 22 October 2013, .
So the Red Cross helps with natural disasters but is that all? No, it is not, the Red Cross will help anything that involves human suffering such as food shortages. One example are the southern countries in Africa such as Angola, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Malawi
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Provided personnel for emergency response e. Obtained donations from local and international donors; and tracked items until they reached the victims a. Provided a fraction of their budget for emergency aid b. Provided personnel for emergency response c. Obtained donations from local donors In comparison, the Red Cross / IFRS was more effective than the RSS because they had several years of experience with disaster management amidst readily available personnel and resources; whereas, the RSS only had experience with managing policies and donations of seized goods. To avoid duplicate efforts, the RSS could manage receiving the donations and the Red Cross / IFRS could use their personnel and resources to distribute them to the respective areas in need using their elaborate tracking method 1. The main disaster management resources were destroyed.
The American Red Cross was founded by Clara Barton on May 21, 1881and has been dedicated to helping people in need. They established their first congressional charter in 1900 and till today they are tasked by the government with providing services to the members of the American armed forces and their families and also providing disaster relief in the United States of America and all over the world. The Red Cross was responsible in developing the first civilian blood program in the 1940s nationwide and it still provides more than 40% of the blood products in the United States. The Red Cross depends on substantial contributions from the American public to support their lifesaving services and programs by donating their time, money, and blood.
American Red Cross has very effective method of how it plans and operates being known around the world in assistance when a natural disaster strikes. With a very specific mission to provided, “all people affected by disaster across the country and around the world receive care, shelter and hope.” (vision statement, 2017) American Red Cross vision statement is very specific to what they want to accomplish in being a non-profit organization in helping those in need when disaster strikes such as hurricanes, fires, earth quakes, or tornadoes. What makes American Red Cross the organization it is, is that it is funded through donations and volunteers.
The American Red cross does all sorts of things to help issues that are here at home, and around the globe. They directly help people that were the victims of natural disasters, and disasters by providing people with the correct boost that they might need to come back up from some disaster that has hit them. Without this major organization, and the people that provide the company with the correct financial aid and general support; plenty of people around the globe and even people here in America would be left completely in the dust to fend for themselves after a disaster has struck. There may be other organizations that address disasters, but American Red Cross is the number one disaster relief organization, that even has a worldwide reach.
Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right Fourth ed., Retrieved on July 30, 2010 from www.ecampus.phoenix.edu