Johnson & Johnson Code Of Ethics Case Study

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Many laws have been put into place to make sure corporations act ethically, so they do not harm people or the environment. Corporations have a social responsibility to follow these laws and various other ethical actions; Johnson & Johnson, considered to be one of the most admirable companies according to Fortune, is one company that included their corporate social responsibilities in their code of ethics. Their code of ethics states that executive officers cannot financially benefit from unethical transactions or that their management must be competent and ethical (Code of Business Conduct, 2015). It is important for corporations to act ethically and hold up to their social responsibility, especially within the workplace; ethics are especially …show more content…

Management has to comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regulations, or risk getting fined. There are many cases where companies try to cut costs, violate rules made by OSHA, and hide any unsafe conditions or ask their employees to lie about it. Putting employees in danger to make a greater profit goes against their corporate responsibility and makes their company lack integrity. Upper level management should make policies against using unsafe practices and lower level management lying about work conditions. They should also promote that employees report unsafe conditions to management and not penalize employees for “whistle-blowing”. Johnson & Johnson’s credo states, “…working conditions [must be] clean, orderly, and safe” (Code of Business Conduct, 2015). Johnson & Johnson implemented a variety of programs to make sure their employees are safe within the workplace including: machine, electrical, contractor, warehouse, and office safety, hazardous processes, and fall prevention (Workplace Safety, 2013). Johnson & Johnson works to reduce their workplace injuries each year and even gets employees and their families to help come up with new programs to further reduce unsafe situations in the workplace. All this contributes to why Johnson & …show more content…

It is unethical to discriminate against surface-level discrimination like: race, religion, age, gender, disabilities, etc. If organizations do not hold up to their responsibility to provide equal opportunity to their employees, the organization can face legal charges, low turnover, employee dissatisfaction, and low motivation. If the public finds out that the company is unethical with their employees, the company’s sales can also go down due to their bad reputation. Upper-level management should make policies against discrimination, hire a diverse workforce, and promote an environment where employees can openly discuss discrimination. Lower-level management should follow and educate employees on these policies, punish employees who discriminate. Johnson & Johnson state in their code of ethics that, “Compensation must be fair and adequate…There must be equal opportunity for employment, development and advancement for those qualified” (Code of Business Conduct, 2015). Johnson & Johnson pays everyone based on skill or performance and gives all their diverse employees the opportunity to advance if they are qualified. Their employees are almost half women, half men, their management is 42% women, and their new hires consists almost 25% each of North Americans, Latin Americans, Europeans/Middle East/Africans, and Asian-Pacific. Johnson & Johnson also have a

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