A1. Corporate Social Responsibility

In the Coca-Cola’s code of ethics, corporate social responsibility has not been specifically defined, but its proponents have been included. This is found under the section of “integrity and relations with others.” There has been a definition of relations with public authorities, suppliers, customers, consumers, and competitors. With regards to public authorities, the code prohibits the offering of bribes and encourages positive and transparent participation in political processes. When it comes to customers, consumers and suppliers, the code stipulates that they should be treated with respect and honesty. There is the prohibition of being involved with deceptive, unfair and misleading practices towards these stakeholders. The products of the company should at all times be presented in a forthright and honest manner. It is not allowed to promise anything to these stakeholders with the objective of gaining an inappropriate advantage.

A2. Legal Mandate Compliance

The company is not lacking in compliance with the legal mandate. There is adherence to the relevant legal regulations to ensure that the company is not on the wrong side of the law. The company’s code of ethics has gone ahead to outline the stipulations that ensure there is compliance with the relevant legal mandates. This has been done by ensuring there are individuals responsible for enhancing compliance issues.

A2A. Implications of Noncompliance

Being noncompliant with legal mandates is detrimental to a business. There are several negative consequences that are likely to accrue. Among them there are fines. Fines come into play since it is not possible to throw the company in jail. The fines involved can be small or huge depending on the nature of breaches involved with the company (Kaptein, 2011). Removal from ASX and prevalence of unenforceable contracts are also relevant consequences. Failure to comply with listing requirements will result in the listing being suspended. Incorrectly drafted contracts on their part would easily render contracts unenforceable or unlawful. Tax liability is also a probable consequence coupled with criminal consequence on the side of directors or personnel involved with the breach.

A2B. Legal or Ethical Safeguards

Coca-cola has put several safeguards to help ensure compliance. They include the expectation that managers should promote a culture of ethics and compliance. This is by ensuring that the people are supervised to help understand their responsibilities within the code of ethics and other relevant policies. The managers are also expected to reinforce the importance of compliance with the employees at all times. Managers should also create an environment that makes the employees feel comfortable while raising their concerns without the fear of retaliation from the affected parties.  Managers are also expected to never direct the employees in achieving business results at the expense of contravening the ethical code and compliance with the law. Another safeguard that the company has put in place is instituting an ethics and compliance committee. This committee comprises senior leaders that are responsible for the code of ethics administration.

A3. Development of an Ethical Culture

The code of ethics facilitates the establishment of an ethical culture in a variety of ways. To begin with, the code stipulates what is expected from every stakeholder in their line of work. These expectations come with operating ethically. These are things that the stakeholders will keep in mind while indulging in affairs that concern the company. With time, the stakeholders become used to fulfilling the expectations bestowed on them. This becomes the normal way of doing things, and an ethical culture is engrained in them. The code of ethics also stipulates what the stakeholders are expected to do, and what they are not supposed to do. Aspects such as integrity have been emphasized. Applying these values from time to time helps them in being part of every stakeholder’s norm hence forming an ethical culture in the long-run.

A4. Raising an Ethical Concern

Coca-Cola Company expects all the stakeholders to uphold the relevant ethical standards. As a result, everyone is expected to raise any issue that seems to represent a violation of the ethical code promptly. When raising an issue, an employee is expected to approach an individual in a higher position that is not affected by the issue so as to bring it to his/her attention. Raising the issue helps the company with coming up with a solution before it gets out of hand hence resulting to the violation of law, security or company’s reputation.

A4A. Available Resources

The code of ethics has provided employees with three resources that they can use while raising ethical concern. Their include contacting either:

-The manager or department director

-The local ethics officer

-The legal or finance director

These are people in leadership positions and have control over most of the activities taking place in the company. As a result, they have the ability to deal with any ethical concerns that might be raised within the company.

A4B. Preferred Resources

The resource that I would probably use when raising an ethical concern in the organization would be that of contacting the local ethics officer. The ethics officer is tasked with taking care of the ethics internal controls in the organization. This means that he/she is well aware of the actions to take when presented with a particular case. They have the responsibility of addressing ethics improprieties, allegations, conflicts of interest and governance. This means they can address any issue regarding the company’s ethics. An ethics officer is also less likely to be affected by the conflict of interest since they are not involved with other operational activities of the organization hence having the ability to make objective decisions on the issue involved (Tonry, 2016).  It would also be easy to write anonymous letters to the ethics officer detailing the ethical concern at hand for people that do not want their identities to be disclosed. This provides encouragement for such people to raise their concerns.

A5. Code of Ethics

Attached

B1. Whistle-Blowing Conditions

Among the conditions that would necessitate an employee to blow the whistle is when there is the presence of unethical conduct in the organization, and the individuals that one is supposed to raise the issue to are involved in the unethical conduct. When they are involved this means that there is no way they will be able to deal with the issue as it is required due to the conflict of interest that exists (Vandekerckhove, 2012). Another condition is when an employee raises the issue with the relevant people, but there is no action being taken, and the people involved are continuing to perpetrate the unethical conduct. Here, whistle blowing seems like the alternative to ensure that everything is in order. Another relevant condition is when the organization involved has not stipulated how employees should raise such issues. This is because it creates a skepticism on the organization’s desire to deter unethical conduct hence bringing the need for whistle blowing to ensure the issue gets the attention that it deserves.

B2. Whistle-Blowing Process

The whistle blowing process begins with the gathering of evidence. This entails the gathering of evidence regarding the said unethical conduct. This is usually regarded as the most important part since it works to show that the claim being made is of substance (Kaptein, 2010). The whistleblower should at all times try and keep the information gathered confidential.

This is then followed by the filing of the claim or presentation of evidence. The False Claims Act requires the whistle blower to file a complaint with a court detailing the alleged misconduct. The filing is supposed to contain a summary of the alleged unethical conduct.

This is then followed by the government’s investigation, and this can be the longest phase of the whistle blowing process. Matters of the investigation are usually kept confidential to help protect the identity of the whistleblower and the investigation (Kaptein, 2010). Complaints filed with a court tend to be sealed to ensure that even defendants do not have access. During the investigation, witnesses and the whistle blower are usually interviewed to help gather the desired information.

The government then makes a decision of whether to bring a case or not. In case the government decides to bring a case, the whistleblower is required to offer his/her testimony at the grand jury proceedings. This is the point where the identity of the whistle blower is disclosed.

1. Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

-Payments made to whistle-blowers act as an incentive for whistle blowing. Since the initiative commenced, the government has been able to recover substantial amounts of money like the $3 billion recovered from GlaxoSmith-Kline and $2 billion recovered from the Quorum Health Group.

-Many whistle blowers tend to lose their livelihoods due to their actions. In these cases, the whistle blowing payments are used as a means to tide the whistle blowers over before they can find a new way of making a living.

 Disadvantages

– The payments create the risk of whistle blowers getting the motivation to bypass internal reporting structures by racing to the regulators due to the fear of losing payment eligibility. This works to undermine an organization’s internal whistle blowing system hence damaging its ability to reduce, detect and prevent wrongdoing.

-The reward-system does not encourage timely whistle blowing. Whistleblowers might be motivated to report an issue later rather than early to ensure that it has become a serious issue so that their reward can increase given the overall settlement which is determined by the seriousness of the criminal conduct involved (Vandekerckhove, 2012).

-The prospect of receiving payments increases the risk of people making baseless whistle blowing reports. Such reports will lead enforcement agencies to waste time and money.

1. Impact of U.S Sentencing Guidelines

The impact that the U.S Sentencing Guidelines might have to an organization is that of providing an incentive for the organization to develop a meaningful ethics and compliance program, cooperate in criminal investigations, report violations, take steps required to detect and prevent criminal conduct and discipline responsible employees (Tonry, 2016). This is because under the guidelines, an organization is usually punished according to several factors including whether it has established an effective program that helps to detect and prevent violations of the law.

D1. Culpability Factors

Mitigating factors

This entails an organization having an effective program that helps in prevention and detection of violations of the law. A company that has such a mechanism usually has 3 points deducted from the culpability score of 5.

Self-reporting

This entails an organization that reports the relevant criminal conduct immediately after it has been realized. It becomes applicable if the reporting is done before the government investigation commences. When an organization accepts the responsibility of a criminal behavior and reports the misconduct, it shows that they are cooperating with the authority and can have 5 points deducted from the culpability score.

Aggravating factors

These are factors likely to make the culpability score to increase. This includes the history of prior criminal conduct, the role of the organization in obstructing investigation and degree of participation and tolerance.

References

Kaptein, M. (2010). From Inaction to External Whistleblowing: The Influence of the Ethical Culture of Organizations on Employee Responses to Observed Wrongdoing. Journal of Business Ethics,98(3), 513-530.

Kaptein, M. (2011). Understanding unethical behavior by unraveling ethical culture. Human Relations,64(6), 843-869.

Tonry, M. (2016). Sentencing fragments: penal reform in America, 1975-2025. New York: Oxford University Press.

Vandekerckhove, W. (2012). Whistleblowing and Organizational Social Responsibility: A Global Assessment. Gower Publishing, Ltd.

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