Ethical standards in business

Introduction

Ethical standards in business are the principles that need to be followed to establish
values such as fairness, kindness, trust and good behaviors in an organization. There are no sets
of standards that all the business should follow, every company has the freedom to establish its
standards that are structured to their organizational goal. The enforcement of the ethical
standards remains a hard task as the standards are not clearly defined and are open to the
different description. These ethical standards range from ensuring the privacy of customers to
treating the customers with respect. Ethical standards contribute to a company's social
responsibility and sustainability as the organization gains a positive image from the public
(Engel, 2016). Chipotle company is an organization that is committed to the highest ethical
standards. The study will establish the ethical standards in Chipotle and how they can be
applied to ensure social responsibility and sustainability in the ever competitive business
world.

Professional

The staffs who are entitled to make decisions in an organization should act in a
professional manner. The interpersonal relationships in the organization should not
compromise the working environment. The manager's actions and judgments in various
decisions should be based on the impact that a particular decision. Chipotle managers should
use the ethics of professionalism to honor the agreements and contracts with other parties such
as their suppliers and customers. Social responsibility and sustainability is ensured in the
community feels that the Chipotle’s decision is attained in a professional manner.

Political and Religious Contribution

The ethical standards of Chipotle do not restrict any employee to be a member of a
certain political or religious affiliation. However, the company prohibits the workers from

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discussing the religious and political issues in the workplace. The company has also a policy of
ensuring that there are no contributions that are directed to political and religious activities.
Chipotle has a policy that strictly prohibits the use of the company name, trademark, assets
and, properties for religious or political endorsement in any way. The company reimburses any
expense that an individual contributes to a religious or political party. Any marketing activity
that is intended to uplift the community is not considered as religious activity as it is viewed as
contributing to the social responsibility of the company to the local societies (Gaughan &
Javalgi, 2018). Chipotle company regulates the political interference that is considered to have
an impact on the business by using the Compliance Department. The department ensures that
the activities undertaken by different employees agree to the policies of the organization. The
compliance department in Chipotle ensures that all the government enquires and information
request are attended with an agency. The practices gain the company a positive image to the
customers.

Communication

Chipotle ensures accuracy and thoroughness in communication with the public. The
company has a hierarchy in which communication follows and officers in the department of
communication should authorize and approve statements to be made to the public on behalf of
Chipotle. The ethical standards of the company stipulate that any statement that is to be made
the public should be clear and should not be misleading the public. The policy used by the
company is in line with "Regulation FD External Communication Policy" that ensures that
communication is accurate and appropriate. Likewise, any individual who is interested in
information about Chipotle Company should request it from the office of Director of
Communication. The company also calls for a courteous and fair communication to the people
who work on behalf of the company, be it customers, suppliers, and employees. Employees
and the customers can solve a work-related complaint through a one on one communication

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with the other than using the social media to raise the complaint. The employees are also
discouraged from using posts that are viewed as threatening, malicious, or result in a hostile
working environment for fellows workers. Chipotle encourages the staffs to be clear, objective
and to think before they write or say anything that may have an impact on the image of the
company.

Conflict of interest

Chipotle company’s policy dictates that an individual should disclose any close
relationship such as personal, financial or employment with any party in the external
environment. The relationships of staffs with competitors, suppliers, vendors and business
entities should be weighed by the officers in the department of compliance. The department
should determine the extent of relationship, and the course of actions to be undertaken to solve
the conflict that may exist include forcing one to resign.
Recording and Reporting

Chipotle company has established internal controls systems that gives assurance of the
financial activities done . The internal controls are kept to portray the accuracy and proper use
of the resources to the management (Tsalikis & Peralta, 2019). The company’s procedures and
policies are written to control the recording and the reporting practices of the company. The
employees are required to adhere to ethical standards of recording that are in line with legal
and business goals. Chipotle’s policies discourage the dishonesty in recording and reporting of
data and information is prohibited and one is rendered a criminal if he or she carelessly give
misleading information. All the financial documents should be kept in a way that they reflect
the liabilities and the assets of the company. Chipotle also provides that the artificial and
misleading statements for the financial audit must not be recorded for whatever reason. The
ethics standards of Chipotle also dictates that there should be no any worker who can

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influence, manipulate or coerce external or internal auditors to alter the financial statement of
the company.

Anti-Discrimination, Harassment and sexual Harassment
The policy of three has been one of the ethical standards used by Chipotle. The company
values the virtual organization where the workforce is diverse operates in an environment that
is free from any form of discrimination and equality in employment opportunity. Chipotle uses
the values as they believe they have a positive impact on profits and the working environment
of the business. The employees who go against the company’s policy of keeping off from the
practices on discrimination and sexual harassment are disciplined with punishments such as
summary termination. Discrimination in the workplace ranges from aspects like race, color,
origin, and gender. Discrimination is discouraged from all employment practices, starting from
recruitment all the way to the promotion of employees. The company is also against any
harassment form including joke remarks in the form of verbal or non-verbal that low the
esteem on an individual. To ensure social responsibility and sustainability of the organization
Chipotle also deems sexual harassment illegal. All the verbal, non-verbal and other physical
sexual behaviors that are intended to offend the opposite gender are not entertained in the
organization. The policies in the organization do not only prohibit the discrimination,
harassment and sexual harassment among the employees but also among the customers,
suppliers, and other competitors.

Community activities

The company involves itself in the community activities and creating environmental
awareness. Chipotle forms part of the active participant in the activities of the local community
where it has branches. Through the improvement of education, culture, and health of the local
community, Chipotle gains benefits such as chances of disease infections from the community

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(Tsalikis & Peralta, 2019). The company also ensures that the environment is safe through
minimization of activities that may contaminate the land, water, and air as it relies on raw
materials from the environment.

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Reference

Engel, C. (2016). Ethical Standards of Scientific Research for Beginning Accounting
Scholars. Business And Economic Research, 6(1), 129. doi: 10.5296/ber.v6i1.8844
Gaughan, P., & Javalgi, R. (2018). A framework for analyzing international business and legal
ethical standards. Business Horizons, 61(6), 813-822. doi:
10.1016/j.bushor.2018.07.003
Tsalikis, J., & Peralta, A. (2019). Priming effects on business ethical decision making. Priming
Effects On Business Ethical Decision Making, 01(01). doi: 10.15556/ijsim.01.01.001