Bbc Specialty Marketing, Inc.

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).

In order to implement any audit, the board should establish measurable standards, which seem rather difficult at the present time, considering that a limited ethics program currently exists (Ferrell, Fraedrich,

& Ferrell, 2013).

Therefore, the board should discuss electing an ethics chairman, who would form a committee, and then make recommendations on how to develop a more beneficial ethics policy. In order to know what to incorporate into the policy, an internal ethical audit could be conducted using the guidelines set forth by the Better Business Bureau, which lists detailed information on ethical practices of leadership, ethical communication practices, organizational leadership practices, performance management commitment, ethical human resources commitment, in addition to commitment to the community (Better Business Bureau, 2017). In addition, goals should be established in all areas, along with a means of establishing integrity (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013).

Internal audits could be performed quarterly in order to aid in the development of an improved program, and with the support of the management teams, training and enforcement of the new policies and procedures can be administered. Therefore, a cross-functional team should be established in order to administer the ethics audit, seeking ways to improve, along with administering discipline when violations are discovered (Krell, 2010). An ethics audit requires cooperation for all involved, defining ethical behavior through the process. Therefore, the ethics committee would be responsible for monitoring and investigating ethical issues that may arise. After each internal audit, a formal report should be written, providing sharable information to all key members reviewing the audit.
By realizing that change should take place, administering the BBB Torch Award criteria as a means for an internal audit renders the ability to save time and money for an audit, while realizing areas that need special attention. Until a strong ethics program is in place, in addition to providing proper training and developing expectations throughout the company, money would be wasted on a formal, third party audit. Therefore, ABC Specialty Marketing, Inc. should start on a smaller scale, by expanding its skills and resources and administering an audit based on the BBB Troch Award criteria, which appears to be have a good reputation, in addition to being thorough (Better Business Bureau, 2017). Once a detailed ethical program has been established and training has been provided for all team members, a larger, third party audit could be beneficial, such as a formal third party financial audit. However, the organization should expand its current processes and procedures before reaching out for an outside evaluation.
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