MGT 209: Governance, Business Ethics, Risk Management and Internal Control

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“THE OFFICE”
A. Enumerate all business/workplace practices mentioned or portrayed in the clip
that seem unethical to you.
Time theft is one of the unethical business/workplace practices portrayed in the movie
clip wherein employees intentionally perform non work-related tasks during paid working hours.
Common examples include arriving late, leaving early, daydreaming and cyberslacking. When
employees engage in these activities, they are stealing company time. Examples of time theft in
“The Office” are abundant and include, but are not limited to, Phyllis sitting at her desk knitting
while Stanley sleeps and Michael Scott, the office manager, declaring “When I discovered
Youtube, I didn’t work for 5 days.” Then, cyberslacking or simply using workplace technology
in order to do non-workplace related tasks like browsing Facebook, Youtube, or Twitter is a
common form of time theft in modern offices. In order to reduce excessive cyberslacking, a
mutual agreement should be made between employer and employee about encourages his
employees to commit time theft and cyberslack, which results in an unproductive workplace.
Another unethical behaviour mentioned in the movie is when Meredith Palmer
had sex to gain discounts and gift certificates for company, aside from this Outback Steakhouse
supplies are also given to her as they sleep together. She told that she has been having sex with
Scranton’s Hammermill representative for six years, implying that Dunder Mifflin has sold
Hammermill products during that time, though it was only two years ago in “The Convention”
that Michael broke Hammermill’s exclusivity with staples. It is unethical to use this kind of thing
to make a necessary discounts and gift certificates, because there are a lot of ways for this kind
of engagement without involving any malicious intent. In the episode “Business Ethics”
Meredith reveals that her inappropriate behaviour extends just beyond being out of the line at the
office. She’s also engaging in some inappropriate business conduct outside of work. It is
definitely unprofessional behaviour which employee brings her personal issues to the job. This
can disrupt a workplace as a whole, disrespect for a woman and it should be dealt quickly as
possible. For this following a code of ethics is necessary should amended and followed, without
any Code of Ethics, employees likely to do wrong if they don’t know what is right. Everyone
should be accountable. It is necessarily to addresses and identifies the particular misconduct in
the workplace to prevent any conflicts and minimizes the damages.
B. Do you agree with how the characters tried to resolve the issues? Explain.
No, I don’t agree on how the characters tried to resolve the issues. As you can see that
there is no resolving issues that happened in the video clip, because of unethical behavior of
everyone especially the manager. In the video clip, the first to violate the regulation is the
manager who didn’t work just to watch youtube videos. How can issues be resolved if the
leaders or the manager has also an unethical behavior? Manager should be a good role model to
their employees or colleague, manager sets goals for the group, and decides what work needs to
be done to meet those goals and also the managers develops people with the rise of the
knowledge worker, this task has taken on added importance. In a knowledge economy, people
are the company’s most important asset, and it is up to the manager to develop that asset. But in
the case of “The Office” the employees and the managers have an unethical behavior so the
result of their meeting are not good. In the world of business, we should not imply our personal
 MGT 209: Governance, Business Ethics, Risk Management and Internal Control
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issues inside the office that can affect our works. Unethical behavior should not be tolerated.
Everyone inside the office has unethical manner that result negative feedback to their business,
which results in an unproductive workplace. Those behavior is not helpful to operate the
business, it may affect the business not work properly.
We need to be aware and be responsible on how and what we need to do inside the
workplace and all the improper doing that will reflect to the reputation of the whole company
must be given an attention. If I will be the manager of a business I will not tolerate all the
improper treat to the employees instead I will give punishment if those behaviors violated the
company’s regulations. Observe proper conducts and manners at all times because it is ones’
obligation and responsibility. Everyone should be responsible to their works and also for
themselves. All business/ practices mentioned above, does not need to do inside the workplace.
C. For Holly, Dunder Mifflin (name of their company) is a workplace. For Michael,
it is a family whose side are you on?
I agree with Holly that Dunder Mifflin is a workplace. A workplace is defined as
organizational place where an employees or people work; this is where a daily routine of the
people behind it dedicated themselves in their work, having a common goals and objectives
towards the company success. If you think about or treat your employees like a family, you’re
probably doing more harm than good. This is because there is a conflict between work and
family when it seems to be incompatible demands between a work and family roles. An
imbalance can create in a workplace interface because of this reason. Leading an organization as
if it is your family is inappropriate and antiquated leadership practice. According to fast
company.com an article written by Nicole Miller-Buffer, that a family mentality gives a huge
impact in a workplace, there are different doors between the two where a person can show who
he is. She emphasizes that a business is where the customers are priority and they have
teammates which had their own family to look after. She added that a family offers tough love
wherein a workplace revealed a series of positive and constructive feedback exchanged,
performance reviews conducted, production goals and expectations are accountable. A notion for
family is not what a business should have instead, it should be a place where the people cares
and work together as healthiest as possible, diminishing the rule of power and consider
themselves as one. With the above mentioned, you should consider your organization as a sports
team. In this situation a team knows how to win or lose, accept defeat and practice good
sportsmanship. A sports team where happiness is invested together with experiences, which leads
a company toward its main goal, create a company culture and formulate competitive strategies
in a particular workplace challenges. To sum up, a workplace that can create a family having a
strong relationship by practicing ethical behaviour and obeying policies of the company must
portray. Being a professional on all matter within the workplace, can build a deep relationship
like a family where respect is a top priority not only for authority figures but also for clients and
co-workers. This also help to limit the disrespectful practices and unethical issues, conversations
within the organization, resolved the disagreements efficiently and avoid any thing that could
matter between members of different cultures and background.
D. What are your thoughts on the “time theft” policy?
 MGT 209: Governance, Business Ethics, Risk Management and Internal Control
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Time theft takes place when a worker accepts charge for work or time they did not
sincerely complete. Time theft within the work is serious. Whereas it doesn’t appear as alarming
as robbing a bank or hijacking someone’s car, it’s a type of theft all the same. Getting paid for
the money you didn’t actually earn is stealing from your company. Time theft when an
individual takes reimbursement from their employers regarding duties those who have not really
accomplished or have not probably put onto any performance over a long period of time. The
misuse of working time will definitely damage your organization by reducing the productivity of
the workers and probably going to cost the money.
While employees are usually late to work, not working in the industry in properly, and/or
engaging in time-wasting events, it is extremely useful in tackling circumstances. In essence, if
you were really mindful of an employee whose spends most of its time at work and probably
loses the organization cash, in order to get the attention, it's really necessary to have such a
discussion about any of it. Unless the company's policy comprises corporate guidelines regarding
employee records and/or productivity, find time to talk it for them. Keeping welcoming and
prosperous staff who are really efficient at their jobs seems to be critical for business success.
E. If you are part of the Human Resource Department of the company and all
unethical work behaviors were reported to you, how will you deal with them?

Being in the human resource department requires a serious responsibility for the
company. Since the HR Department are the critical component of employee well-being in any
business. Human resource management deals with the aspect of manpower in the organization, it
is process of recruiting, hiring, deploying and managing the employees of the organization. A
company's Human Resource (HR) department is responsible to manage the employees of the
organization and to make sure the manpower of the organization is up to the required standard so
that the organization can perform their daily operations smoothly. If I’m part of the human
resource department and all unethical behaviors are reported to me I will be a responsible person
that can deal with such unethical behaviors. Because as a representative of an organization, I
need to make tough judgement and hold employees accountable for wrongful actions—and that's
not an easy task. To do so effectively requires confidence and authority. Being an ethical HR
leader means being confident in the moral decisions but I will make sure that they are reporting
an accurate information in order to maintain peace in the company. As a human resource
manager I will have 3 characteristic which is the commitment, consciousness and competency.
Competence, the desire to do the right thing regardless of the cost. Consciousness, the awareness
to act consistently and apply moral convictions to a behavior and competency to collect and
evaluate information, develop alternatives and foresee potential consequence and risks.

Misconduct happens in every organization and no organization is free from ethics and
compliance challenges. In dealing with all unethical work behaviors, there are different ways on
how to prevent and overcome unethical behavior in the workplace. The first step in solving any
issue is preventing it from ever happening. It starts in hiring phase to make sure that your
business does not have to deal with unethical behavior. So, assess whether for the current
screening and hiring system is adequate on this front. Even if qualifications and experience are
certainly important, make sure that you also pay close attention to values and right conduct.
Appropriate screening in the form of background checks is also important. Secondly, the
company should have a written code of conduct in place that clearly outlines what is expected to
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the employees as well as what is unacceptable. Once this document is absent, it can lead to
blurred lines and grey zones that crafty employees might see as perfect for exploitation. On the
other hand, having everything written down, makes it straightforward and the employee will
have no other option than to deal with the consequences of their actions. Just make sure that
everyone is up to date with the code of conduct. Then, whether the company has already
experienced issues with unethical behavior or simply preparing for this scenario, implementing
certain security and surveillance measures that will keep everyone check will streamline the
entire process. In the contrary, in case an employee exhibits unacceptable unethical behavior, it’s
essential to react timely and appropriately. If we are talking about a serious situation, firing the
employee on the spot might be the right thing to do. However, in these situations, legal
involvement is often inevitable. Also, the organization need to have insurance in place.
Basically, this type of insurance protects you in case any type of fraud is committed by an
employee. The chances of unethical behavior become smaller if the workplace strive for building
a positive work environment where the employees have appropriate morale and loyalty to the
manager as well as to the company. In addition, if the employees feel safe and comfortable in the
workplace, they will also be more likely to speak up, should they experience or witness unethical
behavior from the side of a colleague. Oftentimes, what leads to unethical behavior in the
workplace is a lack of accountability. So, make sure that there are clear rules and that all the
employees know that they are accountable for their actions and they will be caught and
prosecuted should they do something serious. In this way, company can probably rest assured to
prevent any conflicts inside the organization.

Group members:
Bustillos, Rica
Cueto, Lyka
Delen, Jenni Rose
Geron, Ayessa Kyla
Ilao, Hazel Mae
Legarte, Sherwin
Mañibo, Jaycel Anne
Villanueva, Rose Gwenn