ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICS AND CSR. Social Sciences Essay

A Critique of Lockheed Martin
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A Critique of Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American defence industry that works towards being a good corporate citizen by not only effectively following legislation, but by also creating and adhering to a robust ethical code of conduct. According to the corporation, the ethics programs are meant for prevention and detection of criminal behaviour and to reinforce compliance with legal requirements. The programs help in promoting organizational culture that empowers employees to feel that they are ‘doing the right thing,’ even when there is no clear legal or regulatory guidance. In a culture that upholds ethics, employees are encouraged to speak up whenever they see or hear anything that doesn’t seem right. In this essay, we shall critique the module of Lockheed Martin’s ethics program and how effective it is as highlighted in Ethics at Work: Creating Virtue at an American Corporation by Daniel Terris.
The whole matrix at Lockheed Martin is based on encouraging and having the employees empowered to do what is right. However, as Terris points out, the dynamics and involvement of higher-ranking members of an organization can significantly undermine the concrete measures presumed to be taken by the ethics program. I, therefore, agree with Terris' notion that Lockheed Martin's ethics program is not adequate in the prevention of ethical breaches at the highest levels of an organization's management.
Additionally, the high-ranking members of organizations are mandated to participate in pieces of training is neither foolproof nor sufficient a measure to ensure ethical practices. Terris notes, "First, the corporation touts the solid and highly visible support of its ethics program by the CEO and other members of the leadership team. Second, the corporation makes it clear that all members of its senior management team not only participate fully in the annual ethics training. They should also complete dozens of other modules each year that are designed for others within their areas of responsibility. Third, the corporation makes clear that the ethics officers are widely available for consultation with members of senior management.” (Terris 2005p.99)
That alone is not enough and in fact, signifies vulnerability in the program. Terris points out that senior executives are under less supervision and scrutiny, which could act as an incentive for them to take part in ethical breaches. The Lockheed Martin code of ethics makes a presumption that the senior executives will uphold the standards. What would be effective, in such a scenario, would be a checker that counters this risk. It is relatively easy for the managerial team to be overconfident in their daily decisions that they would easily abuse their power and manipulate the code to suit themselves. The vulnerability is not so much the code, but utter and complete trust in individuals which in turn makes the ethical code ineffective.
The corporation has put measures that are supposedly aimed at making sure that senior executives prevail through what they term as ‘ethical minefield’. H...