The company I Chose to analyze the code of ethics from is Microsoft. I chose to analyze Microsoft Suppliers code of ethics is because they are one of my favorite companies and I was interested in learning what kind of company they truly are. In my short analysis report I am going to go into each section of the code of ethics and give a brief explanation of what each section means. The next section of my report is I am going to tie in and explain why this code of ethics has some elements of the stakeholder model, rights theory model, and finally the Friedman model. For my final section I will be talking about the companies most important norms and values and to find an outside source that discusses what they think of Microsoft Suppliers code of ethics.
Compliance with the Supplier Code of Conduct is the first section of the document. This section states that suppliers must follow the rules when conducting business when they are with a fellow Microsoft employee or if they are representing Microsoft to a different company (download.microsoft.com/..
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pdf pg. 1). Legal and Regulatory Compliance Practices is the next section of the document. This section goes with the first section. It states that employees must not break the rules which include Trade, antitrust, Boycotts, Anti- Corruption rules and Accessibility rules. If any of these are broken then the employee’s employment is terminated immediately (download.microsoft.
com/…/4/…/Microsoft-Supplier-Code-of-Conduct_English.
pdf pg. 2). Business Practices and Ethics is the next section and it says that suppliers must carry out their business with honesty.
Suppliers must document business records, speak to the press if allowed to do so, don’t accept any gifts or give any gifts, avoid working with people you know, and finally no inside trading which is trading stock when you have private information about a company that everyone else does not have (download.microsoft.com/.
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pdf pg. 2). The next section being discussed is Labor practices and Human Rights. Labor practices and Human Rights is all about work and human rights that workers have and what is allowed and not allowed in the workplace. For example, forced labor is illegal and physical discipline and abuse are illegal also (download.microsoft.com/..
./4/…/Microsoft-Supplier-Code-of-Conduct_English.pdf pg. 3).
The Health and safety section of the code ethics means that the suppliers won’t engage in illegal drugs while on the job and that all workers follow the safety rules at all times (download.microsoft.com/…/4/…
/Microsoft-Supplier-Code-of-Conduct_English.pdf pg. 4). Environmental Regulations and Protection says that suppliers must be more environmental friendly and aware. They must try to be more conservative and to reduce the amount of trash they throw away and to recycle more. Suppliers also need to be aware of any toxic chemicals and to alert the right people if there is one (download.microsoft.
com/…/4/…/Microsoft-Supplier-Code-of-Conduct_English.
pdf pg. 4). Protection of Assets and Intellectual Property is a code of ethics that is made to help protect private confidential company information. Some examples of things that suppliers must do are, only use company computers for company business, only used licensed products to do company work, and follow rules for passwords and security measures (download.microsoft.
com/…
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/Microsoft-Supplier-Code-of-Conduct_English.pdf pg. 5). Those were only some of the rules that suppliers must follow. Finally, the last section of the Code of Ethics is Reporting Questionable behavior.
Reporting Questionable behavior is crucial to an organization because without reporting then more attacks on the company would occur. This section just lists some of the ways to contact them If there is questionable behavior happening. After reading each section of the Code of Ethics document I can conclude that there are elements of the stakeholder, Rules theory, and Friedman models in this Code of Ethics. I believe that this document has elements of stakeholder model because the stakeholder model just cares about everyone in the scoop of things for example, it cares about employees, shareholders, people outside the company, media, etc. After reading this document I can see that Microsoft cares about its employees because it has a ton of safety rules to follow so that they don’t get hurt. I see elements of the rules theory model because the rules theory model follows the rules that, as a society we agreed on. For example, Microsoft has a rule against free labor because that is a law as a society we set to protect the people. Finally, Friedman’s model is only caring about making as much money as possible for your company.
After reading the code of ethics I can see that Microsoft also cares about making as much money as possible because in the code of ethics it has a ton of rules that need to be followed to be able to continue conducting business and since they follow these strict rules they can make money because they are not hindered by the law because they are following the rules whereas if they broke the rules then the law would prevent them from conducting business and thus not making any money for their company. .
