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Alcoa's Core Values in Practice

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Submitted By agbradford1988
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Discussion Case: Organizational Ethics and the Law

Classification of Ethical Work Climate

Discussion case “Alcoa’s Core Values in Practice” exemplifies Aluminum Company of America’s implementation of a strong values-based ethical climate by insisting decisions of employees and what they do be aligned with company values. Analysis of Alcoa’s core values relative to Victor and Cullen’s typology, suggest Alcoa follows a principled-local method to ethical climate where personal morality; company rules and procedures; and laws and professional codes are favored. In respect to Professor Paine’s studies of ethical climate, Alcoa would be categorized as implementing integrity-based programs, where concerns for the law and employee responsibility are combined.

Role of Management

Top management commitment to developing an ethical work climate and organizational performance at Alcoa was communicated by CEO Paul O’Neill in the 1990s. His focus on the company’s core value of health and safety, led to implementation of global ethics and compliance programs. The program included an ethics and compliance officer whose purpose is to report compliance issues to the CEO and board of directors. Other ethical safeguards created to support a strong ethical climate at Alcoa consists of a global code of conduct; ethics and compliance training for all employees; and a global helpline reporting system.

Management of Personnel

Alcoa’s top management believed that no employees should be forced to work in an environment where their safety and the safety of others might be jeopardized. In 1996, when allegations of health and safety violations at a Mexico plant were declared, Paul O’Neill investigated the accusations and found injuries that occurred had not been reported to corporate headquarters as required by company policy. Since Alcoa implements a strong values-based ethical

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