3-3 -Managing Ethics and Diversity-Business Sample

Gordon's Bake Boutique

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Gordon’s Bake Boutique, a family owned and operated business is your “one stop shop” for a wide selection of tasty specialty baked goods. This stylish bakery is located in the heart of High River, Alberta and prides itself on its small town attitude, customer services and quality products.

The main products offered consist of bread, bagels, croissants, muffins, scones, cookies, pies, cupcakes and specialty cakes. Gordon’s Bake Boutique has a delivery service to the town of High River residents, as well as the surrounding areas between Okotoks and Nanton, Alberta. In addition, the bakery provides baking lessons and decorating classes to those interested. It is a great opportunity for introductory bakers and seasoned veterans to come out and learn some great techniques to further their passion for all things baked.

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While it would be great for the whole business to be surrounded solely by beautiful artistic goods, positive staff and grateful customers, realistically there are many negating factors of running a business that require keen attention to detail and business knowledge. Business ethics are an important dynamic of running a business and helps to ensure that employees are treated fairly in today's diverse work environments. (George, et al, 2010, p.63). When ethical concerns arise within our company, the managing staff is quick to respond. We acknowledge the problem immediately and discuss the underlying issues with the owner and managing partners. Because ethical concerns can adversely affect the company's stakeholders, shareholders and director's meeeting are often held to address and discuss the ethical concerns. In regards to the employees, yearly training sessions are held and an outside Human Resource consultant is contracted to organize and execute these sessions. Our company believes in educating our entire staff about the importance of honesty, equal opportunities and operating a business within the boundaries of the law. Early detection of problems is important, so managing staff has been trained to detect ethical issues and act on their instincts.

In developing the employee manual for the company, it was determined that our corporation must devise a particular code of ethics. The following points are taken directly from "Gordon's Bake Boutique-Employee Manual-2012".

CODE OF ETHICS

-Treat both employees and customers with absolute respect at all times

-Represent the business in a positive manner both inside and outside of the company

-Acknowledge receipt of invoices immediately and promptly render payment to applicable parties

-Respond to customer complaints with empathy and understanding

-Ensure that each product is made and handled with care to maintain consistent quality

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In the initial phases of business plan development, the idea of being a social responsible entity quickly became an important priority for the business model. Being socially responsible can be defined as "a manager's duty or obligation to make decisions that promote the well-being of stakeholders and society as a whole".(George,et al, 2012, p.73). Gordon's Bake boutique encompasses social responsibility in many ways. We are most proud of the fact that 80% of the ingredients that our bakery uses are brought in from local sources. We buy products from local Hutterite Colonies, local Farmer's Markets, as well as Health Food stores within 100km of our business location. We strive to keep things local and love the fact that we are able to reduce our envirornmental footprint by avoiding the use of long haul trucks, etc to ship our products. We significantly cut down on emission pollutants when we contract local producers. Our bakery loves to help out the community. Every year we are involved in volunteering at various local sporting events as well as donating fresh goods at silent auctions, etc. Our proudest moments involve donating weekly shipments of goods to the local women's shelter and to the Salvation Army of High River.

The generation that I live in significantly affects my views on operating a business in a socially responsible manner. For instance, I read the book "The 100 Mile Diet-A year of local eating" by Alisa Smith and J.B MacKinnon. The ideas represented in this book helped to influence me to follow suit in my own business and support the local economy and help prevent further environmental effects. The idea of recycling in this day and age also influences the business model. A large majority of people around me choose to recycle as much of their household/office waste as they are able and this motivates me to pariticpate fully in this.There is a lot of awareness and advertising centered around recycling, and the recycling facilities are numerous and very accessible.

 Sources:

George, J.M., Haddad, J.W., Jones, G.R., & Rock, M. (2010). Essentials of Contemporary Mangement (3rd ed.). USA: McGraw-Hill Ryerson.