To what extent do business ethics concepts (ethical culture, ethical leadership, ethical climate etc) explain the “systemic cultural issues” at SMRT? Critically discuss.
Corporate ethics refers to professional ethics that examines the moral principles which arises within a business environment. It is applicable to all the aspect of conduct of a business and is important for the entire organization. The ethics are borne owing to organizational statements and the legal system. Ethics helps a particular business in maintaining a better connection with that of the stakeholders. Business ethics is indicative of the current organizational standards, principles and values that dictate the actions of the individual within that of the organization (Ceder 2016). The right kind of organisational culture can help in promoting a healthy environment within the organization so that the employees will not move away from the ethical values of the company. SMRT is an operator related to public transport that came into being on account of industry overhaul in order to form multi-modal operator of public transport within Singapore. This research essay analyzes in length how the concepts related to business ethics have a bearing on the issues that took place within SMRT. It states that ethical culture, climate and leadership are of great significance and influences the incidents that take place within that of SMRT.
Crisis at SMRT
An incident that shook the faith of the public on that of SMRT was the incident of rainwater flooding that occurred in an opening near that of Bishan Station (Straitstimes.com, 2018). It submerged the tracks that were underground upto that of waist level at the deepest point. The incident of flooding was responsible for crippling a large stretch of that of North- South Line for around 20 hours. It affected badly around 250,000 commuters thus tarnishing the image of SMRT (Barr 2016). It has been argued by Pullen and Rhodes (2015), that technical knowledge of some professional could have averted this crisis in the rail network.
The primary question that was raised in The Parliament was pertaining to whether only one team was responsible for the falsification of records or if there were a number of teams who were behind this. MP Lim Biow Chuan asked regarding the attitude of the other maintenance team and whether they were doing their job (Straitstimes.com, 2018). An assistant engineer generally signed all the records after the completion of work by that of the technicians. It has been stated by Korchagina and Pullen (2016) that the main question is how many levels of the management had known about the falsifications being done. What remains to be discovered is how deep into the management the corruption has penetrated. It was necessary that the management and the governing body should have made proper checks that could have averted this calamity (Tan 2015). According to Küpers (2015), incidents like this are not isolated but these kind of happenings occur after years of negligence that often occurs with the support of people in the top hierarchical position of the company.
The triple bottom line focuses on the three aspects of social equity, economic along with the environmental factors. People, planet and the profit are the three phases that can be made use of in relation to triple bottom line. It emphasizes on the objective of sustainability. An organization that works on the principle of triple bottom line provides benefit to that of many constituencies and does not exploit any particular group. The incident of flooding that took place near Bishan Station put into jeopardy the life of the commuters thus hindering the process of welfare of people. It crippled a large portion of North-South line and the commuters could not use it for around 20 hours. The welfare of the public was put into stake on account of the lack of ethical behaviour of the employees and different non-ethical factors like lack of communication and lapse in the administrative procedure.
Ethical Climate
The reason behind that of the maintenance breach was on account of complacency and difficulty of getting track access. The overhaul of the power system of MRT line has reduced the slot for access to that of the tracks. The extensive testing of the new signalling system was responsible for the reduction of slot of that of the maintenance work (Liu, Wu and Kalbarczyk 2017). The maintenance staff may have failed to get access to that of the tracks that led to this disaster. The maintenance staff should have communicated about this incident to the mechanical and electrical engineers of SMRT who would have helped in solving this problem. The co-operation of all the layers of the administration would have helped in creating the right kind of ethical climate that would have been immensely helpful in averting the disaster. It has been argued by Anderson, Garavan and Sadler-Smith (2014) that the engineers should also have examined the place and properly instructed the maintenance staff. Vigilance at every aspect and by all the layers of management is necessary in order to ward off this kind of crisis that causes inconvenience to the commuters (Binti Sa’adin, Kaewunruen and Jaroszweski 2016).
The chief executive of SMRT Saw Phaik Hwa drew a lot of criticism owing to the fact that he was focussing more on growth of the retail business of the transport operator rather than that of the engineering part (Ceder 2016). The inadequate maintenance has led to this incident of flooding and led to shortcomings in relation to that of the maintenance. Monitoring could have helped in avoiding this kind of a problem. SMRT should have focussed on the factor of maintenance (Barr 2016). The bus drivers from that of China went on to do an illegal strike that signified that there were cultural issues at stake. Poor ethics at the workplace led to security breach at that of Bishan Depot in the year 2011. Vandals broke into the facility and spray-painted graffiti on that of the train.
According to Kohlberg, punishment can help individuals in adhering to the norms. People want to engage in such kind of behaviour that will produce favours in return. The conventional morality of Kohlberg stresses on the fact that authority can be internalized and reasoning is on the basis of the norms of that of a particular group in which a person belongs. The approval of others can help an individual in staying in the right ethical track. The aspect of social contract emphasizes on the fact that the rules exist on account of the welfare of the largest number of people however at certain times they may go against the interest of that of particular individuals. The overhaul of the people involved in the top administration would compel them to focus attention on the ethical issues and they would try to get themselves involved at all the stages of the work. The employees of SMRT would try to abide by the rules and regulations in the event of being punished. The people who were involved with that of the military would be able to use their experience and the knowledge for the betterment of service of the SMRT van (den Hoogen and Meijer 2015). The personnel involved in the military understand well the importance of social contract and how the welfare of the largest number of people should take precedence over that of the personal interest of individuals (Binti Sa’adin, Kaewunruen and Jaroszweski 2016)
Ethical Culture
There were some deep-seated cultural issues that was acting like a hindrance for the maintenance of SMRT. It has been argued by Crane and Matten (2016), most of the staffs in that of SMRT was committed and professional but still there were loopholes in the governance. It has been argued by Tan (2015), that the appointment of the colonel of that of the Singapore Armed Forces Gerard Koh as the chief corporate officer of SMRT posed to be a problem on account of the fact that there are cultural differences between that of SAF and that of SMRT. All the principles that were used in the SAF could not be implemented within the SMRT and this can pose to be a problem (Liu, Wu and Kalbarczyk 2017).
The three step model of Lewin consists of the three stages- status quo, socialization and the integration stage (Bakari, Hunjra and Niazi 2017). An ethical along with a humanism approach can help in bringing about behavioural change in the organization. At the stage of status quo, the organisation should be clear to the employees regarding the reasons because of which they would like to change in relation to cultural values and how new cultural values can be of help for the organization. The socialization stage will help the employees in remembering the cultural values of the organization by the help of interaction with one another and with the help of leadership training. The organisation will be able to welcome the new cultural values in this stage (Barr 2016). The integration stage can help the employees in accepting new cultural values and abide by rules that are honest and ethical. The reasons behind the incident of flooding should be communicated to the employees so that they can understand why new cultural values will be required for the organization. Chief Corporate Officer, Gerard Koh should be able to understand the cultural difference between SAF and that of SMRT and an ethical training would offer great help in this regard. An interactive session and training of the employees can help them in remembering the organisational cultural values the preservation of which should be the objective of the employees at SMRT (Korchagina and Pullen 2016).
Ethical Leadership
Management giving regard to the interest of each group can be of great benefit for the entire organization. The administrative department of an organization has to keep aside the individual ambitions so that the goals of the organization can be attained. Leadership can play an important role in influencing the stakeholders (Sekerka, Comer and Godwin 2014). It has been argued by Pullen and Rhodes (2015), that the Joint Readiness Inspection Team would be able to address the important problems and they would be able to audit the maintenance work. The Joint Readiness Team of SMRT can act in an impartial manner that can help in the process of resolving the major issues related to SMRT. It has been said by Bolman and Deal (2017) it can help in the renewal of the rail assets and external experts can be brought in who would be able to inspect the critical system across that of the network and look into the matters impartially. According to Antonelli (2014), training would be able to solve the cultural issues related to SMRT and the disciplining of the staff irrespective of their position would be able to solve the major issues (Liu, Wu and Kalbarczyk 2017). The replacing of the people at the upper level would be able to change the reputation of SMRT and make the transport system more reliable for that of the commuters. The Vice President of Maintenance, Mr Ng Tek Poo was replaced after the incident of flooding and he was responsible for the pervasive culture of that of the cover-ups but he was protected owing to the fact that he was the blue-eyed boy of that of Saw (Tan 2015). He was morally aware but did not do anything that would help in creating proper organisational culture. He did not think about the consequences in terms of the company or that of the employees. He was a victim of ethical egoism who used to care solely about himself (Dietz and Kleinlogel 2014). He was replaced to that of another department instead of being dismissed from his position. Leadership plays an important role in bringing about significant changes in organizational behaviour and the replacement of the vice-president can act as a means that can help in solving the problems in SMRT. He brought about the pervasive culture in the organization and his replacement can prove to be an important step in the right direction. The personnel who were in the middle management did not care about feedback from that of the ground technicians but they were simply pushed to complete the tasks that were impossible which resulted in poor morale among the workers.
Conclusion
The people look for a system that is accountable and transparent. Ethical climate, ethical culture and ethical leadership are important facets of an organisation that can prove to be of immense benefit for the growth of the organization. Real time reports would be able to solve the major problems related to SMRT and free transportation after that of disrupted service would help in keeping the commuters happy. Staffs like Ng who have done damage to the prestige of the SMRT should be addressed immediately and their association with that of the company would act as a deterrent for solving the issues related to that of SMRT. Ethical behaviour on the part of the maintenance staff would have been able to quell this incident of flooding and the right communication between the engineers and that of the maintenance staff would have been able to solve the issue. People in all the layers of administrative should be responsive towards the needs of the people and being responsible can help to a great extent in addressing the disruptions. The governing body should be able to impartially judge the issues related to culture so that people from all kinds of cultural and ethnic background feel themselves to be an important part of the organization.
References:
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