International Journal Of Disclosure And Governance: Understanding Corporate Governance And Ethics

Brief description of the organisation

Describe about the International Journal of Disclosure and Governance?

The report focuses on some of the most important concepts in the corporate world in terms of private and public sector. The corporate governance and ethics are known as some of the most effective and important concepts which are being utilised and implemented in various organisations in both private and public sectors to gain and maintain the trust and confidence of the customers in the market. The corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of an organisation also allows it gain and maintain the confidence of various stakeholders and sponsors of the organisations (Börzel, 2013). Corporate governance is a broad term related to the various processes of controlling and managing a corporate organisation. In other words, the concept of corporate governance could be defined as the framework having various best practices and guidelines for the management of the organisation to follow while managing the resources and processes involved in the business model of the organisation. The implementation and maintenance of ethics in the workplace of the organisation ensures that the employees keep following the ethical approaches to the achievement of various organisational goals and objectives. The ethical approaches utilised in the workplace of the organisations allow the employees to have better performance and productivity in the positive working conditions. This in turn leads to the organisation having an effective and efficient business model established in the workplace of the organisation due to the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace. This report looks into the impact and effects of corporate governance and ethics in the workplaces of Woolworths (Provan, 2008).

The markets in Australia have a number of organisations operating in the retailing industries such as Woolworths, Coles and ASDA. Woolworths is one of the biggest chain of supermarkets and retail stores in the entire globe, which is majorly based in the Australian market and is maintaining the leading position in the entire Australian market of supermarkets and retail stores. Woolworths is the retail stores chain which is owned by the corporate group named Woolworths Limited. Woolworths as the chain of retail stores and supermarkets started selling various food items initially. But the organisation is also diversifying the range of products sold in the corresponding retail stores and supermarkets by selling stationary items, magazines and kitchenware (Bebchuk, 2009).  The history of Woolworths is highly dependent on the Woolworths Limited which got established in the year of 1924. Since the time of its inception, Woolworths has always tried gaining and maintaining as much shares of the market as possible. This requires the management of the organisation to focus on the development and implementation of a number of marketing and operating strategies. The management of Woolworths has developed and implemented a number of marketing strategies in the past years of operations in the Australian retail industry.  These marketing strategies implemented by the management of Woolworths include promotional offers and slogans which aim to attract more customers in the market. Along with these marketing strategies, the management of Woolworths has also developed and implemented a number of operational strategies which focus on the maintenance and adherence of the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of the organisation (Celentano, 2012). The management of Woolworths have also provided a number of offers for the loyal customers over the years to retain the customers and maintaining the market shares in Australia. Some of these loyalty offers provided by Woolworths over the years are everyday rewards cards, frequent shopper club and discount fuel offers (Loorbach, 2010).

Governance in Woolworths

As discussed in the previous section, the management of Woolworths always has ensured the implementation of good governance in the workplace of the organisation which in turn leads to the adherence of various best practices and guidelines in the workplace of the organisation. This requires the management of the organisation to carry out frequent reviews of the current state of governance in the workplaces of Woolworths. These reviews are generally based on a number of criteria which are relevant to the implementation of corporate governance in the corresponding workplaces. These criteria are considered to be the points of references for the implementation and maintenance for any of the organisations in any of the industries across the globe. In this section, we focus on the criteria relevant for the corporate governance in the workplaces of Woolworths. Some of these criteria for the review of governance in the workplace of Woolworths are mentioned below (Dixon, 2010).

This is one of the most important criteria for the review of governance in the workplace of Woolworths, which defines the involvement of the employees of the organisation in a number of business decisions and important business processes.  The participation of the employees in the business decisions and business processes define that the management is following the best practices and guidelines established by various regulatory bodies operating in the market. So the involvement of the employees in the major business decisions and processes define the implementation and presence of good governance in the workplace of the organisation (Provan, 2008). The significance of this criterion can be defined from the fact that the participation of the employees suggests maintenance of good governance in the organisation. So participation level of the employees in the workplace can be considered for the review of the governance in Woolworths.

This criterion in the workplace of the organisation defines the awareness of the employees and management of the organisation regarding the benefits and implementation processes of good governance in the workplace. The significance of this criterion can be defined as the level to which the management of Woolworths is proactive towards the implementation and maintenance of good corporate governance, which in turn suggests the willingness and attempt of the organisation in gaining and maintaining good corporate governance in the workplace. So this criterion can be utilised in the process of reviewing the governance in the workplace of Woolworths (Provan, 2008).

This criterion of the governance allows us to determine the quality of the governance established in the workplace of the organisation in terms of the equality provided to all the employees in the workplace irrespective of their roles or designation in the organisational hierarchy. This criterion defines the style of management in the workplace of the organisation which looks at each and every employee of the organisation to hold the equal value. So this criterion is useful in reviewing the governance in the workplace of Woolworths (Larcker, 2009).

The vision and goals of the management of the organisation are related to each other. The vision of the organisation defines the direction towards which the management is aiming the organisation to move forward. The strategic vision of the management of the organisation defines the aim of the organisation towards the implementation of good corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation. So this criterion is suitable to be utilised in the process of reviewing the governance in the workplace of Woolworths (Kemp, 2011).

Participation

Transparency is the factor which defines the absence of any kind of blockage in the flow of information in the workplace of the organisation. The transparency of the information defines that the management of the organisation maintains the equality between all the employees of the organisation in terms of their rights to know the information. This equality of the information rights among the employees suggests the presence of good governance in the workplace of the organisation. So this criterion can be utilised to review the governance present in the workplace of Woolworths (Australia, 2009).

The presence of various regulations and laws in the workplace of an organisation also defines the structured process followed by the management of the organisation to manage various resources of the organisation. This criterion suggests that the management is adhering to a number of regulations and guidelines for various business processes of the organisation. So this criterion can be utilised in the process of reviewing the governance in the workplace of Woolworths (Duit, 2008).

This section of the report critically reviews the governance in Woolworths by applying the relevant concepts, principles and standards. As discussed in the previous sections, the presence of corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of an organisation allows the management to utilise various elements and resources of the business model of the organisation. The organisation in focus, Woolworths is the leading chain of supermarkets and retail stores in the Australian retail industry. The management of Woolworths develop and implement a number of business strategies to establish and maintain good corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation to ensure the leading position in the industry. The governance in the workplace of Woolworths can be reviewed by the usage of a number of techniques. The yearly published governance statements of the organisation is one of the biggest and best way of reviewing the governance in the workplace of Woolworths. The corporate governance statement of Woolworths describes a number of actions taken by the management of the organisation to establish and maintain good governance. Some of the key points included in the corporate governance statement of Woolworths are reviewed in this section (Keith, 2012).

The approach to corporate governance defines the major aim of the management of the organisation behind the activities leading to good corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation.  The approach to governance of Woolworths is based on the aim of protecting and enhancing the value of the shareholders in the business model of the organisation. The approach to corporate governance in the workplace of Woolworths also aims at protecting the investments of the shareholders and stakeholders in the business model of the organisation.  The management of Woolworths aims at maintaining full integrity of various data and information related to various modules of the business model of the organisation in terms of good corporate governance (Kaufmann, 2011).

The corporate governance in the workplace of Woolworths can be reviewed on the basis of its compliance to various government standards established in the country of operation. Woolworths is registered in the Australian Securities Exchange, which allows the organisation to apply the recommendations of the Australian Securities Exchange Corporate Governance Council for the maintenance of good corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation. The management of Woolworths defines and implements the policies in the workplace according to the recommendations and guidelines of the Corporate Governance Council of Australian Securities Exchange. The organisation also publishes its governance strategies in the public website as per the guidelines of the government which allows the easy analysis and review of the corporate governance activities of the organisation (Eberlein, 2008).

Awareness

The governance framework of Woolworths is based on a number of elements and their responsibilities. The most essential element of the governance framework implemented in the workplace of the Woolworths is the board of directors which is responsible for the maintenance of good corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation. This board of directors operating in Woolworths is responsible for the development and implementation of various strategies for the maintenance of good governance in the workplace of the organisation (Ferguson, 2011). These strategies and policies developed by the board of directors for the corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation are handed down to the management of the organisation to ensure the complete adherence to the policies and guidelines. This board of directors also aims at the control and creation of the values of the shareholders in the workplace of the organisation along with the protection of their investments in the business model of the organisation. So the board of directors in Woolworths are always responsible for the maintenance of corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation (Fukuyama, 2013).

The business model of Woolworths is also affected by the constitution of the organisation in the workplace of the organisation. The constitution of Woolworths is a collection of a number of laws and regulations to manage and monitor the business processes included in the business model of the organisation. The corporate governance in the workplace of Woolworths is based on the adherence to the constitution of the organisation (Arli, 2013).

There are a number of recommendations for the establishment and maintenance of good corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of Woolworths. The consideration of these recommendations by the management of the organisation allows the organisation to have good corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of Woolworths.

The first and foremost recommendation for the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of Woolworths is based on the awareness of the employees regarding the same. The management of Woolworths should ensure that all the employees of the organisation are well aware of the benefits of the presence of corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of the organisation (Alles, 2009). The management should focus more on making the employees aware regarding the damages to the business model of the organisation in case of absence of the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of the organisation.

The management of Woolworths should ensure that the organisational policies and guidelines are provided most of the focus by the employees of the organisation. The management of Woolworths should also ensure effective and efficient training of all the new employees on the organisational guidelines and policies related to the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace (Hamann, 2015).

The management of Woolworths should also consider engaging the employees in a number of activities to review their behaviours and knowledge of the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of the organisation.

The board of directors responsible for corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of Woolworths should proactively look for the latest techniques to implement and enhance the workplace corporate governance and ethics. This allows the utilisation of all the new techniques and tools available in the market for the enhancements of the corporate governance in the workplace of the organisation (Provan, 2008).

Absence of inequality

Conclusion

The report focused on the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of the organisations and their effects on the business model and operational model of the organisation. The organisation in focus was the largest retail and supermarket chain, Woolworths which holds the maximum shares in the retail market of Australia. The report initially looked into the background and industry of the organisation in focus (Times, 2008). The report included a number of facts regarding the history of the Woolworths and its inception under the Woolworths group in the Australian market for retail and supermarket chains. The report also described a number of criteria which can be utilised in the process of reviewing the corporate governance in the workplace of Woolworths. The report also included the description of the framework for corporate governance utilised in the workplace of the organisation which is followed by a number of recommendations to enhance the corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of Woolworths. The presence of good corporate governance and ethics in the workplace of the organisation allows the effective and efficient completion of various business processes included in the business model of the organisation (Kaufmann, 2009).

References

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