Evaluation of a Business Code of Ethics

Mission Statement

The organization who's code of ethics that I chose to analyze and evaluate was the Department of Defense Code of Ethics for all of the United States Fighting Forces. The Department of Defense uses one code of conduct for all of the U.S military. The Department of Defense has a simple straight forward mission statement. It states, "Promote integrity, accountability, and improvement of Department of Defense personnel, programs and operations to support the Department's mission and serve the public interest ("Office Of The Inspector General", 2007)."

Ethical System

I think it is very clear which type of ethical system is being used within this mission statement and code of ethics. Having to do with national defense it clearly shows that it is a duty driven ethical system. The reason that supports my thinking is that every one of the articles of the code all has to do with ones responsibility and obligations to uphold, honor, and respect the country in which they serve.

Code of the United States Fighting

Forces and How it's Used

The Department of Defense is run similarly to a business or corporation. Depending on what department of the Department of Defense an individual works for determines the type of rank structure or management is in place. There are both civilian chains of command as well as military chains of commands in addition to civilians who work under the command of the military. For the purposes of this paper I will focus on one specific department that I happen to know well; that department would be the Department of the Army.

Management in the Army goes (based on my experiences) usually from Corporal (E-4) all the way up to Command Sergeant Major of the Army for the enlisted ranks and from second Lieutenant all the way up to four star Generals or to the President depending on how you look at it. This type of management structure makes it very different from that which would be found in a typical business due to the fact that each rank can "manage" over the subordinate rank. Although all military personnel follow the same code of conduct regardless of branch of service and rank I felt that officers were held to a higher standard when it came to their actions. Managers in the Army are given a great deal of responsibility and the higher up the chain they are the more that they are responsible for. Soldiers lives are in their hands when they are being commanded in battle, a lapse in an officer's code of ethics or conduct could result in lives lost in a worst case scenario. It is also possible for a commander to make unethical orders also known as an unlawful order. An unlawful order can be anything from a superior ordering a soldier to do something illegal such as performing a sexual favor all the way up to ordering someone to execute an unarmed noncombatant. The code is in place to help prevent these type of incidents from occurring and to give leadership a moral compass in which to guide their decisions in a ethical direction.

When I think of "employees" in the military I think of lower enlisted soldiers who have not yet earned their way into the ranks of the noncommissioned officers core. This would be soldiers in the ranks of Private (E-1) to specialist (E-4) that I would consider employees. This employee base is what makes up the vast majority of all branches of the U.S military. All of these individuals in the "employee" category are all still expected to uphold the values of their respective branches of service which is based in the Code of the United States Fighting Force.

Finally there is the "Board of Directors". I would consider the "Board of Directors" to be everyone