Philosophy

Executive Summary
This report aims to assess the validity of this case and the ethicalprofessional implications therein, including the cost considerations. It will demonstrate my course of action as the manager of this company. This is after realizing that a section of the workers are not performing as required and instead spend time doing their personal things. The profits as well as the core business are at jeopardy. Specifically, the report has got the following objectives

Exploring ethical theories and linking them to the newly-established policy.
Evaluating the principle tenets of professional conduct.

Demonstrating the relationship between professional practice and ethical practice.

Propose the best course of action paying.

Introduction
As a manager, there comes a time when there is need to take a stance for the sake of the business. This can be due to poor performance of the employees, low production, competition just to mention a few. It is no doubt why as a manager I am charged with the responsibility of monitoring the professional conduct of the employees in this company, ensuring proper ethical, professional and cost issues.
This applies to our case where employees spend more time conversing through the phone with say, their friends or relatives. The same case applies to situations when the same employees spend more time in the Internet either sending emails to friends or chatting. As can be seen, the two situations are not only unprofessional but unethical.

As a manager to them, am required to develop a firm policy to regulate such conduct. It is absolutely unacceptable in this organization since it contravenes our laid out policies as well as the professional practice guidelines. Moreover, it contradicts the organizations code of ethics.

The course of action that I will take may seem cruel but it will not be executed outside ethical, cost and professional practice.

I will implement a policy that prohibits such a conduct in the workplace, and then there may be some crisis in the end, if not from a professional point of view, then from a humanistic point of view.

According to Jensen  Meckling (pg. 14) man is a resourceful, evaluative and maximizing and therefore can be trusted in finding solutions to a problem if approached properly.

This notion of man underscores certain professional and ethical modalities. For instance, what would happen if this organization decides to purchase software to monitor the progress of the employees Will they feel undermined But on the other hand, the business performance is at stake. So, what ought to come first, the business or the workers sense of responsibility These mainly are the outcomes. But as a manager, I must safeguard the interests of the business including the employees insofar as they act in the best interest of this company, period

This company believes in its code of ethics and professional practice laid out since inception. Its aim is to treat its staff members with maximum dignity and as ends in themselves. Therefore, the policy guidelines operate within the framework of deontology principles. This ensures that the directives implemented safeguard the interests of all. The fundamental point is to consider the act in itself not how it can benefit the company. Indeed, the staff members are of value to this business but, they must adhere to the rules and regulations in place. It is useless to be a manager and yet I cannot correct misconduct for fear of accusations, such as, you think we are not responsible or we can multitask or you are following us like we do not know our job and so on and so forth. To reiterate, to avoid such misunderstandings it is preferable to resort to deontology as the guiding factor in this case.

Policy Statement
Even though, independence and responsibility (performance with minimal supervision) is one of the highest values for this company, there comes a time when checks and balances play a role in regulating professional misconduct but in a professional way.

However, the course of action I will take must be in conformity with deontology principles. The company recognizes the efforts put in by every staff member but it cannot fail to reject any misconduct that contradicts the companys vision and mission. It is the companys priority to reward its workers for their efforts. But, it also has a responsibility to safeguard the future of the business in whatever manner. It is not acceptable to have low quality performance due to cases of insubordination and professional misconduct. All staff members must regard their duty as an important foundation of the success of this company.

This makes it imperative for me to announce a change of policy. It is with immediate effect that no use of phone and Internet facilities for personal matters during working hours. Furthermore, no employee is allowed to use company assets for personal gain. I believe this position is in total conformity with sound professional, ethical and cost considerations not only as for this company but as prescribed in the law as well as objective professional practice adopted by all other companies in the world. Or better still, my stance is not for my own selfish interest but it is so because our employees conduct is bad in itself and is also putting this business at jeopardy. Clearly, our profits have gone low and even the core business is utterly flat.

It is within my discretion to put in place regulatory measures to ensure quality and maximum performance of every staff member. I trust the skills of our employees so I want them to remain independent and autonomous.

There will be a bonus system that will reward every employee who adds value to assets of this company. By this I mean, those who utilize the companys little assets by either maintaining them technically and theoretically. In this regard, there will be an additional compensation of about 2000 to the net salary to all those employees who adhere to this policy. On the other hand, there will be a fine of about 1500 to the gross salary to all those employees who fail to adhere to this policy. In addition, they will be suspended from work without their reference for a period of thirty days without payment.
My position rests on deontology principles and more so, on the ethical and professional understanding of duty and responsibility. Just to reiterate, (a) I believe in condemning the act itself and (b) I believe in the notion that there is no freedom without responsibility (c) the good of the company takes priority (d) professional or ethical misconduct ought to be regulated.

Ethical Practice
In order to support my position, let us review some background information.
Deontological moral theory holds views opposed to Non-Consequentialist moral theory. While consequentialists believe that the outcome qualifies the means insofar as it is good and beneficial to the subject or agent, deontologists assert that the morality of an action is inherent in the action itself and it can never be qualified by the end results of the very act.
     
A prima facie duty is a duty an individual has if all factors connected to it remain constant. This is because such duties are never absolute but fluctuating. An action is a prima facie duty only if it holds moral quality features and the actions executed must prove to have been the only action possible at that time (Ross 34). He further asserts that there are no absolute standards or universal principles in morality. Moreover, there are duties that are clear to ones intuition. These duties are keeping promises, correction of a wrong doing, expressing gratitude, justice, benevolent inclinations, personal growth and development and keeping off the possibility of harming others.

According to Kant one ought to act in a manner which is adaptable in the universal order. That means a persons choice of action in a given situation should point to what can be universally accepted and applied. This maxim can have different interpretations but the most core thing is that the action undertaken be universally permissible. Therefore, all rational beings and with Good Will act in accordance with the categorical imperative and further to that, evaluate their actions to ensure they are universally fitting. A categorical imperative is an unconditional and generally acceptable moral duty (Lara, et al. 22).

Professional Conduct
Human Resources function is extremely vital in any given organization. It must protect the employees, demonstrate competence and act in an ethical manner (Bohlander  Snell 22).

Professional conduct can be regulated in so many ways. It ensures that staff members maintain irreproachable character, provides guidance and education to members in relation to what constitutes appropriate and acceptable professional behavior. It also establishes a disciplinary framework that deals with cases of insubordination or misconduct by the professional members (employees). Managers should create clear statements regarding what is or what is not professional behavior in the organization. These statements constitute the code of ethics, rules of professional conduct and standards of practice.

It is acceptable to put in place regulatory measures in order to enhance performance of the employees. Management can consider creating necessary by-laws in order to carry out the business effectively. It can regulate and govern the conduct of the employees while in the practice of their profession. This can be expressed through a code of ethics, rules of professional conduct and standards of practice. It is however essential to note that the three aspects mentioned above have distinct features.
An organization enacts its directional policies in its code of ethics. This means that an organizations code of ethics contains principles that guide or regulate employees conduct. Such a document is more directional and less specific. On the other hand, rules of professional conduct, point to behaviors which are acceptable or not acceptable in the organization. In a pedestrian language, it is the dos and donts of professional practice. Finally, standards of practice underscore the detailed guidelines for specific employees activities. A critical analysis of this triple model mentioned above will show that the code of ethics is at the broad end while standards of practice are at the narrow end. However, all the three models are exceedingly useful.

Policy Recommendations
I still insist that the conduct of our employees need to stop. It is not only unethical but unprofessional and outside proper cost considerations. Considering the position of Kant, Dentologism and professional conduct mentioned above and from my own ethical perspective, the following questions suffice
Is the conduct of the employees acceptable universally How would somebody else regard the situation
Is it fair to be unfaithful to ones duties and responsibilities
Is it justified to penalize insubordination
Is regulation of professional conduct an abuse of human dignity, isnt it
Is it ethical to check employees behavior, isnt it

These questions incline to obligation and prohibition. Indeed, these are the key pillars that guide our newly-established policy.

I believe that any sort of misconduct in the workplace is intolerable globally. There is absolutely no company that can sit back and watch its employees destroy its vision. There and then follows strict measures, even retrenchment without notice. I will send a final warning to all our staff members requesting that they do only what is in the best interest of our organization. They should note that their misconduct is destroying our business adversely as production has gone low.

In the contract signed by every member of our staff, insubordination has been defined as disobedience to the superiors and replacement of ones duty with personal matters. This is very offensive in this company and can lead to straight termination. Please note that, use of phone calls and Internet facilities for personal gain is unethical and unprofessional, and what is worse is that it is a violation of our own policies and code of ethics. It is bad in itself and we are not implying that our employers to stop communicating with friends or loved ones while at work place, no. I believe no one would appreciate when another colleague uses his belongings to serve his selfish ends. It is in this light that I condemn this misconduct. So, it is a must that all employees treat the assets of this company with the respect they deserve at all times.

As you can see from the newly-established policy, insubordination will lead to straight benefits as well as fines. This is the course of action I intend to take. Be informed that whenever you use these facilities for your personal gain the company loses adversely. Firstly, you do not perform your duties hence lowering our production. Secondly, the company ends up paying unprecedented bills that should not have accrued in the first place. Again, the company remunerates efforts that are not valuable to the business. This is not cost effective at all.

As noted earlier, professional conduct simply means faithfulness to ones duties. As the manager of this company, I have to ensure that our employees remain professional in their services. This is why this misconduct has to be regulated as per the policy guidelines. It is within my responsibility to define what is unprofessional or unethical or less cost-effective. Furthermore, I have the responsibility to put in place measures that will regulate any perceived misconduct in the three dimensions.

I am not convinced that purchasing software to monitor our staff is a solution. It is actually unprofessional and a misuse of funds. The employees should feel they have a prima facie duty to act truthfully to their employer and more so, faithfulness to their duty. Failing to do ones duty and instead spending more time in phone calls or internet is dishonest.

Finally, this matter presents at a glance the conflicts among professional practice issues, cost issues and ethical issues. It is necessary to develop a certain model that can be used to evaluate the three phenomena, not forgetting that the three models are distinct and can only be treated as ends in themselves. However, there are situations when professional practices require ethical practices and there are also instances when ethical practices dictate appropriate professional practices to be taken on board.

Conclusion
Indeed, it is my duty as a manager to ensure that all staff members adhere to the vision, mission and core values of this company. My course of action is strictly confined within the framework of professional, ethical and cost issues. It is rightly so that the newly established policy is a guide and motivation in ensuring faithful performance and economic well-being of this organization. Even though the aim is to maximize profits and safeguard our core business, it does not mean that the course of action we intend to take is unjustified neither does it mean that my ruling regarding the misconduct is unwarranted. No the act itself is wrong and reproachable. So, it cannot be that the outcome qualifies the means. In this regard, my course of action remains justified as an end in itself, regardless of the means.

The company will avoid adopting any solution that may lead to unprecedented use of funds. It will not watch the employees engage in misconduct neither will it remunerate valueless services. In addition, it will not buy software to regulate behavior since it is unprofessional and not cost-effective.