Company Values (Topic 4)
Five articles from five different trade journals appeared in Topic 4. Bob Masterson, Chair
of the Board of the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions and Fred
Singer, President of Singer Equipment Company, in separate articles, looked back over the
history of their organizations and noted that, although business environments change, their
company values of trust and relationships have not changed over the years and, may in fact, be
more important today than ever before (Masterson, 2008; Singer, 2008).
The value of respect is considered important by many companies. It can be recognized by
identified respectful behaviors such as listening with empathy, using a sincere tone of voice,
maintaining eye contact,
fair treatment of each other, and being truthful and authentic. d’Orleans
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(2008) encourages hotel organizations to notice if these behaviors are exhibited in their
operations.
Employees will be more productive and enthusiastic if they are engaged and find value in
their work and organizations. Old production models are no longer effective and managers,
today, must change to a more “internal human model of work behavior.” The companies listed in
Fortune’s annual “100 Best Places to Work in America” have created working environments
where workers participate in meeting the mission of the organization and feel valued (McDonald,
2008).
Divine Chocolate, a fair-trade brand co-owned by the African cocoa farmers, won the top
“Observer Ethical Award” because the company demonstrated that more equitable trading
relationships could be successful (Past events, 2008).
Ethics and Leadership (Topic 5)
Two articles from trade journals appeared in Topic 5 in 2008. There had been no articles
about Ethics and Leadership in the previous three years. Financial & Insurance Conference
Planners held an education forum for 150 planners, focused on achieving leadership potential.
Ethics and corporate social responsibility were highlighted topics (Valuable takeaways at FICP
forum, 2008). Leaders must have integrity and a personal code of ethics. They must be authentic
and care for their employees, assisting employees to become their best selves (Voth, 2008).
Codes of Ethics, the Need for, and How to Develop Them (Topic 6)
Eleven articles were about ethics codes. Two of the four articles from academic journals
were book reviews for Codes of Ethics in Tourism: Practice, Theory, Synthesis by D. Fennell
and D. Malloy. One of the reviews was very positive, while the other was less positive
(Kampaxi, 2008; Buckley, 2008).
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Caterers in Great Britain are being urged to adopt a voluntary code of conduct
establishing professional practices for when contracts are dropped in order to eliminate problems
for the new contractor (Caterers urged to adopt handover code, 2008). The Australian Wine
Industry Code of Conduct is aimed at setting standards and practices for trading relationships to
enable fair business dealings and sustainability of the industry (Young, 2008).
The Australian Culinary Codes of Practice are being adopted by various chef
organizations to serve as minimum standards for commercial chefs (Chefs codes adopted, 2008).
The American Society of Association Executives and the Center for Association Leadership are
working on “Guiding Principles for Socially Responsible Associations” to help professional
associations in areas of leadership, ethics, diversity, human rights, philanthropy, community
service, and environmental and economic sustainability (ASAE produces paper on associations’
social responsibility, 2008).
The “Responsible Tourism Code for the Pacific” was produced by the Development
Resource Centre, to inform and educate New Zealand tourists in appropriate and responsible
behavior to mitigate damage to tourist destinations. Relevant stakeholders were included in the
development of the code. The code was distributed through newspapers, magazines, travel
agencies, and supported with a web site (Wrelton, 2008).
Seventy-four event management associations in North and South America, the U.K.,
South Africa, Europe, and the Asian Pacific, completed questionnaires, and 60 were found to
have stated codes of ethics. Good reputations, honest communication, and trusting relationships
with clients and other event management professionals are keys to successful professional event
management (Arcodia & Reid, 2008).
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An evaluation of the voluntary “Queensland Responsible Gambling Code of Practice”
was conducted to determine the rate of implementation and the attitudes of managers and staff
from 14 gambling venues, towards the code. The code was developed for gambling providers to
help them to help their customers avoid possible negative impacts of gambling, particularly for
problem gamblers. While 93% of the respondents had received and were aware of the code, 21%
were only barely aware or had not actually read it. For the 79% who were implementing the
code, education and training for responsible gambling was the most important facilitator in the
code. Managers and staff were less enthusiastic about providing customers with information on
the costs of gambling but most felt their promotions were truthful. This study indicated a
“positive change in responsible gambling attitudes and practices by Queensland managers and
staff” (Breen & Hing, 2008).
Codes of conduct and ethical standards must, however, be practiced and enforced if they
are to be effective. Many of the codes, particularly in tourism are voluntary guidelines.
Professional associations’ codes of conduct are generally criteria for membership with the intent
of maintaining professionalism. At least one association of meeting planners was reported to
ignore members’ breaches of the standards specified in their particular code of conduct (Sonder,
2008).
Having good policies and adhering to them can protect organizations from potentially
expensive and harmful litigation. Famous Dave’s of America, Inc. demonstrated reasonable care
to prevent sexual harassment with an anti-harassment policy,
training covering the policy,
reporting procedures, and documented actions to rectify the situation, and thus, avoided what
could have been an expensive settlement (Good policies, procedures allow restaurant to prevail,
2008).
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Ethics for Hospitality Educators (Topic 7)
For the first time in nine years, an article appeared in Topic 7. Hospitality researchers
(who are most likely also educators) are encouraged, in this article from an academic journal, to
use automated data collection with Web spiders to efficiently collect data that might not be
readily accessible. Web spiders are software robots designed to visit numerous unstructured
websites, extract information, and then store it in a database in an easily accessible format.
“Poorly designed or ill-mannered” web spiders can harm the performance of the web site they
are visiting, and it is possible for a site to block them. However, if hospitality researchers are to
use this valuable research tool, it is necessary for them to be aware of the “Robot Exclusion
Standard” and web spider behavior guideline standards to ensure they are not researching in an
unethical manner (Gerdes & Stringam, 2008).
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