Week 3 - Ethics & Social Responsibility

Before talking about Wal-Mart’s ethics and social responsibility, one has to understand the concept of ethics. Ethics is about personal moral principles it deals with concepts of good and bad. Ethics can also be seen as behavior that is judged. Wal-Mart has three basic beliefs and guiding principles. These beliefs are respect for the individual, service to the customer, and striving for excellence. Wal-Mart also has a set of Guiding Principles on their cooperate website. The principles are as followed;

• Always act with integrity.
• Lead with integrity, and expect others to work with integrity.
• Follow the law at all times.
• Be honest and fair.
• Reveal and report all information truthfully, without manipulation or misrepresentation.
• Work, actions, and relationships outside of your position with the company should be free of any conflicts of interest (discussed later in this guide).
• Respect and encourage diversity, and never discriminate against anyone.
• Ask your manager or the Global Ethics Office for help if you have questions about this Statement of Ethics, or if you face an ethical problem.
• Promptly report suspected violations of the Statement of Ethics.
• Cooperate with and maintain the private nature of any investigation of a possible ethics violation.
• When involved in an ethics investigation, you should reveal and report all information truthfully. You should present all the facts you are aware of without personal opinion, bias, or judgment.

            Wal-Mart has participated in social responsibility by supporting Hunger Relief, Chile Earthquake Relief, Tsunami Relief, and Haiti Earthquake Relief. Wal-Mart also does many things for the community; Wal-Mart has awarded $4.5 Million through a Teacher Rewards program.  In 2009 the Wal-Mart foundation gave more than $9.6 million in donations to local organizations in New York State.

You can also find Wal-Mart's Statement of Ethics on their cooperate website.
http://ethics.walmartstores.com/