Ethics and Professional Conduct in Business

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This case was particularly chosen since it once presented itself to me two years ago while employed as a cashier at a hardware store. In a firm the cashier holds the cash register at various locations such as point of sale or at a retail store. This individual is responsible for receiving and disbursing money. Like mistake or miscalculation may occur in any position, there is no exception with the cashier. With the constant busy nature of this job, cashiers are at risk of having storages and overages at the end of the day.

Management however expects cashier to be accurate and conclude the day with the perfect cash register. In some cases, such as that of Fresh Markets, the storages will be deducted from employees salary while the overage is simply deemed as poor cash management.

The following control and ethical measures should be implemented at Healthy Markets:

Reassigning position

Steal from customer is unethical and very unprofessional and I believe if Sue steals from customers, she is capable of stealing from the firm. From my viewpoint, both sue and Ingrid should be reassigned to non-cash handling position and non-managerial positions respectively. Stealing from customer indicates that sue is not the best fit for the job. A cashier is expected to be a friendly, understanding, well presented, accurate and trustworthy individuals, it is more than evident that Sue need to be assigned to a new position.

Implementation of cash handling policies and procedures

Management should have written policies which indicates what is expected from the cashier handling transactions. These policies should include before and after cash verification process, policies applying to the cash register (security and safety) and supervision policies. All of which are agreed to by the employee.

Training

Employees of Healthy Markets should be provided with training on how to develop interpersonal skills and ethical practices at the workplace. The cashier in particular should be trained on cash handling practices. This includes counting of customers change twice ( once personally and once in the presence of the customer having there undivided attention). This prevents any confusion for both the cashier and customer in the future.

Implementation of a new cash review system

At the closing of the day I would recommend that cash handling and balance be done by the accountant in the presence of the cashier. Sue has not been short in about a year now. There clearly indicates that there is some loophole at Healthy Markets which has to be investigated into. Additionally, there should be an assigned amount that shortage and overages will not be penalized for.

When these policies are implemented at Healthy Markets cashiers are better able to understand what is expected from them and the effects of doing otherwise. The fact the Ingrid, the store manager is ok with the overage indicates that there is lack of proper training, supervision, professionalism and policies implemented within the firm.

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