Planetary Foods is a newly proposed service business that will offer fresh well-packaged farm food products to individuals, households, and eatery businesses. It will liaise with individual farmers for the supply of fresh foods products, which will be cleaned and packaged according to the recommended culinary hygienic standards before distributing to end-users via retail outlets. As a new market entrant in the foods supply industry, Planetary Foods will conduct a well-defined selection and recruitment process to select eligible candidates for the available job opportunities. Those who will be hired to fill various positions are thus considered capable of driving the success of the business. While working with Planetary Foods, they are all treated like family, which is united on the basis of goal commonality.
Planetary Foods’ operations will be entirely dependent on the cooperation of the workforce when it comes to upholding the appropriate shared values and a culture of success. This workplace handbook is designed to provide detailed guidelines and insights of work expectations at Planetary Foods. As the business is sustained founded on the coordinative relationship with its core stakeholders such as farmers who actually produce the fresh foods, it is critical to containing misconduct behaviors and unethical practices across the entire workforce. It is also necessary for maintaining high brand equity to enable Planetary Foods’ competitive advantage. Therefore, this workplace manual clearly outlines and advocates for compliance with the workplace commitments and disciplinary policies that are well-stipulated for the sake of guiding the morals and code of ethics (Shaw " Barry, 2015). It also entails a comprehensive acknowledgment of receipt section where every employee is expected to sign in a bid to confirm the reception, reading, and understanding of the information compiled for the handbook.
Workplace Commitments
Planetary Foods is built on a well-defined code of conduct that guides business decisions and operations. The business does not condone discriminative attitudes and behaviors when it comes to professional matters. Therefore, all employees should expect that employment opportunities and promotions shall be given to eligible candidates on grounds of merit. Similarly, recruitment officers and other executive officials are expected to adhere to the non-discrimination and non-harassment policies that are laid down among other Planetary Foods’ workplace commitments. It goes without saying that bribe and corruption are considered criminal offenses in Planetary Foods and perpetrators are entitled to the loss of the employment opportunity to pave the way for investigations upon which a fine is paid and possible jail sentence depending on the jury’s decision.
Therefore, employees are strongly discouraged from discrimination and harassment behaviors lest a lawsuit emerges and jeopardizes the ethical reputation of Planetary Foods brand. Notably, according to the American legal framework, the law such as the Americans with Disabilities Act are enacted to protect the right of the citizens against prejudice on account of disabilities among other less desirable characteristics of the marginalized groups. In addition, Planetary Foods promotes the equitable access to opportunities for the qualified women and minority groups. The various forms of discrimination such as racial profiling, sexism, religious prejudices, and status-based disparities are punishable according to the Federal and State laws. Planetary Foods is on the forefront to ensure full compliance with the regional and business law and policies that are designed to regulate the operations of service and commodity selling businesses.
According to the Stakeholder theory of management, a desired organizational culture must be recognized and embraced at all stages of engagement and association with the business (Harrison, Freeman, " Abreu, 2015). For instance, the executive team and the workforce must communally elaborate and uphold the stipulated values in practice through managerial and operational decisions alike. It brings about a sense of unidirectional in goal pursuance at the organizational level (Eskerod, Huemann, " Ringhofer, 2015). In this perspective, Planetary Foods insists on uniformity in behavioral conduct to ensure compliance with the set law and policies at the individual and/or organizational levels. The hired employees must adapt to a hospital manner of approaching customers and stakeholders whose interests are highly valued through Planetary Foods services. Further, it paves the way for instilling transparency, integrity, and effective accountability whilst addressing the needs and expectations of the customers and influential stakeholders (Eskerod et al., 2015; Harrison et al., 2015).
Potentially, this commitment will ensure Planetary Foods top-selling position in the highly competitive food supply industry owing to the fact that buyers and business facilitators are often lured to corporates that have a strong goodwill reputation (Okrepilov et al., 2016). The entire Planetary Foods fraternity is dedicated to ensuring quality value for their customers and stakeholders by maintaining a good rapport with governmental and non-governmental institutions, individuals from the host community, and the extended legal framework via effective compliance with laws and policies. Despite the room given for openness, creativity, and innovation, Planetary Foods expects its workforce to adhere to the pre-meditated corporate guidelines and rules to avoid compromising on the quality of fresh farm-sourced food products. It seeks to remain honest by aligning the marketing communications message regarding the high quality of its product offerings with the actual specifications of goods and services.
Also, the stakeholder value must be well-addressed through productivity optimization to maintain the market relevance of the foodservice industry. This requires Planetary Foods employees to work competently while driven by the set of corporate goals and managerial guidelines used in an organizational setting. Trevino and Nelson (2016) recommend a well-established inclusion transformational leadership to bring together a group of remarkable employees that can grow, develop the right skills, and spearhead consequential improvements in an organizational setting for the purpose of enhancing a competitive advantage.
Inclusive transformational leadership styles for businesses create the room for positive change and behavioral reinforcement among followers to create the desired culture of success for in an organization (Hoch et al., 2018). These leadership styles focus on engaging employing to discern their strengths and weaknesses, which can be improved through skill development, exposure to knowledge, and mentorship programs (To, Herman, " Ashkanasy, 2015). These leadership styles allow managers and supervisors to attentively focus on the needs and requirements of the learners at an individual level to grow and change flexibility to deal with hindrances to goal attainment. Employees must comply with the requirements for training and other inclusion and development programs that are run at Planetary Foods as they are designed to empower the workforce accordingly (Trevino " Nelson, 2016).
In the human resources and personnel management sector, it is vital to engage and properly include the workforce when it comes to decision-making to ensure their welfare is well-represented in the employee motivation program (Hoch et al., 2018). Some of the motivation programs that are prioritized in Planetary Foods entirely rely on the employees’ active participation. For instance, the promotion of employees along the hierarchical employment line and the eligibility for token and receivership of the employee of the month award require individual workers to work discreetly smart and competitively (To, Herman, " Ashkanasy, 2015). However, with an established culture of success, Planetary Foods employees are guaranteed of fair and just motivational criteria to echo the compliance requirements with discrimination law and policies.
Disciplinary Policy
The business nature of Planetary Foods requires a high-level of discipline among the employees as they interact with other stakeholders and businesses in the course of their work-related dealings. Employees are expected to uphold the disciplinary values as stipulated in the rules and regulations of work. These rules and regulations are purposely adopted in Planetary Foods to guide the conduct and behaviors of the workforce during work sessions. Shaw and Barry (2015) concur with the use of clearly set rules at the organizational level to align dealings and practices that are carried it by individuals with the workplace moral requirements and standards. Further, a set of comprehensive rules that are enforced in an organization aligns business activities with the overall corporate objectives. It makes it possible for managers to contain malpractices and underhand dealings that could otherwise ruin the reputation of the entire brand on the market (Shaw " Barry, 2015).
It follows that effective rules and regulations that support the productivity needs of Planetary Foods require the efficient inclusion of the workforce in the decision-making and enforcement stages (DeHart-Davis, Davis, " Mohr, 2014). This is core to leveraging the needs of the business with the standards of Workers Unions as well as the individual workers’ needs and welfare. For instance, Planetary Foods seeks to maintain a pleasant environment that is also conducive to the working with fresh foods. In this case, employees are expected to uphold hygienic and safety standards as elaborated in the operational manuals to reduce their susceptibility to hazards and risks at the workplace (DeHart-Davis, Davis, " Mohr, 2014).
Also, organizational rules necessary for the conformity of individuals’ behaviors to the expected work values that echo a culture of success. In this case, rules and regulations make it easy to operationalize the stakeholder’s theory of management in the workforce. Indubitably, disciplinary policies work well with a well-outlined punishment criterion for effective enforcement (Harrison et al., 2015). Notably, as much as Planetary Foods asserts that every employee prolifically contributes to the productivity of the business, malpractices, and cases of indiscipline are unbearable as they taint the image of the brand. The business is thus in support of the external law enforcement systems, which impose punishments in form of fines and imprisonment as stipulated in the constitutional law and business regulatory policies.
Internally, the magnitude of punishment given to indiscipline workers is debatable depending on its consequence on organizational reputation and the normal business operating schedule. Employees who fail to comply with the organizational workplace rules through engagement in quality compromises, lateness, bribe and corruption, and discriminatory behaviors face punishment in form of lawsuits, fines, and loss of the job opportunity. Minor offenses are punishable at the organizational level through demotions and financial penalties. This is in light of Berk and colleagues’ (2017) postulate that for criminal justice to be effectively served, full accountability should be taken and must equal the measure of the damage done. In this case, harsh punishments serve an exemplary role to discourage recurrence and spread of the undesired character at the workplace (Worrall, 2014). Above all, it is essential to note that ethical uprightness is associated with an inner personality, which fondly prefers to do good, as per the prior set guidelines and rules (Worrall, 2014). For this reasons, Planetary Foods employees are encouraged to remain vigilant to avoid unethical behaviors at all cost while pursuing objective-driven operations.
Acknowledgment of receipt
Having read and understood the provisions of Planetary Foods’ workplace handbook, I ___ certify that am ready to work within these terms and conditions to facilitate corporate goal attainment. As an employee, recognize that it is essential to uphold a high level of discipline according to non-discrimination and non-harassment policies as well as the disciplinary rules and regulations set. It is undoubted from the argument presented in this workplace handbook in advocacy for the right behavior and ethical conduct to ensure peaceful co-existence with others while upholding the right values that form the backbone of a culture of success, especially for a business of Planetary Foods’ caliber.
References
Berk, R., Heidari, H., Jabbari, S., Kearns, M., " Roth, A. (2017). Fairness in criminal justice risk assessments: the state of the art. arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.09207.
DeHart-Davis, L., Davis, R. S., " Mohr, Z. (2014). Green tape and job satisfaction: Can organizational rules make employees happy?. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 25(3), 849-876.
Eskerod, P., Huemann, M., " Ringhofer, C. (2015). Stakeholder inclusiveness: Enriching project management with general stakeholder theory. Project Management Journal, 46(6), 42-53.
Harrison, J. S., Freeman, R. E., " Abreu, M. C. S. D. (2015). Stakeholder theory as an ethical approach to effective management: Applying the theory to multiple contexts. Revista brasileira de gestão de negócios, 17(55), 858-869.
Hoch, J. E., Bommer, W. H., Dulebohn, J. H., " Wu, D. (2018). Do ethical, authentic, and servant leadership explain variance above and beyond transformational leadership? A meta-analysis. Journal of Management, 44(2), 501-529.
Okrepilov, V., Gravit, M., Nedviga, E., " Oleg, D. (2016). Effect of goodwill on the performance of the organization of the construction sector. Journal of Applied Engineering Science, 14(1), 135-139.
Shaw, W. H., " Barry, V. (2015). Moral issues in business. Boston, Mass: Cengage Learning.
To, M. L., Herman, H. M., " Ashkanasy, N. M. (2015). A multilevel model of transformational leadership, affect, and creative process behavior in work teams. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(4), 543-556.
Trevino, L. K., " Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York City, NY: John Wiley " Sons.
Worrall, A. (2014). Punishment in the community: The future of criminal justice. Abingdon-On-Thames: Routledge.
