EasyJet Airline Company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

EasyJet Airline Company - Essay Example The timeline of EasyJet Airline reportedly started in March of 1995 as founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou was noted to have offered flights at significantly low fares in Europe. Currently,it boasts of being â€Å"Europe's leading airline,operating on over 600 routes across 30 countries with our fleet of over 200 aircraft, employing over 8,000 people In its almost 18 years of organizational existence, EasyJet was noted to have been governed by a code of conduct to guide the behavior and decision-making processes of its personnel. The paper hereby presents a critical evaluation of the code of EasyJet Airline through a description of the code and by thoroughly assessing the code’s effectiveness in demonstrating the company’s values and conformity to business ethics. Critical Analysis of the Code The organization’s code was found under the title Governance on their official website: http://corporate.EasyJet.com/about-EasyJet/governance.aspx?sc_lang=en. Upon initial gl ance, the governance page contains information that indicates that the organization’s board of directors commissioned setting principles and ethical policies, of which, it was explicitly emphasized that the â€Å"key to these principles is working in an open and honest manner† (EasyJet Airline, Governance, n.d., par. 2). Likewise, the code was apparently patterned from the UK Corporate Governance Code which allegedly requires the following information to be disclosed:†¢ Terms of reference for the Finance Committee†¢Terms of reference for the Remuneration Committee... ance Committee   Terms of reference for the Remuneration Committee Terms of reference for the Audit Committee Terms of reference for the Nominations Committee   Terms and conditions of appointment / reappointment of the non- executive directors Matters reserved for the Board Non-Audit Services Policy (EasyJet Airline, Governance, n.d., par. 3). Finally, two (2) other documents were disclosed to be incorporated and accessible: (1) Corporate Governance Pages of the Annual Report; and (2) division of responsibilities of the Chairman and CEO (EasyJet Airline, Governance, n.d., par. 4). The Corporate Governance Pages of the 2012 Annual Report are found on pages 44 to 48 and contain the following major portions, to wit: principles statement, statement of compliance, leadership, directors’ conflicts of interest, board engagement with investors, board committees, relations with investors, internal control, risk management and internal audit (EasyJet, Corporate governance, 2012). T he Ethics Resource Center has recommended a code outline that should apparently contain the following format: I.  Ã‚  Ã‚   MEMORABLE TITLE   II.  Ã‚   LEADERSHIP LETTER   III.   TABLE OF CONTENTS   IV.   INTRODUCTION-PROLOGUE   V.  Ã‚   CORE VALUES OF ORGANIZATION   VI.   CODE PROVISIONS-SUBSTANTIVE MATTERS   VII.   INFORMATION AND RESOURCES (Ethics Resource Center, 2009, p. 1). From the course modules, it was explicitly defined that the contents of ethical codes are as follows: â€Å"standard of conduct, obeying the law, employees,consumers, shareholders, business partners, community involvement, public activities, environment, innovation, competition, business integrity, and compliance/monitoring† (University of Salford Manchester, What is the content of ethical codes?, 2012, p. 6; Crane and Matten, 2007).