Ethics of Alcoa
Crissi Twiddy
BUS 250
Elizabeth Zambrano
August 5 2013

Founded in 1888, Alcoa is one of the world’s largest supplier of aluminum and began in the United States and is operated in 31 other countries as well. Alcoa leads in innovation in manufacturing, materials, design and recycling. In Alcoa’s own value statement it reads “We live our Values every day, everywhere, collaborating for the benefit of our customers, investors, employees, communities and partners.”
Alcoa’s vision and value statements are evidence that the company has an ethical approach or principles based ethical work climate. A principles based work climate is one in which the focus is on results. In an integrity based climate the focus is more on what actions or affects should be met rather than the actions and behaviors to be avoided. This model looks for what is achieved and not how. It rewards good behavior and does not focus so highly on negative behavior and policing error. The reason I believe that Alcoa uses the intergrity approach is they say in their vision statement that they believe in integrity, honesty and openess. They believe in accountability in the work place also. The other end of the spectrum for ethical systems is the compliance ethical work place environment model which focuses more on stricter adherence to administrative procedures. ?In some aspects I believe that they could borderline be classified as Compliance as well. The next question pertains to how the top managers and shareholders assisted in the development of the work climate. In 1996 shareholders began