Week 11: Codes of Conduct

When I first joined the Red Cross back in January I was presented with multiple forms, I was given a Volunteer Handbook and paperwork on their codes of conduct, the American Red Cross Code of Business Ethics and Conduct. This can be found online from the National Headquarter page; Codes of Conduct- American Red Cross . These codes are developed by the national headquarters so that every employee and volunteer of every chapter across the entire United States is following the same set of guidelines.

The codes of conduct touch on the basis of personal use, financial advantage, Red Cross affiliation, confidentiality, improper influence, conflict on interest, retaliation, and contrary to the best interest of the Red Cross. Upon reading all of these sections they all clearly define how the employee or volunteer cannot act with the name of the Red Cross. The Red Cross has touched on many points with these and have closed many loopholes, but when I was reading these it took me more than one time through to understand exactally what they meant; at times they were wordy and were not directly to the point, this I found as a weakness.

A strength I found in the codes of conduct was that they have developed programs that will handle the different problems that arise. With a non-profit organization you have to be ready for constituents, and not just your employees and volunteers possibly attacking some of your actions to the community you are supporting. They have developed an Informal Dispute Program and a Formal Dispute Program. The informal deals with outside constituents who may have complaints about Red Cross services or other problems and the formal deals with investigations in fraud, waste, abuse, policy violations and illegial or unethical conduct.

The Red Cross also has another strength and like many they have their "open door policy" or what they call, Whistlerblower Hotline Programs. This allows all volunteers and employees the ability to bring any concerns to the forefront of the organization and their supervisors. Following their description on this program they list all of the different organizations they employee or volunteer can contact with phone numbers listed and a description of what each organiztion handles. This is a great strength because many times some employees or volunteers may be unsure of who to actually go to, espeicailly in such a large organiztion that has many different offerings.