CONCORDIA UNI VERSITY OF EDMONTON

MANAGEMENT 374
ETHICAL ANALYSIS OF AN
ORGANIZATION
Gonzalo

STUDENT ID: 135893

Gas Natural Fenosa is a Spanish energetic company whose main activity is providing gas and
electricity to the collective of houses, companies and facilities that are installed on Spain and
several other countries in the world, such as Argentina, Egypt or Mexico. It was born as a
society in 1843, when some of the first electrical public lights were installed in Barcelona.
Nowadays is one of the main energetic companies in Spain, together with Iberdrola and
Endesa.
Regarding its moral and ethical code, Gas Natural Fenosa has one available on their web
which can be summarized in 15 different points.
1- Respect for the law, human rights and ethical values
Gas Natural Fenosa is committed to always act according to the law, with the internal
regulatory system established with internationally accepted ethical practices with respect for
human rights and freedoms.
2- Respect for people
Gas Natural Fenosa rejects any form of physical, psychological, moral or
harassment abuse of authority and any other conduct that could generate an
intimidating or offensive environment with the rights of individuals.

3- Professional development and equal opportunities

Gas Natural Fenosa promotes the professional and personal development of all
employees, ensuring equal opportunities through their action policies.

4- Cooperation and dedication

Gas Natural Fenosa fosters an environment of cooperation and teamwork to
make better use of all capacities and resources.

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5- Security and health at work

Gas Natural Fenosa promotes the adoption of policies of safety and health at
work and adopts the preventive measures established in the legislation of each
country and sail at all times for compliance in this area.

6- Use and protection of assets

Gas Natural Fenosa offers its employees the resources necessary for the
performance of their professional activity, and undertakes to provide the means
for the protection and safeguarding them.

7- Corruption and bribery

Corruption and bribery appear when employees make use of unethical practices
to obtain a benefit for the company or for themselves. Corruption and bribery are
one of the categories of fraud.
Gas Natural Fenosa is opposed to influencing the will of people outside the
company to turn a profit by using unethical practices. Nor allow other people or
entities to use these practices with their employees.

8- Kickbacks and money laundering

Gas Natural Fenosa establishes policies to prevent and avoid in the course of its
operations making irregular payments or money laundering arising from illicit or
criminal activities.

9- Corporate image and reputation

Gas Natural Fenosa considers that one of the basic elements that contribute to
your corporate image and reputation is the establishment of relations of
responsible citizenship in the communities in which it operates.

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10- Loyalty to the company and conflicts of interest

Conflicts of interest arise in circumstances where the personal interests of
employees, directly or indirectly, are contrary or collide with the interests of the
company, interfere with the right performance of their professional duties and
responsibilities or involve them personal capacity in a financial transaction or
operation of the company.
Gas Natural Fenosa considers that relations with its employees must be based on
loyalty born of common interests.

11-

Treatment of information and knowledge

Gas Natural Fenosa considers information and knowledge as one of its main and
essential for business management assets, so they should be given special
protection.
Declares veracity of information as a basic principle in their actions, so that
employees must convey truthfully all the information they need to communicate,
both internally and externally, and in any case provide knowingly incorrect or
inaccurate information can mislead the recipient.

12-

Customer Relationship

Gas Natural Fenosa assumes, leads and fosters commitment to quality, providing
the resources necessary to achieve excellence and establishing appropriate
measures to ensure that the quality policy is practiced by all employees in
accordance with these principles.

13-

Relations with shareholders

The purpose of Gas Natural Fenosa is the continuous creation of value for its
shareholders, so it is committed to providing objective, transparent, appropriate
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and timely information on the development of the company and under conditions
of equality for all its shareholders. Similarly, Gas Natural Fenosa is committed to
develop the skills necessary for participation of shareholders in decisions that
correspond to them bases.

14-

Relations with collaborators and suppliers

Gas Natural Fenosa considers its suppliers and partner companies an

indispensable part of achieving its objectives of growth and improved quality of
service, seeking to establish with them based on trust and mutual benefit.

15-

Respect for the environment

The preservation of the environment is one of the basic principles of Gas Natural
Fenosa. Consistent with this, has defined a policy and implemented an
environmental management system.
Even though this code sounds responsible and looking for sustainability, apart
from creating value for society; the truth may not be so idyllic. This company is
known along with Endesa, Telefnica and some others to host retired politicians
in the administration board, particularly some who were strongly related with
corruption and illicit use of power and information. Leaving the members of the
company aside, this company claims to perform activities in favor of the
environment and society, such as support to NGOs and researching to provide a
more environmentally friendly energy such as biofuels, both of them being true.
Yet, they fall in the hypocrisy of supporting the normative that bans and fines for
using solar panels or self-consume of electrical energy which is right now one of
the most environment friendly practices in existence. This is even more ironic
since Spain is one of the countries that can enjoy most sunlight during the year,

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a circumstance that should be extremely beneficial in that sense and is not

exploited in the slightest.
Something worth mentioning about these practices is that they are not
operational activities they perform, but strategic decisions taken by the leaders
of the organization. What I mean by this is they do not physically act against
sustainability (extreme pollution, using the cheapest way), workers are in favor
and actively seek to improve the companys practices, even to their own harm
sometimes. Plenty of those improvements carried on by Gas Natural Fenosa
started as suggestions made by the employees.
If I had the opportunity to work in this company, I would probably accept it not
because I agree with their management of ethics and sustainability (even though
I agree with their improvements), but because I see a great opportunity to make
my way to the top of the company, not the administration board, but a
managerial position where my opinion could be significant enough to leave a
mark on the planet, maybe even in the business model of Spain (which right now
it is trying to take advantage of everything that surrounds you). To delve further
in the motives for it, I would say that I have a decent sense of responsibility
regarding to what is happening to our planet and act in consequence, either by
recycling, buying from responsible/ecologic brands (as long as it does not differ
greatly from the product), to summarize, I feel it is a great opportunity to take all
those values I appreciate that are applied on the lower parts of the organization
and push them to the top. Examples of this would be being truly green and
ecologic and treat the subordinates as people instead of as tools (not colleagues
but make a friendly workplace).

Gonzalo Marina Ruiz de Loizaga

BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.gasnaturalfenosa.com/servlet/ficheros/1297145286329/CE_ING
_nov_2014_acc.pdf
http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2014/10/24/actualidad/1414165738
_419504.html
http://www.europapress.es/galicia/noticia-gas-natural-fenosa-iniciadespliegue-redes-electricas-inteligentes-galicia-inversion-75-millones20111114180640.html
http://www.gasnaturalfenosa.com/es/inicio/accionistas+e+inversores/gobi
erno+corporativo/organos+de+gobierno/1285338473580/consejo+de+ad
ministracion.html
http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/tata-steel/business-ethics-andsustainability-in-the-steel-industry/what-are-business-ethics-andsustainability.html
https://es.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/finlaotracaradelamoneda/elsonrojante-escandalo-de-los-3-500-millones-171329663.html
http://economia.elpais.com/economia/2012/11/29/actualidad/1354212973
_820991.html
http://malditaletrapequena.blogspot.ca/2014/06/te-explicamos-la-otracarta-informativa.html

Gonzalo Marina Ruiz de Loizaga