Case Study: The American Red Cross

Summary

The American Red Cross (ARC) is an independent association, bolstered by open money related gifts and volunteerism. Its main goal is to “give alleviation to casualties of fiascos and individuals avert, plan for and respond to emergencies crises.” The ARC reacts to more than 70,000 debacles every year. As a brief history of American Red Cross, the case study reports that it was founded in the year of 1881 by the Clara Barton. As a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the ARC joins more than 175 other national societies in bringing aid to victims of disasters throughout the world.

The company has more than 0.5 million volunteers and around 35000 employees. In terms of its organizational structure, for many years the ARC has had a fifty-member, all-volunteer board of governors. The president of the United States is the honorary chair of the Red Cross and appoints eight governors, including the chair of the board. The main decade of the twenty-first century saw a high rate of turnover in the meeting room at the Red Cross. Since Elizabeth Dole’s abdication as seat in 1999, the ARC has had seven diverse changeless or acting heads.

In 2006 Congress made a move to attempt to enhance the ARC’s adequacy and effectiveness after the embarrassments of September 11, Hurricane Katrina, and the bunch issues at nearby parts when Senator Charles E. Grassley documented enactment to redesign the association. Grassley’s enactment additionally constrained the association to wind up more straightforward. In 2006 the Curve unveiled a large number of pages of archives that had not already been accessible to the general population. This denoted the first run through in right around sixty years that Congress had moved to alter the association’s contract. After the September 11 assaults on New York City’s World Trade Center, the ARC was broadly reprimanded for its reaction. After September 11, fiscal gifts poured in at a phenomenal rate. Healy set up a different asset, the “Freedom Fund,” for gifts reserved for casualties. Before the end of October, the asset had gotten $543 million in promises. American Red Cross has a partner commitment to satisfy its contract’s desires and convey these guarantees viably and proficiently. Magnanimous gifts reserve the not-for-profit’s operations and volunteers contain 95 percent of its laborers. The Curve staff and volunteers should be all around oversaw by skilled chiefs and officials inside ARC. Enhancements to the ARC as an association must start with official authority and stream descending to each level of the gathering. Congressional oversight and communication with government, state, and nearby associations must keep on being audited and adjusted to suit current needs. Fiasco help participation through collaborating with private companies to give proficient and powerful reactions to casualties of fiascos ought to be proceeded. Joint promoting rehearses between the ARC and private organizations ought to likewise proceed, as long untrustworthy collaborations or affiliations don’t trade off the mission of the ARC. Close observing must be completed by the numerous partners of the ARC, including contributors, staff, volunteers, and society by and large.

Analysis / Opinion                                                                                                      

There are a number of ethical issues and challenges that are currently targeting the Red Cross that need to be addressed. In my view, some are basic challenges for any association of its size, for example, official pay, averting and taking care of representative unfortunate behavior, and considering all partners in its working model. Different dangers are novel to the Red Cross, for example, straightforward and precise representation of the association’s requirement for, and utilization of, financial gifts, volunteer time, and blood gifts. Additionally, the ARC has the moral difficulties of keeping up powerful and effective operations to react to fiascos and straightforwardly reporting the association’s achievements, disappointments, and open doors for development in calamity reaction exercises.

As a general analysis of the case study, it has also been evaluated that worker unfortunate behavior additionally has been an issue, from the segregation in dispensing help after catastrophes to worker misappropriation. Such offense has happened from New Orleans to Maryland and New Jersey, showing a systemic issue. Tending to partner needs, especially those of the ARC’s a great many givers, is a continuous challenge. Contributors have a large number of decisions among philanthropies to bolster with their cash and their time. They require open, fair, and straightforward correspondence about how their assets are distributed and why such choices are made. Issues like distorting the utilization of the “Freedom Fund” gathered after September 11 must be avoided if the ARC wishes to keep on being pertinent.

Hence, as a general conclusion, one can state that the authors of the case study are completely right in terms of the ethical risks and challenges they have quoted. In order to make itself more valuable, The ARC should likewise address the particular moral dangers with its fiasco reaction obligations. Clear and productive correspondences with elected and nearby government offices is a challenge, as appeared by the breakdown of interchanges in the consequence of Hurricane Katrina. The ARC must create vital arrangements to better fulfill calamity reaction objectives.

In terms of the importance to business, the future researchers can now conduct more studies to compare it with the results and findings of this study and to see that what kind of improvements have been made by ARC till date.

Reference

Watkins, M., & John-Paul. (2011). The American Red Cross. In J. Fraedrich, L. Ferrell, & O. C. Ferrell, Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (pp. 327-335). Mason, Ohio, United States: South-Western Cengage Learning.