Running Head: TOUCHSTONE COMMUNICATIONS

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 8
Vision........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Mission ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
Team Members........................................................................................................................................ 8
Chairman & CEO .................................................................................................................................. 8
General Manager - Pakistan .................................................................................................................. 8
Chief Financial Officer ......................................................................................................................... 8
Director Business Intelligence .............................................................................................................. 8
Director of Operations .......................................................................................................................... 8
Services .................................................................................................................................................... 9
Customer Services ................................................................................................................................ 9
Direct Sales ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Mortgage Lead Generation ................................................................................................................... 9
Transcriptions ..................................................................................................................................... 10
Appointments ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Inbound Services ................................................................................................................................. 10
Empirical Data .......................................................................................................................................... 11
Core Values............................................................................................................................................ 11
Decision Criteria ................................................................................................................................... 11
Company Image .................................................................................................................................... 11
Business Network .................................................................................................................................. 11
Marketing Channels ............................................................................................................................. 12
Shareholders .......................................................................................................................................... 12
Competitors ........................................................................................................................................... 12
Corporate Intelligence .......................................................................................................................... 12
Company Frauds................................................................................................................................... 12
General ................................................................................................................................................ 12
Accounting .......................................................................................................................................... 12
Sexual Harassment................................................................................................................................ 12
Case in 2012........................................................................................................................................ 13
Employee Honesty & Integrity ............................................................................................................ 13

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Employee Privacy Rights ..................................................................................................................... 13

Employees Rights .................................................................................................................................. 13
Whistle Blower Rights .......................................................................................................................... 13
Corporate Social Responsibility .......................................................................................................... 14
Drugs Policy........................................................................................................................................ 14
Scholarship Program ........................................................................................................................... 14
Smoking .............................................................................................................................................. 14
Clients Feedback ................................................................................................................................... 14
Touchstone Personal Rating ................................................................................................................ 14
Reason ................................................................................................................................................. 14
Analysis ...................................................................................................................................................... 15
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 17
Recommendations ..................................................................................................................................... 18
References .................................................................................................................................................. 19
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................... 20
Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................................ 20

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Acknowledgement
On the very outset of this report, I would like to extend my sincere & heartfelt obligation towards all the
personages who have helped me in this endeavor. Without their active guidance, help, cooperation &
encouragement, I would not have made headway in the project. I am ineffably indebted to Ghulam Rubbani
(HR Head of Touchstone Communications), for conscientious guidance and encouragement to accomplish
this assignment. I am extremely thankful and pay my gratitude to my teacher Usman Alvi for his valuable
guidance and support on completion of this project in its presently. I extend my gratitude to University
Institute of Management Sciences of University of Arid Agriculture Rawalpindi for giving me this
opportunity. I also acknowledge with a deep sense of reverence, my gratitude towards my parents and
member of my family, who has always supported me morally as well as economically. At last but not least
gratitude goes to all of my friends who directly or indirectly helped me to complete this project report. Any
omission in this brief acknowledgement does not mean lack of gratitude.

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Executive Summary
The project is concerned about the application of the basic Ethical principles, stakeholders analysis and
relationships, and finally major ethical issues in Touchstone Communications. Our visit to Touchstone
Communications made us know that working in an organization does not limit your experience to just one
department that you are assigned with, but actually the organization is running with a systematic
collaboration of the departments and hence requires communications and interaction. Well thats it the point
that you should not ignore, and always keep your mind and heart open for the experience. If you are in a
situation and have interactions, your studies are being implemented in practical environment there. Youre
not by passing your boss, because you understand that organizational hierarchy is defined and proper
communication channels are available which should be used. Or .You wont show resistance to change
cause you studied that change is the only constant and hence necessary for organizational development
and employees survival. During our visit, the company personnel were very receptive to our questions and
related queries and provided us with every form of tangible and intangible data that was of significance
assistance to us.
As far as ideal environment is concerned, there would be numerous organizations that we can think about
and Touchstone Communications is one of those organizations where an employee can feel maximum
satisfaction in reference to the environment. Touchstone Communications is a place to work for, a growing
organization which provides ample opportunity for the young people mostly students to earn handsome
amount of money and to polish their skill and broaden their mind and experience of the practical life and
to work with a lot of talented and experienced people who are always enhance your knowledge. Any
employee of the Touchstone Communications is given preference in other call center, telecom industry and
multinational companies because of their communication power. Hence Touchstone Communications is
providing the first step and ensuring that, everyone who come in, learns and has something which could
distinguish them in some areas of their knowledge, skills or abilities. To get more out of the employees
productivity, Touchstone Communications would offer some prizes on hitting sales.
Employee participation is always appreciated, Open Door policy along with a proper process is defined for
every employee to communicate with top level management and if needed, even the CEO (Tom Slone).
This concept has evolved and now a day has been named as, STAY IN TOUCH, offering complete
confidentiality and support for any suggestion or complaints, directly made to the office of chairman, and
focused on the improvement of the system and working environment at Touchstone Communications.
Concepts which we learned were clearer and more applicable, after we have visited Touchstone
Communications. We now understand that the departments like HRM, Finance, Operations are vital for
each other yet have define boundaries between them, and there are certain no defined areas which every
organization has and are developed overtime. Human Resource Management is not just hiring or firing

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people, but its more than that, more demanding and requires communication skills and people dealing and
understanding sense. Like every human is different, there may be different response for any situation by
different people. That means you cannot just define a few processes and sit back and say we have a complete
command and control over the situation. Dealing every employee as his requirement is a must for the
organizational survival especially in the BPO industry.
We have an understanding of the difference between a leader and a manager, as manger would follow and
make you follow the orders, while leaders create the vision and inspire you to support them in their
cause. Overall, our time spent was full of learning and experience. Touchstone Communications
communication deals in different projects, out of which mainly focused and most revenue generating is the
mortgage industry. After the major slump in the mortgage industry in USA, obviously revenue here was
also hit down, which created a desire for a bit of diversification over the service providing facilities and
more attention was paid to inbound and other telemarketing services like computer related services.
Touchstone Communications now deals in mortgages, home financing, inbound services to companies
operating in UK & USA. Moreover, we know that satisfied employees play a vital role in success of an
organization, the satisfaction of employees at Touchstone Communications can be presumed when we
asked one of the employees at work to share something about this organization, and he was like,
Never have I felt bored, bright and full of life are the nights at Touchstone Communications, colleagues
you have, work you enjoy and paid handsomely. Thats what Touchstone Communications is all about.
(Senior Sales Executive Touchstone Communications)

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Introduction
Touchstone Communications is a Market Leader in Contact Center Services known for its Quality of
Service, Flexibility and Results. Touchstone Communications is the second largest outbound call center in
Pakistan having more than 550 employees and one of the leading call center in Southlake, Taxes of United
States of America. It is founded in 2001 in Pakistan by Tom Slone. Touchstone Communications is
committed to distinctive quality and unparalleled customer service in all aspects of its business. Their aim
at providing training and career development to young Pakistani professionals in the cutting edge telecom
based services to global companies. Touchstone Communications empower the individuals to become
caring, competent and responsible citizens who value education as a lifelong process.

Vision
To be a market leader in providing outstanding quality customer service for all our new and existing
clients.

Mission
As a premium quality service provider, our mission is to offer services that suit our clients needs and
expectations. To constantly excel at creating tangible value for our clients, by anticipating their needs and
by providing superior insight into the improvement of their business performance. We believe that trust is
earned by conducting our business with integrity which starts by being honest with ourselves, our fellow
employees, and our clients and vendors. We have a passion to do things right the first time every time. We
believe that people remain our finest investment today every day.

Team Members
Chairman & CEO
Tom Slone

General Manager - Pakistan

Muhammad Ali Janjua

Chief Financial Officer

Syed Khurram

Director Business Intelligence

Shujaat Hussain

Director of Operations
Zeeshan Khan

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Services
Customer Services
Touchstone Communications is dedicated to delivering the highest level of customer satisfaction to our
clients by offering superior inbound call center and answering services.
Touchstone Communications works with companies ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500
companies creating successful partnerships and marketing formulas that yield results.
As a company we work diligently to support your marketing needs. As our client, you are our number one
priority.

Direct Sales
Touchstone Communications have one of the best sales training programs which enables their team of sales
professionals to generate quality leads for their clients.
Their statement that we generate loans, not leads has been proven for 12 years.
Within their Direct Sales Division they successfully board and run many different types of programs,
providing topnotch quality leads to large and small national companies in the home security and cable TV
channels business. Their goal has been and always will be to produce quality leads for our clients which is
why all their sales teams are thoroughly trained.
They are also specialize in lead generation for:

Mortgages (Refinance & Reverse)

Home Security (Fronting and Closing)

Auto Insurance (Cold and Live Transfers)

Health Insurance (Cold and Live Transfer Leads)

Home Warranty Leads

Home Insurance Leads

Home Improvement Leads

Mortgage Lead Generation

Touchstone Communications has been providing outbound, high quality, pre-qualified mortgage leads that
turn into funded loans to its clients since it was founded in 2003.
Touchstone was founded by industry leading mortgage professionals who in their careers have generated
more than $100 billion in residential real estate loans.
They offer high quality live transfers, exclusive lead programs serving national lenders with clientdedicated teams.
They specialize in the lead generation for following mortgage products:

Rate and Term Refinance

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Refinance with Cash Out

Debt Consolidation

FHA / VA Loans

FHA Streamline Mortgage

Internet Leads

Direct Mail Leads

Transcriptions
Transcriptions is one of our most rapid growing verticals with one hour transcription times and consistent
performance standards that meet or beat client quotas. Touchstone is a high quality and cost effective
transcription solution.
Touchstone provides several reporting tools as well which include:

Hourly Projections

Weekly Projections

Monthly Projections

Manning Matrix

Resource Utilization

Touchstone currently provides transcription services 15 hours per day which can be extended to 24 hours
if required.
They have the honor of working with the company that has been recognized as the Best Call Management
Company in their industry.

Appointments
They have a specialized division trained for appointment setting and survey programs. Many clients have
put their confidence in Touchstone Communications to set up appointments for them.
They also conduct and send out survey requests for various clients servicing in fields such as medical,
entertainment, telecom etc.

Inbound Services
Touchstone is a premier provider of high quality inbound customer services, sales solutions, 24/7/365
inbound, outbound and multi-channel support. Skill-based routing enables each customer to be satisfied on
the first call. Training, management and accountability are combined to provide repeatable, predictable and
scalable processes to our clients operations. Their sole purpose is to support their clients to meet their
commitments to their clients and exceed clients expectations.

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Empirical Data
Core Values
Touchstone Communications conduct their business based on a set of core values they have and are
practicing since their inception. They believe in providing the best quality service to their clients and their
employees. These core values have been the cornerstone of their success.

They listen to their clients, customers with not only their ears but their eyes and heart.

They strive to create quality you can see, hear, and actually feel in everything they do.

They make decisions that affect their clients, customers only after they have all the facts.

They work very hard to exceed the expectations of their clients, customers, and each other, and
reward those that excel.

They take pride in their work in all they do by giving more than expected every day.

They believe that trust is earned by conducting our business with integrity which starts by being
honest with ourselves, our fellow employees, and our clients and vendors.

They respect each other and recognize and reward excellent performance in all of their actions.

They have a passion to do things right the first time every time.

They believe that following up is a key to success.

They believe that people remain our finest investment today every day.

Decision Criteria
Touchstone Communications always make decisions based on facts and figures. They always first check
the issue intensity, legalities about the issue and then make a best decision which support the evidences.

Company Image
Internationally after 2010 Touchstone Communications is at limelight. They build their references through
their clients and penetrate deep in the market and nationally Touchstone Communications is the 2nd largest
call center in Pakistan after TRG P.v.t Ltd.

Business Network
There are about 16 different international companies based in USA, Canada, Australia, Spain and Pakistan
the Touchstone Communications is directly or indirectly involve in business activities in 2014. Top public
listed companies are

Quicken Loans

Nation Star Mortgage

DHS

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Marketing Channels

Social Media Facebook

Print Media Newspapers

Electronic Media is not being used.

o

Bad experience with Duniya TV regarding Basant festival coverage.

Shareholders

10 shareholders from America including Tom Slone

3 shareholders from Pakistan including Muhammad Ali Janjua

Competitors

The Resource Group (Pvt) Ltd. TRG

IBEX Communications

Corporate Intelligence
Touchstone Communications is doing corporate intelligence via,

Research & Development

Liaisons

Consultancy Saddaat Haiders

Company Frauds
General

About 6 to 7 issues regarding lead fabrication (lying of commission and omission) company has
encountered in a past few years and the people who were involved in this activity were terminated.

One Do Not Call Policy (DNC) penalty of $15,000 the Touchstone Communications has faced in
a year 2010.

Accounting
The Touchstone Communications yearly audited by an external auditor Ijaz Tabussum and the company
has never faced any accounting frauds till now.

Sexual Harassment
In Touchstone Communications books,
Any form of discrimination or harassment, including sexual or gender based harassment, or physical or
verbal abuse at the workplace or with an employee outside workplace is prohibited.
Touchstone Communications will not, under any circumstances, condone or tolerate conduct that may
constitute sexual harassment on the part of its management, supervisors or non-management personnel. It
is their policy that all employees have the right to illegal discrimination, including sexual harassment. Any

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employee found to have engaged in such conduct by the investigating authority will be subject to immediate
termination. Depending on the severity of the case further legal action can be taken.

Case in 2012
A lady was in difficult situation. She lied to her own parents that she was going for work, and manager got
advantage of her situation. Her behavior was sexually welcoming. When management saw this event,
management collected the evidences and within a week Touchstone Communications fired that manager
and the lady was reported back to her parents.

Employee Honesty & Integrity

Touchstone Communications never compromise on the quality of their service. They have a Quality
Compliance Department by which they have a close check on quality. From 3 to 4 years they have fired
many upper as well as lower management staff on dishonesty and integrity issue.

Employee Privacy Rights

Company will not share employees cell phone numbers to any authority except legal notice.

Company will not share employees information to outsiders.

Company will not share employees information to any banks or to any other company.

All data always be in Touchstone Communications database and only HR can use it for research
purpose i.e.
o

Hiring and Firing

For Tax issue

For Audit Reports

Employees Rights

Right to know about Salary

Right to know about Leaves

Right to have Resource

Right to Report

Whistle Blower Rights

Company keep it confidential.

Company gather the facts, investigate and then took best decision which support the evidences.

Company punish the culprit.

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Drugs Policy
Touchstone is committed to provide a substance abuse free workplace for its employees. If any employee
is determined to have drugs in their system, he/she will be terminated. That individual will not be considered
for re-employment.

Scholarship Program
If any employee achieve required leads per day (LPDs) in a month and if he/she is a student then Touchstone
Communication will pay his/her half fee of a semester as a reward.

Smoking
Touchstone Communications endeavors to provide a healthy working environment. Touchstone
Communications prohibit any form of tobacco consumed on company premises.

Clients Feedback

Touchstone Communications gather feedback on weekly basis from their clients through forms.

All clients have managers Skype IDs, Email addresses, and Cell phone numbers etc.

Touchstone Personal Rating

Touchstone rate itself 9.5 out of 10 for maintaining and supporting ethics.

Reason
Im working in Touchstone Communications since 2003 and in my best knowledge Touchstone
Communications never be in any unethical conduct. We document everything before going into it. We have
faced many difficulties in business but we have never done any unethical conduct.
(Head of HR Touchstone Communications)

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Analysis
Stakeholder analysis is a process of systematically gathering and analyzing qualitative information to
determine whose interest should be taken into account while developing and/or implementing a policy or
program.
During our visit, the company personnel were very receptive to our questions and related queries and
provided us with every form of tangible and intangible data that was of significance assistance to us. As per
the discussion with the HR Head of Touchstone Communications and in the light of the principles of
Business Ethics, the analysis of the provided data is as follows

Primary stakeholders of Touchstone Communications are Employees, Shareholders, Customers,

Government Agencies, and Suppliers/Business Clients.

Secondary stakeholders of Touchstone Communications are Competitors, and Mass Media.

It is clear from the companys vision and mission statement that their aim is to provide outstanding
customer service to all the new and existing clients which shows their dedication toward their
customers.

The company core values have been the core stone of their success as they give keen importance
to their stakeholders especially employees and customers as they play a major role in any
companys success. They work really hard to exceed the expectations of their clients, customers
and each other and reward the employees that excel.

Touchstone communications have one of the best sales training program which enables their team
of sales professionals to generate quality leads for their clients.

Touchstone communication always make decisions on the basis of facts and figures. First of all
they check the intensity of the issue and then they make a decision supported by the evidence which
shows that the companys decision criteria is quite fair.

There are about 16 different international companies to which Touchstone Communication is

involve directly or indirectly in business activities.

The companys image is at limelight. Nationally Touchstone Communication is the 2nd largest call
center in Pakistan as they build their references through their clients and penetrate deep in the
market.

In order to get advantage over their competitors the company have R&D department, which allow
the companys manager to have readily available information which help them in decision making.

Touchstone Communications never compromise on the quality of their service. They have a Quality
Compliance Department by which they have a close check on quality and they take strict actions
against dishonest and irresponsible employees regardless of their positions.

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Company has faced about 6 to 7 issues regarding lead fabrication but the people who were involved
in it were immediately terminated.

The company has never faced accounting frauds till now as the company is yearly audited by an
external auditor.

Any form of discrimination and harassment is strictly prohibited within the organization and any
employee found to have such conduct by the investigation authority will be terminated
immediately.

Different actions have been taken by the organization regarding employees privacy rights and
whistle blowers rights which shows that how much importance they give to their employees.

All the information i.e. their contact no., address or any other personal data is kept confidential and
not given to any other organization without their permission.

In order to maximize their positive impact on stakeholders and to minimize their negative impact
the company has some guidelines known as CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Scholarship
programs are also offered to the employees if they achieve required leads per day of the month.

Touchstone is committed to provide a substance abuse free workplace to its employees. If any
employee is determined to have drugs in their system, he/she will be terminated and the person will
not be considered for re-employment. The company prohibits any form of tobacco consumed on
company premises.

For advertising the company prefer Social Media (Facebook), Print Media (Newspapers),
Electronic Media is not being used as the company has faced bad experience with Duniya TV.

The company has about 10 shareholders from America and 3 shareholders from Pakistan.

Touchstone Communications gather feedback on weekly basis from their clients through forms,
emails and Skype.

The company gives great importance to their stakeholders including their clients, customers and
employees as they have clearly mentioned that They work very hard to exceed the expectations of
their clients, customers and each other, and reward those that excel.

They have different policies for the protection of their employee rights and furthermore they take
strict actions against the employees who violate the rules regardless of their position.

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Conclusion
All in all, its rational to say that company has incorporated most of the ethical principles and elements in
their business dealings. Touchstone Communications is committed to distinctive quality and unparalleled
customer service in all aspects of its business. Touchstone Communications develops a team culture and
encourages their employees to discover that the pursuit of excellence is truly a rewarding aspect of their
career with the organization; aimed at providing training and career development to young Pakistani
professionals in the cutting edge telecom based services to global companies, empowering the people
individuals to become caring, competent and responsible citizens who value education as a lifelong process.
All the stakeholders of the company are proud to be affiliated with one of the most profitable, commendable
and credible organization.
Because MOTIVATION is the key to success here in toughest work of telemarketing. I said it a tough job
because, making sales on people is not easy and requires patience, hard work, consistency and on the toe
performance for every single person you deal with. In Touchstone Communications employees are kept
awaken and on their toes by communicating with them more often and positively, and employees know
that there are people who are looking for their performance and are ready to recognize and reward any
excellent performance.
Positive organizational behavior, following the hierarchy, positive communication skills, dealing with the
offshore customers, team work, following the rules and creating self-ethics for success, leading people by
example, motivation and self-motivational techniques, fact based decision making, creating quality and
customer satisfaction while exceeding the organizations expectations and most importunately, commitment,
loyalty and hard work are the key learnings in Touchstone Communications.
So, its completely reasonable to say that Touchstone Communications Communication is an ethical
organization. Some of the major Ethical issues which we had studied, prevail in Touchstone
Communications Communication but to deal with those, strict laws exist which are equally applicable to
everybody without any discernment.

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Recommendations

Touchstone Communications compensation policies are not up to the mark because mostly Ive
noticed youngsters working but all those who get married and start having families, they try switch
to other jobs because Touchstone Communications compensation package doesnt contains any
allowance for married employees which doesnt satisfies the employees and one can only take it as
a temporary job.

Touchstone Communications should open up their other branches in cities like Lahore and Karachi
where we find more varieties of talents and this would broaden the horizons.

Touchstone Communications is famous for its hiring standards, which is compromised now a day,
as they were trying to heir 1000 employees by the end of this year, but now is left with only 550
(approximately) employee, but still the degree of hiring standard should not be compromised in
order to keep its strength of hiring standards.

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19

References
Vision and Mission Statement
http://touchstonebpo.com/about-us/
Services
http://touchstonebpo.com/services/
Company Guidelines
Employee Hand Book of Touchstone Communication 2015 (Hard Copy Document Attached)

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Appendix
Questionnaire
Question 01
Mission & Vision
Question 02
Ethical Code of Conduct
Question 03
When you make a decision, how do you know that you have made an ethical decision?
Question 04
With how many companies your organization is directly or indirectly involve in business activities in a past
year?
Question 05
What is the National and International image of a company in your service industry?
Question 06
Who are your Competitors?
Question 07
How does the company cope up with the competitors strategies?
Question 08
How the administration authorities make sure that employees are fair and honest with the organization?
Question 09
What kind of Frauds Company faces?
Question 10
What precautionary measures can be adopted to avoid Accounting Fraud?
Question 11
What are the possibilities an employee can do Fraud with the organization?
Question 12
Were your organization encountered any Harassment case?
Question 13
What are your laws to prevent unethical conducts e.g. Intimidating Behavior, Discrimination, Conflict of
Interest, Bribery, Corporate Intelligence (Hacking, Liaisons etc.), and Privacy Rights (Employee data)?
Question 14
Does your business policy gives an eye upon some employee rights?
Question 15

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If any of the employee have issue with the companys ethical policy, what would the company do?
Question 16
Are there any whistle blowers in the organization? If yes then what support do you provide to them?
Question 17
How can you limit the opportunities for the employees to do unethical activities?
Question 18
Does the organization claim to be socially responsible?
Question 19
What channels do the organization prefer for advertising?
Question 20
Who are your active stakeholders in a past year?
Question 21
Which suppliers create problem for you? And how you address them?
Question 22
How Stakeholders feedback is generated and how effective for the organization?
Question 23
Which Special interest group directly affect the company?
Question 24
How employee avoid conflict of interest?
Question 25
Is your company wiling to hire qualified disabled people?
Question 26
Do employees know the degree to which their behavior is monitored?
Question 27
Are people in your firm provided with safe opportunity to discuss ethical issues of concern?
Question 28
Your vast business has also conquered the boundaries of other countries. Does your ethical business policies
alter with respect to the culture of a particular country?
Question 29
Nobody is perfect, but can be at the verge of perfection. Rate your organization out of 10 in maintaining
and supporting ethics. Also give reason to your rating.

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