Developing an Ethics Program
Monitoring Systems
Observation
Audits & Investigations
Surveys
Role-playing exercises
Compliance-management software
The Corporation as Moral Agent
Why Codes of Ethics Fail
Ethics Officers
- the code is not promoted
- the code is not easily accessible
- too legalistic
- too vague
- top management never refers to the code
- assess needs and risks
- develop & distribute a code of ethics
- conduct ethics training
- establish a confidential reporting procedure
- ensuring compliance
- auditing ethical conduct
- taking actions against violations
- reviewing and updating the code
Root Causes of Misconduct
- personal gain
- opportunity
- fear of losing one's job
- lack of resources
- disregard of codes of conduct
- the ends justify the means
- lack of familiarity with standards
- Corporations are agents of society
- Generally have the same rights and responsibilities as individuals
- Society holds corporations accountable for the conduct, decisions, and consequences of the decisions of their employees
- Employees have a moral obligation to responsibly think through complex ethical issues relevant to the corporation
- Misconduct may result from individuals or a collective pattern of decisions supported by the corporate culture
- A coherent ethics program does not evolve through independent individual and interpersonal relationships
Unethical or Illegal?
You want to skip work to go to a Mavericks game, but you need a doctor's excuse, so you make up some symptoms so that your insurance company pays for the doctor's visit.
Common Mistakes
- failure to appreciate the code of ethics
- setting unrealistic program objectives
- senior management fails to take ownership of the code of ethics
- materials do not address the needs of employees
- transferring a domestic program to an international site
- Lecture-driven instead of applied learning
Key Goals
- Identify key risk areas
- Applied learning
- Enforce that unethical conduct will never be supported
- Encourage individual accountability
- Provide ongoing feedback
- Allow for an anonymous reporting mechanism
- Provide a hierarchy of leadership for employees to contact
The Need for Ethics Programs
- to detect unethical/illegal behavior
- to gain competitive advantages
- to link employees through a unified corporate culture