Ethics Program An Effective Developing
Ethics Program An Effective Developing
an Effective
Ethics Program
Objectives
• Understand the responsibility of the corporation to be a moral agent.
• Understand why businesses need to develop ethics program.
• List the minimum requirements for an ethics program.
• Describe the role of codes of ethics in identifying key risk areas for an
organization.
• Identify the keys to successful ethics training, including program types
and goals.
• Examine the ways that ethical standards are monitored, audited, and
enforced, and to understand the need for continuous improvement.
Corporations as Moral
Agents
Corporations as Moral Agents
• Corporations are increasingly viewed as moral
agents that are accountable for their conduct to
stakeholders
• Laws and regulations are necessary to provide
formal structural restraints and guidance on ethical
issues
Need for Ethics Program
in the Business
Increase
employees’
ethical
awareness
Why do
Increase
employees’
organizations
Scandals
Participation
in ethical
need reduce trust
decision Organizational
Ethics Program?
Increase
employees’
Ethical
behavior
To promote legal and ethical conduct, an
organization should develop a program by
Establishing Communicating
Monitoring The legal requirements that characterize
it’s Industry
History Culture
and Operating environment
Policies of conduct
Programs
Uniform standards
Strong Ethics Program:
1. trustworthiness
2. respect
3. responsibility
4. fairness
5. caring
6. citizenship
Benefits of Having an Ethics
Code
• Guide employees in situations where the ethical course of action is not immediately
obvious.
• Help the company reinforce and acquaint new employees.
• Help the company communicate its expectations for its staff
• Minimize subjective and inconsistent management standards.
• Help a company remain in compliance with complex government regulations.
• Build public trust and enhance business reputations.
• Offer protection in preempting or defending against lawsuits.
• Enhance morale, employee pride, loyalty, and the recruitment of outstanding
employees.
• Promote constructive social change by raising awareness.
• Promote market efficiency, especially in areas where laws are weak or inefficient
Developing and Implementing a Code
of Ethics
1. Consider areas of risk and state the values as well as conduct
necessary to comply with laws and regulations.
2. Identify values that specifically address current ethical issues.
3. Consider values that link the organization to a stakeholder
orientation.
4. Make the code understandable by providing examples that reflect
values
5. Communicate the code frequently and in language that employees
can understand.
6. Revise the code every year with input from organizational
members and stakeholders.
Keys to Successful Ethics
Training
Ethics Officers
• Responsible for managing their organization’s ethics and legal
compliance programs
• Asses the needs and risks and organization-wide ethics program must address
• Developing and distributing code of ethics
• Conducting training programs
• Establishing and maintaining a confidential service to answer employees’
questions
• Compliance with government regulation
• Monitoring and auditing ethical conduct
• Taking action on possible violations
• Reviewing and updating the code
Negative impact on
public trust
• Law
• Finance
• HRM
Ethics Training and Communication
Training Programs &
Communication System
Educate employees about the
firm’s standards
Training Programs Awareness of ethical issues
Increase importance of ethics training
• Educate employees about firm’s Increase employees’ confidence (to make correct
policies and expectations, relevant decision)
laws and regulations, and general
social standards
• Aware employees of available Strengthen corporate culture and ethical stance
resources, support systems and of peers and supervisors
designated personnel (ethical and
Arms employees against opportunities for
legal advice assistance)
• Empower employees to ask tough unethical behavior and lessens the likelihood of
questions and make ethical decisions misconduct
These foundations must be communicated to
employees
Clear
values Code of Procedures Line & Staff Executive
Involvements Priorities on
ethics Ethics
Foundation of
Ethics Training
A key component of managing an
effective and efficient ethics and
compliance program is a firm grasp of
techniques that clearly communicate
the company’s values, culture, and
policies dealing with ethical issues to
employees. Resolving in teams
Behavioral Simulation
Key Goals of Successful Ethics
Training Program
Identify key risk areas employees will face.
Provide experience in dealing with hypothetical or disguised ethical issues within the industry through
mini-causes, online challenges, DVDs, or other experiential learning opportunities.
Let employees know wrongdoing will never be supported in the organization and employee evaluations
will take their conduct in this area into consideration.
Let employees know they are individually accountable for their behavior.
Align employee conduct with organizational reputation and branding.
Provide ongoing feedback to employees about how they are handling ethical issues.
Allow a mechanism for employees to voice their concerns that is anonymous, but provides answers to
key questions (24-hour hotlines).
Provide a hierarchy of leadership of employees to contract when they are faced with an ethical dilemma
they do not know ow to resolve.
Systems to Monitor and
Enforce Ethical
Standards
- An effective ethics program employs variety of resources to
monitor ethical conduct and measure the program's
effectiveness.
Ways of a company to assess compliance of the
employees with its ethical code and standards:
Observing employees
-to determine if a person is performing his/her job adequately and
ethically.
Conducting internal audits and investigation
-
Circulating survey/ questionnaires
-It serves as benchmarks in an ongoing assessment of ethical
performances.
Instituting reporting systems
-Allows employees to report misconduct is especially useful for
monitoring and evaluating ethical performance.
-If the code of ethics is aggressively enforce and become part of the
corporate culture, it improves ethical behavior within an organization
effectively.
-If code is not properly enforced, it becomes mere window dressing and
will accomplished little.
Continuous Improvement of an
Ethics Program
Jethro gwapo