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Ethics Today Online Published
by the Ethics Resource Center ***************************************************************
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** A Word from the President: Character Development - The Business of Business This month our issue focuses largely on character development-a subject that, at first, seems to be wholly limited to teachers in schools and parents at home. But in reality, character development is a continual process for every one of us, and for adults, the workplace is one of the most powerful influences on our ethical decision-making abilities. Character development is, and should be, "the business of business"--just as it is important to all the other usual suspects. According to the ERC's 2003 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES 2003), younger employees who are new to their positions-especially those in management roles- represent the greatest single area of vulnerability for any organization. These employees feel more pressure to commit misconduct than other employee groups and, as a demographic, are the least likely to report any misconduct they observe. This group is also more likely to believe that management will view them as troublemakers if they report their ethics concerns. Theodore Roosevelt said, "To educate a man in mind and not morals is to educate a menace to society." If we look at the ethical crises of the last few years, we can't help but recognize the truth of his words. Admittedly, some ethics problems happen as a result of misinformation, miseducation, or ignorance. But, more often than not, they result from a lack of character - willingness to compromise integrity and respect to achieve short-term gains rather than uphold a commitment to values. Many businesses are doing their noble best to nurture character in their employees. They have highly developed ethics programs, effective codes, hotlines, and ethics officers to support their staff. They train their employees. They talk about and model a commitment to ethical values. Yet, it shouldn't be the role of business alone. The workplace can and should be a place that continues to grow the ethical compass of individuals, but ethical development should be fostered at an earlier age. We don't raise young people in an ethical vacuum - whether we take the time to talk about values or decide to ignore values altogether, we are constantly sending a message about their significance. Failing to take the opportunity at every level to discuss and teach values would be, as Roosevelt noted, a tragic mistake as well as a missed opportunity on the grand scale. The students of today are the employees, citizens, and leaders of tomorrow. As a society, we trust our educators to prepare the next generation in many ways for the increasingly complex future. Workers in today's environment are faced with the need to act independently and make decisions, often without the benefit of immediate guidance from supervisors or others. They must be able to make the right choice in work situations characterized by competing pressures about whether to follow rules or to ignore them. As work environments change and diversify, so too does the need for employees to recognize and respond to increasingly subtle ethical issues that arise within organizations. Educators need to prepare the sustainable workforce of the future to make good, solid ethical choices when faced with situations that are neither white nor black, but rather that fall within a vast gray area. In the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education." If we look at the massive demographic shift that will soon take place in the workforce, the issue of the ethical education of youth becomes even more significant. In just a few years, today's students will comprise a large percentage of our workforce. Our organizations and offices will be populated by the young, untenured managers who, as we learned in NBES 2003, are so very vulnerable. Businesses and schools must work together and support one another in the effort to ensure that those students who will soon be our employees and our colleagues are both good and smart. The Ethics Resource Center is doing some exciting work in this area, some of which is detailed in this newsletter. We've developed and implemented two programs to facilitate this partnership: the Student Ethics Office™ (SEO™) Initiative and the Student Fellows Program. SEOs™ are modeled on corporate ethics offices and replicate most of the elements of a corporate ethics office, so students not only capitalize on the expertise of partnering companies, but they see how ethics will pertain to their working life. The ERC is currently working with three schools in Maryland and Virginia to pilot the SEO™ model regionally. The Student Fellows Program, modeled after the ERC's Fellows Programs, will hold its first meeting in just a few weeks. A portion of this meeting will coincide with the ERC Fellows July meeting, allowing student ethics officers to meet with leading thinkers in the field of organizational ethics. This benefits all involved by enhancing students' knowledge while increasing practitioners' awareness of the importance of school-to-work educational programs. Patricia J. Harned, Ph.D. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Student Fellows Program to Debut July 12-16 In July, approximately 30 student participants from the DC metro area, along with teachers and adult facilitators, will gather at the Lockheed Martin Center for Leadership Excellence for the first Student Fellows meeting. During the five-day meeting, the group will discuss leadership styles, the role of ethics officers, methods and challenges in integrating a student ethics office into a school's culture and strategic planning for student ethics officers. The participants will hear from corporate ethics officers as well as participate in outdoor team-building exercises. The Student Fellows Program, a natural outgrowth of the ERC's Student Ethics Office™ model, brings student ethics officers together to exchange their successes, challenges, and future directions. A portion of the Student Fellows meeting will coincide with the July meeting of the ERC Fellows, on which it is modeled. Allowing student ethics officers to meet with these leaders in the field of organizational ethics provides an opportunity for both groups to learn about the importance of ethics, and ethics training, in the workplace. A follow-up on both the Student Fellows and the ERC Fellows Program meetings will appear in the next issue. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Guest Column: Values - The Great Common Denominator "One of the great benefits of working in the ethics organization of a large corporation is the opportunity to talk to students of all ages about ethics and values," says Joseph C. Kale Jr., Director-Ethics and Business Conduct, Integrated Systems and Solutions, Lockheed Martin Corporation. "It is always an interesting dialogue as we compare and contrast ethics issues in the workplace and in an academic environment. At work the issue might be conflicts of interest, in school the issue might be cheating. In work it might be schedule pressures, in school it might be pressure from parents and peers to get good grades. In all of these discussions there is a common theme. The issues and challenges may be different, but the values are the always the same." In the rest of this article, Mr. Kale discusses how people might end up making bad decisions by creating justifications for actions or decisions that might go against their previously learned values. "By justifying one's behavior," he says, "even when it is in contrast to strongly held values, that behavior becomes ingrained and can lead to a mindset or decision logic that will ultimately lead down the wrong path." Read the rest of this article at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Students Learn to Build Character In this article from the February 2004 issue of ASCA School Counselor, ERC Associate Consultant Katie Sutliff and Lee Kaiser, a guidance counselor at Kings Glen Elementary School in Fairfax County, VA, discuss the successful student-centered character education program implemented at Mr. Kaiser's school. The student character club at Kings Glen consists of two fifth grade and two sixth grade teams who are expected to model and exemplify positive character traits and who act as representatives for their classmates. "Club members are learning life skills, and they come to understand how organizations develop and execute action plans," write the authors. "They learn to work and care for others, respect and appreciate differences and follow through on their responsibilities. In turn, the staff members benefit because they realize the Kings Glen students are doing the work, not the teachers, school counselors or administrator, who can too often be overworked, overwhelmed and overcommitted." The American School Counselor Association has generously granted ERC the right to reprint the full text of this article, which was previously digested in the March 2004 issue of Ethics Today. Read this article at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Update From a Former Student Ethics Office President "Once again, in the mist of the steamy summer months, I find myself in the cool refuge of the Ethics Resource Center," begins ERC Intern Katie Donohue. "The rest of my friends are life guarding, working in department stores, or waiting tables. While all noble professions, it seems that few of my peers are working jobs they plan to make into careers. Those with internships are frustrated by the lack of 'real life work' that they actually get to do. I feel privileged to find myself back at the ERC this summer and to get my hands deep into projects that I really care about." Ms. Donohue was the first Student Ethics Office President at Lake Braddock Secondary School (the Student Ethics Office™ prototype program) and now serves on the Judicial Review Board at Mary Washington College. She interned with the ERC during the summer of 2003, January of 2004, and is back for the summer of 2004. The ERC will provide regular updates tracking how Ms. Donohue's experiences as a former SEO President affect her journey through college to the working world. Read this article at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Guest Column: Conflicts of Interest "Among the most common dilemmas to be found in the ethics arena are those involving potential conflicts of interest," writes Norm Augustine, former Chairman of Lockheed Martin Corporation and Founding Chairman of the ERC Fellows Program. "Perhaps the most difficult class of ethical dilemmas occurs when two or more dearly embraced principles seem to collide." In this follow-up piece to the May issue of Ethics Today, Mr. Augustine discusses how the National Institutes of Health Blue Ribbon Panel on Conflict of Interest Policies resolved some of these difficult issues as they reviewed the NIH conflicts of interest policies. Mr. Augustine was co-chair of the panel, on which ERC Fellows Chairman Steve Potts also served. "In carrying out our responsibilities," he says, "we encountered not one but several issues wherein seemingly sound principles seemed to conflict . . . frequently involving substantive ethical connotations." Read Mr. Augustine's conflicts of interest
column at:
Read the final report from the Blue
Ribbon Panel at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Special Feature: Values Puzzle As a special "end of the school year" feature, the ERC presents in this issue a Values Word-Search Puzzle created by ERC Programs Manager Jerry Brown. Forty words related to values and ethical concepts are concealed in a box of scrambled letters. (The answers are available online.) Get a copy of the Values Puzzle at:
The ERC is making this puzzle available to individuals and organizations that wish to reprint it in their internal publications, newsletters, or classroom materials. Please read the restrictions and complete
the "permission to use" form at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** What The Schools Can Teach Us About Nurturing Values "When the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires CEOs to attest to their companies' financial statements, it is in essence asking high-level personnel to certify the behavior of others," say ERC Acting President Patricia J. Harned and Associate Consultant Kathryn M. Sutliff in a January 2003 Ethikos article. "The cumulative effect," they note, "is that organizations must now teach employees about ethics and encourage ethical behavior-and they must be more effective than ever before." Fortunately, there is no need to reinvent the proverbial wheel. Dr. Harned and Ms. Sutliff propose that, by looking at the successes and failures of the educational world's efforts to impart values and nurture ethical behavior, business can discover which strategies work and which do not. This article is reprinted with the
permission of the editors of Ethikos magazine at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** 2003 Annual Report Available Online The ERC's 2003 Annual Report is available online. The report contains a section on the ERC's history, letters from current and former leaders, and discussions of the 2003 National Business Ethics Survey, the ERC Fellows Program and Stanley C. Pace Leadership Award. In addition, it reports on the ERC's organizational and integrity assessment services, character development programs, and international ethics efforts, as well as including a list of Board members and donors and the 2003 financial report. Get a PDF document of the ERC's 2003
Annual Report at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** ERC Launches Global Integrity Alliance Web Link On June 25, the ERC, with financial support from the World Bank, launched a website to support the Global Integrity Alliance (GIA). The GIA is a network comprised of ethics and anti-corruption experts and practitioners from NGOs, companies, multilaterals and national governments that seeks to coordinate and further develop ethics and good governance efforts around the world. The GIA was initiated at the Forum for a Global Integrity Alliance in Istanbul, Turkey, in March 2004, which was attended by 50 delegates from over 20 countries. For more information about the Integrity
Alliance, visit: For more information about the Forum,
which was made possible by generous support from Merck & Co.,
Inc and the World Bank, please visit: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Publications and Media Coverage -- SEC Tightens Rules on Fund Managers, Los Angeles Times, May 26 In the wake of trading abuses, the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that mutual fund managers must report any personal trading they do in the funds they oversee. The SEC approved this and other measures as part of a rule requiring investment companies to establish and enforce their own codes of ethics. Some caution that the rule is not a cure-all for companies that lack integrity, says the article, quoting from a recent letter to the SEC from Stuart C. Gilman, former president of the Ethics Resource Center, and Edward L. Pittman, an attorney with Thelen Reid & Priest. "An effective ethics program requires continual reinforcement of strong values by management....", they wrote. "Neither a code of ethics nor detailed compliance procedures, however, are a substitute for good and honorable management and employees." Read this article at: Read the comment letter at:
Read this article at:
Most workers have a good idea of what is acceptable on-the-job behavior and what isn't, says columnist Harry Wessel. But the importance of what happens when workers are off the clock depends on where and for whom you work. According to Marshall Schminke, a professor of management at the University of Central Florida, "The higher you go in an organization, the blurrier the line becomes between a professional right to privacy and a personal right to privacy. ERC Acting President Patricia Harned said most employers worry about their employees' off-duty behavior only in cases "where it affects their performance inside the workplace." This can still result in uncertainty, according to employment attorney Travis Hollifield, because employers can have very different views on what affects workplace performance. Read this article at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- On Thursday, June 17, 2004 ERC Associate Consultant Abby Davidson hosted a delegation of 16 participants in an anti-corruption and good governance capacity-building training program from Mali, Nigeria and Ghana. They represented ethics and anti-corruption NGOs, government agencies, women's development organizations, human rights organizations, media and educational and policy development institutions. The presentation focused on fostering cross-sectoral partnerships to promote ethics initiatives in developing countries. She discussed the value-based philosophy behind the ERC's International Programs; the role of organizational ethics in a national integrity agenda; incentives for inter-sector collaboration; and how to make the case to funders from the public and private sectors to support ethics initiatives. Following Ms. Davidson's presentation, delegates led a discussion on inter-sector collaboration and the challenges they face in promoting ethics agendas in their respective countries. -- ERC Senior Consultant Jeff Salters appeared on National Public Radio's "Marketplace" program on May 27. His interview was included in a piece on the new rules approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission that require all fund managers and other investment advisers to adopt an ethics code by the start of next year. Listen to this interview on the Marketplace
Morning Report at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a non-profit organization, the Ethics Resource Center depends on contributions from many generous donors. Without their dedication and trust, many of the programs and projects highlighted in this newsletter would not be possible. The ERC thanks Merck & Co., Inc. for their generous support of the international programs and centers. The ERC thanks the following for their contributions of general support:
We invite you to join our loyal contributors in lending your support. You can make a tax-deductible credit
card donation online at: To find out about other ways to contribute,
go to: The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization exempt from taxation under the Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All gifts are tax-deductible to the fullest extent of the law. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLEASE NOTE: Ethics Today will be published 11 times this year, with the July and August issues combined into one. ================================================== Copyright (c) 2004 Ethics Resource
Center. All rights reserved. Please contact ethics@ethics.org for information about reproducing any of the information contained within this newsletter or on our web site. Back issues of Ethics Today are available online at: /today/et_archives.html For questions about your subscription,
please email The Ethics Resource Center, 1747 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW, Suite 400 ==================================================
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