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Ethics Today archives. Ethics Today Online Published
by the Ethics Resource Center
** A Word from the President: Ethics Offices and Officers The Ethics Resource Center was delighted to take part, as both presenters and participants, in the recent annual meeting of the Ethics Officer Association (EOA) in Phoenix. Our hats are off to our colleagues at EOA, for the successful implementation of their biggest conference yet. In light of all the heightened interest in organizational ethics, it's important to recognize the great strides that have been made in organizational ethics in a fairly short time. Since the ERC pioneered the first comprehensive ethics office in 1985, we have assisted hundreds of organizations in developing, implementing, and assessing ethics and compliance programs. The EOA itself has grown from 12 members to more than 1,000 in a little over 10 years. A mere Google search for the exact phrase "ethics office" returns 11,700 hits. The language of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines now requires that "high-level personnel of the organization shall ensure that [it] has an effective compliance and ethics program." In fact, compliance and ethics programs have become so much a fact of corporate life that the ERC has launched a new surveying service to allow organizations to develop the necessary baseline data and benchmark their compliance and ethics programs to their industry. As the ethics field deepens its understanding of what constitutes effective ethics programs, ERC's research to date has revealed good news -- ethics programs do make a difference. The results of the ERC's 2003 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES) show that the presence of four ethics program elements -- written standards of conduct, ethics training, ethics advice lines/offices and systems for anonymous reporting of misconduct - is associated with increased reporting of misconduct by employees, higher perceptions that employees are held accountable for ethics violations, and, in larger organizations, with lower pressures on employees to compromise company standards of business conduct. The NBES also shows that the efforts of organizational leaders to address ethics as a priority do count. Misconduct, pressure, reporting and other outcomes are strongly related to the actions of top management, supervisors and coworkers. When employees feel that their supervisors act ethically, they observe less misconduct, feel less pressure to commit misconduct, and feel more satisfied with their organization. One key place where ethics programs and actions come together is in form of the ethics officer, a position that can mean different things to different organizations, and can shift with the tide of legislation and leadership, but which almost always represents an organization's attempt to manage, and improve, its ethics. Ethics officers go by many different names, but according to a 2001 survey by the ERC, organizationally they share some core roles and responsibilities:
In addition, ethics officers agree that they must have frequent interaction with other organizational functions as well as have close working relationships with senior management. In this area, the news is not as good. Ethics officers in many companies have become removed from the top-level managers and directors, severing a critical link between senior management and line supervisors. We believe that an ethics officer who has direct and unfettered access to the highest authorities within an organization can most effectively impact an ethical culture and contribute substantively to the ethical integrity of an organization. We are fortunate to have as part of our ERC Fellows Program a large number of ethics officers who gather twice a year to share their research and insights - a few of them have contributed to this issue. Additionally, the ERC has developed a student ethics office model that was piloted locally, presented by students at the EOA meeting, and is being prepared for placement in schools around the country. An update on that presentation is also included in this newsletter. Finally, this issue includes a special feature just in time for the Presidential election - a game testing your ability to match an ethics-related quote with the U.S. President who said it. As always, we are grateful to have this unique opportunity to serve as the connection between experience and education, to facilitate the transfer of lessons learned in the trenches - by our Fellows, our stakeholders and even some U.S. Presidents -- to the workforces of today and tomorrow. Patricia J. Harned, Ph.D. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Ethics Officer Association says in an article on their website:
In response to a second question "Who is an Ethics Officer?" the EOA notes that "ethics officers come from diverse backgrounds such as legal, human resources, finance, auditing, security, or line operations, but share some common characteristics." These are enumerated in the rest of the article. Read this selection
at: (Return to top of
newsletter) The ERC Fellows Program is fortunate to have many ethics officers as members. Below a couple of them share their thoughts on the topic of "What motivates one to become an ethics officer?" Fellows Chair Carol Marshall: "What motivates one to be an ethics officer? I would say:
Read more about
the ERC Fellows Program at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ According to ERC Fellow Matt Frank, Director of Ethics and Business Conduct, International Relations and Air Traffic Control, at the Boeing Company, after ample opportunities to look at and enhance their program, Boeing decided to move away from part time ethics advisers and make all of them full time positions. In order to attract talented professionals, they needed a career path and thus generated a learning model, which they have agreed to share with Ethics Today readers. View a summary of the Boeing Company's
Ethics Adviser Learning Model at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Students as Ethical Leaders Two ERC employees, four high school students and an ethics officer delivered a 75 minute presentation on the ERC's Student Ethics Office Model ™ to a small but enthusiastic audience at the EOA meeting in Scottsdale, Arizone. Joe Kale, Director-Ethics and Business Conduct, Integrated Systems and Solutions, Lockheed Martin Corporation, who has worked closely with the ERC and the students at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Virginia (the SEO prototype), spoke about the need for student ethics offices from the business point of view. ERC's Rielle Miller, a summer intern turned part-time employee, spoke from the point of view of a young worker, especially in light of the NBES 2003 findings that young workers are more likely to feel pressure to commit misconduct. The students, whose trips were sponsored by the EOA, represented the four schools that participated in this summer's inaugural Student Fellows Program. Individually they discussed: the need for student ethics offices, including fighting pressures to cheat and disrespect others; the costs of unethical conduct and corruption; and how the ethics offices in their schools are operating and having an impact. ERC Character Development Manager Katie Sutliff concluded with information about the Student Ethics Office Model™, including the ERC's role in developing the programs and how others can get involved. Read the rest of this article at: See each student's part of the presentation at:
Read more about the Student Ethics
Office™ at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Free ERC Fellows Publications Related to Ethics Offices & Officers The Fellows Program offers two free online publications that deal in whole or in part with ethics offices and officers. Managing Ethics Upwards, by Michael G. Daigneault, Frank J. Navran, and Jerry Guthrie
Get a copy of this publication at:
Get a copy of this publication at:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Presidential Quotes Matching Game What can you learn about ethics from the past and former U.S. Presidents? Just in time for the U.S. Presidential Election, Programs Manager Jerry Brown has created a new matching game. Try to match an ethics-related quote from the left side with one of the U.S. President's enumerated on the right side. Clues are available. Play the Presidential Quotes matching
game at:
Request permission to reprint this
puzzle for non-commercial use at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Revisions to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: Enterprise Risk Management (Part 2 of 7) This series, by Kenneth Johnson, ERC Adjunct Senior Consultant and Director of the Ethics & Policy Integration Centre (EPIC), describes and comments upon the US Sentencing Commission's amended requirements for an "effective program to prevent and detect violations of law." Last month, the introductory article noted that U.S. Sentencing Commission ("Commission") had provided new terms pregnant with meaning, such as compliance and ethics program; governing authority and organizational leadership; and "certain individual(s) hav[ing] day-to-day responsibility for the compliance and ethics program." We emphasized that with new terms came new or expanded responsibilities. This article, the second in the series, discusses the new requirements of "risk assessment" and "program evaluation." Mr. Johnson puts these requirements into the broader context of other current management initiatives, such as "enterprise risk management," "managing for results," and "outcomes-based program evaluation." These various initiatives suggest that, to be effective, a compliance and ethics program must manage identified risks and uncertainties through a carefully tailored program that is designed, implemented, enforced, and evaluated to achieve carefully chosen program outcomes. Read this article at: Read the first article in the series
at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everyday Ethics: Competence is a Value "It is ethical to be competent," says ethicist Jack Marshall, "and unethical to fall victim to carelessness, sloppiness, inattention, or confusion when others are relying on your performance. Of all the ethical values, competence is one of the most difficult, because it requires special effort." In this article, Mr. Marshall reveals why a mistake on his calendar led him to designate himself as an "ethics dunce." Read this article at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Publications and Media Coverage -- "IPO Could Change Build-A Bear's Structure", St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 21 This article discusses some of the issues the privately owned Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. may face when it goes public. The company has been has been run by a small board of directors made up of its largest investors, has lent money to some officers and given business to investors. In August the company filed papers to start trading publicly, and in order to gain investors' confidence, corporate governance experts said it will have to explain or end many of these relationships. In the article, ERC Adjunct Senior Consultant Kenneth Johnson is quoted as saying that "The transformations that occur as a private company goes public are similar to the changes in a family when a married couple has their first child. There's another entity involved," he said, "and it has to be respected." Read this article at:
ERC Character Education Consultant Kate Sutliff was interviewed for this story on why children cheat in school and how parents can prevent it. "It's not just about preventing cheating. It's about encouraging honesty and integrity," said Ms. Sutliff. Parents should help their kids with time-management skills, stay informed about their children's obligations and ask their teachers about their expectations. Parents should also be aware of how their own expectations, or the pressure of friends, might lead a child to cheat, so it's important for them to appreciate a child's efforts, even when the result isn't perfect. "It's about teaching integrity," Ms. Sutliff said. "True success is much more important than perfection. It's the process of learning that's so important in education." Parents should also remember that they are role models, said Ms. Sutliff, and they should take opportunities to show their kids that parents also make mistakes and "live to tell about it." Read this article at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- Established in 2001, The National Capital Business Ethics Awards are presented annually to businesses outside the financial services industry, which "exemplify a strong commitment to business excellence and to the highest standards of civic and social responsibility, integrity and ethical conduct." Local award recipients move up to the national competition that culminates with the selection of three winners of the American Business Ethics Award, established in 1994 by the Society of Financial Service Professionals ERC Board Chairman Stephen D. Potts is on the judging panel for the local awards and spoke to the group gathered for the presentation of the 2004 awards on October 21 in Tysons Corner, Virginia. He focused on the need for individuals to be held accountable for the decisions they make, for the organizations they choose to be a part of, and for the consequences of both choices. He praised those who do the right thing, and who often end up suffering the cost of problems that they didn't create. When it comes to ethics and personal responsibility in a business context, he concluded, there are two questions we must ourselves "How is the values system of my organization affecting me?" and "How is my values system impacting my organization." Read more about the National Capital
Business Ethics Awards at:
Visit the TEDMER website at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Support Organizational Ethics Research (and get NBES 2005) The National Business Ethics Survey (NBES)SM has proven to be of great value to organizations, as it identifies the issues and challenges facing our nation's employees that must be addressed in order to create and sustain an effective ethics program. The 2005 version of the study will undertake additional analysis of compliance practices, communications efforts by corporations, and industry-specific measures. We are in need of sponsors to enable us to expand the survey to allow for increased representation of prominent industries. Sponsors of this effort will help create a widely used and highly respected resource that business leaders, educators, and researchers like yourself can use to advance ethics and integrity in your workplace, schools and society. Donors of a tax-deductible contribution of $50 or more will receive a complimentary copy of our 2005 NBES and acknowledgment as a sponsor in the publication. Make a contribution to the 2005 NBES
at: For more information or to make a major contribution, contact Development Manager Allison Pendell-Jones at allison@ethics.org. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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.
We invite you to join our loyal contributors in lending your support. 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
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