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Ethics Today archives. Published
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**************************************************************************** ** A Word from the President: Best Practices Sharing of "best practices" occurs in many industries, as evidenced by a robust association world that provides avenues to professionals in various fields for exchanging ideas, conducting comparative analyses, and offering lessons learned. The compliance and ethics industry is no exception. As issues related to regulation continue to mount, and the complexities of establishing ethical organizational culture deepen, networking and conference opportunities abound. In these times of change, individuals and organizations are increasingly seeking places where they can both give and receive information on an ongoing basis. Yet there really are no "best practices" in compliance and ethics. Every organization is unique, and if an effective program is to encourage right conduct through the establishment of an ethical culture, then the "best practice" for an organization is one that is tailored to the context and priorities that are unique to its situation. For that reason, ERC's contribution to the networking needs of compliance and ethics professionals has taken a different focus. The ERC Fellows Program is made up of compliance and ethics officers across industries, along with academics and nonprofit groups who are interested and positioned to impact the organizational ethics industry. The Fellows discuss issues as a community, but then actively engage in ongoing research to uncover new solutions and practical resources. At present, the Fellows have eight working groups that will spend the next six months addressing their colleagues' research questions. While the Fellows use their meetings to share research results and update each other on innovative programs in their organization, they also take advantage of the opportunity to hear from key individuals in the industry. At our January 2005 meeting, for instance, ERC leveraged our Washington location to hear from members of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the Department of Justice and to discuss with those representatives what regulators are thinking about when they look for an "effective" program. Another important piece of the ERC Fellows Program is the annual presentation of the Stanley C. Pace Leadership in Ethics Award, which honors an organization, individual or group of individuals displaying excellence in the ethics field. The 2004 award was presented last month to the founding Chair of the Fellows Program, and retired Chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation, Norman R. Augustine, who is a perfect example of what it takes to be an ethical leader in today's uncertain business climate. As we move through changing times in the ethics field, I am pleased in this issue of Ethics Today to highlight a part of our organization that confronts the most current challenges in organizational ethics and also takes time to publicly recognize the individuals and organizations that have brought us this far. Patricia J. Harned, Ph.D. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Retired Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin Receives 2004 Pace Award The Ethics Resource Center (ERC) has awarded its 2004 Stanley C. Pace Leadership in Ethics Award to Norman R. Augustine, retired Chairman and CEO of the Lockheed Martin Corporation and founding chair of the ERC's Fellows Program. The Pace Award is presented annually by the ERC Fellows and honors an organization, individual or group of individuals displaying excellence in the ethics field, and the recipient's accomplishments and contributions in ethical business management. This year's award was bestowed in recognition of Mr. Augustine's extraordinary commitment to ethics throughout his career and was presented on January 26, 2005, at the winter meeting of the ERC Fellows. Stanley C. Pace, who is a long time colleague of Mr. Augustine, presented the award at a reception also attended by members of Lockheed Martin's Board of. Read the rest of this press release
at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Ethics and Business: An Oxymoron? In his remarks to the ERC Fellows and guests upon receiving the Pace Award, Mr. Augustine said, "There can be nothing more important in life than ethics and the closely related matter of one's reputation. These are even more important than one's health." In addition, he noted, "The award bears the name of my highly respected and long-time friend, Stan Pace. In every industry there is a large body of people who do their jobs responsibly and honestly. But there are also those few individuals who are widely recognized by their peers as standing above the crowd; people who have truly extraordinary personal standards of ethical comportment and uncompromising personal compasses. Stan Pace is one of that latter group." In the remainder of his remarks, Mr. Augustine talked about why he thinks there have been so many recent disappointments in the field of ethics, how fundamentally decent people end up making such tragic errors in ethics, and four useful tests that one can apply when facing difficult ethical decisions. Read Mr. Augustine's remarks at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** ERC Fellows Meet, Discuss "Effective" Programs The ERC Fellows gathered in Washington DC from January 26-28 to consider, among other topics, what regulators look for in evaluating effective ethics and compliance programs. Joan Mckown, Chief Counsel, SEC's Enforcement Division, and Tom Hanusik, Assistant Chief, Fraud Division, DOJ, talked about indicators that show companies are in trouble as well as the components that may impact whether a company is charged and the factors that may mitigate penalties. Following the panel discussion, Invited Fellow Paul Fiorelli of Xavier University gave a presentation on the status of the Revisions to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Read the outline of Mr. Fiorelli's
presentation on the status of the FSG revisions at: The Fellows also held a session on Board training in light of the proposed revisions. They considered the objectives of such training, who should deliver the training, and how it relates to ethics training for senior leadership. View the outline of Dr. Ed Freeman's
presentation from the Board Training panel discussion at:
The ERC Fellows currently have active working groups, on the following topics:
Read more about the ERC Fellows Program
at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Student Fellows Program Holds Executive Session Concurrent with the ERC Fellows Program meeting, officers from programs using ERC's Student Ethics Office (sm) model gathered for an executive session. The student leaders reflected on what they have achieved so far, considered their visions for the future and how to accomplish them, and the ways in which they connect with the larger ethics community. The agenda included attendance at a presentation given by former ERC staff member, Dr. Joshua Joseph, at the ERC Fellows meeting Learn more about the Student Fellows
Program and the Student Ethics Office (sm) model at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** ERC Awards First Student Leadership in Ethics Award The ERC awarded its first Student Leadership in Ethics Award on January 28 to Vikrant Arya, a senior at Washington-Lee High School in northern Virginia. The award acknowledges outstanding leadership and service by students participating in the ERC's Student Ethics Office™ program and is funded through the generous support of the TEOCO Corporation. Award criteria include a demonstrated commitment to ethics and the ability to translate vision into specific goals and behaviors, including:
Finalists for the award were required to submit a personal statement describing their commitment to ethics as well as their contributions to the school community and the school's Student Ethics Office (SEO). Among other things, the students were told to address how they live their lives in a manner that shows commitment to ethics, how they have served as a model for ethical behavior, and how they feel their experiences as a leader in the school's SEO will help prepare them for the future. In his statement, Mr. Arya said "Each society's foundations are built on a set of morals and values that guide citizens to live life in an ethical, law-abiding manner. In today's competitive world, however, people have started to lose the respect for fair play and only concentrate on winning. Instead of thinking about the consequences of one's actions, people tend to make decisions based on the philosophy 'the ends justify the means.' Seeing such drastically changing attitudes around myself, I felt I needed to do my level best to make a difference." Finalists were also required to submit a letter of sponsorship completed by a school representative and one completed by a classmate / peer in the school community. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Everyday Ethics: A Student Leader's Honor This month's entry comes from the personal statement of Vikrant Arya, the recipient of our Student Leadership in Ethics Award. "Having been faced with a few occasions where a lack of judgement could have allowed me to be unethical, I know the importance of having a good moral code. One such instance was just a few weeks ago when I was alone in a class with a classmate who was taking a test. Since the teacher was not present, he took the opportunity of asking me for some help. I immediately refused. His answer surprised me. He said, 'Aren't you my friend. How can you let your friend get a bad grade?' I still refused and went about doing my work. The moment he finished the test I sat down with him and explained to him that it was because I am his friend that I refused to give him the answers. Someone who did not care about his future would have blindly read him the answers. But I knew that if I helped him on that one little test then he would have expected that help from someone, always. It would not have inculcated in him the desire to learn and gain information on his own." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ERC Character Education Manager Katie Sutliff spoke on the topic of "A Matter of Ethics" to a February 19th meeting of the executive leader members of the Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS) in Washington DC. The ACHS is sponsoring a national project called "A Matter of Ethics" in order to "unite member societies to further one of our most important common goals: To lend support and encouragement to promising young adults as they strive to meet their full potential as future leaders in their respective fields." Read more about the program objectives
and see sample program ideas at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Publications and Media Coverage -- "Do the Right Thing," HR Magazine, February 2005 Today, companies are boosting their ethics training programs in response to regulations that call for ethics training and emphasize creating an ethical culture. According to this article, while most companies begin ethics training to comply with legal mandates and protect themselves against liability, the training may also improve employee morale, recruitment and retention. ERC President Patricia J. Harned is quoted throughout the article. "More for-profit companies have provided ethics and compliance training than ever before," she said, citing a finding from the 2003 NBES showing that 54 percent of employees say their organizations provide ethics training. The article also discusses the effectiveness of online training as well as the benefits and logistics of ethics training generally. On that point, Dr. Harned says that in order to be effective, training must be mandatory for all employees. "All members of an organization should participate-from the boardroom to the shop floor. If leadership is exempt, it sends a clear message to employees that some people are exempt from the rules," she said. Read the entire article at:
This editorial states that, while there was a need to revise the overly permissive rules on conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health, the across the board restrictions imposed this month on outside consulting and investments are too tough. "It concerns me that it's overly strict," said ERC's Chairman of the Board Stephen D. Potts, a former head of the Office of Government Ethics and a member of the blue-ribbon NIH panel that proposed the more limited rules. Read the editorial at: The work of the NIH Blue Ribbon Panel on Conflict of Interest Policies was one of the ERC's top stories of 2004. According to the final report, the Panel found an "extremely complex" set of rules governing conflicts of interest at NIH, which are "widely misunderstood by some of the very people to whom they are intended to apply, thereby creating uncertainty as to allowable behavior and adversely affecting morale." The Panel did not go so far as to ban outside consulting and investments, noting that "these are important-even essential-activities for NIH scientists, because they are part of the tradition of science and provide evidence of the value and significance of the NIH research community to the larger scientific community," but instead made 18 recommendations to clarify and improve the current regulations. Read the Panel's report at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kenneth W. Johnson, who previously worked for the ERC as an adjunct senior consultant, has accepted a full time position as Principal Consultant with the ERC. He specializes in a systems approach to the ethics of the "learning organization," where people continually expand their capacities to create the futures they truly desire to live. Mr. Johnson's work emphasizes the process of being a responsible organization, one which fosters reasonable stakeholder expectations through an effective ethics and compliance program, creates value-adding strategic plans, and resolves conflict constructively. He has consulted internationally with organizations of various sizes and types, including transnational businesses, an international labor union, and state and federal government agencies. Mr. Johnson is principal author of a manual exploring the role of the responsible business enterprise for the Department of Commerce: Business Ethics Program Design and Implementation: A Guide for the Responsible Business Enterprise in Emerging Market Economies. He brings a unique perspective on the relationship between ethics and policy born of experience as a platoon commander during the Vietnam War, a business litigation attorney, the senior Marine Reserve officer in-theater during the Gulf War, and over a decade as an ethics and policy consultant. He holds a Juris Doctorate, a Master of Arts in Ethics and Policy Studies, and a diploma in Advanced Studies in Taxation. He has been an editor of the Arizona Law Review and an Associate Editor of the newsletter, Ethical Management. An accomplished speaker, he has given well-received presentations on ethics and values for a wide variety of audiences. He has taught at the graduate and undergraduate levels in critical thinking, change management, and business ethics. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** 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. The ERC thanks the following for their
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