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Ethics Today Online Published by the
Ethics Resource Center
================================================== ** A Word from the President: A Solid Foundation Welcome to the start of a new year for Ethics Today! The launch of our fifth volume of ETO issues provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on how far we have come in the past year, and where we are headed with the next. You may recall that in the fall of last year, we unveiled a new logo and our 2005 National Business Ethics Survey, which included more participants and areas than ever before. Building on our history of performing comprehensive ethics surveys, we developed a survey method by which ERC could leverage its expertise to allow organizations to benchmark their ethics programs against the NBES figures and industry groups. To further that mission and add depth to our databank, we developed the Donate Your Data program to obtain and incorporate data from survey questions about ethics from any organization. Furthermore, we used aggregate research from surveys to develop a Webcast series on "Understanding, Affecting and Measuring Ethical Culture." The ERC Fellows were also busy refining their research and delving into new topics. The working groups made significant advances, with some groups finishing their research and publishing the outcomes in ways that will provide practical applications for corporate members. In addition, two documents that relied on Fellows research - the Mergers & Acquisitions template and an Ethics Guide for Jobseekers and Employers - are available to the public on the ERC's website. At their summer meeting, the group discussed in depth the topic of Impacting Ethical Culture, adding to our understanding of the ways in which corporate culture influences ethical outcomes. Not to be outdone, the Student Fellows Program held its annual meeting in August, where it provided student ethics officers with ideas and guidance for developing their program agendas, as well as distributing the newly printed Student Ethics Office (SEO) Manual created for use by students and sponsors in the schools participating in our SEO Program. Whether working with client organizations through our survey work and sponsorship programs, ethics and compliance officers and experts through the Fellows Program, or students and their sponsors through the SEO program, we continue to refine our process of collecting and comparing data and then analyzing it to produce research that benefits all organizations. In this way, we have formed a solid foundation for our work in the upcoming year, which includes:
Look for more information on these projects in upcoming issues of Ethics Today. On that note, please be aware that we have changed the publication schedule for this newsletter, with issues now released six times a year, in October, December, February, April, June and August. Subscribers will also receive press releases and special announcements. As always, we will continue to use Ethics Today to dive deeper into current areas of expertise such as ethical culture and measuring the effectiveness of ethics programs, as well as report on developing trends, such as the overview in this issue on Sustainability Reports. Patricia J. Harned, Ph.D. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, Ethics Resource Center Form Strategic Alliance
On September 26, the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association (ECOA) and the Ethics Resource Center (ERC) announced a major strategic alliance for conducting research and providing resources to the growing community of ethics and compliance officers. This is a positive step forward in the world of ethics and compliance where the need for public awareness regarding corporate integrity is increasingly high. The alliance brings together the world's largest membership association for ethics and compliance practitioners (ECOA) with the world's leading non-profit researchers in the field of business ethics (ERC). The two organizations will combine resources on many projects to advance the cause of ethics and compliance in organizations, including the following, on which work has already begun:
Read the press release at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** ERC Presentations at the ECOA Conference The ECOA Annual Business Ethics & Compliance Conference, to be held October 3-6, 2006, in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the largest multi-industry gathering of corporate ethics and compliance practitioners. Conference sessions led by prominent subject matter experts and experienced ethics and compliance officers address the latest issues and provide opportunities for the exchange of innovative ideas and practical, proven methods for implementing and maintaining successful ethics, compliance and business conduct programs. ERC will participate in three planned sessions at the ECOA conference, including:
Get more information about and register
for the ECOA conference at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Overview of Sustainability Reporting: Links & Resources An increasing number of companies now produce "Sustainability Reports" which differ from annual reports in that they consider environmental, social responsibility and non-financial matters related to the organization's activities. Much is being written about this developing area of corporate communications. Below we offer a variety of online resources and articles available for those wishing to learn more about sustainability reporting.
** ERC Fellows Discuss Influencing Ethical Outcomes through Corporate Culture The ERC Fellows Program held its summer meeting on July 26-28, hosted by Boeing at their facility in Rossyln, VA. Sixty-two individual representatives from 47 member and guest organizations attended the meeting, which featured presentations by academic and corporate Fellows members, and Madelyn Hochstein, Owner, President and Co-Founder of DYG, Inc. The theme for the meeting: Impacting Ethical Culture: Influencing Ethical Outcomes through Corporate Culture gave the Fellows an opportunity to discuss defining, measuring, and impacting culture from many perspectives. To start the discussion, Linda Trevino, Chair, Invited Academic Fellows, presented on organizational culture research to help answer the question "What is Corporate Culture" Read a summary of Dr. Trevino's presentation
at: ERC President Patricia Harned presented
findings from the National Business Ethics Survey, highlighting
ethics-related actions, and Fellows Jack Lenzi, with Altria, and
Martha Ries, with Boeing, presented on tactics they have used within
their organizations to impact the ethical culture in a positive
way. Mr. Lenzi's outline of the research that Altria conducted to
assess culture, the results and how they are using these results
to develop tools to positively impact culture is available at: Guest presenter Madelyn Hochstein finished the theme-related discussion with a presentation on Societal Trends and Generational Influences on Building an Ethical Culture. Six Fellows working groups gave updates on the status of their work, including interview projects, research papers, and development of other resources to share. Those groups were:
Additional Fellows working groups that did not present at this meeting include:
The Fellows Program is made up of 72 representatives from 37 member companies, including 56 corporate representatives, nine academic invited Fellows, four non-profit representatives and three government liaisons. Read more about the ERC Fellows Program
at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Ethical Culture: What We Know? In her July 2006 Fellows Meeting presentation on ethical culture, Linda Trevino, Chair, Invited Academic Fellows, said that ethical culture is one way to think about the broad organizational context that influences employee ethics-related attitudes and behaviors. Ethical culture has been defined as shared assumptions, values, norms, beliefs, and traditions that guide ethical behavior in the organization - or - perceptions of "how we do things around here" in relation to ethics. It is acceptable - indeed, it is a responsibility -- for an employer to attempt to manage the ethical culture in order to influence such attitudes and behaviors in its employees. It is critical to consider both formal and informal systems when studying organizational culture, as it is embedded in both. Read the rest of this summary at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Student Ethics Officers Meet to Share Experiences and Plan School Year Activities Each summer, the Student Fellows Program brings student ethics officers together in the Washington, DC, area to share their successes and challenges, obtain leadership training and develop future directions for their SEO's. The 2006 summer meeting was held August 7-11 at the Lockheed Martin Center for Leadership Excellence in Bethesda, Maryland. Students from Lack Braddock Secondary School, Washington-Lee High School and Annandale High School, all in Virginia, attended the program run by ERC Character Development Manager Rielle Miller and Character Development Associate Lena Thomson. External speakers included:
The students spent four days working on personal leadership development and goal setting, drafting a code of ethics for their own SEO's, and reviewing their experiences in SEO over the past year or two. In addition, they completed needs assessments, addressed strengths and weaknesses, and created school year plans for their own SEO programs. Students also spent a day at Hemlock Overlook to facilitate personal goal setting and teamwork. Read more about the SEO and Student
Fellows Program at: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Compliance Week: The Subtle Presence Of Corporate Ethics [In August 2006, ERC President Patricia Harned started contributing a monthly column on ethics to the well-known national publication Compliance Week. This newsletter on corporate governance, risk and compliance reaches over 40,000 financial and legal executives at U.S. public companies electronically every Tuesday morning and is published as a glossy print magazine on the first day of the month. Compliance Week has granted permission for ERC to reprint Dr. Harned's columns after they have appeared in both the electronic and print versions. For more information about Compliance Week or to subscribe, please visit http://www.complianceweek.com ] This month's column asks, "What do we actually mean by "ethics" anymore?" Is it a goal, or a function? Has it been subsumed by something else? The answer is very simple, says Dr. Harned. Where there are people, there will be ethics--both good and bad. Read this article originally published
in the August 1, 2006, electronic edition of Compliance Week, at:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- ERC Character Development Manager Rielle Miller and Character Development Associate Lena Thomson along with SEO-participating students Lauren Lessard, Lake Braddock Secondary School, and Klee Simmons, Washington-Lee High School, presented at the Coalition for Community Schools Conference on June 14, 2006, in Baltimore, MD. Their discussion of "Students As Ethical Leaders: Transforming Challenges Into Opportunities" focused on ERC's Student Ethics Office (SEO) model, which relies on students to envision and implement novel and effective strategies for instilling good character in their peers. The student leaders in particular discussed how participating in the program increases ethical awareness and allows them to pass along what they have learned to others in the school community, generating an ethical school culture and fostering strong values in students. The Coalition for Community Schools is an alliance of national, state and local organizations in education K-16, youth development, community planning and development, family support, health and human services, government and philanthropy as well as national, state and local community school networks. -- Ms. Miller and Ms. Thomson also presented along with SEO-participating students Carolyn Wright, Lake Braddock Secondary School, SherAfhan Tareen, Washington-Lee High School and Mark Galligan, Lake Braddock Secondary School, at the CharacterPlus Character Education Conference in St. Louis, MO, on July 13-15, 2006. The panel discussion on "Celebrating Students As Ethical Leaders: The Students Ethics Office Initiative" highlighted how students can contribute to the way schools teach character, noting that the Student Ethics Office program not only encourage ethical leadership, but also allow students to practice ethical leadership and celebrate their successes in doing so. CHARACTERplus, an initiative of Cooperating School Districts, is devoted to advancing the cause and importance of character education. The annual conference began in St. Louis and has grown to become the largest community and statewide character education conference in the nation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ** Publications & Media Coverage --Ethics Guide for Jobseekers
and Employers View and download the guide at: Read the press release "Notre
Dame Provides Ethics Guide to Job Seekers, Employers" at: -- Mayor Announces Ethics Survey For City Employees; Firm Ethics Resource Center To Administer Survey, September 5, 2006, 10news.com (San Diego, CA) City employees will soon be asked to fill out a survey on ethics as part of an overall audit of integrity in the workplace, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced Tuesday. Results of the survey will be included in an ethics audit report, which will be completed by the end of the year and include recommendations for changes to policy and procedures, according to Sanders. Read this article 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. We invite you to join our loyal contributors in lending your support. To find out about how to support the ERC and its many programs, call 202-737-2258. 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. ======================================================= Copyright (c) 2006 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: http://www.ethics.org/today/et_archives.html For questions about your subscription, please email ethicstodayonline@ethics.org The Ethics Resource Center, 1747 Pennsylvania
Ave., NW, Suite 400 |
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