November 18th, 2013
Accountability / Transparency / Risk Management, Corporate Matters, Corporate Matters @zh, Crisis Management, Crisis Management @zh, Ethics in the News @zh, Gestion des Crises, Gestion du risque, Risk Management, Risk Management @zh, Sujets relatifs aux Entreprises Commerciales, Uncategorized
One of the biggest obstacles to ethics is arbitrariness. All kinds of behavior – both unethical and ethical – can lead to arbitrary ethics consequences. Conversely, arbitrariness in ethics oversight almost always generates unethical behavior. Let’s take a common example in organizations of all sectors and sizes: leaving enforcement of ethical guidelines up to the immediate boss in a hierarchical structure. One employee’s particularly punitive boss may deliver a career-damaging punishment. Another boss may not even read the e-mails signalling more serious unethical behavior leaving her direct report to carry on with impunity. Both occur within the same organization with...
May 22nd, 2013
Accountability / Transparency / Risk Management, Article, Article, Article @zh, Board Matters, Board Matters @zh, Conseils d'Administration, Corporate Matters, Corporate Matters @zh, Crisis Management, Crisis Management @zh, Ethics and Leadership, Ethics and Leadership @zh, Ethics in the News, Ethics in the News @zh, Éthique et Dirigeants, Gestion des Crises, Gestion du risque, Gouvernance, Accountability, Transparence, Governance, Accountability and Transparency, Highlighting Ethics Excellence, Highlighting Ethics Excellence @zh, L'Éthique dans l'Actualité, Lumière sur l'Excellence Éthique, New Ethics for New Issues, New Ethics for New Issues @zh, Non-Profit Organizations Matters, Non-Profit Organizations Matters @zh, Nouvelle Éthique pour Nouveaux Problèmes, Risk Management, Risk Management @zh, Sujets relatifs aux Entreprises Commerciales, Sujets relatifs aux Organisations à But Non Lucratif, Uncategorized
This article was first published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (Summer 2013). A wave of ethics transgressions underlines the importance of comprehensive ethics oversight for organizational success. Last year, 2012, was in many regards a step forward for proponents of ethical action. Roger Gifford, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, one of the world’s financial capitals, declared business ethics a priority and critical to the City’s economic success. François Hollande published a Code of Ethics within 11 days of becoming president of France. And the new Chinese premier, Xi Jinping, highlighted the ongoing danger of corruption to economic and social development as a central part...
January 1 often kicks off with intentions: New Year’s resolutions. The importance of intentions also surfaces widely in spiritual, political, literary, and philosophical works too numerous for a blog, as well as in criminal law (e.g. intentional murder versus manslaughter) and various social interactions (“it’s the thought that counts”). However, in ethics oversight organizational leaders all too often fail to clarify the intentions underlying ethics initiatives. That is, instead of focusing on intended ethics outcomes, they stop short and consider the analysis complete upon identification of a list of ethics actions. (more…)