In order to be successful a corporation needs a set of values which they can solidify a platform of regulation on. While regulation is still present employees should be rewarded in some way for accomplishments. They should not be treated as workhorses for then any system present will be deemed to fail for employees are vital in this scenario. The pressure faced by employees to commit misconduct will increase greatly if they are not treated decent and as assets. This is a systemic problem that exists and encourages good people to make bad decisions. Which is why a company’s code of ethics should be closely monitored to understand how well it is being internalized in every position from the highest to the lowest at a company.
The code of ethics is the outgrowth of a company’s missions, visions, goals, and even strategies. A thoughtful code can help the overall success and healthy growth of the business. Committees that enforce this code and ensure systems are in place to justify employee compliance with the code. Many additional measures may be taken to efficiently promote and actually justify the code of ethics at a company. On great way is to go public, an EPO, “Ethical Public Offering”. Companies that go public with their code of ethics, standards, and belief system are deemed to be trustworthy by the public eye than those who are private. Along with this it is smart to have all members of the board sign an agreement as well as employees that state they agree with and have decided to commit to the company’s code a conduct. Auditing firms and Law firms should be encouraged to do the same thing, and sign off on what the company’s beliefs and values are agreeing to acknowledge and accept. When dealing with auditing and consulting functions, one thing to keep in mind is in order to avoid conflict of interest, make sure auditing and consulting functions are separate. This leads to communication, which is one of the most vital skills in running an effective successful business. Proper communication with employees at all levels enables them to feel more part of the system.
Leaders need to effectively discuss the company’s goals, mission, values, expectations, and priorities. without proper communication, employees may feel neutral about a business situation or even regulations. Proper communication helps establish unification, which in turn leads to solidification of ethical systems making a company’s code of ethics much stronger. For bigger corporations and companies these actions should slowly and effectively be established into corporate systems. The seven main provisions in the 1991 federal sentencing guidelines are effective and should always be kept in mind by an ethics committee at a corporation. These guidelines keep in tact what the code of ethics represents and how to go about each aspect of it. Corporate values must be embraced in order to be effective. Employees are finally free to confidently make vital decisions when guidance may not be readily available. The code of ethics provides a common ground from which all employees’ decisions are made. There is no babysitting needed because now there is a system that positively provides a piece of mind.
http://www.ethics.org/resource/ten-things-you-can-do-avoid-being-next-enron
Business Ethics and Morals 