Managing Ethic Internally

Managing
Ethics Internally
Learning Objectives
• Identify & evaluate a range of mechanism
by which organisations attempts to
manage their ethics.
• Identify key underpinning factors that
contribute to, or can inhibit the
effectiveness of such mechanisms.
TOPICS
• Managing corporate ethics
• Managing values
• Ethics officers & committees
• Whistle-blowing
• Organisational information ethics
• Intellectual property & the free movement of ideas
• Ethical change management
Could you think of
any recent
unethical business
practices?
Unethical business practices
Unethical business won’t last & not sustainable. Being ethical is
related to sustainability.
Unethical business won’t last & not sustainable. Being ethical is
related to sustainability.
Managing
Corporate Ethics
Ethics is simply not a

matter of prescribing
certain behaviour & how
far people do adhere to
such prescriptions.
Ethics within organisations often
includes issues on:
• Discrimination
• Customer communication
• Use of company equipment for
personal use
• Heath & safety
• Common ethical issues that
employees are likely to
encounter
Managing
Corporate Ethics
A Code of Conduct
A Code of Conduct could include issues
- Allow performance to be
measured. such as:
- Protect business. • Integrity & ethics
• Environment health & safety
- Inform employees the
company expectations. • Protection of intellectual property
• Domestic & international trade controls
• Conflict of interest
Managing Values
Management
of ethics
Concerned with behaviour
Management of values
Concerned with people’s
internal perceptions, attitudes,
feelings & beliefs.
Managing Values
Managing values is
relevant to managing
ethics, but operates in
Statements of 01 unclear ways.
value are often 03
vaguely expressed
02 The move from
04 value to act can
Managing values is require a number of
complicated, but they additional steps.
are essential to
understand in order to
manage ethics.
Ethics Officers & Committees
• An Ethics Officer is such a leader in the area of business
conduct.
• The Ethics Officer is tasked with integrating their organisation’s
ethics & values initiatives, compliance activities & business
conduct practices into the decision-making processes at all
levels of the organisation.
Nonetheless there is a question mark over the definition of the role of ethics officers,
especially the influence of the role.
Ethics Officers & Committees
• In many instances, an ethics officer is less about enhancing
values than it is about avoiding legal proceedings.
• Ethics officer may also operates as a public relation role.
• Senior management commitment is not guaranteed by giving
an ethics officer a place on the board.
• Ethics committees are a more substantial item to ensure
responsible behaviour than ethics officers.
• Ethics officers & committees does not guarantee that an
organisation will be effective at managing ethics or values.
How to enhance their effectiveness?
Do you know any famous whistle-blower?
Definition
• One who reveals wrong-doing within an organisation to the public / to

those in positions of authority.
• One who discloses information about misconduct in their workplace
that they feel violates the law / endangers the welfare of others.
• One who speaks out, typically to expose corruption / dangers to the
public / environment.
• Raising a concern about wrong doing within an organisation / through
an independent structure associated with it.
• Whistle blowing is an attempt by a member / former member of an
organisation to disclose wrong doing in / by the organisation.
Whistle-Blowing
3 categories of
whistle blowing
• Internal /
External
• Formal /
informal
• Information is not in the public domain. • Anonymous /
• ‘Blowing the whistle’ is with good intentions.
identified
Considerations for
Whistle-Blowing
• Grave injustice or wrongdoing that has not been resolved despite using
appropriate channels.
• Morally justifies course of action by appeals to ethical theories,
principles, or other components of ethics as well as relevant facts of the
incident.
• Should have thoroughly investigated the incident & is confident the
facts are well understood.
• Should understand that loyalty is to the client, unless compelling moral
reasons override this loyalty.
• Should ascertain that doing this will cause more good than harm to
clients, & clients will not be retaliated against.
• Should understand the seriousness of actions & assume responsibility
for them.
Duty to blow
the Whistle
Whistle-blowing should not be considered the first avenue, but the last,
after all else has failed.
When to blow:
• Serious & considerable harm to the public is involved
• Have reported to immediate supervisor
• Have exhausted all channels available for correcting the issue within
the organisation
• There is documented evidence with the ability to convince an impartial
party
• There is good reason to think going public will result in changes
Types of misconduct
whistle blowers can report:
1 2 Illegal or unlawful conduct
Unprocedural conduct
Unethical conduct
4 Wasteful conduct
3
Criteria for justifiable
whistleblowing
The 3 conditions that must hold for it to be morally permissible are:
1. The firm through its product or policy will do serious & considerable harm to
the public, whether in the person of the user of its product, an innocent
bystander, or the general public.
2. Once an employee identifies a serious threat to the user of a product or to the
general public, he or she should report it to his or her immediate superior &
make his or her moral concern known. Unless he or she does so, the act of
Whistle blowing is not justifiable.
3. If one's immediate superior does nothing effective about the concern or
complaint, the employee should exhaust the internal procedures & possibilities
within the firm. This usually will involve taking the matter up the managerial
ladder, and if necessary and possible to the board of directors.
Criteria for justifiable
whistleblowing
The 2 additional conditions for Whistle blowing to be morally

obligatory:
1. Whistleblower must have accessible documented evidence

that would convince a reasonable, impartial observer that
one's view of the situation is correct, & that the company's
product / practice posses a serious & likely danger to the public
/ to the user of the product.
2. The employee must have good reason to believe that by going
public the necessary changes will be brought about. The
chance of being successful must be worth the risk one takes &
danger to which one is exposed.
Benefits of Whistle-blowing
• Increases safety & well-being of organisation
• Reinforces organisation’s code of ethics
• Reduces organisational waste & mismanagement
• Improves employee morale
• How broad should justifications for whistle-blowing be drawn?
• Does punishment of whistle-blowers violate their individual rights?
• How much protection should be provided to whistle-blowers?
• How much secrecy is tolerable in a democracy?
• Will protection for whistle-blowers improve the performance of the
public service?
Broader Issues
Organisational Information Ethics
Confidentiality
The ethics on the manner in which information is controlled,

passed around parts of an organisation, restricted or released,
& how this may be a factor in the management of ethics &
values of a corporation.
Examples:
• Health & safety records
• Customer complains
• Market research data
• Salaries
• Personal information about staff
• Engineering information
• Summaries of disciplinary actions
Intellectual property & the
free movement of ideas
Intellectual property refers to creations of the
mind: inventions, literary & artistic works, and
symbols, names, images, and design used in
commerce.
Key question is if companies

claims restrict free expression of
ideas & hence reduce societal
value?
Ethical Change Management
Attempts to change behaviour of an organisation as a whole,

includes:
A explicit statement of values

Monitoring & remedial systems
Reporting & A code of conduct

whistle-blowing converging a range of
systems different areas of activity
Corporate communication,
training & development Identification of an ethics
champion at a senior level
Summary
• The manner in which people reason about ethics is
complex & often obscure.
• Some ethical terminology is ambiguous; hence
managing debates on responsibility can be
problematic. It is not always ethically desirable to aim
for all members of an organisation to have shared
values.
• Ethics officers are a growing phenomenon.
• Whistle-blowing protection procedures are common
mechanism for public interest disclosure.
• Ethical change initiatives are another common means
of attempting to manage ethics & values.

Managing Ethic Internally

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Managing

Ethics is simply not a

• One who reveals wrong-doing within an organisation to the public / to

1 2 Illegal or unlawful conduct

The 2 additional conditions for Whistle blowing to be morally

1. Whistleblower must have accessible documented evidence

The ethics on the manner in which information is controlled,

Key question is if companies

Attempts to change behaviour of an organisation as a whole,

A explicit statement of values

Reporting & A code of conduct

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