PROMOTING AND MAINTAINING ETHICAL
STANDARDS IN THE WORKPLACE
INTRODUCTION
Workplace ethics has become a serious concern for all organizations today. In recent years there have been numerous ethical lapses in corporate companies which have caught the attention of the media and the public. This led to the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which attempted to cut down on unethical behavior by holding top management accountable for the actions of the organization. This led to an initial decrease in ethical misconduct, unfortunately, we have recently returned to previous levels of misconduct. This is the result of many organizations with weak ethic’s and compliance programs or no programs at all. Research shows that companies that feature a strong enterprise-wide cultural approach to ethics reduce misconduct by three-fourths. (An inside view, IX)
Eliminating unethical behavior in an organization requires more that a simple code of ethics and an ethics and compliance program. To create a sound and effective ethical culture in your organization you need four main elements. They are; having strong ethical leadership, supervisor reinforcement, peer commitment to ethics, and embedded ethical values. (An inside view 9). All four elements must exist in an organization for an ethical policy to be effective.
The purpose of this report is to research ways to promote and maintain ethical standards and to discuss the reasons why unethical behavior occurs. The report will analyze the differences between companies with effective ethical policies and companies with no policy at all, and look at the consequences a company can suffer for not instituting a strong ethic’s and compliance program.
Much of the information from this ...