Business Ethics Forum

Interview with Professor Gardner on the Ethical Mind

2007-03-02T14:25:00.000+01:00

The Harvard Business Review of March 2007 contains an interview worth reading with Harvard Graduate School Professor of Cognition and Education Howard Gardner.
Gardner became well known by his 1983 book Frames of Mind, in which he argued that people don't have one, but multiple intelligences: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence.

Likewise, Gardner now proposes to distinguish between Five Types of Cognitive Minds:

The Disciplined Mind - What we gain through applying ourselves in a disciplined way in school.
The Synthesizing Mind - Surveys a wide range of sources, decides what is important and is worth paying attention to.
The Creating Mind - Looks for new ideas and practices, innovates, takes chances, dicovers.
The Respectful Mind - The kind of open mind that tries to understand and form relationshipss with other human beings.
The Ethical Mind - Broadens the respect for others (see 4) into something more abstract. Asks: "What kind of a person, worker, and citizen do I want to be?"

The Ethical Mind grows at home and in the surrounding community. Bad behavior of others can undermine it. Gardner mentions cheating MBA students as an example of this undermining, and thinks that it is more difficult for businesspeople to adhere to an ethical mind than it is for other professionals, because business is strictly not a profession, has no guild-structure, no professional model, no standards and no penalties for bad behavior. The only requirement is to make money and not run afoul of the law.

In order to stay on the right track, Gardner advises business leaders to:

Believe doing so is essential for the good of the organization, especially during difficult times.
Take the time to step back and reflect about the nature of their work.
Undergo "positive periodic inoculations", being forced to rethink what you're doing.
Use consultants, which should include a trusted advisor within the organization, the councel of someone completely outside the organization (an old friend), a genuine independent board.

See also the related website The Good Work Project, an "effort to identify individuals and institutions that exemplify good work—work that is excellent in quality, socially responsible, and meaningfulto its practitioners—and to determine how best to increase the incidence of good work in our society".

Create and evaluate a Code of Conduct

2006-09-12T11:05:00.000+02:00

A corporate Code of Conduct, sometimes also refered to as Code of Ethics, helps a company to show to all involved parties, internal and external, the standards that govern its conduct, thereby conveying its commitment to responsible practice wherever it operates.

As you know, there have been many recent legal and paralegal initiatives to promote or require good conduct by corporations. Because there are now so many of these guidelines, it is not simple to get an overview, so that you're able to quickly assess if your firm's Code of Conduct is 'worldclass'. A useful article in the HBR of Dec 2005 by Professors Lynn Paine, Rohit Deshpandé, Joshua D. Margolis, and Kim Eric Bettcher may help: it provides a useful overview of all (?) things that should be considered in any Corporate Code of Conduct.

The authors suggest 8 governing ethical principles which taken together they call: The Global Business Standards Codex (GBS Codex). These 8 principles to create or evaluate a Code of Conduct and their most important aspects are:

The Fiduciary Principle (Diligence, Loyalty).
The Property Principle (Protection, Theft).
The Reliability Principle (Contracts Premises, Commitments).
The Transparency Principle (Thruthfulness, Deception, Disclosure, Candor, Objectivity).
The Dignity Principle (Respect for the Individual, Health and Safety, Privacy and Confidentiality, Use of Force, Associatiation & Expression, Learning & Development, Employment Security).
The Fairness Principle (Fair Dealing, Fair Treatment, Fair Competition, Fair Process).
The Citizenship Principle (Law & Regulation, Public Goods, Cooperation with Authorities, Political Noninvolvement, Civic Contribution, .
The Responsiveness Principle (Addressing Concerns, Public Involvement).

The article itself is already a summary of regulations and best practices. So if you want to assess or create a Corporate Code of Conduct, you are advised to read the article completely.

ethics global study 2005

2006-06-01T18:29:00.000+02:00

Mention corporate names such as, Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, and Tyco and immediately it brings to mind the increases in unethical business behavior. The growing disgust and the resulting miasma has become a global Pandora's Box. What exactly are the reasons behind the rise in corporate unethical behavior, and what, if anything, is being done to clean up their behavior? As one of the authors of The Ethical Enterprise, A Global study of Business Ethics, I would like to share the findings with you.

According to the study, the number 1 answer from the 1,100 respondents to the question, Factors Most Likely to Cause People to Compromise Ethical Standards was Pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives/deadlines. Considering that marketplace competition was cited as a major business driver of ethics today and the respondents believe, according to the American Management Association/Human Resource Institute 2005 study, to remain a major driver 10 years into the future in addition to the desire to further one’s career and protect one’s livelihood, what can companies do now to protect themselves from future scandals?

Answers to these questions, and more, are addressed throughout the study. Areas where organizations can draw the line of first defense are found in their ability to make transparent current business cultures, Leadership support and modeling ethical behavior, training programs (through a Train-the-Trainer Certification Program where individual accountability and a responsibility is tied to promotional opportunities, bonuses/incentives, retention, future assignments and departments which includes new-hires straight up to the C-Levels and into the Board of Director), the development of an Ombudsman Program with 24/7 anonymous hotline, an enforceable Code of Conduct and ethic audits addressing technology, Corporate Social Responsibility Program are just to name a few.

This report:
>Discusses what’s driving business ethics today
>Describes today’s state-of-the-art business ethics practices
>Forecasts what will drive business ethics over the next 10 years
>Discusses what the best-in-class practices may look like in the year 2015
>Provides a summary of the Business Ethics Survey 2005 results.

I believe, as one of the authors of, The Ethical Enterprise,: A Global study of Business Ethics 2005, the information, insights, and enlightenment you will provide to your readers will be of immense and timely value. In troubled times, people look for truth and answers. Let’s give them what they seek!

Please feel free to contact me for a copy of the survey, or any questions you may have.

Thank-you for your time.

Respectfully,

Rick Keller,

Executive-In-Residence,
The Human Resource Institute
President, The Healthy Business Doctor: Proactive Business, Leadership & Coaching Solutions

Contact information:
(352) 288-9002
hbizdr@yahoo.com

ETHICS: A GLOBAL STUDY 2005

2006-05-31T03:41:00.000+02:00

Did you know that the number 1 factor most likely to cause people to compromise ethical standards is, "pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives/deadlines." The second answer was, "a desire to further one's career" and in at number three, "desire to protect one's livlihood."

This information comes from a global study I helped research and write for the American Management Association. If you would like the free download of the study in pdf, let me know! . . . hopefully I haven't broken any of the rules by offering this?

Interview with Stuart Hart on the Bottom of the Pyramid

2005-11-06T10:49:00.000+01:00

Here are a few interesting quotes I found in a short interview with Professor Stuart Hart on the latest developments around the Bottom of the Pyramid concept in an interview in Business Ethics Magazine.

"Western capitalists need to enlist the entire human community in the capitalist dream, which is about pulling yourself up. Unless we can do that for everyone — in a way that respects local culture and doesn’t destroy underlying ecosystems — global capitalism is in trouble".

"When C.K. Prahalad and I started working on this in 1998, people thought we were nuts. Nobody would publish it. It became an underground paper on the Internet, getting a fair amount of corporate visibility. The inflection point was Sept. 11. After that, it was published almost immediately, coming out in Strategy and Business in January 2002. Suddenly people could see how this way of thinking had implications for security, because it deals with the roots of terrorism".

"We’re also looking at creating a worldwide network of collaborating BOP labs at other business schools".

If you have thoughts or experiences to share around this intriguing BOP concept, please enter your Comments.

The Value of Corporate Values

2005-08-18T21:18:00.000+02:00

An outstanding in-depth article on the Value of Corporate Values can be found in an article by Reggie Van Lee, Lisa Fabish, and Nancy McGaw in this month's S+B.

Based on a survey at 365 companies in 30 countries, the authors claim "increasingly, companies around the world have adopted formal statements of corporate values, and senior executives now routinely identify ethical behavior, honesty, integrity, and social concerns as top issues on their companies’ agendas".

The highlights of the survey and article are:

A large number of companies are making their values explicit. That’s a change — quite a significant change — from corporate practices 10 years ago. The ramifications of this shift are just beginning to be understood.
Ethical behavior is a core component of company activities.
Most companies believe values influence two important strategic areas — relationships and reputation — but do not see the direct link to growth.
Most companies are not measuring their “ROV.”
Top performers consciously connect values and operations.
Values practices vary significantly by (continental) region.
The CEO’s tone really matters.

The article provides quantitative data about these 7 findings and concludes with "A commitment to corporate values may be in vogue, but the public will remain suspicious until corporations both understand and can demonstrate that they are committed to using values to create value".

Top banker enters "business ethics" fray

2005-05-26T09:33:00.000+02:00

The head of Switzerland’s largest bank has outlined his vision of how companies can regain public trust, in the context of a growing debate about "business ethics".

Peter Wuffli, group CEO of banking giant UBS, condemned what he called the "almost cyclical abuse of power by business leaders" that led to a series of high-profile corporate collapses in recent years.

However, he told the 35th annual ISC conference at St Gallen University that society now ran the risk of "going too far" and "crushing" business with arbitrary new regulations.
Wuffli said the time had come to "give corporations the chance to earn back the trust of society", and argued that businesses – like individual human beings – "need freedom".

"For a large, global listed corporation, there is simply no alternative to maximising the profit potential relative to relevant competitors."

However, he said this did not mean only "cold-blooded short-term profit maximisers [would be] rewarded by the financial markets".

He said companies could only be successful if they "balanced the interests of various stakeholder groups" – particularly customers and employees.

"Responsible corporate leadership means delivering on a profit-oriented mandate in a way that is fully transparent and in line with its stated values, vision and strategies," he said.

However, he concluded: "It is only individuals who can act responsibly. A company is as ethical as its people – every single one of them." Article in Swiss Info

What is an "outside accounting firm"?

2005-05-24T17:43:00.000+02:00

Our home association bylaws mandate that an "outside accounting firm" be employed to do our accounting. Members of the Board maintain that that would not preclude a resident of the home association being contracted as our accountant so long as he or she is not an employee; being paid a salary, payroll deductions; etc.h, but not an employee of the association. Those on our newly formed ethics committee maintain that the intention of the authors of the bylaws was to preclude the use of a resident as accountant in that he or she would have a personal interest as a member of the homes association, and therefore, would be considered as an "inside accounting firm," not an "outside accounting firm." That "outside accounting firm" is meant that the firm is outside the physical residences of the Homes Association. We need to have an opinion from an ethics organization to support our position to ask for the release of this one-person resident accountant and hire the services of a firm outside the premises of our homes association. Please help.

Business Ethics for SMEs

2005-05-01T09:09:00.000+02:00

This month, Ethics Today (the Newsletter from the Ethics Resource Center) focuses on ethics initiatives in smaller organizations. More often than not, resources and new insights for organizational ethics are assumed to have universal appeal. However, their research and experience have revealed that organizations with fewer than 500 employees represent a very different mix when it comes to effective ethics program efforts.

On the one hand, small businesses exist as streamlined examples of the impact of organizational leadership on a company's ethical culture.

On the other hand, smaller organizations are much less likely than larger ones to have in place what we now consider to be "formal elements" of an ethics program, namely written ethics standards, ethics training, a dedicated ethics office/advice line, and a means to report misconduct anonymously.

In May 2004, the U.S. Department of Commerce published a manual for corporate responsibility programs that integrates corporate governance, organizational ethics, and social responsibility. "Business Ethics: A Manual for Managing a Responsible Business Enterprise in Emerging Market Economies" was co-authored by ERC Principal Consultant Kenneth W. Johnson and Igor Y. Abramov, Senior Advisor, Market Access and Compliance, International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.

Because the bulk of businesses in all economies, especially emerging market economies, consist of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), note the authors, most chapters discuss specific issues facing SMEs. Some chapters have tables comparing the best practices of large, complex enterprises and cost-effective solutions for the SME.

Chapter 6 (pages 129-140) examines business ethics infrastructure -- the structures and systems that help enterprise owners and managers address issues of responsible business conduct. The manual details the best practices that have been developed by large, complex enterprises (LCEs). While valuable for similarly situated enterprises in emerging market economies, they can also serve as models for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). By considering the best practices that have been generated over countless hours by larger organizations, SMEs can design business ethics infrastructure that meets world-class standards but is tailored to the requirements of an SME.

According to the authors, leading enterprises, government agencies, and NGOs have found that an effective business ethics program addresses functions at seven levels of responsibility. Table 6.1 describes how a typical SME might staff these seven responsibility functions. Also in this chapter is a box that lists "Ten Ways Small Business Owners can Prevent and Detect Fraud."

The book contains numerous practical examples, worksheets and checklists, a bibliography, a glossary, and-in its nine appendices-numerous examples of business ethics policies adopted by various countries and organizations.

The manual can be downloaded for free at:
http://www.ita.doc.gov/media/Publications/blurbs/ethics2004blurb.html. (Printed versions are available for sale also at that site.)

More on Business Ethics in SMEs can be found at the Ethics Resource Center , a great source of information on Business Ethics.

Firms are nervous about ethics and fast to fire

2005-04-01T21:13:00.000+02:00

Two senior investment bankers at Bank of America were summoned to a meeting where their boss, visibly uncomfortable and flanked by bank lawyers, read them a statement. They were both dismissed and asked to leave the building immediately. The decision was final.

Stunned, the bankers asked if they had broken any regulations. No, they were told. Nor had they traded on any inside information. Within the hour, they had turned in their BlackBerrys and laptops and were on their way home to the suburbs.

This example illustrates one effect of heightened regulatory scrutiny in the United States after the collapse of Enron and other companies. Corporations and their boards are adopting zero-tolerance policies and increasingly holding their employees to lofty standards of business and personal behavior.

The result is a wave of abrupt firings as corporations move to stop perceived breaches of ethics by their employees that could result in law enforcement action, or public relations disasters.

In the ruthlessly competitive world of investment banking, the two investment bankers at Bank of America had been doing what presumably was their job. Acting on a tip from a rival banker, they had called a company preparing to merge with another and asked to get in on the deal.

In a different era, such a ploy might well have been seen as an example of what hungry bankers do to secure an inside edge with a client and maybe even a better bonus - not an inappropriate use of confidential information and cause for termination.

'We are in a regulatory frenzy,' said Ira Lee Sorkin, a senior white-collar-crime lawyer at Carter Ledyard & Milburn in Manhattan. Read on.

Supposed unethical behavior by MBAs applicants punished severely

2005-03-14T16:31:00.000+01:00

"I know everyone is getting more and more anxious to check status" of applications, read the message posted to a BusinessWeek.com discussion group by someone using the screen name "brookbond."
"So I looked around their site and found a way."
Over the next nine hours, about 150 prospective MBA students pasted a URL address into a Web browser and typed in a passcode in an attempt to learn their fates.
The consequences were severe. Harvard Business School, the MIT Sloan School of Management and Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business have pledged to reject any applicants who tried to get an early peek at their acceptance or rejection letter.
Read the rest of this story.
I'd say that's a pretty hypocrite action of those colleges, who in the past have largely neglected ethics in their courses.

Bestselling Business Ethics Books

2004-12-29T14:05:00.000+01:00

Waivers of codes of conduct and E.

2004-10-29T11:46:00.000+02:00

In an interesting article in Ethikos of September 2004, Rebecca S. Walker discusses Waivers of codes of conduct and E.

Section 406 of Sarbanes-Oxley requires companies to disclose whether or not they have adopted a code of E. for senior financial officers, and if not, why not.

The SEC regulations implementing section 406 ("SEC Implementing Regulations") define a code of E. to mean written standards that are reasonably designed to deter wrongdoing and to promote:
(i) honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual and apparent conflicts of interest;
(ii) full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable disclosure in reports and documents filed with or submitted to the SEC and in other public communications;
(iii) compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations;
(iv) prompt internal reporting of code violations to an appropriate person; and
(v) accountability for adherence to the code.

Companies must immediately disclose any amendments of the code in a public filing with the SEC on a Form 8-K or on the company's Internet site.

On November 4, 2003, the SEC approved NYSE Rule 303A.10, including a requirement that NYSE-listed companies adopt and disclose a code of B. conduct and E. applicable to all directors, officers and employees. Any waivers of the code for directors and executive officers may be made only by the board of directors or a board committee and must be promptly disclosed to shareholders.

But, what is a waiver? The SEC Implementing Regulations defines a waiver as "the approval by the registrant of a material departure from a provision of the code of E."
The NYSE and the Nasdaq have not articulated any definition of a waiver.

According to Walker, "Given the SEC's definition of a waiver as a material departure from a provision of the code, it would seem possible to draft a code so as to avoid the need to grant a waiver under most circumstances", since "Most of the requirements for contents of codes are broad enough that language could be drafted to minimize the need to authorize a departure".

Review Book Gertrude Himmelfarb: The Roads to Modernity

2004-10-08T10:25:00.000+02:00

A new book from Gertrude Himmelfarb is called "Roads to Modernity". It provides an overview of the British, French and American Enlightenments with an implicit focus on moral and ethical aspects.

There are periods in time when the situation in the world, or at least in some countries appear to be right for fundamental changes in thinking to occur. One such period is called the Period of Enlightenment. It began in France around 1650, the British following from around 1700 and the period ended with the revolutions in America and France at the end of the century (c. 1800).

With many extremely influential thinkers such as:

In France: de Montaigne, Pascale, Descartes, Voltaire, Rousseau, Turgot, de la Mettrie
In Scotland/Britain: Shaftesbury, Locke, Hutcheson, Hume, Adam Smith, Wesley
In the US: Jefferson, Washington, Hamilton, Adams, Franklin, Paine, and Burke

it can be said that the enlightenment was the period of time that gave us much of the philosophical underpinning of our current time.

In 'The Roads to Modernity' Dr. Himmelfarb (Professor emeritus of history - University of New York) discusses the Enlightenment as it happened in England, France and America. The biggest strengths of this book are:

Himmelfarb's impressive historical knowledge that enables her to provide a very clear and sometimes humorous overview of the enlightenment period,
The many precise bibliographical references and philosophers quotes she gives for further reading,
Her accessible, succinct and captivating style (Once I started reading this book from Himmelfarb, it was difficult for me to stop), and
(For us as ethical interested people) Himmelfarb's focus on moral and ethical aspects.

Himmelfarb's book is an explicit attempt to prove that while the Enlightenment has been considered as primarily a French happening, the American and particularly the British contributions were probably just as or even more significant.

As always, it is important to keep this starting point or assumption in mind when reading this superb book. If you do that, then you can forgive Himmelfarb for not being able to escape her own cultural biases, being an American herself and having written many books on the (British) Victorian time.

For a positive view on the French, this is not the book you are looking for :-) The French in this book are pictured as getting everything wrong. They are dogmatically opposed to religion, contemptuous of the public, opposed to philanthropy, supportive to Enlightened Despotism while their emphasis on reason over all leads directly to the Terror of the French Revolution.
Almost by surprise, at the end of the book the Americans get a lot of credits in being at this moment the closest to the 'ideal', which - as far as Himmelfarb is concerned - is the thinking at the time of the Social Virtues of Britain at the end of the 18th century.

Should you want to buy this fascinating book at Amazon or see more reviews, click here.

Finally: Himmelfarb historical excellence has inspired me to finally create a chronological view on my website Value Quotes. Click here for this history of ethics, moral, virtue, value and values in quotes. The page may also provide the more balanced view some people are looking for offering opinions from thinkers from other countries and from other periods as well as those from the Enlightenment.

Job seeking senior executives consider BE important

2004-09-30T09:10:00.000+02:00

BE is a major factor for job-seekers at the top of the pay scale, according to a survey conducted by executive job search service TheLadders.com. The survey was held under registered $100k+ executives. Eighty three percent of the survey’s 1,020 respondents said that a company’s record of BE is “very important” when deciding to accept a job offer.

Only 2% of executives responding to the survey said that the company’s record of BE was altogether “unimportant,” and 15% said it was “important, but not a deal-breaker.”

When asked about specific companies, the survey’s respondents showed a mixed response to recent, highly-publicized corporate scandals. While some of the most public faces of corporate malfeasance seem to have hindered their ability to recruit top talent, others have come away with their recruiting functions largely in tact.

“The scarlet letter of scandal haunts corporate misbehavers today,” explained TheLadders.com founder and president, Marc Cenedella. “Our readers, who represent a cross section of the nation’s top $100K+ talent, clearly see the public images of the companies they work for as a reflection of their own credibility in the marketplace. But, we find it interesting that they are also drawing subtle distinctions between what’s an acceptable corporate misstep and what’s an outright reputational disaster.”

Should organizational DNA exclude E.?

2004-09-14T13:07:00.000+02:00

Recently, consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton used a DNA metaphor to determine the overall culture of an organization. In an S+B article called “The Four Bases of Organizational DNA”, three consultants, Gary Neilson, Bruce Pasternack, and Decio Mendes believe that better execution of B. strategies will be the key attribute of superior-performing organizations in the future.

In order to achieve a better execution of strategy, the four bases of BAH's organizational DNA are:

Structure—What does the organizational hierarchy look like?
Decision Rights—Who decides what?
Motivators—What objectives, incentives, and career alternatives do people have?
Information—What metrics are used to measure performance?

For Curtis C. Verschoor CMA "The absence in this analysis of any mention of Core Values as an important determinant of the culture of an organization is striking". In an article in the September 2004 issue of Strategic Finance, Verschoor has a point when he argues: "It is unwise, however, to ignore how important it is to an organization’s success that its management has the ability to articulate and then infuse a set of core values and the resulting ethical standards and code of conduct throughout the company. Motivation results from expression of the “soft” controls that unify an organization’s ability to perform effectively'. Moreover, "As stated in the COSO Principles, integrity and ethical values are critical to the establishment and maintenance of effective management controls".

International perspectives on CSR and ESR

2004-09-14T13:05:00.000+02:00

Although there have been a (small) number of largescale cross-cultural studies on societal values (Hofstede, 1980; Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1993; Schwartz, 1994; Smith, Dugan & Trompenaars, 1996), global studies of ethical sensitivity and unethical B. practices have been even less prevalent.

Carolyn P. Egri of the Faculty of B., Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, and 23 representants of various international universities are now breaking the silence by announcing the results of a study called "Managerial perspectives on Corporate Environmental Responsibility and Social Responsibilities in 22 countries".

Participants in this study were 5,539 managers and professionals from 22 culturally, economically, and geographically diverse countries who responded to a mail survey.

Amongst the most important results of the study are:

The economic development level in a country and the importance of corporate environmental responsibilities were not significantly related.
The economic development level in a country and the relative importance of corporate social responsibilities were significantly related: managers from countries with a high GDP are more conducive to CSR than those from countries with a relatively low GDP.

Carolyn Egri can be contacted via Tel: 604-291-3456 or egri@sfu.ca

Marketing Chiefs' List of Ethical Concerns

2004-08-31T10:48:00.000+02:00

Amid corporate scandals rocking the U.S., including cases involving brand names such as Enron, Tyco, Pfizer and Martha Stewart, a new poll from IDG's CMO magazine reports the top 3 list of E. concerns U.S. senior marketing executives have:

- 48% of marketing executives believe improper accounting practices is number one among three top ethical issues facing U.S. bizz, followed by
- conflicts of interest (42%) and
- deceptive sales and marketing practices (42%).

Fully a third (31%) of marketing chiefs are not confident U.S. companies are taking appropriate actions to stem the tide of corporate scandals. In their careers as marketers, the executives say they have personally witnessed colleagues: participating in high pressure, misleading or deceptive sales tactics (45%); misrepresenting company earnings, sales and/or revenues (35%); withholding or destroying information that could hurt company sales or image (32%), and conducting false or misleading advertising (31%).

When asked the best way to deter future unethical behavior,
- 73% answered increasing penalties for offenders,
- 64% suggests employee education programs, and
- 52% recommends continued publicity about those being punished for unethical behavior. See full CMO Magazine Poll results

Valuation

2004-08-23T15:52:00.000+02:00

An executive was interviewing applicants for the position of divisional manager. He devised a simple test to select the most suitable person for the job. He asked each applicant the question, "What is two and two?"

The first interviewee was a journalist. His answer was "Twenty-two."

The second was a social worker. She said, "I don't know the answer but I'm glad we had time to discuss this important question."

The third applicant was an engineer. He pulled out a slide rule and showed the answer to be between 3.999 and 4.001.

The next person was a lawyer. He stated that in the case of Jenkins v Commr of Stamp Duties (Qld), two and two was proven to be four.

The last applicant was an accountant. The executive asked him, "How much is two and two?"

The accountant got up from his chair, went over to the door and closed it then came back and sat down. He leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, "How much do you want it to be?"

He got the job.

What should business ethics mean for consumers?

2004-07-31T10:16:00.000+02:00

In a free column in Forbes, Ian Ayres and Barry Nalebuff (both professors at Yale Law School and Yale School of Management) ask: What do we make of the fact that most people's actions aren't consistent with what they consider to be ethical behavior? Ayres and Nalebuff think this is a result of their not having thought much about the issue. The most worrisome result is that this inconsistency causes some people to try even harder to find an ethical justification for their actions. And that leads to the worst possible approach to ethics, in which your actions determine your ethical reckoning. The reasoning goes as follows: "I am an ethical person. Hence, if I did something, it must be ethical. Let me find the ethical justification for it." Better to allow the possibility that you made a mistake but will do better in the future.

Ethical conduct pays off !

2004-07-15T11:21:00.000+02:00

In recent research performed by the Institute of BE - an organization which is promoting corporate ethical best practices, it was found that companies displaying a "clear commitment to ethical conduct" almost invariably outperform companies that do not display ethical conduct. The Director of the Institute of BE, Philippa Foster Black, stated: "Not only is ethical behavior in the B. world the right and principled thing to do, but it has been proven that ethical behavior pays off in financial returns." These findings deserve to be considered as an important tool for companies striving for long-term prospects and growth.

The following 7 Principles of B. Integrity are a good starting off place to consider. By integrating each of these principles within a company environment, a major step towards a responsible enterprise can be made.

Principle 1: Recognize that customers/clients want to do B. with a company they can trust; when trust is at the core of a company, it is easy to recognize. Trust defined is assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of a B.

Principle 2: For continuous improvement of a company, the leader of an organization must be willing to open up to ideas for betterment. Ask for opinions and feedback from both customers and team members and your company will continue to grow.

Principle 3: Regardless of the circumstances, do everything in your power to gain the trust of past customer's and clients, particularly if something has gone awry. Do what you can to reclaim any lost B. by honoring all commitments and obligations.

Principle 4: Re-evaluate all print materials including small B. advertising, brochures and other B. documents making sure they are clear, precise and professional; most important make sure they do not misrepresent or misinterpret.

Principle 5: Remain involved in community-related issues and activities thereby demonstrating that your B. is a responsible community contributor. In other words, stay involved.

Principle 6: Take a hands-on approach in regard to accounting and record keeping, not only as a means of gaining a better feel for the progress of your company, but as a resource for any "questionable " activities; gaining control of accounting and record keeping allows you to end any dubious activities promptly.

Principle 7: Treat others with the utmost of respect. Regardless of differences, positions, titles, ages, or other types of distinctions, always treat others with professional respect and courtesy.

Communicating ethical corporate behavior

2004-06-24T13:36:00.000+02:00

Hill & Knowlton's Jim Sloan makes some relevant remarks in an article on communicating on ethical standards. He says the public has grown cynical about corporations acting ethically, and people are convinced that it's impossible to succeed in business without cheating. Day-to-day life reinforces this theory on many levels. Simply brandishing an ethics manual and stating proudly that all your employees must read it and sign it won't do, nor will putting an emphasis on teaching values and enforcing them - essental though that is. So convincing the public that you are not cheating today requires an extra dimension of persuasiveness about the business itself - conveying, in a believable way, just how you are going to succeed in an admittedly dog-eat-dog climate. Article Do you agree with Jim?