Ethics

There were some serious systemic issues that allowed two inmates to escape from a New York prison recently. Their prison break unveiled lax internal controls and major ethical lapses on the part of supervisors and management. One key lesson learned from these events: favoritism never bodes well for the many. What are the weaknesses in your internal controls?

It's said that the measure of a person's character is how they behave when no one is looking. Cheating at work can be a very alluring idea, especially when it seems there will be no victims and great benefit. Corporate counsel can have quite the job ahead of them in battling morally questionable conduct, but Jim Nortz offers several suggestions...

The temptation to bend the rules can be great, particularly when it seems the regulatory watchdogs aren't taking notice and it's clear that issues of noncompliance have gone undetected. Maintaining a culture of ethics means doing the right thing at all times, not allowing yourself to become complacent when it comes to doing business ethically.

This article looks at the key program characteristics of independence and authority, which have enormous capacity to contribute to the level of independence and authority of an E&C program.

You assign one of your staff to complete fieldwork for a major project. The associate is not capable of providing the requested services and tells you well before the deadline. How do you reward this person’s honesty and trust in you?

The terms compliance and ethics are so closely related that we sometimes assume the functions not only overlap, but are actually one in the same. The compliance officer in most organizations may also be the ethics officer. While compliance and ethics could be viewed as intersecting circles, there is a clear divide. Instant Download: Read it Now Can’t see the...

With every changing of the calendar, Michael Volkov names a "person of the year." This year, the distinction goes to the Chief Ethics Officer, as companies are coming to a better understanding of the integral role a culture of ethical behavior plays in an effective compliance program. In fact, many are finding that you can't have one without the other....

Compliance alone isn't enough, says Michael Volkov. Compliance alone is the bare minimum; fostering an ethical culture takes your compliance program to the next level, requiring little besides commitment. And there's the payoff, of course... employees want to work for companies that operate with integrity, and clients want to do business with ethical organizations.

We all have blind spots, literally and figuratively. This in itself isn't a problem, but failure to acknowledge these blind spots and intentionally check them when making key moves most definitely is. It may be the reason otherwise brilliant business people and leading corporations find themselves on the wrong side of the law, answering for major ethical lapses.

Upholding confidentiality may mean different things to different people. But when a client's interests and reputation could be affected by making information public, you and your staff had better be on the same page. Even mere witnesses to a breach of confidentiality can bear some responsibility if a problem arises. So what are your options?

Ethics is good for business. Research confirms this, and yet ethical lapses, issues, and at times, corporate behavior causes major concerns. Most people will tell you that “business ethics” is a contradiction in terms. “Impossible!” they say. “You have to do everything you can to give customers what they want and increase shareholder value. No one can put ethics before...

When issues arise with your ethics program, you have two options for how to solve them: the quick way and the right way. Be sure that you're not taking a Band-Aid approach to a serious problem. Just as you'd seek out a medical professional to stitch you up after an accident, you ought to enlist a properly trained professional to...