Ethical Dilemmas - When Billing Becomes Theft
Focusing on Profits at Any Cost Crashed the American Economy
Greed and a lack of an internal moral compass produced our current economic meltdown - incredible numbers of people so focused on making astronomical profits that ethics went right out the window. Corporate executives have a fiduciary responsibility to their stockholders and investors that they completely ignored. Now, the American taxpayers are bailing out industries that had our funds in trust.
It Gets Started When We Take Ethical Shortcuts
The interesting thing is that it’s easy to point fingers at the people in the news to complain about how they committed theft and ignore our own ethical shortcuts. This past week I got some insight into how difficult it is to set our own ethical limit.
My Ideal Is When Both Client and I Win
I had the great good fortune recently to participate in training with a major small business consulting firm. I was excited about being there because the trainers said the things I wanted to hear about doing what’s best for both the client and their company. Everybody wins. I love it!
Even though I tend to be idealistic in how I approach caring for a client, I too have failed at times to live 100% according to my values. Sometimes personal survival temporarily overrode what I felt was right because I “needed” to keep my job. So this past week was good because I got to see other viewpoints that softened my rigid standards a bit.
Sincere Statements Can Mean Different Things to Different Speakers
But in the end, one executive’s story showing how he cared about what was in the client’s best interest, back when he was a field consultant, really stuck with me — because it showed me how far apart we could be in our viewpoints while both of us sincerely say the same words.
“Joe” told the story of a client who hired his company to identify the problems his daughter was having taking over his business. Within thirty minutes, “Joe” had identified the problem but knew the job would close the minute he told the client what he found so he had to find ways to delay telling the client that his daughter was gay and the company’s very macho employees would not work with her. After three weeks of billing, he finally decided that it was unfair to the client to bill any more. He needed to tell the client that she preferred an “alternative lifestyle” and his employees took issue with that. Once he finally made it clear that they wouldn’t work for a gay woman, the job was over.
When the Value We Provide Is Less Than We Charge, We’re Stealing
My initial self-righteous position was that he took advantage of that client just to get his billing numbers - and bonuses - up. But as I thought about it, I realized that even I would have had to bill for some number of hours, doubtless several days while I looked for ways to turn the situation around. Once I was convinced that nothing I could do would enable her to run the company, I would be obligated to inform the client, even though the job would “crash.” To drag it out is the same in my mind as stealing. The client or customer is paying for value - value equal to or greater than what we are charging. When we can no longer provide that amount of value, we are now robbing him.
The Ethical Dilemma We Face Is Knowing Where the Cut-off Is
The difficulty lies in identifying where that point is. This is the ethical dilemma that most of us in sales and marketing, in consulting, and in business management face. It’s the first step onto a slide that eventually leads to Enrons, Worldcoms, sub-prime mortgage collapses, and all of the other self-serving business decisions that produced our current worldwide financial crisis.
Tips to Avoid Going Too Far
So how do we know where we need to stop billing a client — or selling a customer — on our solution if we are to avoid becoming a thief?
- Follow the Golden Rule - “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
- Follow the two rules that Richard Maybury gave in Whatever Happened to Justice
1) Do all you have agreed to do, and
2) Do not encroach on other persons or their property.
- Ask yourself, how would I feel if I was the client paying for this advice?
1. Your advice or products and services need to provide benefits equal to or greater than the price you are charging.
2. Do no harm - even when your advice is desperately needed, if your client can’t make payroll after paying your invoice, something is wrong with that picture.
Ethical dilemmas are challenging because there is no black and white answer. Ethics hold you to a higher standard than human laws. But it is a standard that requires you to decide. In my example of “Joe” above, only he knows if his billing was legal theft because only he has all the facts that went into determining what value he provided his client. Life is full of grays and very few black and white choices. Maybe that is why customers treasure relationships they can trust. The simplest standard to be sure you are giving the value your customer or client is paying for is, “How would I feel if the positions were reversed?”
Would you like to reprint this article? You may as long as you include this blurb in its entirety: John R. Aberle is a consultant, coach, and speaker on sales and marketing, teaching a transformational style of selling that makes it fun and mutually rewarding for the customer as well as the salesperson. By helping customers buy, you develop long-term customer relationships, minimize sales rep turnover, and make profitable sales. This style of selling fits naturally into the social networking approach to marketing. Go to http://www.HelpCustomersBuy.com for my latest blog post or to http://www.JohnAberle.com for my website.
Ethical Leadership - A Must For Customer Loyalty
Businesses still do not understand that customer loyalty begins with executive leadership who demonstrates consistent ethics and values found within the organization’s strategic business action plan. When the executive leadership behaves badly, these actions are shared inside and outside of the organization.
For example, Indiana is an at will employer. Businesses can terminate employees without any notification. Yet most of these same firms expect 2 weeks notice when employees leave. Now does this attitude or belief demonstrate high ethics and values; or is there a thread of hypocrisy running through these organizations?
With the tightening of the global market place (and yes it is global even if you believe all your business is local), many organizations are cutting back on employees from downsizing to outright terminations. Usually what this means for mid-size to larger organizations is the slashing of the Education and Training Departments’ budgets as well as personnel.
Why is this area usually is the first to go is because of these two continued beliefs within the American business culture:
Education is not really valued.
The inherent value of human capital is not really understood by many American companies
In business, there exists what I have labeled the Osmosis Learning Belief. Stand next to someone and you instantly become a great leader or a super star goal achiever. Employees need to be developed where they demonstrate ethical leadership. They require assistance in developing their talents and further strengthening them so that the organization becomes even more competitive.
American companies and organizations with the exception of a few such as Southwest Airlines do not value human capital. Many employees especially below the executive level are viewed as “throw aways” for the belief is that the firm can always find someone cheaper and better. For some enlightened companies such as Toyota, they have realized the tremendous cost of downsizing their employees because of the investment that has already been made.
Each terminated employee represents at bare minimum 1.5 years annual tangible salary and benefits loss to the bottom line ranging from $30,000 to $200,000 plus. The intangible losses greatly increase that red ink and include:
Relationships those employees have established with external customers and other internal employees
Understanding of the ins and outs of the business
Additional growth in intellectual property (learning, training and development) by those same employees
Established loyalty and productivity
TAKE ACTION ETHICAL COACHING TIP: Evaluate your organization from an executive leadership perspective. Are you leading forward, proactively during these difficult times or are you leading backward, reactively? Customer loyalty is the result of ethical leadership beliefs and actions. So before you terminate that next employee, take the 30,000 foot view and determine the real losses to your business.
Want to develop ethical leadership? Take this free leadership skills assessment.
P.S. Do you know what your talents are? Learn more about your ethical leadership talents to help you maximize education based marketing.
Business Ethics and Values Do Not Have Expiration Dates
Walk through the aisles of any grocery story or even convenience store, pick up any product and you will see an expiration date. These dates are for your consumer safety as well as to receive the most benefit from the nutrients within the food product.
Yet, recently, I have come to observe that many individuals in business who profess to be true professionals as well as those in government are demonstrating business ethics or values with expiration dates. Initially statements specific to their behaviors are made without a date. Then realizing that change is more difficult than originally expected or will take additional effort a date is added. If the added date is not made, a new date pops up.
The work ethics associated with these behaviors become a moving object. As new dates are added, the impact of the quality decreases to those who are on the receiving end of these expiration dated values.
For example, how many times have we heard that during the tenure of this leadership or management team it will be the most ethical in the organization’s history? Then as time moves forward, we hear, not from leadership, but outside sources about unethical behaviors. Then leadership makes excuses and sets a new expiration date.
Why business ethics or values now have expiration dates may be connected to the relativism that has affected the U.S. during the last several decades. Relativism has many definitions, but essentially means that everything is truth and is relative to the individual. In other words, values become moving targets or simply are now produced with expiration dates.
The recent meltdown of Wall street, the bailout of Wall Street, the ponzi schemes, the individuals who knowingly violate the law and believe that they are above it are all examples of values with expiration dates. Even before these incredible examples, many of us heard this expression, “Do as I say, not as I do.” This is a values statement with an expiration date.
So how do business leaders and true professionals avoid values with expiration dates? First, make sure that you have a values statement that has been clearly articulated within your organization. Everyone from the bottom up to the top down understands the specific acceptable behaviors and equally unacceptable behaviors.
Next, enforce the values statement. Recent surveys of college graduates and high school students show an increase in cheating and that cheating is acceptable. These surveys also reveal that these cheating young people believe that they have high ethics.
The old expression everyone does it is another justification of having a values statement with expiration dates. In other words it’s okay to cheat to get the best grade in school and when I leave school, I will no longer cheat. If you believe that, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.
Having a values statement may cost you some business in the short term. However, in the long term you will gain far more than any potential short term loses.
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Strong Ethics Integral to Doing Business
There are all sorts of components to running a successful business. You have to have a product or service that others want, a reasonable price that people are willing to pay, and an infrastructure that keeps your business running. If any of these parts break down, the business as a whole will likely not succeed. But what about doing the right thing? Where does ethics fit into the discussion of a successful business? If you’re looking for a commercial printer to provide printing services for your business or a company to provide a hosted Team Foundation Server, should you even care if they’re doing the right thing? After all, if you’re getting the best price, that’s all that should matter, right? While that low price is tempting, it’s not a temptation you should give into.
When you support companies that have questionable ethics, you’re implicitly saying that those ethics are okay. And while you may be the beneficiary in one instance, you may be taken advantage in the next. For this reason it is important both to conduct your business with the proper ethics and not support those who bend their own ethics based on the situation. For instance, if you use a hosted TFS provider, the last thing you want is someone who you can’t count on. You need that server to be up at all times, 24 hours a day. However, if you discover that company is able to offer you such good pricing because they’re cheating on their taxes, is that really someone you want to be doing business with? If they willing to cheat on their taxes, what else are they doing that is unsavory?
All of this goes beyond a pricing plan for a SharePoint TFS or sort of regular maintenance offered on software purchase. When you’re talking ethics, you’re talking about something that transcends business. Ethics is about human beings at their core and how they view the world around them. By acting in an appropriate manner, they are in essence making the world a better place. Everyone profits from that, even if it’s not with the almighty dollar. So the next time you find yourself in a moral dilemma about a particular decision, make the right choice, the choice you can sleep with at night. If you take the easy way out, you’ll regret it in the end.
If you’d like to unleash the power and convenience of a hosted Team Foundation Server, get in touch with PHASE 2 International. We can tell you all about hosted TFS, or any of the other technologies we offer that you may be interested in. SharePoint TFS is becoming hotter and hotter too. Get your training today from PHASE 2 so you’re not left out in the cold. To learn more, visit PHASE 2 today!
What Do Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility Mean Today?
“Ethics is a body of principles or standards of human conduct that govern the behavior of individuals and groups” (Bottorff, n.d., p.1). “While ethical behavior is based on a set of values and principles, ethical behavior goes beyond mere belief; it also encompasses actions of individuals, groups and organizations (p. 2). Ethics encompasses “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group” (Trevino and Nelson, 2003, p. 13). Ethics can be considered a set of standards that an individual or organization uses to guide actions of the individual or group. Corporate social responsibility “is about how companies manage the business processes to produce an overall positive impact on society”
A socially conscious organization recognizes its responsibilities on several different levels, including; economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities (Trevino and Nelson, 2003, p. 31). Therefore, ethical behavior can be seen as one aspect of a socially responsible company. A company cannot be socially responsible if it only looks after its economic and legal responsibilities. There are times when a company must do more than what is required by the letter of the law and consider what is ethical. This is especially true for multi-national organizations that operate in countries with varying legal responsibilities. The company must be driven by ethical standards above and beyond bare minimum legal requirements.
Just as ethical behavior is a part of a socially responsible organization; it is difficult to imagine a company that is striving to be ethical, not to become socially responsible. As a company examines its ethical actions, they will be driven to make decisions that become more socially responsible. This is especially true as the company strives to provide ethical treatment to all stakeholders beyond shareholders. If employees and community are considered in the decision making process as stakeholders, then decisions will be made in ways to reduce negative and enhance positive outcomes for each group. Hence, the company’s actions become more and more socially responsible.
Ethical behavior then is one component of a social responsible organization. If the organization or leader strives for social responsibility, they will be driven to act more and more ethically toward all stakeholders. Likewise, an ethical leader or organization will become more socially responsible as they consider making decisions through an ethical lens.
Since founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James has developed, facilitated and coached programs including; Change Leadership, Coaching, Communication Skills, Sustaining Learning, Interviewing Skills, Leadership, Territory Management for dozens of leading global organizations; including, Advantis Research and Consulting, IMS, CMOE, Pfizer, Sinclair, Disetronic Medical Systems, StratX, ASTD, Coventry Health Care, Wilson Learning, and many others. James is bilingual and can facilitate and coach in both English and Spanish.
Prior to founding Magnify Leadership and Development, James headed Pfizer’s Learning and Development for all of Europe, Canada, Africa and the Middle East where he was instrumental in the development of a global management curriculum and other training initiatives to enhance organizational effectiveness for over 30,00 employees.
Contact James at:
1 801 266 0849 or james.gehrke@magnifyleadership.com or visit our website at: http://www.magnifyleadership.com to learn how we can you with your leadership and communication development needs.
Necessity is the Mother of Invention - An Entrepreneurial Call to Arms
My dearest entrepreneurial colleagues and friends, I call upon you now to come together from around the world, to help the world in repairing our global economies. There does not seem to be credit or similar features for building a business that were prevalent just a few short years ago. As these institutions fall and become obsolete or are handed taxpayer monies to enhance executive bonuses, many people are feeling hopeless and scared, losing fundamental living standards such as homes, food and heat. These people have been your customers, your clients, have supported your businesses and have been loyal to you.
Some of your colleagues have lost entire businesses overnight that supplied jobs to hundreds upon thousands everywhere. It seems as if the industry of commerce is drying up yet, I know that where there is purpose there are also solutions that are innovative and revolutionary. Necessity has always been the mother of invention and now more than ever is a time where entrepreneurs can come together and explore other ideas, solutions and inventions that will empower progress without banks to fund aspirations or economies.
As credit dries up, your ideas and dreams need not. Your ideas are the most powerful thing the world has. When banks become obsolete in the entrepreneurial equation for starting a business, a huge empowering possibility for our future will manifest. Let us come together to breed solutions out of cooperation and collaboration. When entrepreneurs come together in this manner we challenge the very core of what is possible only to find ourselves triumphant over the darkness of the illusion that it can’t be done.
Remember our forefathers as this new revolution begins to unfold in front of us. Don’t allow what is unseen, in the moment, to sink your boat. If your boat is under water, build another one. Collaborate with each other and provide a spring board for ideas, technology, science and industry to flourish again. When we overcome the appearance of obstacles that seem to be harnessing fear and collapse we will once again make the world a better place.
If you feeling alone scared and worried, reach out to another entrepreneur. Find a group, club or mastermind team where you can find alliances and camaraderie. Don’t let your dreams fall by the wayside. Stand back up and brush yourself off. You are an entrepreneur and that makes you a leader of ideas and possibilities.
This is a call to arms for my entrepreneurial brothers and sisters. Let your ideas flow; share, collaborate, brainstorm and create alliances with others. As we learn to bring this economy around we make history, we make lives better and we become the leaders of the revolution. Become a Possibilitarian and build even if the odds look against you. Continue the journey and look for ways to collaborate with other entrepreneurs to provide solutions and possibilities. Remember, your idea could change the world.
Thank you
Vickie Jimenez
Vickie Jimenez is the author of “Champagne thoughts and Caviar power The Science of Results Oriented Thinking” and has over 20 years in the Personal Development field. She is an expert in personal and business mind set performance as well as work environment management. She is a speaker, corporate trainer with a joint venture back ground and the CEO of Success Systems Seminars. She teaches companies and individuals how to raise accountability and performance through self-command. increasing production, revenues, culture, sales and career satisfaction. To learn more visit http://successsystemsnow.com or visit http://privatejvclub.info
The Heart of an Entrepreneur
The successful start up businessperson usually has a few very well defined personal characteristics. Yes, some succeed just based on blind luck or market timing, but those stories are very few in reality!
It all begins with the spark of an idea! That idea usually comes from having foundational knowledge of a certain market or product or trend or consumer interest. As a result of understanding this unfulfilled need, the person gets the idea of a way that he or she might satisfy a compelling need for a product or service. Lots of people entertain such thoughts on a daily basis. How many times have you heard, “I thought of that idea years ago!” Yes, we all have a brain that functions all of the time, continuously processing such thoughts.
So what is it then that transforms these seemingly random thoughts into reality. Having continuously thought of new business ideas virtually every day of my adult life (and actually carrying out a few), I have realized that it takes more than just an idea. It’s really the confluence of several of your experiences and knowledge that combine to make an idea really gel.
For example, when I saw my first minicomputer in action in 1971, I started thinking of how such inexpensive technology could be put into productive action for a couple of small businesses that I was familiar with. Before long, I had a computer in my basement and was busily programming some custom solutions for a family auto parts business. Before long, I had started my first company and custom developed computer solutions for retail florists, cattle tag producers and even a small college. I was able to do this because, in addition to the sparkling idea, I also had experience in programming and marketing and negotiation. All of these factors together made the implementation of my idea possible.
So, it took an idea plus technical knowledge plus industry knowledge plus evolving business skills to make my idea take off. Since I did not have benefit of much money to embark on my endeavor, I also had to learn to ‘bootstrap’ my company along the way.
Having that spark of an idea, all by itself, is a wonderful inspiration, but it will rarely go anywhere without applying other knowledge and skills. Lacking those skills, many people have sought partners to complement their knowledge base. A great example of this is how Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack joined forces to build the first Apple computer and the rest has been a wonderful story. They came together with skill sets that really fit well together (Jobs with the marketing and financial skills and Wozniack with the technical expertise)
SO, if your brain is bombarding you with great ideas and you wish that you could bring one to fruition, don’t fret! Take inventory of your experience, skills, and knowledge and put together a business plan. As you develop a plan, ask yourself the questions, who, what, where, when, why, and how - and if you are unable to develop a comprehensive story because of a missing ingredient, you may have to either quickly learn the missing knowledge or find a likely partner to complement your knowledge base.
Don’t give up! The results are fun and very rewarding.
What Makes a Business Successful
My love for business. It’s kind of funny if you think about it, but really - I love businesses. I love figuring out why they work, why they don’t work, what’s the mindset behind the owner, how people fall victim to circumstance. The more I learn about businesses the more I fall in love with all of the different aspects of them. I know, it sounds really funny, it even does to me, but this stuff fascinates me.
As a business owner I think half of your responsibility is to know what makes your business work or not work. If you are constantly evaluating what is going on in your business, if it’s working or not and then looking at ways to make things work better you are going to grow, advance, succeed. But, if you aren’t taking these necessary steps your business is going to sink, and it’s going to happen fast.
Let’s look at an example: I knew a person who opened a local chain restaurant a few years back. He opened it with the expectation that when the doors opened, the money would just poor in. I mean, he already had a name for himself, people knew this product, it was a SLAM DUNK! Instant success! Put a sign up, hire some employees and that’s it, the business would run itself.
But a few months after the grand opening, sales started going down and the owner started to get burned out. First he hired all the wrong people, trying to save money he hired young people or friends who were desperate for a job. He never took the time to really train them on food quality, presentation or customer service. It was quickly obvious, he was in the business of making money, not training and keeping good employees and selling a quality product! So he’d hire a new “manager” to run the store and then only come around to count the money at the end of the day.
Soon, the money he was counting became less and less and the customers just kept disappearing. So, he decided he needed ice cream, ice cream brings people in. So he brought in ice cream, that didn’t work. Then it was breakfast, he needed breakfast. That didn’t work either. Spicy chicken. Spicy chicken was definitely the answer, that’s what people wanted! Nope, they didn’t want that either.
So the owner avoided the store even more. It’s depressing, nothing works, and it’s a bad economy. My business is a victim of circumstance.
What does this sound like to you? If you are agreeing, yeah nothing worked, bad economy, can’t figure out the customers….you are wrong. Here’s what happened here.
1. The owner opened this business with a great vision and “want” to have a restaurant. But really, he was more concerned about making money than creating customers for life. (Note: Making money isn’t a bad thing, but if that’s all you see customers as…well?!)
2. He hired poorly. Very poorly, I mean these people stole from him, didn’t show up for work, and treated customers with disrespect. He never trained them properly, he never held them to any standards and he never fired anyone, because he simply just wanted someone to do the work so he wouldn’t have to.
3. He lost touch with food quality, customer service and what the people really wanted - a reliable, consistent product with a manager and staff who actually care.
4. He gave up too easily. When money became tight, he just wanted to borrow more - believing that increasing the cash flow would help to sustain the business.
5. He never looked at the business objectively and failed to see what was keeping customers away. He only assumed what they wanted or listened to the opinion of one or two customers.
Now, these are just some of the things that happened with this failed business, but how can they relate to what you are doing? Be cautious; don’t get too caught up in your bottom line that you forget that you are in business to provide a service or a product.
Take the time to do things right. Treat your customers like they are invaluable and irreplaceable - because they are! Put more effort into keeping the customers you do have then trying to get discounted coupon customers from bad advertising. Don’t give up. And remember, why did you go into business for yourself in the first place?!
Entrepreneurs - When Your Business is in Trouble Due to a Recession, Here Are Some Things to Review
You are tired, your business is not doing so well and you are close to throwing in the towel but there are a few things you can do first.
Your Market, Products and Prices
In a recession people’s buying habits change. They start to look for cheaper deals, they cut back on luxuries and are constantly looking for bargains. It is very probable that the market you were serving last week has completely changed. Take out your Business Plan and Marketing Strategy and completely review both your market and your products, including your prices and decide where your new recessionary market is and how you will be servicing it with your new products and particularly new prices. Think about offering a “budget line” or grouping your products into a bargain. Follow the big companies like the supermarkets who are offering “week end specials” which are a meal sold at a discount.
Banking and Financing Costs
In these times of banking problems and plummeting interest rates check around DISCRETELY to see if you can find cheaper financing. I say discretely so that you don’t upset the financing that you do have!
Debtors
Now is the time to chase your debtors with a vengeance - after all it is your money! If they can only offer some money then take that and work out arrangements for the rest to be paid - soon. Consider bartering in exchange for the debt. If they can offer a service that will save you money - then seems a good idea.
Manufacturers or Suppliers and Stock
Now is the time to review your manufacturing or supplier’s agreements. You are probably ordering smaller runs so can you step your manufacturing down a notch? Can you consolidate your supplies or suppliers? Make sure that you keep your orders up to a level that does not kick in a price increase. Now is the time to review your stock levels and clear out as much as possible at a profit.
Staffing
Sadly, you will also have to review your staffing costs, can you cut them back in any way? Get your staff to take their holidays/vacations now or close early or for one day. Be inventive and try and keep your skilled staff - you will need them when matters pick up again - as they will.
How To Build A Business Ethics Program
Recent corporate financial scandals have highlighted the importance of business ethics and legal compliance. Yet a recent National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) survey of 280 corporate CEOs and directors found that “only one of three directors felt that they were highly effective in ensuring legal compliance”.
Ethics in Business
Most companies realize that they need to develop and implement a business ethics and compliance program.
An effective program can:
• Establish a code of conduct that reduces risk of criminal behavior
• Detect wrongdoing, foster quick investigations, minimize consequences
• Demonstrate company’s ethical/legal philosophy during an investigation
• Reduce fines if company is found guilty of wrongdoing
• Enhance company reputation and stature
Looking at the Options
But how do you build an effective program? Companies find themselves with three options to build the program:
• Develop in-house from scratch
• Hire an external consultant
• Use a pre-written manual
And most of these companies learn a few lessons - sometimes the hard way.
Making a Strong Company Policy
Developing a program from scratch can be very time consuming and costly. Also, the company might not have the knowledge or understanding of the complexity involved. But hiring an external consultant is not always a cost effective option either. So what’s left?
Developing Your Business Ethics Program
By using a pre-written template or manual, many companies have found it easier to develop their business ethics program. And to do this, they look for what a strong program needs.
A highly effective tool for creating, organizing and implementing a sound business ethics and compliance program should provide:
• Sample policies and procedures
• Step-by-step instructions for the development of a program
• A business ethics training program outline with classroom materials and a detailed session leader’s guide
• Business ethics and compliance officer position description
• Templates for employee involvement
• Sample code of conduct
Implementing Your Business Ethics Program
If the company board has committed to a strong business ethics and compliance program, the next step is to put the manual in the hands of corporate executives responsible for implementation. Used properly under advice of legal counsel, this efficient tool will yield a solid program that the board can understand, endorse, and monitor for effectiveness.
With step-by-step guidelines and accompanying examples of policies, procedures, training program, and employee survey, an effective tool provides an excellent road map for implementing an ethics and compliance initiative.
Maintaining a Culture of Ethics
Companies should make certain that their ethics compliance manual provides fully editable MS Word files with sample policies, surveys, forms and training session outlines. Also, businesses should ensure their ethics compliance system manual is fully endorsed by The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as a tool to maintain a culture of integrity.
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