We hear much about the need for the right tone at the top, but what does this mean in practical terms?

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics has a working paper that makes a lot of sense. By Joe Murphy, the list of ideas for executives to consider makes you realize how easy it is to create the right tone at the tio,  A CEO and the company's compliance and ethics professional  can probably come up with more ideas, but the list by Joe Murphy is a real pump primer to get the ideas flowing.  How about this one?

" . . .3. At your senior executive meetings go around the table and have each senior officer report on what he or she had done specifically to promote the compliance & ethics program in his/her business unit. Be sure the compliance & ethics officer is there to sort the wheat from the chaff in this discussion. As is true for the CEO, just mouthing the right words counts for little, if anything."

Read the full list of "tone at the top" practical ideas here.
 

The following is another excellent article to read.

Leonard Bucklin has received permission to have the following  document "Managing Ethics Upward", by Fellows of the Ethucs Resource Center, available for you to read through this site --- but you should know that you cannot reproduce the following article except by placing it for your own individual study, on your own separate computer, and not on a network.

Managing Ethics Upwards

By Michael G. Daigneault, Esq., ERC; Frank J. Navran, ERC; and Jerry Guthrie, BellSouth

In the early 1990’s, a position known as the ethics officer emerged in corporate America. The position was created to insure personnel compliance with company standards and procedures as specified in the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Under these guidelines, the ethics officer is recognized to be a high-level administrator responsible for briefing senior leadership and monitoring the behavior of company employees.

In the decade that has passed since its inception, the job responsibilities of the ethics office continues to be modified Questions have emerged such as: Where should the ethics officer be placed in the organizational chart? What type of relationship should the ethics officer have with senior leadership? What strategies can the ethics officer use to best shape the ethical climate of the organization?

In Managing Ethics Upwards, the Ethics Resource Center Fellows look to these questions and others to identify the trends that have characterized the role of the ethics officer, the leadership styles of executives, and their relationship with each other in the realization of an ethical workplace. In addition, the shifting role of upper-management is explored within the context of a global economy and overall “global integrity”.

View and Download Managing Ethics Upwards (652 kb)

Do not reproduce the article Managing Ethics Upwards without the permission of Michael G. Daigneault, Esq. 

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