Hammurabi's Code, ca. 1772 BCE, included 282 laws, some of which often prescribed punishing noncompliance with the removal of one's hand. INTRODUCTION Compliance and ethics (“C&E”) programs are organizational policies put in place to promote law abiding and ethical conduct. To be effective, they must be supported by procedures, communications efforts, and cultural attributes. While the principal drivers for such programs are and regulations which offer leniency to companies with good C&E programs, there are further reasons to embrace C&E and make it a priority. C&E program law is to some extent the codification of sound management practices. While these programs mostly originated in the US, other countries are increasingly passing legislation to encourage or require C&E programs, making this area truly global in nature.

Ethics Program Design. An ethics program for a new company. Chapter Outline Using a business ethics program as a part of strategic planning and. That the program is responsive to the company’s evolving business needs. The Corporate Compliance and Ethics Program is the framework by which Prometheus.

Many of the other topics discussed elsewhere on this site—such as corruption, conflicts of interest, cheating, and whistleblowing—are addressed in business organizations through the mechanisms provided by C&E programs. As such, C&E programs can provide ready-made “ethical systems blueprints,” bringing behavioral ethics ideas and information into the workplace.

(For example: risk assessment training; methods for encouraging whistleblowing; accountability measures; systems for addressing conflicts of interest. See for further information.). Additionally, for those who teach business classes, it is important to be familiar with C&E programs because knowledge of such programs is likely to play a growing role in the work lives of today’s students. Insufficient appreciation of C&E can—even in the absence of an outright legal violation—be harmful to one’s career. Video Joiner 7 02 2.exe.

On the other hand, understanding and embracing C&E is increasingly seen as an attribute of effective leadership. If, as expected, both the government and C&E professionals increasingly do more to promote “cultural” approaches to C&E programs, these trends are likely to continue. CONTENTS IDEAS TO APPLY (Based on research covered below) ​ • Empower senior leaders to own C&E programs. While the technical aspects of a C&E program are the province of C&E officers, when senior managers are seen as owners of the program it is possible to take a “cultural” approach through which legal and ethical behavior becomes a reflex in the organization. As responsible owners, such managers should periodically ask themselves the following questions, among others: • How has my organization dealt with any employees who are top performers from a business perspective but weaker performers on C&E matters? • Can my organization show that it is willing to give up profitable business opportunities that would be lawful but unethical to pursue? Such decisions send a powerful signal that ethics matters.

• Are my C&E officers treated as strategic partners—e.g., brought into business decisions early on – or are they in a largely ministerial role? • Support mid-level managers in promoting C&E. The “tone in the middle” is every bit as important as the “tone at the top,” but mid-level managers often find promoting C&E a greater challenge than do senior executives. Mid-level managers should be encouraged to: • Regularly communicate about C&E issues to employees in their work unit; • Ensure that C&E “performance” is adequately reflected in employee evaluations and compensation decisions; • Be alert to exemplary ethical behavior in the work unit, and—as appropriate—praise that behavior to others in the unit. ​​ AREAS OF RESEARCH • How effective are C&E programs in preventing and detecting unlawful and unethical acts?

The, conducted by the Ethics Resource Center, found that workplace misconduct is at 'a historic low; the decline in misconduct is widespread; and the percentage of workers who said they felt pressure to compromise standards also fell substantially.' Similarly, a 2012 of employees in certain Western European countries showed that “[t]he presence of a formal ethics programme correlates with having a supportive ethical culture, higher perceptions that honesty is practiced, lower pressure to behave unethically, lower awareness of misconduct and higher levels of reporting by employees aware of misconduct in the past year at work.” • Do companies with strong C&E programs (and the ethical cultures that such programs help nurture) provide positive benefits—beyond reducing the risks and costs of civil and criminal penalties? Do they lead to greater employee engagement and customer trust? Suggests that there is such a correlation. A paper by studied employees' reactions to ethical failures in companies.

The authors found that 'exemplary organizational efforts to recover internally from ethical failure may enhance employee perceptions of the organization to a more positive level than if no ethical failure had occurred.' • How can federal regulations make it easier for firms to develop effective C&E programs? Argues that current guidelines rely too strongly on direct incentive-based approaches to E&C, assuming that people will be ethical only if it is in their financial interest to do so. This encourages a “check-the-box” approach to demonstrating compliance.