What You Can Do to Improve Ethics at Your Company; Harvard Business Review (HBR), 12/29/16

Christopher McLaverty

Annie McKee, Harvard Business Review (HBR); 

What You Can Do to Improve Ethics at Your Company:

"Enron. Wells Fargo. Volkswagen. It’s hard for good, ethical people to imagine how these meltdowns could possibly happen. We assume it’s only the Ken Lays and Bernie Madoffs of the world who will cheat people. But what about the ordinary engineers, managers, and employees who designed cars to cheat automotive pollution controls or set up bank accounts without customers’ permission? We tell ourselves that we would never do those things. And, in truth, most of us won’t cook the books, steal from customers, or take that bribe.

But, according to a study by one of us (Christopher) of C-suite executives from India, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and the U.K., many of us face an endless stream of ethical dilemmas at work. In-depth interviews with these leaders provide some insight and solutions that can help us when we do face these quandaries."

In defense of Heather Bresch: She did everything right as Mylan CEO, but still …; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/6/16

Chris Allison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; In defense of Heather Bresch: She did everything right as Mylan CEO, but still … :

"Were the actions of Ms. Bresch and her management team legal? Yes. Were they reasonable, given her mandate from Mylan’s board of directors and the company’s shareholders? Yes.

But, just because actions comply with the law and fall within the norms of sound business practices, that doesn’t mean a company should take them...

In my lectures on corporate ethics, I tell students that, when they face an ethical crossroads in business, they should ask themselves two questions. Would they feel proud to have their decision and its outcome featured on the front page of the newspapers? Would they be happy telling their children what they had done as they tucked them into bed at night?

Heather Bresch and other folks at Mylan didn’t do anything wrong. But they should have asked themselves those questions."

Corporate Ethics In The Era Of Millennials; NPR, 8/24/16

Paul A. Argenti, NPR; Corporate Ethics In The Era Of Millennials:

"Corporate social responsibility has been added to the growing list of demands that investors, customers and employees present to companies.

In 2015, 81 percent of Fortune 500 companies published sustainability reports, up from 20 percent in 2011, according to a report released by the Governance & Accountability Institute in June. Companies are publicizing their ethical standards and responsibility efforts, and consumers are punishing companies that appear to fall short. Even as headlines proclaim "greed is back," companies are investing time and resources into instituting more ethical practices."

Ethics Trainings Are Even Dumber Than You Think; Slate, 5/19/16

L.V. Anderson, Slate; Ethics Trainings Are Even Dumber Than You Think:

"Research shows that the only thing that actually prevents wrongdoing is a strong company culture that discourages wrongdoing. That 1999 study found that the best approach was “a values-based cultural approach” comprising “leaders’ commitment to ethics, fair treatment of employees, rewards for ethical conduct, concern for external stakeholders, and consistency between policies and actions.” In other words, there’s no quick fix for corporate ethics: “[C]oncerns for ethics and legal compliance must be baked into the culture of the organization.” If executives focused on culture—and if regulators gave it more weight than box-checking when considering corporate malfeasance—we would reduce corporate malfeasance and waste a lot less time on the simplistic ethical dilemmas of fictional characters."

Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance; Harvard Business Review, 4/29/16

Peter Rea, Alan Kolp, Wendy Ritz, Michelle D. Steward, Harvard Business Review; Corporate Ethics Can’t Be Reduced to Compliance:

"So what can a company do to excel ethically? Instead of focusing on the poor choices you want employees to avoid, focus on the positive virtues you want them to exhibit.

Plato emphasized a virtue-based system of ethics 2,400 years ago in his Academy. The philosopher believed that virtues were best encouraged through questions and discussions rather than through statements and proclamations. In other words, we learn ethics in conversation with others.

So rather than getting together with senior managers to craft a “values statement,” corporate leaders should instead foster a series of structured conversations between leaders at all levels and their teams. The goal of these conversations should be to develop a common language to help frame examples of how people live out the organization’s values or classical virtues. This is inherently a social process — virtue is learned, not inherited. Leaders are already teachers of their culture, whether they are aware of it or not, so they should ask themselves how they can teach it better.

Here are questions for each of the seven classical virtues that companies can use to shape these conversations and shift their focus from complying with the rules to excelling ethically."

Volkswagen apologizes, stops diesel sales in wake of US emissions scandal; CNet.com, 9/21/15

Antuan Goodwin, CNet.com; Volkswagen apologizes, stops diesel sales in wake of US emissions scandal:

"Volkswagen Group is apologizing after the US Environmental Protection Agency accused the automaker of using illegal software in its TDI diesel cars to skirt US emissions standards.

In a statement over the weekend, Volkswagen Group CEO Dr. Martin Winterkorn said he's "deeply sorry that we have broken the trust of our customers and the public." The German automaker ordered its US Volkswagen and Audi dealerships to halt sales of affected vehicles until a fix can be issued. In a further statement, issued Tuesday morning, VW indicates that 11 million Volkswagen Group autos (which includes Audi, Porsche and other brands) contain the software, and that the company has set aside EUR 6.5b to address costs.

The EPA claims certain VW and Audi vehicles use software that meets clean diesel emissions standards when hooked up to testing equipment but then switches to a dirtier mode when disconnected."