Corporate codes of ethics: necessary but not sufficient

Werner, Andrea

doi:10.1111/j.1467-8608.2008.00543.x

Cited by 115 publications

(116 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Violations of the moral code (Webley and Werner 2008), as well as the perception of members of the organization (Singh 2006) are not sufficient to see the effectiveness of the Code of Ethics. The political parties are different from sports, business, health organizations, NGOs and so on and so forth that is why the simple transfer of results from one field to another, for example from business to politics, is not easy and nor enough.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Codes of ethics for political parties and their role in communication (in the time of electoral campaigns)

Gori

2018

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Abstract:In elections, a multitude of players are involved, and there are winners and losers. Because the stakes are high, there is a great temptation to use unethical practices to gain more votes. Parties from different countries start to understand the importance of their ethical behaviour for winning voters' trust by reason of the fact they apply ethics in their programs. In this sense, parties are developing Ethical Codes, Ethical Commissions, and Ethical Committees. Some of the questions we tried to get an answer are the following: Are codes of ethics for political parties necessary? Are these more related to political ethics or political communication? Are the aims directed to make a more ethical campaign, or to gain more votes? Does a code of ethics for political parties have a role in the communication of political parties' values and does it help to show if a political party respects their promises? The purpose of this article is to observe if a tension between political marketing, as part of political communication, and political ethics theories exists when parties create and use a code of ethics. Also, we aim to understand the relationship between ethics and communication during electoral campaigns, and if these codes of ethics are a way of communication between political parties and their members, their voters, and other interested actors. One of our hypothesis is that the Codes of ethics in electoral campaign help political organizations to better communicate with different stakeholders and gain more votes. The second hypothesis is that the Codes of Ethics, used as a communication method, influence parties to have an ethical campaign. The third one is that the Codes of Ethics used in electoral campaigns by political parties, guide these actors to better communicate their message, their mission, vision and their goals.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Codes of ethics for political parties and their role in communication (in the time of electoral campaigns)

Gori

2018

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“…Organisational culture, processes, strategy, and leadership are some of them. Yet, it is argued that the code of ethics remains an essential and initiating component of this process (Verbos et al 2007;Webley and Werner 2008). In other words, a code of ethics is assumed to precede and prime ethical identity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Employees in organisations and professionals in communities are expected to engage with the document: to take part in its development to improve its relevance and effectiveness (e.g. Schwartz 2002;Snell and Herndon 2004;Kaptein and Schwartz 2007;Webley and Werner 2008;Painter-Morland 2010). In turn, relevant codes of ethics are said to participate in the development of organisational ethical identity (Verbos et al 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Struggles of the Interculturalists: Professional Ethical Identity and Early Stages of Codes of Ethics Development

Romani

Szkudlarek

2013

J Bus Ethics

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Ethicalisation processes that partake in the construction of a firm or a professional group's ethical identity are often described as a relatively linear combination of several components, such as policies (starting with the development of a code of ethics), corporate practices, and leadership. Our study of a professional community dealing with the topics related to cultural diversity indicates a more reciprocal relationship between ethical identity and ethicalisation processes. We argue that a tangible form of ethical identity can pre-date the ethicalisation process of a professional group, and additionally, can impact this process at the start. We highlight that, despite the absence of official ethical statements in the community, a form of ethical professional identity is already present among the interculturalists of the international organisation Society for Intercultural Education Training and Research. Using critical discourse analysis, we identify the proclaimed humanist ethos in the discourses that interculturalists co-produce and diffuse during conferences, on on-line discussion forums, and in the mission of their professional organisations. This study contributes to the literature on ethical identity development by showing how a pre-existing form of ethical identity can influence the early stage of the development of a code of ethics. In addition, we indicate that, similar to organisational identity construction, ethical identity construction uses self-other identity talks, thus, defining an ethical other (or less ethical other) in its development.

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“…Retaliation in a business context has been examined in surveys in American workplaces by analyzing the opinions of employees (Callahan & Collins, 1992;Ethics Resource Center, 2014). Fear of retaliation is considered a factor that stops questioning (Flanagan & Clarke, 2007), an obstacle for the creation of an ethical corporate culture (Webley & Werner, 2008) that contributes to the reduced effectiveness of the code of ethics and in general of corporate ethics and compliance programs in both the private-sector (Barnett, 2006;Trevino, Weaver, Gibson, & Toffler, 1999;Guerrette, 1988;KPMG, 2009) and in local government (Van Zolingen & Honders, 2010). To a lesser extent, fear is also used as fear of discipline.…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Codes of Ethics Deal with Fear in the Workplace

Santosuosso¹

2016

IBR

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The relationship between decision-making and emotions has been increasingly explored in the past thirty years by physicians, psychologists and economists. Because of the impact that emotions have on human behaviour, ethical implications need to be examined if we consider that managers could use emotions to motivate employees. This paper analyses the content of the code of ethics of 278 companies listed on the Italian stock exchange in order to verify how the codes take into account the emotion of fear experienced by employees in the workplace. Research findings revealed that companies have failed to consider the word "fear" and most of the other terms expressing similar emotions. On the other hand, their codes of ethics focused on ethical standards that should be respected, such as the dignity of each single individual and on unethical actions that must be avoided, such as acts of physical or psychological violence.

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Corporate codes of ethics: necessary but not sufficient

Cited by 115 publications

References 8 publications

Codes of ethics for political parties and their role in communication (in the time of electoral campaigns)

Codes of ethics for political parties and their role in communication (in the time of electoral campaigns)

The Struggles of the Interculturalists: Professional Ethical Identity and Early Stages of Codes of Ethics Development

How Codes of Ethics Deal with Fear in the Workplace

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