TABLE OF CONTENTS So how does a corporation move beyond stage two? What do companies need to do in order to embed an ethical approach to corporate governance, environmental and employment policies, and product safety into their core business processes so that it is a natural part of their day-to-day business operations?
As leading practices from companies in stage three and four demonstrate, the best way to create that unique combination of a strong ethical culture while avoiding unethical or illegal accidents is to initiate a formal enterprise-wide process incorporating an ethical framework and internationally accepted reporting standards, with a knowledge management program for monitoring all areas of risk. These, when integrated with quality improvement standards and existing environmental health and safety (EHS)-type processes, provide the most successful approach to an overall ethics and risk management process. In addition, as some large companies have found, the combination of due diligence and reporting that comes with this type of process can also contribute to the quality and process improvement within an organization, thereby creating productivity and efficiency gains.
In fact, there are several important principles that we have learned from the business improvement revolution of the past two decades that should be incorporated into this next evolutionary step for businesses. These well-known principles include the following:
Organize your company on a horizontal (i.e., process) rather than a vertical (functional silo) basis.
Empower employees with greater decision-making authority, and with that authority, personal responsibility for quality and productivity improvement.
Use systems, as much as...
