Integrity & Professional Ethics in a Climate of Change Debra J. Williams Higher Ground International 29th Annual Training Conference Equality and Diversity: A Foundation, A Right, An Opportunity

Major Workshop Topics  Basics of Business Ethics  How to Recognize and End Unethical Behavior  The Importance of Managing Ethics in the Workplace

Two Broad Areas of Business Ethics Managerial Mischief Includes illegal, unethical, or questionable practices of individual managers or organizations

Two Broad Areas of Business Ethics Moral Mazes Includes potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts and agreements, etc.

You Know You Have An Ethical Dilemma? When there is presence of:  Significant value conflicts among differing interests  Real alternatives that are equally justifiable  Significant consequences on "stakeholders" in the situation

 Is it legal?  Is it balanced?  Is it right? Three Questions to Ask Yourself

3 Methods to Resolve Ethical Dilemmas  An ethical checklist, ten-step method and a list of key questions  Ten-step method of decision making  Questions to address ethical dilemmas

How Honest are You?

Guidelines for Managing Ethics in the Workplace  Managing ethics is a process  The bottom line of an ethics program is accomplishing preferred behaviors in the workplace  The best way to handle ethical dilemmas is to avoid their occurrence in the first place  Make ethics decisions in groups, and make decisions public, as appropriate

Guidelines for Managing Ethics in the Workplace  Integrate ethics management with other management practices  Use cross-functional teams when developing and implementing the ethics management program  Value forgiveness  Note that trying to operate ethically and making a few mistakes is better than not trying at all

Benefits of Managing Ethics as a Program  Establish organizational roles to manage ethics  Schedule ongoing assessment of ethics requirements  Establish required operating values and behaviors  Align organizational behaviors with operating values  Develop awareness and sensitivity to ethical issues

Benefits of Managing Ethics as a Program  Integrate ethical guidelines to decision making  Structure mechanisms to resolving ethical dilemmas  Facilitate ongoing evaluation and updates to the program  Help convince employees that attention to ethics is not just a knee-jerk reaction done to get out of trouble or improve public image

Tools for Managing Ethics in the Workplace  Code of Ethics  Policies and Procedures  Training

For More Information Contact Debra J. Williams Higher Ground International