How to Ensure Ethics and Integrity Throughout an Organization

In response to high-profile scandals in both the public and private sectors over the past few years, many organizations have moved to institute ethics and integrity programs for their employees. The challenge now is to find the right blend between compliance-based and “softer” or principles-based approaches to ensuring ethical behaviour. In search of answers, in January 2008, the Conference Board convened an expert roundtable of ethics and compliance practitioners to reflect on new developments and discuss best practices and lessons learned across the public, corporate and not-for-profit sectors. Key findings include the need to create an organizational culture that encourages questions, the need for constant communication from leaders about the importance of ethical behaviour, and the need to tailor messages to the specific circumstances of employees.