The study examines employee, managerial, and ethics officer perceptions regarding their companies codes of ethics. The study moves beyond examining the mere existence of a code of ethics to consider the role that code content and code process (i.e. creation, implementation, and administration) might play with respect to the effectiveness of codes in influencing behavior. Fifty-seven in-depth, semi-structured interviews of employees, managers, and ethics officers were conducted at four large Canadian companies. The factors viewed by respondents to be important with (...) respect to code effectiveness include: provisions of examples; readability; tone; relevance; realism; senior management support; training; reinforcement; living up to standards; reporting requirement; anonymous phone line; communicating violations; and enforcement. The factors found to be potentially important include: justification for provisions; employee involvement; and sign-off requirements. Factors found not to be important include: objectives for the code; prior distribution; testing; and relating ones performance review to compliance with the code. (shrink)

How can boards be confident that their organisation is living up to its ethical values and commitments?This report provides a practical framework for approaching the assurance of ethical performance against an organisation's own code of ethics.It is addressed to those at board level overseeing assurance that ethical values are embedded, that commitments are being met and management processes are effective. It will assist assurance professionals seeking to broaden their understanding of non-financial issues and is intended as an aid to the (...) development of good practice. (shrink)