Newspaper headlines for the past year have been rife with stories about insider trading, big corporations cooking their books, advisors and accountants weaseling money from clients in underhanded ways, and all sorts of scandals involving executives at major companies all across the country. It seems sometimes like the word "corporation" must be prefaced by the adjective "unethical." But accounting fraud and other financial scandals can easily taint the reputation of any business, large or small. What can be done to head off disaster?
Many owners of small businesses think that having a written code of ethics is not necessary, and is just for show. But business experts and academic consultants advise otherwise. Not only does having a written code of ethics portray your company as being positive and proactive, it also specifically tells customers and employees which behavior are appropriate and accepted and which are not. Just as a football game needs rules in order for people to understand who is winning and losing, a business is the same - people need to understand the limits for what is ethical and what is not.
A written code of ethics can be a definite plus, but it has to elaborate more than just a list of thoughts randomly jotted down. The code should focus on specific business issues and practices. Every company's business code of ethics will be different, but some things should be standard considerations for all, such as accuracy of financial statements, how to handle conflicts of interest, workplace safety, sexual harassment policies, environmental and ergonomic standards for employees, and any rules or regulations that are specific to your company or industry.
Codes of ethics should be tailored appropriately to fit the nature of your business. Although you can get good ideas for what your company's code of ethics should contain by looking at codes of other companies, keep in mind that your company has a mission and value statement that is unique to your business, so you cannot simply copy another business's code of ethics and assume it will apply in every way to your own company. If you need help crafting a cohesive, comprehensive code of ethics, enlist the help of employees. Involving them in developing the code will not only make the overall scope stronger, it will also help employees accept the guidelines easily and helps them learn what is expected.
Once your code of ethics is finalized, it should be posted internally, and a reporting system should be implemented to give employees a way to let someone know if they see any breaches of the code. A complete open-door policy is the best approach, so that employees are assured that their input is welcome. Consider being open to receiving anonymous reports, which might overcome reluctance on the part of some employees to report violations of the ethics code. You may want to appoint a person to serve as a compliance officer to investigate reports of infractions, and to follow-up on any ethics violations that are uncovered. Failing to act on ethics violations will undermine the validity and purpose of having the code of ethics in the first place.
The most critical aspect of having an established code of ethics is to make sure the executives and top management of the company always adhere to the established ethics guidelines. If managers just say one thing while they do something entirely different, it gives the rest of the company license to do the same. Holding people accountable for practicing ethics in the workplace requires some confrontation and leadership, but it also requires demonstration a good example.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar