Corporate Ethics Officers

We propose a ‘Moral Imagination’ methodology to facilitate a culture of responsible innovation for engineering and product teams in technology companies. Our approach has been operationalized over the past two years at Google, where we have conducted over 50 workshops with teams from across the organization. We argue that our approach is a crucial complement to existing formal and informal initiatives for fostering a culture of ethical awareness, deliberation, and decision-making in technology design such as company principles, ethics and privacy (...) review procedures, and compliance controls. We characterize some distinctive benefits of our methodology for the technology sector in particular. (shrink)

Job satisfaction cannot be defined by a single measurement alone. In fact, there is substantial evidence to support a relationship between satisfaction and performance of a job. For such a relationship there has been tremendous interest among managers and economists as it helps in increasing the quality as well as quantity of the production. However, some argue contrarily, that rather it is the performance that leads to satisfaction. Whatever be the direction of relationship, one thing is clear that productivity and (...) satisfaction have some mutual relationship and each of them affects the other. This paper examines as to when generalizations are to be made it becomes imperative to see which of the factor differentiates the job satisfaction level of private from the public sector employees and if the satisfaction levels of any of the two sectors are different from the other then what are the implications of that on the performance, growth and effectiveness in the long run. The paper empirically measures employee satisfaction in key areas, organizations can gain the information needed to improve their satisfaction, motivation, retention and productivity. (shrink)

In this paper, we examine whether ethics officers are able to perform their assigned duties independently of organizational management. Specifically, we investigate whether inherent conflicts of interest with company management potentially hinder the ability of ethics officers to serve as an effective monitor and deterrent of unethical activity throughout the organization. As part of our analysis, we conducted 10 detailed phone interviews with current and retired ethics officers in order to determine whether practicing ethics officers feel the need for additional (...) independence protection from management. We propose that the current system in which ethics officers report to management must be changed in order for ethics officers to effectively perform their jobs. Specifically, we maintain that ethics officers should (1) be hired by, (2) be fired by, and (3) report directly to the corporate board of directors rather than company management. Such a change in the reporting environment would greatly enhance the independence of ethics officers. (shrink)

Organizations continue to show renewed focus on managing their ethics programs by developing organizational infrastructures to support their ethics implementation efforts. An important part of this process has been the creation of an ethics officer position. Whether individuals appointed to the position are successful in the role or not may depend on a number of factors. This study presents a suggested framework for their effectiveness. The framework includes a focus on personal, organizational and situational factors to predict performance in the (...) role. The study examines the complex nature of the role. These include task complexity, low task visibility, role conflict, and role ambiguity. Personal, organizational and situational factors that can serve as buffers against the complexities associated with the role are presented. The study suggests that individuals with certain competencies and orientations may be better suitable for the ethics position, and firms need to consider key organizational and situational issues critical to the performance of an ethics officer. The research and practice implications of the study are given. (shrink)

In this study, we propose considering membership in the Ethics Officer Association (EOA) as a proxy for the firm''s commitment to ethical decision making, and we analyze the influence of firm- and CEO-specific characteristics on this commitment. While we observe a positive relationship between membership and firm size, we also document a negative relationship between EOA membership and the executive''s time in position and, to a more modest extent, accounting returns. Pursuing this further, we present evidence that firms with past (...) legal issues may seek EOA membership as a signal of their intention to be compliant in the future. (shrink)

Corporations in the United States have been starting ethics programs for a variety of reasons both active and passive. Ethics officers are being charged with improving both company image and the level of ethical decision-making by employees. Thirty ethics officers from Fortune 500 firms were surveyed to develop a database of their duties and the companies' commitment to ethical standards. The results suggest much is being done, both in the diversity of responses and the similarities of commitment and duties.

We present an ideal profile of an emerging organizational function: the Ethics Officer. We argue that the main contribution of an EO is to provide management with a broad perspective of the organization's stakeholders – one that emphasizes the interests of all stakeholders, including those not affiliated with the dominant coalitions in the organization. In order to avoid turning the EO into a rubber stamp for management activities, we suggest that certain conditions prevail to enable the person in this position (...) to exercise impartial, independent judgment. These conditions are embodied in our profile, which maintains that an ideal EO should have appropriate organizational status, functional independence, professionalism, knowledge of organizational issues, and knowledge of ethics theory. We suggest that the function of EO may be performed by a professional who is already employed by the organization, and we use the internal auditor as an example. (shrink)

Under consideration is whether organisations can validate moral norms that cannot be appropriated by capital. Meta-ethics and moral philosophy can help progress discussions from debates over the existence of collective morality onto exercise of corporate responsibilities. We contribute to recent modelling work in universalist thinking (L. Boltanski and L. Thivenot, 2006, On Justification: Economies of Worth, C. Porter (trans), Princeton University Press NJ) by identifying salient and, is argued, necessary conditions for the exercise of collective moral decisions. Adequate preparation for (...) justified decision-making calls for a requisite level of moral bravery. Spatial reflexivity informed from the concept of reflective equilibrium and a collective self-reliance informed from the moral practices of parrhesia provide for integrity of action. (shrink)