Business Ethics - Training Program
Why the Need?
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Self-study Courses | Books | Articles | Flowers | Gifts
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Ethics training and awareness programs help employees understand and comply with
the organization's ethics policies.
In leadership survey conducted by GlaxoSmithKline, pharmaceutical giant, over 91
percent of managers said they believe that people in their department show
commitment to performance with integrity. While this is a very high percentage, there
are still 9% of the managers surveyed who felt that there are people in their
department who do not show commitment to performance with integrity.
More and more employers are seeing formal education and training in ethical practices
as a prerequisite for improved decision making and an essential element of corporate
success. Some companies even require annual ethics training for all of their
employees and expanded training for top managers.
The need for ethical training program can be seen from the reports by three
organizations in the USA that reported on the benefits of having good training
program.
1. Report by The Ethical Resource Center
In the 2005 National Business Ethics Survey (NBES) conducted by The Ethics Resource
Center, a non-profit organization in USA, the following observations were made:
- 52% of employees observed at least one type of misconduct in the past year.
- 55% reported the misconduct to management.
- organizations with strong ethical cultures and full formal ethics programs are
less likely to observe misconduct
- formal ethics programs were found to be an essential element of a strong
organizational culture
- in the last one year, one-third of all employees encountered a situation at work
that they think invites ethical misconduct
- formal programs and strong ethical cultures significantly reduce the pressure to
engage in misconduct, the observation of misconduct, and the need to report
misconduct
2. The Report by The Open Compliance Ethics Group
The Open Compliance Ethics Group (OCEG), a non-profit organization, reports that
firms that have an effective ethics program and culture do not have scandals and
events that cause significant legal or reputation damage. In fact, no firm with a strong
ethics program for 10 years has had a major ethical scandal in the last 5 years.
3. The Report by U.S. Sentencing Commission
The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an agency within the judicial branch of U.S.
Government, reports that no firms with an effective ethics program have had
significant legal or reputation damage in the last 5 years.
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Here are some of the useful courses on Ethics that you may wish to consider signing
up for:
Ethics - Standards of Professional Conduct - Especially suitable for Engineers
Many organizations, particularly smaller businesses, do not have a written set of
standards to provide guidance to their employees on ethical matters related to their
job duties. While each job title, company and industry deals with unique
circumstances, there are some standards of professional conduct for engineers that
are considered the norm across a broad range of job titles, companies and even
industries. In matters such as conflicts of interest, use and protection of employer's
assets, and disclosure of proprietary information, there are universal standards of
accepted conduct for engineers working for employers based in developed countries
(although the detailed policies may vary between companies).
The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has developed a document titled
"Standards of Professional Conduct" for its members. In addition to the
aforementioned examples of ethical issues, the ASCE's standards cover issues such
as maintaining accurate and complete records, outside employment/activities,
acceptance of bribes or kickbacks and whistle blowing. The ASCE's standards serve as
an excellent model for companies seeking to provide guidance to engineers on ethical
matters related to their position and the performance of their work tasks. It also
provides a universal set of principles to guide individual engineers on ethical matters
in the absence of an employer policy.
In this course, the student will be directed to ASCE's website to review the ASCE
document titled "Standards of Professional Conduct".
The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of fifteen questions at the end
of this course to earn PDH credits.
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Brought to you by Jacob Gan, PhD (Michigan)
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