Developing a code of ethics

Bradwell Mhonderwa
Employers need to craft a code of ethics to enable employers to determine what is and is not ethical in the workplace.  Affording employees clear guidelines and directions on ethical behaviour expected in the workplace helps to grow ethical standards, that impact positively on the bottom line.

A code of ethics provides information and guidelines to employees on expected behaviour when dealing with customers, clients, stakeholders, and the general company business.

It addresses minimum standards of employee conduct to reduce the risk of business liability and damage to company reputation.
A code demonstrates management’s commitment to the growth of ethical business practices and compliance with applicable industry and Government regulations.

An enterprise’s code of ethics must seek to guide employees in dealing with real-life issues, including use of good judgment on all material issues in the business.

The code of ethics must also well inspire employees to do more for their organisations in the spirit of enhancing productivity and profitability.

It must be comprehensive enough to give support on all important matters to employees and external stakeholders. It should be a practical and easily accessible document and should be written in plain language that is easy to understand and it must avoid high-sounding technical or legal terms.

Crafting a code of ethics is also an important step towards reinforcing the desired elements of the existing organisational culture.
It is, however, futile for companies to place too much significance on a stand-alone code, as research suggests that an ethics’ code only becomes effective when it is part of a clear corporate ethics strategy anchored on a comprehensive ethics programme that runs an ethics office, ethics reporting mechanism, and ethics reinforcement processes.

The process of developing a code of ethics must be very interactive and inclusive, and it should be an essential part of any ongoing organisational dialogue designed to re-engineer company processes.

The process should have enough participative feedback from employees so that they will recognise the code as their own, support it, and be willing to live by it.

Engaging employees and external stakeholders such as suppliers, in the crafting of the code, will lead to a clear statement of what the business really intends to achieve.

Mr Michael W. Hoffman, an expert in code crafting, encourages organisations to be particularly concerned with the tone of the code.
He wrote about how he was once asked to review a code titled “Our Responsibilities”.

Though he thought the title was good, “every rule in the code began with the statement, “it is your responsibility to . . .”
Mr Hoffman suggested changing “your” to “our” in order to convey the message that the rules apply to everyone in the company.
Presentation style for the code is also of great significance, and this may involve in the code document the use of colour, illustrative pictures, examples, and text boxes for frequently asked questions.

An ethics code should include a statement that the business will abide by the laws of the land, international laws and industry regulations, including laws and regulations designed to protect the environment.

The code must set forth the general compliance policy guidelines quoting clauses that have specific application to the enterprise’s business.

The general nature of a code of ethics as well as the issues addressed differ widely in different companies depending on the overall thrust of company strategy and the core issues the company wants the code to address.

Some codes are aspirational in nature and others are prescriptive. Aspirational codes seek to motivate employees to strive for certain ethical attributes, and prescriptive codes compel employees to comply with set behavioural standards.

However, a combination of aspirational and prescriptive provisions in the same code would clearly form a more revealing and effective ethics code than to have a code that is purely aspirational or prescriptive.

This means when crafting the code, companies should carefully examine their context and their organisational cultures in order to identify those key factors that should inform the scope of the code.

Though fundamental, a code of ethics must not be static.  The code must be dynamic, and should anticipate future guidance that employees require to deal appropriately with the ethical challenges they may face.

Laws and regulations change and it is only natural that stakeholder expectations also do the same.  Over time, businesses become exposed to new technologies, new global trends, new market demands, new value systems and new competition which tend to create new ethical grey areas for employees.

A responsible organisation should plan to monitor such changes closely and be able to adapt, update and improve the ethics code accordingly.

A good code is a must for any organisation as it maps the way forward on how employees must work and should be respected by all.

Feedback: [email protected] or call 0772 913 875