adminissues, industry dynamics, environmental demands, etc, is of great value to its well-being and sustainability.
Failure to comply with all applicable laws needlessly put the business at risk that may include paying heavy fines to regulatory authorities or being forced to close down.
All the same when a firm is established, it must come up with a set of values that must direct the behaviour of its employees. In addition, these values must inform future efforts to establish formal corporate ethics management processes in the organisation.
Interestingly, law and ethics, in some organisations are being confused and viewed as the same thing or having the same meaning.
Some people think that because they have a legal function in their company, their ethics needs are automatically covered. Those with this form of reasoning argue that ethical business practices can only be entrenched when compliance with the requisite laws is bolstered.
So with such reasoning, developing corporate ethics processes is viewed as pointless because “it duplicates the role played by the legal framework”.
The ethics risk is thus conveniently placed under the legal function, and the tendency is then to view ethics as a mere element of the legal portfolio.
When such people speak about business ethics in the workplace, they simply mean avoiding breaking the law. This is a fatal misconception.
Apparently global trends show a complete shift from this view as it has become old-fashioned and can no longer match emerging opinions and best practices in the field.
The view reinforces old beliefs that business ethics cannot be trained or managed, and that business ethics is better left to individuals to manage on their own without committing company resources. It is then not surprising that people with such perceptions tend to stand in the way of change in their organisations by furnishing wrong advice on organisational ethics.
Sadly for employees in such scenarios, compliance with the law becomes an end in itself, and not a means to an end, as sound ethical business practices remain an illusion in the organisation.
Organisations need to recognise first that there is a material distinction between ethics and law. While the law enhances and forms the basis upon which sound ethical business practices can be built, ethics go beyond the law to invoke a spirit of self-regulation in the individual, or organisation.
Effective ethical business practices are built around the overarching values of the firm, and are driven more by the need for self-regulation than the law driving them.
Ethics is about the company’s culture and the values that must permeate daily business conduct at every level in the organisation not mere adherence to the law.
It is important that companies should come up with ethical standards that go beyond the dictates of the law.
The ethical standards must then be codified to provide a practical guide to staff on what behavioural standards are required and be fortified by a formal and comprehensive ethics programme.
The distinction between ethics and law is important because it is possible to operate under the law while still acting unethically or in conflict with the firm’s values and principles.
As mentioned above, ethics is intrinsic because it starts with you the person, or organisation, whereas the law is extrinsic as it is imposed from outside the individual or organisation.
While the law may form the basis of a sound ethics programme, the law on its own is inherently insufficient to encourage appropriate ethical behaviour in the workplace. Potential loopholes will always exist when the legal framework is used as a single tool to control workplace behaviour.
Building an ethical culture in an organisation is a long-term initiative that must be linked to company values more than it should be linked to law.
The law is too prescriptive and there is no way it can be the alpha and omega of an effective ethics thrust.
There are, however, certain workplace scenarios where the two concepts easily overlap. For example, workplace discrimination laws that prohibit employment based on race, sex and other personal characteristics support both the legal and the ethical positions.
It is obviously unethical to discriminate people seeking employment on the basis of their race, religion, etc, while at the same time the law criminalises such workplace discrimination. Companies should know that unlike the relatively simple task of complying with set laws, creating an ethical culture is a long-term, well sustained initiative that involves everyone in the firm including external stakeholders.
Creating an ethical culture requires system wide commitment and a focus on the requisite behaviours that make a difference in daily business practice.
So, instead of just looking at the law and confusing it with ethics, firms must appreciate the successes that come with putting in motion deliberate ethics management processes.
These successes will include employees’ ability to resolve ethical dilemmas inherent in the workplace, employees’ ability to engage in ethical decision-making and their ability to engage in ethical reasoning and dialogue with the ultimate winner being the company itself.
Bradwell Mhonderwa is an Ethics Coach and Trainer with the Business Ethics Centre. Send feedback to [email protected] or call 0772 913 875
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