Since the beginning of the last century, there has been a trend of egregious business behavior. Governments and regulators have been required to tighten guidelines and regulations to assure the protection of the public. Unfortunately, greed has proven to be too strong to resist, and they have caved in to conflicts of interests. Corporations are now facing global measures designed to expose and control bad ethics and governance practices, but this is only one side of the situation. They cannot afford the loss of reputation, revenue, reliability, and credibility. Thus, they have to make sure to contribute more to ethical behavior other than what is already established by the law.

To succeed, corporations must give their employees the tools for ethical behavior. Many of them have developed codes of ethics to address their unique business situations. By developing a code of ethics, an organization makes it clear that employees and members cannot claim ignorance as a defense for unethical conduct. A professional code of ethics sets a standard for which each member of the profession can be expected to meet. The code outlines what behaviors are unacceptable and what measures are taken if an employee violates the code of conduct.

Establishing an ethical standard for business conduct involves more than a written policy. The most compelling support for an ethical standard is adherence to and enforcement of that standard by those who institute it, and by those for whom it is written. More than briefings and policies handed out to every single employee, one must lead by example. Employees look up to business owners and managers for direction on how they should conduct themselves. The board of directors of a company have to make ethics-based decisions and monitor the individual they put into leadership roles at the company for the same values.

Management must hold