Ethics on the Cheap????

Image by shainelee via Flickr

I just ran across a recent thought-provoking article in the Christian Science Monitor, called "Are Ethics Too Expensive? about companies cutting back on ethics training due to budget pressures.

This got me thinking on a number of fronts:

• How can we measure the long-term ramifications of these decisions? I spend a good part of my time at work thinking about how to prove the positive return on investment for ethics programs. So little hard data exists I find the same statistics being used over and over in the media (the cost of fraud, according to the ACFE, the increased shareholder value for the Ethisphere "Most Ethical Companies," etc.). But if there's a lack of hard data to prove the positive, there's even less to show the adverse affects of a poor ethical culture (unless you take what's written in the popular media every time a company on Wall Street fails). I'd love to know which companies are cutting back and track their performance over time - I'll bet they suffer.

• Given that we're all under pressure to keep costs down, you can't just argue to keep spending flat to previous years, much less increase it. So - instead of cutting training altogether or severely cutting back on it, have these companies looked at new ways to deliver the training? I filled in for our CEO David Childers today on a "Use of Social Media in Compliance" webinar and talked about ways companies can use Web 2.0 technologies and sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, LinkedIn, etc. within their compliance programs. Based on the instant polls we conducted, not many organizations have embraced Web 2.0 yet. There are a lot of cool and inexpensive ways to deliver your training if you're willing to try new things.
  

I'm curious - what are you doing to make your ethics training more efficient and effective?

Back to School

Image via Wikipedia

I'm currently sitting at my son's dance studio, waiting for him to finish his hip/hop rehearsal in preparation of the big recital in two weeks. Ironically, in one of the studios nearby, the class is working on a dance to Alice Cooper's 1972 hit, "School's Out," while I'm writing this blog announcing the new EthicsPoint Fund for the Discovery and Dissemination of Ethics Research with The University of Arizona's Department of Management and Organizations in the Eller College of Management. School is definitely NOT out for EthicsPoint!

The first of its kind for the University and EthicsPoint, the Fund will support research, education and collaborative programs designed to redefine the focus and impact of business ethics research. One of the things that attracted us to the work being done at The University of Arizona is they share our view that the teaching and research of business ethics needs to transition from the philosophical to the practical.

As a result of our partnership, we'll be working with the faculty of the Department of Management and Organizations in a number of ways, including:

• Establishing a Business Ethics Symposium later this year in which industry ethics and compliance officers and faculty from M&O will jointly participate in panel discussions that tie best practices from industry with budding research from academia.
• Publicizing the work of the M&O faculty in the area of business ethics through webinars, whitepapers and other communication vehicles.
  
• Working with the faculty on their research projects into business ethics when appropriate.
• Collaborating with the faculty within their classrooms, with EthicsPoint senior management participating as guest lecturers, providing students with the perspective of private industry to augment their studies.
  

This announcement is just the start in our relationship with The University of Arizona, one that I see having great promise and potential, and I can't wait to see where it goes!