Fraud fears rise due to tightening economic conditions
19 February 2024
What is the ethical issue?
Understanding how employees make decisions is important for organisations of all sizes in order to ensure the measures they have in place to promote ethical behaviour are appropriate. As a result, companies are increasingly investing resources in the development of an ethics programme that brings their ethical values to life and provides guidance to their staff on how to tackle ethical dilemmas.
Naturally, all companies run the risk of facing ethical issues or running into reputational problems due to the behaviour of employees. Even companies with a mature ethics programme are not immune from lapses or even major ethical scandals that pose clear questions about the effectiveness of these programmes. If codes of ethics are not effectively embedded into workplace culture or decision-making, be it through performance management, incentives or other methods, then companies increase the chances of unethical behaviour permeating through the company.
Research has highlighted how the culture of a workplace, particularly if that culture is considered to contribute to the way decisions are made, can impact the ethical behaviours of employees. Individuals believe that the expectations placed on them in their professional role, combined with a culture which is possibly not values-led, can result in setting aside ethical principles. If these behaviours are prevalent in an organisation, it greatly increases the risk of scandals and reputational issues arising.
IBE Guidance
A summary of good practice
- There are ways in which organisations can induce positive and ethical behaviour. Organisational expectations are key, and doing the right thing as an instinctive reaction and ensuring high personal moral standards should be outlined early as an expectation from employers. Following this, ethics needs to become part of the reward, recognition and promotion system.
- In day-to-day work, where decisions are made and tasks are completed, organisations need to be aware of how time pressures can negatively impact ethics in decision-making and how internal communications and language can influence workplace culture.
Further resources
Post CBI, post Casey, post #MeToo – is now the real time for change?
Read the latest blog from IBE Deputy Director, Rachael Saunders.
27 April 2023
A little help
IBE’s Associate Director, Prof. Chris Cowton, reflects on the role of ethical decision-making models, the subject of our latest research report.
22 March 2023
FTSE 100 Ethical Decision-Making Models: good questions, good answers?
This report analyses the ethical decision-making models contained in the codes of ethics of the UK’s leading companies, the FTSE 100.
20 March 2023
Business Ethics in the News 2022
This resource provides an analysis of the year’s news trends and the issues and sectors that featured the most.
12 January 2023
Is your business ethical - and do your stakeholders think so?
Listen in as Survey Director, Christopher Cowton shares his thoughts on our latest survey, IBE Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2022.
30 June 2022
Attitudes of the British Public to Business Ethics 2022
Businesses and UK politicians must do better at demonstrating their ethical credentials if they are to win back the confidence of the British public - the 2022 results of the IBE's annual survey of the attitudes of the British public to business ethics.
29 June 2022
Business Ethics in the News 2021
This resource presents an overview of the ethical concerns and lapses, as well as the positive business ethics stories, that the IBE recorded for its media monitoring exercise in 2021. It provides an analysis of the year’s trends and the issues and sectors that featured most frequently.
24 January 2022
Employees’ voices: a glass half full
The results of our latest Ethics at Work survey bring us some good news, but also some red flags that cannot be ignored as organisations shape their ethical agenda for the future.
08 December 2021
The right question
Read the latest blog by Mark Chambers, IBE's Associate Director (Governance).
10 November 2021
Ethics at Work: 2021 International Survey of Employees
This survey is the only one of its kind, covering 13 countries over four continents, that provides real insight into employees’ views on ethics across all sectors and job roles.
04 November 2021
Every crisis is an opportunity
Read our latest guest blog by Sally March, Jane Mitchell, Robert Smith and Ruth Steinholtz.
13 October 2021