Ethikos - Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics
Transcription
Ethikos - Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics
A publication of the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 Examining Business Ethics Since 1987 www.EthikosPublication.com VOL. 28, NO. 1 Ethikos will keep focus on business ethics By Roy Snell We are very excited to be involved in Ethikos. We will continue its long tradition of helping people and organizations through the sharing of ideas that help build ethical business cultures. With more than 13,000 compliance and ethics professionals as members, we will be able to bring a wide variety of diverse opinions and experience to the publication. With our 70,000-plus points of contact in the compliance and ethics community we hope to bring Ethikos to a wide audience. Our focus will be on business ethics. Many ethics publicaRoy Snell tions, blogs, and LinkedIn groups begin with business ethics as a primary focus. However, they drift into political and social ethics. Although political and social ethics are important, they already have a plethora of coverage. Business ethics and building an ethical culture gets lost in the weeds. We will stay focused. We want to thank Andy Singer, Joe Murphy, Jeff Kaplan, and the countless other people who have worked for over a quarter century on this publication. With our 70,000-plus points of contact in the compliance and ethics community we hope to bring Ethikos to a wide audience. Sincerely, oy Snell, CEO R Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE)® Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)® In This Issue: Ethikos will keep focus on business ethics................................ 1 Law and ethics: Is it as simple as they say?.............................. 2 The CCO as Ethical Culture Leader ........................................... 4 The ethics of downsizing............................................................ 6 Blurred lines: Using social responsibility to make money......... 9 Gray areas: When ethics problems are not exactly black or white................................................... 10 Ethics in the workplace: The Dominican Republic perspective...................................... 12 History of the Integrity, Ethics, and Compliance Movement: A cautionary tale for CEOs and corporate directors .............. 13 New publisher for Ethikos......................................................... 16 1 / ETHIKOS January/February 2014 Law and ethics: Is it as simple as they say? By Joe Murphy, JD, CCEP, CCEP‑I Do we focus on law and “mere compliance,” or should we “go beyond” law to ethics? My entire career I have heard this question. Always the message is that ethics and values represent higher pursuits and that it is unwise to address mere legal compliance. But this has never left me with a satisfactory feeling. I start with this point. If one views law as simply a technical set of restrictions then this means there is no actual understanding of what the law is. To obtain compliance with the law is it essential to understand the values behind the law. To do this it is important to envision and feel the harm that is caused by violations of the law. For example, when I think of laws prohibiting corruption, I do not think of rulebooks issued by faceless bureaucrats. Instead, I remember a dramatic video presentation by the World Bank unit that fights corruption, showing the poverty associated with a road construction project that scarcely cleared a useless path through the Joe Murphy jungle, and came nowhere near being a help for the local poor. Bribes and corruption had enabled contractors to make their money without doing any real work. I picture contractors and local government thugs stealing from the poor to line their own pockets. I do not experience the dry sense of reading rules; I feel the full anger of seeing innocent victims robbed by thugs. We too easily dismiss law as if it were some minimalist technicality that can easily be eliminated from our consideration while we pursue some higher values; it is not. On the other side, “values” can lead us dangerously astray. We tend to forget that there are many values that guide human conduct and that these values frequently conflict with one another. Loyalty, for example, is one of 2 / ETHIKOS these. It can instill in us great courage to protect those we love and value; it can lead us to be truly noble. But it also can enable the worst offenses. How many terrible business crimes remained hidden because of the misguided loyalty of fellow workers who witnessed these crimes but remained quiet out of loyalty? Their loyalty increased the loss and suffering of innocent victims of this corporate crime. Publisher: Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics (SCCE)® Managing & Copy Editor: Kortney Nordrum Design & Layout: Sarah Anondson Business Manager: Adam Turteltaub *** Contributing Editors: Lee Essrig, Roy Snell, Brook Matthiesen Ethikos (ISSN 0895-5026) is published bimonthly, copyright © 2014 by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, 6500 Barrie Road, Suite 250, Minneapolis, MN 55435-2358, United States. Editorial comments, questions, article proposals, and reprint requests should be directed to the editor, Kortney Nordrum, via email at kortney.nordrum@corporatecompliance.org or phone at +1 952 405 7928. An annual subscription to Ethikos is $135. The rate for SCCE and HCCA members is $125. To subscribe, go online to www.corporatecompliance.org/ethikos or call +1 952 933 4977 or 888 277 4977. Copies of past issues of Ethikos are available to current subscribers on the website, www.corporatecompliance.org/ ethikos. Authorization to photocopy items must be obtained from the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics. Go online to www.corporatecompliance.org/ethikos to sign up for Ethikos’ weekly business email newsletter. January/February 2014 Fairness is another value that rings true to our ears, but can mark the path to great wrongdoing. Take a simple example. I compete with two other salespeople in my market. We have been fighting for every customer, cutting our costs as much as possible, and trying to do more for each customer to win them over. Yet one of these salespersons is suffering at home with a sick spouse and is unable to match our efforts. Another is a minority provider struggling to enter the market. Fairness tells me to meet with them and work-out something that is fair. This way we can each earn our living yet live our lives in peace. We each get our fair share of the market. I agree to let one keep the customers she already has, and divide up the market with the second competitor. What could be fairer? And we are honest as well; we do not poach on each other’s customers. We are generous with each other, rather than being greedy. But we have just committed a very serious crime. How did this happen? We followed important values and were truly ethical to each other. But we have ignored another set of values: Those of free markets and competition. We have violated the antitrust laws. We have not simply ignored some technical regulation; rather, we have violated society’s direction that the greatest good for all comes from rigorous competition. Competition increases supply, reduces the costs to society, and produces innovations that better the lives of all. This means more goods and services are available to more people. So the poor may have more food and better places to live. Fairness is another value that rings true to our ears, but can mark the path to great wrongdoing. If one is imbued with this value, then what one sees in these facts is the image of the thugs, conspiring to be lazy and not work hard. These thugs steal from the public by raising prices and taking what is not theirs. So we have heard the breezy aphorism, “law is about what you have a right to do, but ethics is about what is right to do.” Catchy, yes. Simple, yes. Cool and snappy, yes. But 3 / ETHIKOS So we have heard the breezy aphorism, “law is about what you have a right to do, but ethics is about what is right to do.” Catchy, yes. Simple, yes. Cool and snappy, yes. But correct in its message? Not so much. The simplistic idea that there is some “right” course that is better than the law is seriously misguided. correct in its message? Not so much. The simplistic idea that there is some “right” course that is better than the law is seriously misguided. Certainly laws can be technical and even tiresome to figure out. It is also true that people will look for ways around the law. But the study of behavioral economics is increasingly informing us that people are at least as active and creative in “adjusting” their values in pursuit of their own self-interests. Law calls for us to think about what is right for our fellow citizens. It is recognizing that we are not just individuals but are part of a larger society. It is seeing the reality that there are a variety of values. Mostly they will lead us in the right direction, but sometimes they will not. There will always be value in asking ourselves whether possible conduct is right. But including the law in that calculation is no more of a formality than is considering one’s personal values. Law, it turns out, is actually a system of values. It tells us that in certain important areas society has set a priority among values. Your loyalty to a boss who has always treated you fairly may be strong, but when that same boss asks you to lie to an OSHA inspector, the law tells you how to prioritize your system of values. Every day you should try to do what is right. Consider the consequences of your business actions and decisions. But give the law its due. Do not simply read the list of do’s and don’ts, but develop a sense of the victims the law protects and the values society holds inviolate. It is the right thing to do. ❏ January/February 2014 The CCO as Ethical Culture Leader By Donna C. Boehme “Tone at the Top”—I’m over it. At one point, circa 2002, following the scandals of Enron, Worldcom, Tyco, and the rest of the corporate accounting fraudsters, the idea of the CEO and other senior leaders setting “tone at the top” as workplace role models sounded ground-breaking, even inspirational. What better way to demonstrate the behavior expected of every employee in the organization, from C-suite on down, than leaders who lived the stated values—through words and action—of the company? But now, after CEOs have spent well over a decade hearing governance and ethics commentators tout “tone at the top” as the magic cure-all for a multitude of corporate sins, the phrase has become nearly meaningless. It’s up to the chief compliance officer (CCO) to change that. Earlier this year, Michael Volkov, former federal prosecutor and good friend to the compliance profession, committed an act of near blasphemy in his column “The CCO—not the CEO—Creates an Ethical Culture.”1 The words “bloviating,” “hot air,” and “KoolAid” jumped off the page. It was enough to get all the corporate Donna C. Boehme governance experts’ collective knickers in a wad. I guess that makes at least two of us politically incorrect, since in my column on this topic “Tone at the top: The movie”2 I put the phrase “tone at the top” on my official Banned Phrases List. That’s because, as Joe Murphy has observed, “tone at the top” has been conveniently interpreted by many in senior management as “tone from my mouth.” For too many boards and C-suites, creating an ethical culture seemed as simple as joining hands and singing Kumbaya.3 Words are easy. Meaningful, visible acts of ethical leadership across the organization are hard. So what’s the answer? Every smart CEO knows that nothing important happens in business without empowered, visible leadership who have the right mandate and resources to get the job done. When was the last time you heard a Fortune 100 CEO announce a major change or product rollout in the company by saying “So everyone, just go for it!”? That would be…never. I’m all for ethical leadership and management acting as role models, but boards and C-suites are dreaming if they think that happens without the leadership of an experienced, senior-level CCO who has been empowered and positioned to lead the way—as the organization’s “subject-matter expert” of ethical culture. The important corollary to senior management understanding the role of the CCO as the Ethical Culture Leader is for CCOs themselves to embrace that function with daily awareness and perseverance. Just as essential as the business of building, implementing, and overseeing the more tangible compliance program elements (e.g. training, monitoring, 4 / ETHIKOS Words are easy. Meaningful, visible acts of ethical leadership across the organization are hard. January/February 2014 and the confidential reporting line), is the task of helping the CEO and his team deliver on the promise of “tone from my mouth the top.” Otherwise, no one has their eye on the ball and the company has created a classic case of “When everyone is responsible for feeding the dog, the dog starves.” Ethical culture in an organization doesn’t happen by singing Kumbaya. It is truly the big dog that needs to be fed, and on a daily basis. As Volkov observes: “Every CCO knows that an ethical culture is developed in the trenches, through hard work and commitment.” 4 What is so different about a CCO who embraces their role as Ethical Culture Leader? The possibilities are endless. Here are a few ideas for starters. 1. Facilitating candid conversations at board and C-suite level Whenever I see companies in trouble drag out the tired old “rogue employee” excuse within hours of a scandal hitting the media (long before any real internal investigation can be even started), it makes me wonder whether leadership has ever had a meaningful conversation about management’s role in developing a culture of accountability and transparency.5 Leaders who really want credit for “tone at the top” should understand the difference between “talk” and “walk”; and the CCO must use every opportunity, whether during board briefings, hallway chats, or other leadership training, to underscore this. CCOs should get beyond mere helpline stats and survey results to present the larger ethical culture “ask” to leadership. 2. Developing ethical leaders Good parents look for “teaching opportunities,” even amidst the endless daily demands of raising children in a challenging world. The CCO as Ethical Culture Leader should do the same. Leadership training and “What Is Expected of Leaders” brochures can only go so far, and attention spans are short. When a leader does “walk the talk,” the CCO should call them, or better, stop by to praise them in person. Before long, the CCO may find the “push” turning into a “pull” as good leaders reach out to them for advice or as a sounding board. Those leaders should be developed as part of the CCO’s network for supporting, and giving real-world input on, the compliance program. Many companies now have vehicles to recognize ethical heroes in the organization. Why not start at the top? And it goes without saying: Good news stories have a place in the board briefing, along with the bad ones. 5 / ETHIKOS Leaders who really want credit for “tone at the top” should understand the difference between “talk” and “walk”; and the CCO must use every opportunity, whether during board briefings, hallway chats, or other leadership training, to underscore this. 3. Building ethical leadership incentives I know I’m preaching to the converted, because experienced CCOs understand that tying ethical leadership criteria to the way managers are hired, evaluated, compensated, and promoted is the key to driving “walk-the-talk” culture. Without incentives, ethical leadership behaviors fall into the “nice to have” rather than the “impacts me” category. For instance, I’m a big proponent of including ethical leadership behaviors in a 360-degree performance review, because most smart managers are experts at “managing up,” but it’s how they lead their teams that really matters to a compliance program. Simple rule: What gets measured is what gets done. This is an important conversation to have with the board and C-suite. If that conversation is daunting, help can be found in Joe Murphy’s white paper on why incentives matter to a compliance program.6 4. Integrating culture as a key aspect of all compliance program elements In addition to incentives, the CCO should be looking at all elements of the compliance program through the lens of ethical culture. You’ve just refreshed your compliance training matrix, but do the modules adequately reflect notions of accountability, transparency, and ethical leadership? Does the risk assessment process integrate issues of culture? Do the investigation guidelines and training make reference to how leaders should be supporting the process? Is there an effective retaliation monitoring mechanism? The CCO who embraces the role of Ethical Culture Leader takes time to reflect on how each element and part of the compliance program supports and encourages ethical leadership in the organization. January/February 2014 5. Having an independent voice of ethical culture in the C-suite Over the past few years, CCOs have gained independence and stature in the organization and more are being heard as an independent voice in the C-suite.7 The list of companies dealing with the fallout of high-profile compliance scandals—that would have benefitted from an independent CCO voice in the C-suite—is long indeed. Perhaps CCOs have limited control over the final decision whether to give Compliance a seat at the table (other than voting with their feet),8 but they can be smart about what they say when they get there. CCOs need to be more than a human playback of training and hotline statistics; they need to be the subjectmatter expert on ethical culture and the role of managers to develop, promote, and sustain it in the organization. These are messages leadership needs to hear often, and with reallife examples. If not from the CCO as the Ethical Culture Leader, then from whom? I’ve written elsewhere about the enormous challenges facing CCOs just trying to do their jobs well. Some of you may be familiar with my “hot air balloon” analogy.9 But challenges and perils aside, the CCO that embraces the role of Ethical Culture Leader does exponentially more to advance compliance and ethics in the organization than one who does not. Ultimately, a company can have on paper all the building blocks of a robust compliance program, but the glue that binds it together and makes it work is the sum of ethical leadership acts that occur on a daily basis. The CCO should view the nurturing of that ethical leadership as Job No. 1. ❏ Endnotes 1 Michael Volkov: “The CCO—not the CEO—Creates an Ethical Culture,” CorruptionCrimeCompliance blog, http://bit.ly/volkov-cco 2 Donna Boehme: “Tone at the top: The movie,” Compliance & Ethics Professional, July/August 2012, http://bit.ly/boehme-0712 3 Donna Boehme: “Kumbaya Compliance is not good enough,” Compliance & Ethics Professional, May/June 2013, http://bit.ly/boehme-0513 4 See Volkov endnote 1. 5 Donna Boehme: “The ‘Rogue Employee’ and Dogs That Eat Homework,” Corporate Counsel, May 3, 2013, http://bit.ly/boehme-rogue-ee (archived, for subscribers only). 6 Joe Murphy: Using Incentives in Your Compliance and Ethics Program. Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics, http://bit.ly/murphy-incentives 7 “2013’s 10 Big Moments for Chief Compliance Officers,” Corporate Counsel, http://bit.ly/1aSUgLP 8 Donna Boehme: “There’s no crying in Compliance” Compliance & Ethics Professional, September/October 2013, http://bit.ly/boehme-crying 9 Donna Boehme: “Evolution of a Global Profession,” keynote speech at Compliance Week Europe 2013 Conference, http://bit.ly/boehme-compliance-wk The ethics of downsizing By Paul E. Fiorelli, JD, MBA Loyalty in business isn’t what it used to be. My father worked for Sears Roebuck & Co. for almost 40 years and retired as a senior executive in the mid-1980s. He was part of the “Greatest Generation” of World War II veterans, staking their claim to the American Dream. They worked under a social contract: If you work hard and take care of the company, it will take care of you. You could retire comfortably with an engraved watch and a pension plan to carry you and your spouse through the golden years. About the same time my father retired, this “womb to tomb” or “cradle to grave” pact began changing. This US 6 / ETHIKOS adjustment was facilitated by a set of laws known as “atwill employment.” That means in many states, a company can get rid of the employee at any time for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all. Likewise, an employee could leave the company at any time, for any reason. In theory, at-will employment was considered fair due to this “doctrine of mutuality.” In practice, what the doctrine doesn’t take into account is the impact layoffs have on individuals, families, and their communities is far greater than the impact on the company for an employee working with a new organization. January/February 2014 While it’s not difficult for US companies to lay off workers, in Europe and Japan, a job is seen more as a property right. It’s not as easily taken away.1 The US arrangement may appear economically sound, at first. Both sides—employers and employees—are free to do what they want. It’s the free market in action. You can argue we have one of the most productive work forces in the world. But there are some problems with this arrangement. Sometimes we work scared. As Americans, we tend to define ourselves by our jobs, our titles, and the companies we work for. The downside of that is, if we lose our jobs, we lose the status we’ve built. Our prestige vanishes, and along with it, our identity. That makes Americans more desperate to keep their jobs. We “live to work”, while Europeans “work to live.” We feel lucky if we have a job that allows us to work 43 to 45 hours a week (or more). On the other hand, some Europeans consider the company lucky that they’re allowing their employer to have 35 hours of their time each week. This “new work order” was highlighted in Oliver Stone’s original Wall Street movie. In Gordon Gekko’s famous “Greed is good” soliloquy during that 1987 movie, he doesn’t think of himself a destroyer of companies. He liberated them. Gekko considered this unleashing the company’s potential and unshackling it from past inefficiencies, like paying 33 different vice presidents $200,000 a year (which was a lot back then) to do who knows what. Gekko, symbolized the new breed of entrepreneur/corporate raider. He represented the person who was willing to buy a company, and then tear it apart. This “liberated” company could now be sold off in pieces, generating enough profits to pay off the debt used to buy the company in the first place. Then he’d pocket the difference, and live happily ever after. Or at least until the next deal. This was addition (to his wealth) by subtraction (jobs from the community), leading to “excess for success.” Nothing stopped Gekko, until his Faustian apprentice, Bud Fox, failed his final test in selling his soul to Gekko’s Mephistopheles. Fox put a halt to the planned “asset liberation program,” only when it involved his father’s company, Bluestar Airlines. That concept, whether from Gekko and “Wall Street” or the real-life corporate raiders of the time, caused management teams at companies across the country to wake from their slumber that had been filled with dreams of lifetime 7 / ETHIKOS employment. They realized it was better for them to be the ones “cutting heads,” rather than leaving it up to the Gekkos of the world. Managers did this under the banner of “maximizing shareholder value.” Their view was that this was their fiduciary duty. If they were to act in the best interest of shareholders, Paul E. Fiorelli they had to “rightsize” the company by selling off divisions, and get the most value out of the pieces of their company. But these moves also conveniently lined the pockets of executives who were compensated based on short-term results. That set up an inherent conflict of interest—short-term profits v. long-term value. Visionary corporate stewards ask themselves, “How can I grow the business and leave it better than I found it?” That’s a completely different mentality from the Gekko’s of this world. With that bunch, the concept of “legacy” has been replaced by “immediacy.” They calculated the easiest way push the stock price to new heights. If it took schemes and scams, so be it. Even if the price was built on a house of cards, once the stack of stock got high enough, they’d cash in their options, and retire comfortably. Who couldn’t sleep soundly with this new American dream? It didn’t matter what happened to the company and its employees after that. They justified their short-sighted actions using the John Maynard Keynes line, “In the long run, we are all dead.”2 Then they thought, “Who am I to argue with Keynes?” They figured everyone else should try to get theirs, as long as it didn’t interfere with my ability to get mine. Skilled employees learned the new rules to the game, then started playing the cards they were dealt. In Studs Terkel’s classic book, Working, one of the people he interviewed was Larry Ross. Ross (not his real name) told Terkel, “The most stupid phrase in business is loyalty…The shnook is the loyal guy because he can’t get a job anywhere else.”3 Loyalty has changed from “40 years and a gold watch” to “if you’re not doing anything for me, I’m not staying.” I had one student who was approached by her company for an 18-month assignment. It looked like the job was designed for her and that she was the ideal candidate for the project. Even though the company would have benefited had she taken the assignment, she turned it down. She rationalized January/February 2014 Layoffs can’t always be avoided. But managers should take a long, hard look at their other options before taking that difficult step. her decision because the job didn’t “improve her skill set.” That’s the mentality people have now. They want to know “what’s in it for me?” and “what have you done for me lately?” These employees think, “I’ll see your John Maynard Keynes, and raise you a Studs Terkel!” The best-case scenario might be a “new normal” for the employer-employee relationship. Instead of staying with a company until retirement, loyalty means that employees: (1) work hard while they’re with the company, (2) they do well by the company, and (3) they speak well of it when they leave. It’s a different dynamic than it used to be. Layoffs can end up causing bigger problems over time, whether we’re dead in the long run or not. And they result in other costs. Employee engagement can suffer when a company has a tendency to lay off people as a first resort, instead of a last resort. Employees who are “not engaged” exert the minimum amount of effort. They do just enough to not get fired. “Actively disengaged” employees have an even greater impact on a company. They try to “poison the well,” making a miserable work environment for everyone else (think about the movie Office Space). It seems hard to expend your discretionary energy—the definition of actively engaged employees—to advance the company’s interest, if you think they might get rid of you, or your friends, any day. This isn’t to say that companies shouldn’t lay off employees or, for that matter, that employees shouldn’t leave their employers. The point is that employers should be aware of the significance of layoffs and, more importantly, that a “more just” way of doing it may exist. Companies may be forced to lay off workers, but they should do it with an ethical, compassionate approach. In the movie Company Men, Phil Woodward, played by Chris Cooper, plays a “rags to riches” senior executive for the fictional GTX Corp. From his hard-scrabble beginnings, Woodword likes his new life of privilege. Unfortunately he’s part of the latest round of downsizing, as part of GTX’s strategy to cut expenses and raise the stock price. Woodward 8 / ETHIKOS throws rocks at GTX’s headquarter as he screams that his life has been ruined, while everyone else’s life keeps moving along smoothly. Why didn’t the rest of the world stop when his did? This character died by suicide shortly thereafter. It raises the question of whether companies should do more than offer outplacement consulting to help employees with their transition to another job. There are ethical ways to cut positions. You might want to have an exit interview with a person other than the one who fired the employee. Or use an exit questionnaire in addition to the interview. Some employees will feel more comfortable expressing thoughts that way. If fired employees seem to take it overly hard or cause concern, refer them to the company’s Employee Assistance Program. And if the problem seems bigger than that, the company could even contact the employee’s friends and family. Tap into the person’s support network to make sure things are okay. Encourage former coworkers to stay in touch with the laid-off ex-employee. Layoffs can’t always be avoided. But managers should take a long, hard look at their other options before taking that difficult step. Maybe it means putting employees on furlough or job-sharing to save money. This could be an opportunity to train employees in new technologies, which could give the company a competitive edge in the future. It might mean finding another place to cut costs. Maybe the executives don’t need those huge expense accounts. Perhaps only flying business class, instead of using private Gulfstream G4 jets will suffice? Or maybe you don’t need to spend as much on off-site meetings in sunny locations. Videoconferencing might work just as well. You could even wear Hawaiian shirts, and place sunlamps around the conference room, if you wanted. And if a company does need to lay off employees, it can pay to retrain them so they can quickly get back into the work force. Ultimately, company leaders should look for alternatives to laying off employees. And if they don’t have any other options, they should look for ethical ways to reduce their workforce. If they want to become an “employer of choice,” they can’t afford to do it any other way. ❏ Endnotes 1 Donald C. Dowling, Jr.: “Global HR Hot Topic—January 2014: Employment Contracts Outside the United States,” White & Case, http://bit.ly/atwill-emp 2 John Maynard Keynes: “The Theory of Money and the Foreign Exchanges,” 1924. 3 Working, Studs Terkel, “Larry Ross,” p. 409. January/February 2014 Blurred lines: Using social responsibility to make money By Kortney Nordrum We know that corporate directors and officers hold fiduciary responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is the duty to maximize profits for their shareholders. While making money is great, companies must do so within the bounds of ethics. For some companies these ethics follow the letter of the law—nothing more, nothing less. Other companies take a more nebulous view. In either case, business ethics generally don’t require corporations to take any particular social or political stance. Recently, however, many companies are voluntarily adding social responsibilities to their codes of ethics—and reaping the rewards. Kortney Nordrum This poses an interesting question: If becoming socially responsible will substantially increase profits, is there a duty to do it? The answer is likely no, but the case is compelling. Benefit Corporations or “B Corps” are an emerging trend on the corporate landscape.1 B Corps are one of two things: A for-profit business certified by the non-profit B Lab to meet “rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency,” or a legal entity formed as a “benefit corporation” under state law (available in 20 states, including Delaware, as a result of B Lab’s zealous legislative efforts).2 Both B Corp designations carry with them the promise that the designated company has volunteered to be held to higher standards than everyone else. As a result of the movement, many B Corp companies have seen a wave of positive attention, as well as financial gain. A prime example is BlueAvocado, an Austin-based company that sells products made from recycled plastic bottles. At the time BlueAvocado became B Corp certified in 9 / ETHIKOS March of 2013, its products were available in approximately 300 Target stores. Post-certification, the company reports that its products are now available in more than 1,000 Targets, and 2,500 new stores, including Kohl’s, QVC, and Duane Reade. BlueAvocado’s CEO, Amy George, attributes the growth to the B Corp certification.3 King Arthur’s Flour and eyeglasses innovator Warby Parker saw similar positive results following their certifications. Business experts muse that B Corps have what many in the marketplace are lacking—trust. Not only trust from consumers, but trust from investors and potential employees. This trust will allow B Corps to prosper where others have and will fail, and they have numbers to prove it. According to B Labs, companies with B Corp designation were 63 percent more likely to survive the Great Recession than similarly-sized companies without it.4 Consumer expectations also play a role. A startling 54 percent of global consumers say they don’t trust brands in general, with 55 percent saying they’ve boycotted a company because of irresponsible business practices. This is in addition to the 68 million US consumers who prefer to buy from socially and environmentally responsible businesses. In its distilled form it’s a simple idea: Social responsibility sells. Dealing with stiff competition and slow economic recovery, businesses are struggling to differentiate themselves, and searching for any advantage over the competition.5 B Corp designation may be that advantage. Additionally, B Corps attract investors. With the number of self-designated “socially responsible investors” (SRI) growing, the market needs a way to filter truly progressive companies from the riff raff—and the B Corp designation seems to fill that void. With JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimating the size of the SRI market to be between $400 billion and $1 trillion, this is a resource begging to be tapped.6 January/February 2014 Dealing with stiff competition and slow economic recovery, businesses are struggling to differentiate themselves, and searching for any advantage over the competition. B Corp designation may be that advantage. B Corp status may also broaden the talent pool, so says Wall Street Journal. In its article, “Social Seal of Approval Lures Talent,” the WSJ highlighted how the B Corp designation has helped companies attract more qualified candidates.7 This was especially true for candidates between the ages of 21 and 32 (aka “Millennials”). It’s probably not a coincidence that more than 80 percent of job seekers in that age group want to work for a company that is socially and environmentally responsible. However, even if we remove the fresh-out-of-college-no-idea-how-the-real-worldworks-hippie-crusader Millenials from the mix, there’s still something there; enough, in fact, that several top business schools offer student-loan assistance programs for graduates who go on to work for B Corps. If the above information holds true, then becoming a B Corp has the potential to become a viable source of profit, increase customers, increase market share, and help businesses hire more competent workers. The mounting evidence begs the question: At what point does having some sort of social responsibility designation become a profitbased business decision, instead of a philosophical one—a business strategy instead of a moral standard? If and when there becomes a solid business case for becoming a B Corp, many in the traditional business world may be faced with the choice of following suit or losing money. ❏ Endnotes 1 “What are B Corps?,” Certified B Corporation, http://bit.ly/what-bcorps 2 “Passing Legislation,” Certified B Corporation, http://bit.ly/leg-bcorp 3 “Why ‘do good’ businesses are blowing up,” CNN Money, http://bit.ly/bcorps-blueavocado 4 “B Corps: A higher purpose than profit,” philly.com, http://bit.ly/1kGx3pz 5 “The Fastest Way to Kill Your Brand: Inauthenticity,” We Blog First, http://bit.ly/1dBxJHj 6 JPMorgan Chase & Co.: Impact Investing Offers Trillion Dollar Opportunity,” Business Ethics, http://bit.ly/1drVjW1 7 “Social Seal of Approval Lures Talent,” Wall Street Journal, http://on.wsj.com/1j8kQG4 Gray areas: When ethics problems are not exactly black or white By Frank C. Bucaro Ethics problems are not always transgressions that are either black or white. Detailed codes of conduct that are targeted at what is acceptable and what is not can make life easier when it comes to enforcement. But what about potential ethics problems that land on our doorstep, but are not covered by the code, not obviously black or white, but more like gray? Situations that do not fall neatly into one category or the other I call “gray area” problems. The way forward with such situations may not be immediately clear, and can require time and effort for satisfactory 10 / ETHIKOS resolution. The good news is that gray area problems can provide valuable information and may also help to avoid bigger problems down the road. I came face to face with a gray area issue some years ago, when I found myself being suggested as the keynote speaker for a large corporate event by two different representatives of two different organizations. For those who do speaking presentations, it is not uncommon to work with a variety of bureaus, meeting planners, or talent agencies on a regular basis. In my experience, most January/February 2014 are ethical and adhere to commonly accepted industry practices. On my end everything initially looked good, although a bit unusual, with two different reps in the mix trying to pin down a speaker for the same program. Both confirmed the same fee with my office, which was my current fee for a keynote. I would not have become aware that something was a little off at that point, but one of the representatives called, obviously upset, and asked if I had allowed the other rep to quote a different fee, which I had not. I was confused about what was going on. Bottom line, even though I had no contact with the client at that preliminary stage, I was in the middle of a messy situation that I did not cause, and it did not cast me in a positive light with the client. I tried to probe further about the situation with the rep in question, but things ended unsatisfactorily. His behavior may not have seemed unethical from his perspective, but I could not say that it was fair or in line with accepted practices. We did not work together and I am sure it cost me that booking with the client. The experience had a benefit however. We soon initiated a more comprehensive policy in my office to help avoid a similar situation in the future. Heading off potential gray area headaches What are the situations that employees encounter in your industry that might lead to a gray area? Once possible situations are identified, you can take a proactive approach. TIP: Highlight situations in training sessions or ethics meetings where there could be a potential problem and work through possible options in these sessions for the best resolution. Being proactive might prevent development of an all-out ethics problem down the road. When ethics problems surface in a public way, we sometimes hear in media interviews with a former or 11 / ETHIKOS current employee that “everybody knew what was going on.” Ideally, everyone in the organization should know what the process is, and who the “go to” person, department, or committee is for questions, raising concerns, or reporting problems. If there is an elephant in the room, it is good if everyone at least knows Frank C. Bucaro what to do about it. Don’t assume everyone understands the process or the path for raising concerns just because they read the employee handbook once. Periodically I get calls or emails from someone dealing with an ethics issue that is a real concern in their workplace. I try to offer some general ideas about what they might do, what resources might be available to them at work, etc. Sometimes I find myself wondering why they can’t or don’t feel comfortable working this through with someone on the inside. If you have an ethics officer, ombudsperson, or ethics committee, let employees know what resources are available for them and how to access theses resources. Don’t assume everyone possesses a highly developed sense of ethics. (Let’s hope, yes, but don’t assume.) Educate, restate, and reiterate on a regular basis the importance of integrity, values, and ethical behavior to reduce risk. Gray areas can be a testing ground, and can also provide opportunities for intervention and education before things get too far along. They can also be a resource to identify gaps in training programs. Gray area situations can also be a great opportunity for leaders to do what they do best—lead! Is it always right vs. wrong? All of us come face to face with gray area issues, and some are close to home. Gray area issues can be a testing ground for our own values. The issue might not always be right vs. wrong; maybe it will be right vs. right, or possibly, right vs. “more right.” Therefore, in learning to recognize, analyze, and resolve these gray areas, what changes do you need to make to your approach to these areas? This means examining the specific type of training, techniques, or tool that focuses on gray areas, and then finding the indicators of how effective the resolution of these areas have been. ❏ January/February 2014 Ethics in the workplace: The Dominican Republic perspective By Laura Serra Nova Compliance is an untapped concept in the Dominican Republic, mainly due to the confusion this innovative area of expertise supposes. Companies usually interlink the legal functions with the tasks that ought to be the responsibility of a compliance professional, thus resulting in the incorrect allocation of positions and resources, and overlooking those with experience in the field. The concerns and conflicts within the hiring process are one thing; another is the infrequently discussed area of compliance management and how it affects employment ethics in everyday life. The Labor Code and regulations relating to the rights of employees are used to reflect some sort of corporate environment that eludes the written values and ethics manuals, previously considered almost a norm. Intrinsically linked are the failed national efforts of a few to amend and built a stronger change to ignite a growing society towards adapting to a globalized economic crisis of human values. It is evident in the internal challenges faced both by employees who manage their personal assets and employers in the management of their assets. The current legislation in the Dominican Republic allows Laura Serra Nova companies to establish internal manuals and procedures or a code of ethics where ethical values are promoted to employees. The manuals can be registered with the Ministry of Labor for its approval (under articles 129 to 134 of the Dominican Code of Labor) before the Institutional Ethics Committee that functions under the supervision of the Dirección General de Ética e Integridad Gubernamental (General Directorate of Ethics and Government Integrity). As respectable as this is, the future of compliance in the Dominican Republic should include a set of rules that make it mandatory to establish a code of compliance and ethics, approved by the Ministry, that furthers real consequences for violations. So far, procedural justice would step in to establish the ethical standards that guide the practice of everyday tasks, but it is people’s perception of what is to be considered the correct approach for a given situation that tends to prevail. When the questionable activity by an employer or employee involves professional incompetence that affects performance, it directly affects the company and may constitute a serious risk that cannot be left for tribunes to resolve after the business has demised. The most important aspect of conflict resolution, aside from protecting the parties’ rights, is respecting dignity and valuing the individual in the process of aiming for a preventive method, as opposed to a 12 / ETHIKOS So far, procedural justice would step in to establish the ethical standards that guide the practice of everyday tasks, but it is people’s perception of what is to be considered the correct approach for a given situation that tends to prevail. January/February 2014 defense mechanism, that preserves dignity and creates an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. The key inference here is respect towards the parties involved and the role that the State plays when establishing the rules that must be followed. I would say that the same values that are presented there should encourage employers in their interaction with their employees. I can proudly say that the President elected has taken matters in his own hands to set an example, making it mandatory for all ministers to sign a Code of Ethics and Conduct.1 Further analysis must be made in order to have a more accurate data in this regard, nonetheless experience states that whether a company acts in an ethical manner or not is not a significant factor at the moment for the average Dominican’s willingness to work for an employer. Jobseekers have other priorities, such as the need to work and provide for their families. Hopefully, this is about to change with the new measures being held at all levels. There is a considerable percentage of people who aspire to gain experience from a leading provider of governance, ethics, and compliance management and have conducted themselves in such a way throughout their professional life. Regardless of the challenges that we face, great efforts have been made by both public and private entities to The most important aspect of conflict resolution, aside from protecting the parties’ rights, is respecting dignity and valuing the individual in the process of aiming for a preventive method, as opposed to a defense mechanism, that preserves dignity and creates an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. move towards a greater ethical “well being.” And despite the culture imbalance of roles and duties, privileges, and responsibilities latent in what is socially approved, (described in Robert Lowie’s book Culture and Ethnology2) it is my opinion that our ethical future is bright. ❏ Endnotes 1 “Presidente y la Vice firman Còdigo `Etica,” Listin Diario, August 23, 2012, http://bit.ly/KabMUT 2 Robert H. Lowie: Extreme Culture Relativism. Basic Books Inc., 1967. History of the Integrity, Ethics and Compliance Movement: A cautionary tale for CEOs and corporate directors by Michael Josephson, JD Although the concept of imposing responsibility on companies to establish internal controls to prevent corporate wrongdoing was introduced in 1977 through the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (prompted by more than 400 U.S. companies admitting to paying bribes or making other illegal or questionable payments to foreign governments),1 American business did not make any significant efforts to establish systematic controls until the collective impact of five brutal years of unremitting scandal (1985–1990). 13 / ETHIKOS The scandals started with a variety of Defense IndustryPentagon misconduct and mismanagement, resulting in the appointment of a Blue Ribbon Presidential Commission to study the problem. The major impetus for this was the “spare parts scandal” that erupted in 1985. Congress and the public were outraged to discover that the Pentagon was paying ridiculous prices for “spare parts,” including a $7,622 coffee brewer, a $435 hammer, and the infamous $600 toilet seat. According to a Government Accountabil- January/February 2014 ity Office (GAO) report, the Department of Defense spent nearly $37 billion purchasing spare parts at highly inflated prices. What is significant is that this was not a compliance issue; no one was convicted of a crime. Nevertheless, both the price gouging by the sellers and the irresponsible, unaccountable overpaying by Department of Defense were widely regarded as unethical.2 The Blue Ribbon Commission echoed and expanded on the 1977 FCPA provisions demanding internal controls to prevent illegal and unethical conduct. They also recommended that defense contractors voluntarily improve the acquisition process through greater self-governance: “To assure that their houses are in order, defense contractors must promulgate and vigilantly enforce codes of ethics that address the unique problems and procedures incident to defense procurement. They must also develop and implement internal controls to monitor these codes of ethics and sensitive aspects of contract compliance” (emphasis added).3 Within months of the recommendations, Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric (a company involved in several bribery and misconduct scandals), along with the CEOs and senior officials from 17 other defense contractors, met to form a voluntary organization called the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct (DII). The purpose of the DII was to create a “heightened standard of ethical conduct…in the defense industry,” promote self-policing to ensure compliance with ethical standards even when they exceed legal requirements,” and create a forum to “share best practices in dealing with ethics and business conduct” (emphasis added).4 It is crystal clear that at least the rhetoric was about ethics, a concept that clearly embraces but goes well beyond compliance. By July 1986, 32 major defense contractors had pledged to adopt these six principles, including promulgation and adherence to a written code of conduct, employee training, encouragement of employee accountability, and procedures for voluntary disclosure to the Government.5 America’s disgust with the ethics of business was further heightened by the Savings and Loan Crisis just a few years later. The crisis, a preview of the massive mortgage meltdown 20 years later, started not with criminality, but reckless lending practices resulting in major losses, many 14 / ETHIKOS of which were covered up by frauds. About 750 S&Ls collapsed, resulting in a General Accounting Office estimated total cost of $370 billion, including $341 billion of taxpayer money. The Savings and Loan Crisis created the greatest banking collapse since the Great Depression of 1929. By 1989, over half of Michael Josephson the Savings and Loans had failed, and the federally funded Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC) went bankrupt. Nearly 1,000 people were charged with crimes (often lower level employees); of those, 580 were convicted, and 451 were sentenced to prison with an average sentence under two years. The 1980s closed with more financial shenanigans by a large investment banking firm, Drexel Burnham, led by the “junk bond king” Michael Milken. After months of claiming innocence, Milken pleaded guilty to six technical felonies and agreed to pay $600 million in fines and restitution, by far the biggest fraud case in the history of the securities industry. Everyone was shocked when Milken was sentenced to prison for ten years, but not so shocked when the sentence was reduced to two years. In the end, he served 22 months. This is the context in which the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO) were adopted in 1991. Though the sentencing guidelines do not require companies to establish effective compliance and ethics programs to prevent, detect, and self-report illegal and unethical conduct, they do offer hefty incentives to do so in the form of great leniency (reducing penalties by as much as 90 percent) if a company is convicted of a federal crime. The Guidelines also specified core elements (the “Seven Steps”) of a program that would qualify. In order to meet the requirements to be eligible for reduced sentences, many companies, especially those in highly regulated industries, began creating multi-faceted programs to include the seven elements specified by the guidelines. This including revising or drafting new codes of conduct, policies and procedures, training programs, risk assessments, and hotlines. To meet the need to design, January/February 2014 administer, and oversee the development and implementation of this new program, a new job (later to be treated as a profession) was born—the chief compliance officer. Almost immediately, about 30 ethics officers, mostly from the defense industry, formed the Ethics Officers Association (EOA). At the first meeting, Tom Phillips, chairman emeritus from Raytheon, referred to the moment as the beginning of “a new profession in American industry” and expressed his belief that an ethics officer position was essential to the ethical health of a company. In 1992, just one year after the FSGO was introduced, the organization had 22 sponsoring partners. In 2005, the organization added the word compliance to their name and became the Ethics and Compliance Organization (ECOA). In 2004, a second nonprofit association serving the ethics/compliance profession, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE)® was formed. SCCE (publishers of this magazine) have about 4,000 members worldwide and have added a new dimension of professional status to the ethics/compliance field by creating a certification program. More than 6,000 individuals have been actively certified through the Compliance Certification Board (CCB)®. So, Tom Phillips’ prediction came true. Today there is a very large and growing army of professionals who go by different names—Ethics Officer, Compliance Officer, Ethics and Compliance Officer—all working toward the same goal. As the position has grown in stature and responsibility, most organizations have dedicated a whole department of folks committed to keeping their organization out of trouble, and their leader is called the “Chief.” Despite the rhetoric about the importance of ethics and integrity, and a clear intent to induce companies to establish comprehensive internal controls and educational programs, and the expenditure of millions of dollars by companies seeking to create qualifying compliance and ethics programs, few companies actually developed programs that went beyond the compliance dimension of the challenge. What’s more, many of the programs were more show than go. They had all the elements prescribed by the FSGO, but had little chance of affecting the root causes of unethical and illegal conduct. The inadequacy of the first generation of corporate compliance and ethics programs became evident as the nation 15 / ETHIKOS In essence, a really effective program must embed ethics (not just compliance) into the DNA of the organization. was rocked by a parade of multi-billion dollar accounting frauds and private looting at Enron,6 WorldCom, Adelphia, Health South, Global Crossing, and Tyco in 2000–2002. In 2002, Congress responded to the evident hole in the corporate moral ozone by passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, imposing very rigorous internal control requirements on corporations. In 2004,7 the Uniform Sentencing Commission responded by augmenting the FSGO criteria to explicitly insist on more than superficial “check-the-box” programs that look good on paper but don’t truly inspire ethical commitment. To underline this point, the new guidelines made it clear that a program will not qualify as effective unless it is capable of creating an ethical culture. In essence, a really effective program must embed ethics (not just compliance) into the DNA of the organization. Unfortunately, even these efforts didn’t prevent the rampant irresponsibility of hundreds of financial institutions in the mortgage industry that led to massive bankruptcies and bailouts. These scandals involved Wall Street’s most prestigious investment banks and brokerages (Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, etc.), one of the nation’s largest insurance companies (AIG), and two iconic government sponsored entities (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae). Between June 2007 and November 2008, Americans lost more than a quarter of their net worth.8 This historical review should make it clear that Boards of Directors that have allowed their companies to confine their concerns to compliance are vulnerable under the Caremark doctrine9 because these programs fail to achieve the goals and demands of the government: that corporations establish robust, integrated programs that promote ethics and integrity as well as prevent and detect illegal conduct. ❏ Continued on page 16 January/February 2014 New publisher for Ethikos Dear Ethikos Subscribers: On January 1, 2014, Ethikos began a new era when the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE)® became its new publisher. SCCE is a non-profit association of approximately 4,000 compliance and ethics professionals from more than 55 countries. It is the sister association of the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA)®, which has approximately 9,000 members of its own. The move of Ethikos to SCCE is a very positive one for the publication and subscribers. SCCE is Adam Turteltaub already deeply involved with the ethics and compliance community and is the publisher of Compliance & Ethics Professional, a magazine exclusive for its members, and eCorporate Compliance News, a weekly email newsletter. In addition, during 2014 SCCE will offer thirty ethics and compliance conferences, six of which will take place outside of the US: Brussels, London, São Paulo, Shanghai, Dubai, and Vancouver. This deep commitment to serving the community gives SCCE unique insight into the needs of ethics and compliance professionals, insights that will be brought to the pages of Ethikos. To learn more about SCCE visit www.corporate compliance.org. We look forward to serving Ethikos readers and furthering the cause of business ethics. Sincerely, Adam Turteltaub Vice President of Membership Development Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics History of the Integrity, Ethics and Compliance Movement…continued from page 15 Endnotes 1 2 3 4 5 The headline in this group of scandals was provided by Congressional testimony by a Lockheed executive in 1976 admitting his company paid $22 million in bribes to Japanese government officials in an effort to sell its planes to Japan. This testimony was especially embarrassing since the U.S. Government had recently provided Lockheed with a $250 million emergency loan guarantee. 7 8 As a result of this scandal Congress imposed an unprecedented one year freeze on the Department of Defense Budget. See the full report at http://1.usa.gov/1ekAyJr Origins and Development of the Defense Industry Initiative, in 2000 DEF. INDUS. INITIATIVE ANN. REP. 4-10 available at http://bit.ly/1e2gfEu The DII Principles: 1) Have and adhere to written Codes of Conduct; 2) Train employees in those Codes; 3) Encourage internal reporting of violations of the Code, within an atmosphere free of fear of 16 / ETHIKOS 9 retribution; 4) Practice self-governance through the implementation of systems to monitor compliance with federal procurement laws and the adoption of procedures for voluntary disclosure of violations to the appropriate authorities; 5) Share with other firms their best practices in implementing the principles, and participate annually in “Best Practices Forums;” and 6) Be accountable to the public. Less dramatic, but significant additional guidance stressing ethical culture was added in a 2010 amendment to the FSGO. The virus of irresponsible mortgage lending and the buying and selling mortgagees and derivative products turned into a financial pandemic that undermined the world economy, but in the U.S. alone the stock value of major financial institutions dropped so drastically that retirement funds held by millions of Americans dropped by more than 20% from 2006-2008 (losing $2.3 trillion). Housing prices dropped by 20% from their 2006 peak and home equity values dropped by a staggering $4.2 trillion. “The Great Crash, 2008 by Roger C. Altman” in Foreign Affairs. See The Duty to Monitor under Delaware Law: from Caremark to Citigroup, by Eric J. Pan, Director Notes, The Conference Board (February 2010), http://bit.ly/1e2fOd8 (restricted content, requires subscription). January/February 2014