Ethics Reviews are a powerful way to examine current ethical questions and
anticipate the need to respond to them before the public, stockholders,
employees, or government interferes. The Review described here is conducted
under a strict code of confidentiality. It may be initiated by the Board of
Directors or Executive Managers.
The usual way an Ethics Review is conducted is summarized here. However, every Review is designed
with company needs and circumstances in mind.
1. Initial meeting with the representatives of the board or appropriate members
of the executive management team:
- This is the preliminary Review Step
- It inaugurates the Review process
- Set the stage and schedule
- Set the scope of the Review based on the Ethics Inventory
- Learn the needs and goals of management or board
- Get the lay of the land
- Survey company politics
- Design and agree to the steps and proposed schedule for the Review
- Determine who will be involved at each step
- Agree to the budget
2. Step One: Discovery
Aspect A: Individual view of the executives
- Interview each senior executive chosen to be involved with the Ethics Review in order to
determine the scope of work required to examine the company's position vis a vis each
item in the Ethics Inventory.
Aspect B: The actual understanding of the employees
- Interview a sampling of employees below the executive level to determine awareness and
commitment to supposed corporate philosophy vis a vis ethics. This input helps ground
the Review in the reality of daily life within the company. It is kept strictly confidential.
Aspect C: Existing stated ethics of the company
- Review copies of all previously written or oral statements of
mission or purpose,
vision or values,
goals and objectives,
or ethics.
Aspect D: Summary and report
- Distill all findings into a single, coherent statement in plain language
- Assess how this connects to actual corporate life
- Prepare a report for executive management
3. Interim Meeting with executive management team:
- 1st check-in
- Present the report from the Discovery process
- Hear feedback from executive leadership
- If necessary, redraft statements in plainer terminology or in other languages
- Determine who will be involved in Step Two
4. Step Two: Listening
- Set up one-on-one meetings with employees
- either all of them - in a small company or division
- or a representative sampling of them - in larger locations
- Conduct a Review Interview with each
- Repeat process with senior management
- Repeat again with selected shareholders, if appropriate
- Create a report from this input
5. Interim Meeting with executive management team:
- 2nd check-in
- Present report from Listening process
- Compare to report from Discovery process
- Hear recommendations from the staff of Corporate Philosophy
- Reconcile these into an actual statement or set of statements, based on the
recommendations of the Corporate Philosophy staff
6. Step Three: Planning
- Persons designated by executive management do this work, which may include senior
managers,outside consultants, finance, human resources, or others, with the counsel
and guidance of the staff of Corporate Philosophy
- Purpose: to consider the cost and benefits of applying certain ethical changes, revisions,
or new positions in the workplace
- This may include elements of:
- carefully orchestrated internal or external public relations work
- seminars for employees
- shareholder meeting presentations
- one-on-one sessions with leadership to ensure buy-in
- and other elements.
7. Interim Meeting with executive management team:
- 3rd check-in
- Present outcomes from planning process and hear the final report of the staff of
Corporate Philosophy
- Consider schedule for Implementation phase
- Take a decision about the direction of the next step
8. Implementing
- To be carried out by the company as agreed by management
9. Step Four: Evaluating
- Gather notes from all steps in the Review process
- Present the final report to the executive management team
- Bring closure to the Review process
- Set a follow up meeting to consider future needs
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