Ethical issues and problems can arise in organizations for many different reasons, including:
- Pressures to shortchange quality or safety in a tight economy.
- Temptations to take shortcuts to meet unrealistic deadlines.
- Inordinate focus on short-term profits.
- A misguided belief that one can only compete with unscrupulous competitors by sinking to their level.
- Management rewarding any employees who meet their objectives, even when they do so unethically.
- Lack of a clear set of ethical principles and values exhibited by influential organizational leaders.
- Inadequate understanding throughout the organization of how ethical principles apply in their realm.
- A culture that "shoots the messengers" of bad news.
The staff of the Vann Center for Ethics have several years of experience in advising corporations, government agencies and nonprofits on assessing and reducing their ethical risks. They can also call on specialists in related fields when appropriate to meet the needs of particular organizations. Our services include conducting confidential interviews of employees, sharing sanitized interview results with management, giving presentations on ethics inside the organization, and working with management to draft a code of ethics and develop related internal workshops. Because we're a nonprofit ourselves, our professional fees are relatively modest.
Contact the director of the Vann Center, Dr. David Perry, at daperry@davidson.edu or phone 704-894-2285, for further information.
See also these related articles by Dr. Perry:
"Can Business Ethics Be Taught?"
"Keys to Creating an Effective Ethics Program"
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