Chapter 5: Transforming The Ethical Culture of Organizations

Major ethics scandals have tarnished a remarkably wide range of social institutions in recent years, including accounting fraud at dozens of corporations, torture at Abu Ghraib, sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, cheating and plagiarism at schools, colleges, and the New York Times, sweatshop labor in the apparel industry, steroid use in sports, and conflicts of interests in a variety of industries, such as pharmaceutical research, brokerage houses, auditing firms, and insurance companies. Each scandal has prompted demands for institutional change and various strategies for accomplishing such change, from increased government oversight and regulation to stronger professional codes of conduct to creating institutional incentives to encourage ethical behavior and legal compliance. This chapter argues that several common practices are often found in ethically engaged organizations that enable constructive cultural change. Drawing upon scholarly research, popular literature, and empirical data from several organizations, I suggest that ethically engaged organizations: (1) align personal, professional, and organizational aspirations and behaviors; (2) foster dialogic communication; (3) encourage participation in decision making; (4) establish transparent structures, policies and procedures; (5) emphasize accountability for anticipating and responding to ethical crises; and (6) promote courageous efforts to identify and resolve ethical dilemmas.