Chapter 13: Integrity Capital Acquisition and Management Learning from the Polish Experience: Fighting Corruption in a New Globalized Era

How can integrity, and integrity in an organizational context, be defined? In fact, there is no simple explanation for this question. Organizations may understand it differently. Integrity can be defined as a philosophy of consistency of actions, values, methods, organizational principles, expectations, and results. As defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it is a “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values (incorruptibility), an unimpaired condition (soundness), and the quality or state of being complete or undivided (completeness) (Merriam-Webster, 2012). According to Miller (2011), it is not something that people are born with, rather it is learned and strengthened over time. In the business context, we can discuss the causes and consequences of integrity of character, as well as professional integrity, but in doing so, we can go beyond simple compliance with codes of ethics to a point where both ethical actions and decision-making are fostered across the workplace, thereby—it is hoped—instilling and sustaining cultures of integrity in organizations. Corporate codes, although perhaps valuable as points of reference, have not thus far successfully instilled ethical values. Instead, the fostering of an ethical culture is necessary to advance integrity. In the process, in business organizational cultures we can measure and achieve our performance aims with an established set of objective guidelines that support integrity principles.