Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Introduction
Following Watergate and President Richard Nixons
resignation in 1974, corporate scandals and acts of
egregious behavior proliferated in the United States
and continued for several decades. The ethical
standards of corporations were not held in high reBetsy Stevens as associate professor of Business Administration
at Elon University. Her academic interests are business and
management communication, business ethics, international
communication, and hospitality management. An active researcher, she has published more than 20 articles in refereed
journals such as The Journal of Business Communication, Business Communication Quarterly, The Journal
of Business and Technical Communication, Journal of
Business Ethics, Bquest and the Journal of Employment Counseling. She has an M.A. from the University of
Cincinnati and a Ph.D. from Wayne State University. As a
Fulbright Scholar, she taught university classes in Tomsk,
Russia and has also been on the faculty of the Australian
International Hotel School in Canberra, Australia
Betsy Stevens
602
Betsy Stevens
Year
Country
Marnburg
McKendall et al.
Healey and Iles
Snell and Herndon
2000
2002
2002
2004
449
108
125
171
Norway
U.S.A.
U.K.
Hong Kong
603
604
Betsy Stevens
605
TABLE 2
Evidence of code effectiveness
Study
Year
Country
Fisher
Somers
Trevino and Weaver
Chonko et al.
Schwartz
Adam and Rachman-Moore
ODwyer and Madden
Vitell
2001
2001
2003
2003
2001
2004
2006
2006
45
613
multiple studies
286
57
812
142
152/235
U.K.
U.S.A.
U.S.A.
U.S.A.
Canada
Israel & U.S.A.
Ireland
Spain & U.S.A.
the relationship to ethics has been tenuously addressed in the code literature to this point.
How can companies achieve a strong, ethical,
values-driven organization where employees live by
the code of ethics? Research shows that the two
primary drivers of codes effectiveness are cultural
values and communication. Culturally embedded
codes can be powerful strategic management tools.
Similarly, when the values articulated in the codes
are clearly communicated and are part of the organization, the code affects employees behavior in a
positive way.
606
Betsy Stevens
Conclusion
Corporate ethical codes have earned a secure place as
strategic management tools in organizations. A body
of research is now in place demonstrating that if
codes are embedded in the organizational culture and
communicated effectively, they can shape ethical
behavior and guide employees in ethical decisionmaking. Managers must model the desired behavior
and employees need to see that sanctions occur if
codes are violated. Communication is a requirement
for codes to be successful. Employees must be aware
of the content in their ethical codes and participate in
discussions about the codes so they have full understanding of the meaning. Codes do not work when
they are written by management and passed down to
employees as a mandate. Employees must perceive
the ethical code as a personal document in which
they have ownership, as a key component of the
organizational fabric, and as one that is central to the
organizations strategic functions.
607
References
Adam, M. A. and D. Rachman-Moore: 2004, The
Methods Used to Implement an Ethical Code of
Conduct and Employee Ettitudes, Journal of Business
Ethics 54, 225244.
Benson, G. C.: 1989, Code of Ethics, Journal of Business
Ethics 8(5), 305319.
Berenbeim, R.: 1987, Corporate Ethics (Random House,
New York).
Brooks, L. J.: 1989, Corporate codes of ethics, Journal of
Business Ethics 8(23), 117129.
K. S. CameronJ. E. DuttonR. E. Quinn: 2003, Positive
Organizational Scholarship: Foundations of a new discipline
(Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco).
Casel, C., P. Johnson and K. Smith: 1997, Opening the
black box: Corporate codes of ethics in their organizational context, Journal of Business Ethics 16, 1077
1093.
Chonko, L. B, T. R. Wotruba and T. Loe: 2003, Ethics
Codes Familiarity and Usefulness: Views on Idealist
and Relativist Managers under Conditions of Turbulence, Journal of Business Ethics 42, 237252.
Cleek, M. A. and S. J. Leonard: 1998, Can Corporate
Codes of Ethics Influence Behavior?, Journal of Business Ethics 17(6), 619630.
Cressey, D. and C. A. Moore: 1983, Managerial Values
and Corporate Codes of Ethics, California Management
Review 25(53), 5357.
Davis, K.: 1972, Human Behavior at Work (McGraw-Hill
Book Co, New York).
Fisher, C.: 2001, Managers perceptions of ethical codes:
dialectics and dynamics, Business Ethics: A European
Review 10(2), 145156.
Ford, R. C. and W. D. Richardson: 1994, Ethical
Decision Making: A Review of the Empirical Literature, Journal of Business Ethics 13, 203221.
Gallup, G: 1977, The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 197277
(Scholarly Resources Inc, Wilmington, DE) pp
209211.
Gallup, G: 1986, Honesty and ethical Standards, in The
Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1985 (Scholarly Resources
Inc, Wilmington, DE) pp 225226.
Gaumnitz, B. R. and J. C. Lere: 2004, A Classification
Scheme for Codes of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Ethics 49, 329335.
Healey, M. and J. Isles: 2002, The Establishment and
Enforcement of Codes, Journal of Business Ethics 39(1),
117124.
Kaptein, M.: 2004, Business Codes of Multinational
Firms: What Do They Say?, Journal of Business Ethics
50, 1331.
608
Betsy Stevens
609
Betsy Stevens
Elon University,
316 KOBC, Elon, NC, 27249, U.S.A.
E-mail: bstevens@elon.edu