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Just as a culture in the traditional sense is something that evolves over time through the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors of many, a culture of ethics is not something that an organization can easily evolve by implementing the items on a checklist. Nonetheless, the elements presented below are those most typically seen in organizations that place a high emphasis on ethics and have staff and officials that are committed to ethical actions and decision-making. In other words, if you can check off most of these elements, you probably have a good start, if not a well-established culture of ethics.
People: Ethical decision-making is a personal action. To encourage the adoption of ethical behavior, organizations need people to serve as role models, supporters, and resources.
¨ Ethics Champion – Someone in leadership (county executive, board member, etc.) who constantly advocates for ethical practices
¨ Leadership – Government leaders who support ethics-related initiatives
¨ Elected officials
¨ Top administrators
¨ Senior managers (agency directors)
¨ Enforcement – Staff who are responsible for investigating possible ethical breaches
¨ Employee participation – Staff who are involved in developing ethics codes and rules
¨ Public participation – Citizens who are involved in establishing policies (not necessarily ethics policies) and implementing programs and services.
Policies: Written policies, codes, and standards are necessary to provide members of the organization with a consistent set of expectations, both rule-based and more general.
¨ Code of Ethics – A document explaining the values the organization recognizes as to be drawn upon for making ethical decisions
¨ Standards of Practice – A document providing guidance on implementing the code in common situations
¨ Rules and policies – Specific policies and procedures for how to deal with explicit situations that have ethical implications
¨ Rules interpretation – Ethics-related rules, policies, and laws are accessible to, explained to, and easily understood by staff.
Resources: Ethical dilemmas are tricky situations. Even well-written value statements and implementation guidelines may not provide enough guidance in many situations.
¨ Ethics hotline –
¨ An anonymous way for staff to get feedback on how to handle ethical dilemmas
¨ An anonymous way to report possible ethical breaches
¨ A web presence for communicating ethics measures, anonymous questions/comments
¨ Ethics advisors – Collaborative methods in place to discuss ethical dilemmas
¨ Decision-making too – A decision tree or list of questions to help guide people through ethical dilemmas
Training: Early and ongoing training is a necessary component of developing ethical people.
¨ New employee orientation – Discussions on ethics presented to all new hires
¨ Ongoing training – Training on ethics provided to all employees, regardless of tenure
¨ Frontline staff
¨ Management
¨ Elected officials and their staff
¨ Interactive training – Training components include exercises and discussions, not just lecture or presentation
¨ Ongoing discussions – Encouragement from leadership for ongoing discussions of ethical issues/dilemmas
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