Ethics Programs and Their Dimensions

Author(s): Steven N. Brenner

Source: Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 11, No. 5/6, Behavioral Aspects of Business Ethics
(May, 1992), pp. 391-399
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25072288
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Ethics Programs and Their Dimensions* Steven N. Brenner

ABSTRACT. All organizations have ethics programs which
consist of both explicit and implicit parts. This paper defines
corporate ethics programs and identifies a number of their
components. Corporate ethics programs' structural and
behavioral dimensions are proposed which may allow
further examination of such program components and their
impacts. Finally, fifteen propositions are suggested which
describe the influence of founder values, competitive pres
sures, leadership, and organizational problems on corporate
ethics programs and the manageability of such programs.
All organizations have ethics programs, but most do
not know they do. This is because such programs are
frequently not explicitly created, but inherent in the
culture and process of the organization. While much
has been written about individual components of
ethics programs, especially about codes of ethics, the
literature is much more limited on ethics programs,
Steven N Brenner is currently Sponsored Professor of Business Ethics
and Corporate Social Responsibility at Portland State University,
Portland, Oregon. He served from 1983 through 1987 as
Associate Dean for Graduate Programs in its School of Business
Administration. Dr. Brenner has written articles for Harvard
Business Review, The Academy of Management national
Meetings Proceedings, The JAI Press Research on Corpo
rate Social Performance and Policy, and other publications.
He has served as the Chairman and Program Chairman for the
Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of
Management and is Chairman of the International Association of
Business and Society's 1992 meeting to be held in Leuven,
Belgium. He teaches courses in corporate social responsibility,
business ethics, managing in a regulated world, business/govern
ment relations, business policy and organizational politics.
During 1989 90 he was on a sabbatical leave doing research on
corporate social responsibility and acting as Chair of the Academy
of Management's Ethics Task Force which wrote the Academy's
Code of Ethical Conduct.
as is discussion of their behavioral and structural
dimensions. The purpose of this paper is to explore
aspects of corporate ethics programs by providing: a
definition of corporate ethics programs, a discussion
of the dimensions of such programs, and a descrip
tion of various influences which impact the nature,
effectiveness, image, shape and manageability of
corporate ethics programs.1
This paper began as a case writing project in a
large high technology company in the Pacific Nor
thwest. Current and past company employees were
interviewed; corporate documents, annual reports
and the firm's written corporate history were stud
ied. A number of influences on corporate ethics
programs were identified from this initial work,
including: ethical value development during a firm's
early years; the impact of competitive pressures on
ethical standards; the role of a leader in establishing
and maintaining ethical standards; the impact of
organizational problems on ethical standards; and
the definition, design and maintenance of ethical
programs. Work reported in a Business Roundtable
(1988) study of corporate ethics programs further
expanded understanding of such programs.
Literature review
Three areas of management literature are relevant to
understanding ethics programs within organizations
such as the firm studied. The first area is general
literature about influences on the implementation of
corporate social responsibility. The second area is
literature describing corporate ethics programs and
how they impact social responsibility implementa
tion. The final area explores relationships between
and among leadership, corporate culture and ethics
programs.

Journal of Business Ethics 11: 391-399, 1992.

1992 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

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 392 Steven N. Brenner
Organizational factors which influence the imple
mentation of corporate social responsibility are ex
amined in a number of works. Preston and Post
(1975) describe the management of corporate social
responsibility as a process which takes place after
extensive environmental scanning and internal anal
ysis. These management activities require decisions
about priorities and resource allocations, which have
their ultimate basis in the values, goals and culture of
the firm and its constituencies. Epstein (1979)
describes corporate social responsibility as having
both product and process aspects, that is, people may
focus on output factors or on the way that decisions
are made. Thus, for Epstein, corporate culture plays
a substantial role in shaping firm performance. In a
later work Epstein (1987) develops a broader view of
the corporate social policy implementation process
which includes three factors: business ethics (which
involves the value-based reflection and choice ele
ments of individual decision makers); corporate social
responsibility (which encompasses the identification
of issues relevant to a firm); and corporate social respon
siveness (which is the development of processes to
implement appropriate behavior by the corporation).
Brooks (1989) describes organizational form and
management's general philosophy towards its re
sponsibilities as two major influences on the devel
opment and operation of codes of ethics in corpora
tions. Ludwig and Longenecker (1990) indicate that
excessive success and power can cloud managerial
judgment and lead to ethical failure. All of the above
works examine factors which influence managerial
behavior.
The nature of a firm's ethics program and its
impact on the implementation of firm social respon
sibilities is also examined in the literature. The
Business Roundtable (1988) provides descriptions of
10 firms' ethics programs and draws conclusions
about the role of top management leadership, the
importance of a code of ethics, the process of making
ethics work, the need to involve personnel at all
levels and ways to measure results. Carroll (1989)
describes how to improve a firm's internal ethical
climate, the development of ethical codes in organ
izations and how top management provides ethical
leadership. The Center for Business Ethics (1986)
describes how a 1984 sample of Fortune 1000 firms
used ethics codes, ethics committees, ombudsmen,
judiciary boards, ethics training, social audits, and
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changes in corporate structure to institutionalize
ethical behavior in their managements. Brooks
(1989) provides: reasons for increasing interest in
corporate ethics; current trends in both actual cor
porate ethical performance and its disclosure; and a
model for the management of corporate social
performance which identifies many components of a
firms' ethics program. There is, however, little
literature which examines the dimensions of ethics
programs directly.
As the case writing project unfolded some general
reading in the areas of leadership, organizational
culture and ethics played a part in giving insight into
what was being observed. The link between corpo
rate strategy and ethics is particularly well described
by Freeman and Gilbert (1988). Their work describes
how the competitive environment creates demands
on a firm and on its ethics program. Martin et al
(1985), Weiss (1986), Oliverio (1989), and Siehl
(1985) give insight into corporate founder impacts
on both the creation of an initial organizational
culture and the difficulty of changing organizational
culture. Meyerson and Martin (1987) describe three
different paradigms of corporate culture (culture as
an integrating mechanism; culture as collections of
different values within organizational sub-units; and
culture as a state of both consensus and confusion
about organizational values) and how each paradigm
views culture change. Pascale (1984) and Reynolds
(1987) describe actual companies' attempts to either
change their culture or to fit new employees into an
existing culture. Bryman (1986) discusses the diffi
culties involved in the transition from one leader to
another, while Walton (1988) describes the problems
corporate leaders have in changing a firm's ethical
behavior. Miller (1987) presents a discussion of the
forces, including leadership and environment, which
influence the gestalts or configurations of organiza
tions. Together these authors provide a picture of the
problems managers have in creating, and then
modifying, the cultural components within a firm
which determine its behavioral norms.
Methodology
The initial goal of my research was to develop a
business ethics case on a large high technology
company which had discovered a major fraud in one
 Ethics Programs and their Dimensions 393
of the firm's international subsidiaries., This revela
tion of impropriety occurred when they were hold
ing an ethics seminar for their top management. A
short time later there was a change in leadership in
the company and the planned rolldown of the ethics
seminar to lower level managers was delayed due to
pressing profitability concerns. Doing a case on the
ethics program of the company was discussed with
the firm's internal auditor and the case writing
project was begun. At that point there were no plans
to expand the project beyond the development of
some good cases on one corporation's ethics pro
gram.
Considerable background reading was done from
both annual reports and a commissioned company
history. Newspaper and business magazine articles
were studied for information on the founders, their
values, company leadership, ethical problems, com
petitive pressures and company actvities.
Three cases and an extensive teaching note were
developed. The cases were reviewed, commented on
and then released by the company's top management
for use in the classroom. As the case writing project
progressed, it became evident that some ideas con
cerning the relationships among ethics programs,
corporate culture, leadership, leadership change and
competitive conditions were surfacing. These led to
consideration of the nature and dimensions of and
influences on ethics programs, but it was clear that
ethics programs were more than sets of unrelated,
individual components. If greater understanding of
ethics programs was to emerge, scholars and practi
tioners would need: better definitions of what con
stitutes an ethics program, some useful dimensions
by which ethics programs could be compared and
some testable conjectures about ethics programs.
The balance of this paper is an attempt to provide
these tools.
The nature of corporate ethics programs
What is a corporate ethics program and what
organizational elements are part of it? A corporate
ethics program is made up of values, policies and
activities which impact the propriety of organiza
tional behaviors. While not all corporate activity is
part of an ethics program, a large proportion does
have ethical impact. This makes delineation of what
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is or is not part of a corporate ethics program
difficult. My case research effort coupled with the
excellent work of the Business Roundtable (1988)
provided me with the material necessary to begin
understanding corporate ethics programs.
Ethics programs have both explicit and implicit
components. The explicit parts of an ethics program
include such things as: codes of ethics, policy manu
als, employee training materials, employee orienta
tion programs, ethics seminars, management
speeches, management ethics decisions, board of
director decisions and committee activities, internal
control systems and ethics staff activities. Implicit
parts of a corporate ethics program include such
things as: the corporate culture, incentive systems,
valued behaviors, promotion policies, performance
measurement systems and management behavior.
It is easy to see how the explicit components of a
corporate ethics program have an impact on the
propriety of organizational behaviors, but it is more
difficult to similarly link the impacts of the implicit
components. The very reasons why implicit ethics
components are not generally recognized as part of
an organization's ethics program, make utilizing
them very difficult. Implicit components focus on a
wider set of goals than just the rightness or wrong
ness of employee behavior. Thus the need to balance
goals results in a blurring of causality and results.
What dimensions of ethics programs can be
identified and understood and what influences the
nature and success of corporate ethics programs?
These two questions comprise the balance of this
paper.
Dimensions of ethics programs
A corporate ethics program is defined above as,
"[the] values, policies and activities which impact the
propriety of organizational behaviors" and is shown
to contain both explicit and implicit components.
Identification of relevant dimensions of corporate
ethics programs may help us understand how such
programs and their components influence organiza
tions, but where to begin? What dimensions can be
described and which of these are most useful?
The Business Roundtable (1988) study of 10
corporate ethics programs provides evidence that
firms do not have identical ethics programs. Each
 394 Steven N. Brenner

company's ethics program

example,had itsdoown
codes of ethics not exist inspecific
a vacuum.
Many organizational
combination of ethics program processes and conditions
elements. Since influ
there
ence a code's scheme
is, at present, no classification impact, thus knowledge
which aboutallows
an
appropriate
systematic description and set of organizational
analysis of factors may help pro
ethics
grams and their component identify why some ethical
parts, codes are morebe
it would effective
useful
to be able to organize andthan others.
describe: ethics programs
(as totalities); ethics programThe behavioral
individual dimensions ofcomponents;
ethics programs
and their behavioral impacts.include at least Such a classification
two general factors: the nature of the
message sent
scheme is presented below. by an ethicsprograms
Ethics program component or have
pattern and the resulting
both structural and behavioral dimensions. behavioral impact. These
Struc
tural dimensions describe differences
two subcategories may be further in
brokenthe
down intoways
that the ethics programs more
are specific elements as shown or
organized below: delivered,
while behavioral dimensions describe the various
Behavioral Dimensions:
impacts of corporate ethics programs or their com
ponents on organizational* Nature of Message
behavior. Structural di
mensions of organizational- message
systems directness and processes
- message clarity
generally include descriptions of individual com
ponents and of identifiable- message coercion
patterns of such com
- messagein
ponents. This approach is taken modeling
the classification
scheme presented. The behavioral dimensions in
* Nature of Impact
clude aspects of the message conveyed by the ethics
- impact time delay
program or component and the nature of the impact
- impact persistence
which the ethics program or component has on
- impact consistency
organizational action. Both the structural and behav
ioral dimensions of corporate Ethics programs function by
ethics sending signals or
programs are
identified in Table I as aremessages
brief to organization members. Those messages
descriptions of each.
can be direct, clear
The structural dimensions shownand supportiveinor they can be
Table I
indirect, vague and coercive.
include descriptions of individual The resulting impact and
components
on organization
of component patterns. These two member behavior can occur quickly, may
subcategories
persist for
be further broken down into long periods
more of time and be consistent
specific elements
as shown below: with the intentions of those who designed the ethics
program, or, the impact may take a long time to be
Structural Dimensions:
felt, be very transient and be totally inconsistent with
* Nature of Components desired goals. Given that ethics programs have a
variety of dimensions and impacts, what proposi
- list of ethics program components
tions can be developed about influences on ethics
- component task complexity
programs?
- component incremental cost
- who implements component (s)
Some propositions about influences on
* Pattern of Components
ethics programs
- number of components
- % explicit components vs % implicit com
Analysis of both material written about the studied
ponents
company and interviews conducted with current and
- where components are targeted
former employees allows creation of a number of
Investigators or managers seeking to understand propositions about corporate ethics programs. The
why certain ethics programs are effective, while approach here is similar to that of March and Simon
others are not, need to more completely describe the (1958) where they present a broad set of propositions
nature of the ethics program being examined. For about the functioning of organizations without pres

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 Ethics Programs and their Dimensions 395
TABLE I
Dimensions of ethics programs

General Dimension Type Dimension Sub-category Dimension Description

Structural Dimensions
Nature of Components list of ethics program components ethics program components are enumerated

component task complexity difficulty to accomplish described;

ranges from simple to complex

component incremental cost ranges from zero to infinity;

categories from low to high

who implements component(s) categories could include: organization level,

organization function, line vs. staff, etc.

Pattern of Components number of components ranges from few to many

% explicit vs % implicit indicates the proportion of components which
are explicit as opposed to implicit

where components are targeted categories could include: organization level,

organization function, line vs staff, etc.

Behavioral Dimensions
Nature of Message message directness how directly does the component communicate
desired behavior; e.g., direct vs indirect

message clarity how clearly does the component communicate

desired behavior; e.g., clear vs vague

message coercion how coercive is the component message;

e.g., coercive vs voluntary

message modeling how much of a role model is provided;

e.g., clear role model vs none provided

Nature of Impact impact time delay categories could range from instant to very
long delay

impact persistence categories could range from zero to indefinite

impact consistency impact can be the same throughout the
organization or could be quite variable;
categories could range from consistent to
large variation

enting extensive supporting evidence. Their goal and
mine is to provide material from which useful
research may be developed. A number of speculative
propositions (Pn) are described below. The proposi
tions cover: impacts on corporate ethics programs (of
founder values, competitive pressures, leadership,
and organizational problems) and manageability of
corporate ethics programs.
Impacts on corporate ethics programs
The role of founders' values. Many of the interviews and
the commissioned company history provided infor
mation about the significant impact early founder
actions and values had on the firm's subsequent
culture. The frequent mention of how the values of
the founders gave rise to many company policies

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 396 Steven N. Brenner
provided evidence that the ethical behavior stand
ards of a corporation take root during its earliest
days.
The firm's industry has its own set of ethical
standards and these are also transmitted to the
employees of a new firm. If the founders seem to
accept the industry behavioral norms, then those
outside standards can become guiding principles of
the firm. If the founders set higher or lower stand
ards, then the culture being formed transmits these
different norms to incoming employees for a con
siderable period.
Corporate expectations of a high level of technical
performance carried over into other aspects of
organizational life. For example, a reduction in
technical product specifications could signal a reduc
tion in behavioral standards as well.
The following propositions result:
Pj = A very wide set of actions and policies
transmit ethical values within organizations.
P2 = Founder behavior establishes the most in
grained set of ethical standards for an or
ganization.
P3 = The ethical values established by founders
are hard to change no matter whether they
are appropriate or inappropriate for the
firm's current circumstances.
P4 = It is equally hard to raise or to lower
founder set values in organizations.
The impact of competitive pressure. Competitive pres
sure intensified on the studied company as did
pressure to improve the stock price. Efforts to
improve financial results took many forms (e.g.,
elimination of educational programs, pressure for
sales at any cost, cutting corners in manufacturing,
sales of divisions or product lines, layoffs, etc.).
Interviews indicated that such notions may well have
sent signals that employees needed to find even more
unique ways to improve results. It seemed to some
that the ends were becoming justification for almost
any means ? thus putting pressure on ethical stand
ards.
Yet many employees were very concerned that
management not take steps which would be seen as
counter to the ethical values and standards of the
firm's founders. One of these former employees
actually resigned partly as a protest over the firm's
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breach of its tacit no-layoff policy during a particu
larly tough economic recession. He felt that he could
no longer work for a firm which did not adhere to
its historic standards.
The following propositions result:
P5 ? Elimination or reductions in an ethics pro
gram may transmit messages that ethical
behavior is less important.
P6 = When either competitive pressure gets in
tense or success gets extreme, organizations
should be especially concerned about be
havior and behavioral standards.
P7 ? Lowering standards of behavior is difficult
even during times of economic stress, when
this goes against founder values.
The role of leadership. Much of the data gathered
during case writing seemed focused on the nature of
the firm's leaders. Interviews and trade reports
contained many comments about the quality of the
firm's leaders and their vision of the firm's future. It
became clear that confidence in the President's
ability to steer the company through tough times
was a critical factor in employee morale and behav
ior.
The company's President had risen to the top
without the benefit of a formal college degree. His
skills as a leader were recognized by the firm's
founders and led to his being selected President in
1971. This President's style was consistent with the
traditional values of the firm. Individuals were to be
respected and treated well. Engineering was seen as
the major driving force behind past success and so
was accorded every respect. While things went well
for the firm, the President was secure. When results
seemed to flounder, he was blamed by many. In
effect he became an informal scapegoat given his
lack of formal education. The President believed that
a variety of programs would help solve some of the
problems plaguing the firm. He found outside
experts and brought them in to advise the company.
While he was convinced that this would help, many
in management felt that this was not effective (or
even a waste of time and money). The business ethics
seminar was one of these outside programs.
When the Board of Directors decided to replace
the President with another top manager, the fate of
the ethics program became an issue. Can and/or
 Ethics Programs and their Dimensions 397
should the new leader champion a program asso
ciated with the former leader? When sponsors lose
legitimacy their programs can become suspect. Thus
leaders need to ask themselves how they want to
involve themselves in the company's ethics program.
Too much personal involvement may not be benefi
cial; too little may indicate a lack of concern about
the program's success. It becomes a delicate balanc
ing act. How does a new leader transfer the good
parts of a culture from the old regime to the new?
The following propositions result:
P8 = Ethics programs which are seen as part of
one manager's management system, and not
as a part of the general organizational pro
cess, will be less likely to have a lasting role
in the organization.
P9 = During periods of leadership change where
substantial leader value shifts occur, even
well accepted ethics programs are not im
mune from challenge and/or substantial
modification.
Organizational problems. A number of organizational
problems influenced organizational decision making.
The historic values of the firm stressed engineering
excellence and individual well being. Products were
designed where no market had been identified, but
where the engineering challenge was great. Engi
neering excellence was to be the guiding decisional
criteria even when costs became significant. Mar
ginal workers were retained in supplementary jobs.
While demand for the basic product was increasing,
none of these problems was seen as serious. When
competition developed in core markets, unproduc
tive R&D expenses and inefficient workers quickly
eroded profits. Layoffs during the President's early
years (beginning in 1971) negatively impacted com
pany morale. From a firm with exceptional esprit de
corp in its early years, its employees became cynical
and distrustful of management.
The ethical values inherent in organizational
processes were under pressure as the firm had
problems with morale, loyalty and confidence. Steps
taken to improve the firm's condition seemed to the
employees to be counter to its cultural values.
The following propositions result:
P10 ? General organizational problems create
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questions about and stresses on ethics pro
grams.
Pn = Problem solutions which run counter to
the values inherent in the ethics program
will create pressures and justifications for
modification of the ethics program.
Manageability of corporate ethics programs
Both the high tech firm's written history and the
interviews conducted made it clear that the company
had little in the way of an explicit ethics program (a
written ethics policy did exist and the ethics seminar
program had been partially completed), yet there
was a strong feeling that the company and its people
were ethical. This feeling seemed to be rooted in a
strong sense of identity stemming from its historical
values. While many questioned the accuracy of these
ideal values, it was clear that they were the bedrock
from which behavior was measured. This led to a
recognition that a corporate ethics program is made
up of a firm's explicit and implicit values, policies
and activities which impact the propriety of em
ployee behavior.
A firm's ethics program should be seen as man
ageable (while the actual ethical behavior of employ
ees is more difficult to control). Some planning can
be done to assure that the signals being sent to
employees are consistent and communicate the
behaviors which are proper and those which are not.
The plan and its resulting ethical program should fit
the firm and the situation. Firms which are engaged
in manufacturing should include components which
stress worker and customer safety. Firms which deal
in financial instruments should have strong internal
control systems and clear signals from top manage
ment that conflicts of interest are to be avoided (e.g.,
superiors who benefit from inside information and
get very rich are sending the wrong signals).
Corporate ethics programs should be designed to
meet a set of needs of the corporation. The manage
ment must determine the overall problems which
the ethics program seeks to solve. The ethics con
sultant to the firm being studied identified three
different general types of concerns: avoidance of law
breaking; dealing with emerging gray areas; and
responding appropriately to profit/performance
pressures. Different program components must be
 398 Steven N. Brenner
used to handle each situation (e.g, internal controls
expansion would be appropriate to avoid law break
ing, while a corporate ethics ombudsman may help
defuse profit/performance pressures).
Finally, evaluations should be made of ethics
programs. The questions to ask might include:
"What are the goals for our ethics program" and
"how well are they being achieved?" While such an
evaluation would be hard to do, it is essential for
proper adjustment and correction.
The following propositions result:
P12 = A corporate ethics program contains both
explicit and implicit components.
P13 = A corporate ethics program can be tailored
to meet the organizational situation.
P14 = Different corporations should have differ
ent ethics programs.
P15 = A corporate ethics program's performance
can be measured and should be evaluated
against an appropriate standard.
The material and propositions presented above
provide a variety of speculative thoughts about the
nature of and influences on corporate ethics pro
grams. These ideas are grounded in an in-depth, but
still limited, observation of one corporation. It is,
therefore, essential that they be considered prelimi
nary and exploratory. One thing is clear, however,
ethics programs are part of all organizations and can
have significant impacts. Corporations make use of
different sets of ethical program components, differ
ent types and amounts of resources in order to
impact their employees' behavior. Such differences
are relevant for those seeking to understand the
workings of ethics programs.
Conclusions
Corporate ethics programs are part of organizational
life. They exist whether management explicitly
creates them or not. This paper sought to define
corporate ethics programs, to provide a set of
dimensions which would allow categorization of
ethics programs and their components, and to
examine a variety of influences on such programs. It
is a small, exploratory step upon which further
research may build.
Corporate ethics programs, regarded in the past as
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consisting of a limited set of components, may now
be more properly seen as involving a much broader
set of elements. Students and managers of organiza
tions who seek to understand how organizational
behavior may be made more or less proper can
benefit from looking at the broader set of factors
which influence behavior propriety.
Notes
* This work was supported in part by a grant from the
Chiles Foundation, Portland, Oregon.
1 This paper, with permission from all parties concerned,
draws on work previously presented at the International
Association for Business and Society's 1990 annual meeting
and subsequently published in both their Proceedings and in
the Best Paper Proceedings of Edwin Mellon Press. Extensive
editing and modification of the previous paper was required
to integrate its material into this paper.
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