1. If HR managers are the only managers charged with ensuring ethical conduct, then how much impact can they have on their organization's ethical behavior? Who else in an organization might an HR executive persuade to be an ally in advocating for ethics to be on the agenda?
2. Suppose you are an HR executive meeting with the company's board of directors. You have been asked to draft a code of ethics for the company. Make a business case for why other leaders should join you in this effort.

Ed Gubman, executive editor of People & Strategy, once received a proposed article from writers describing how their company had improved performance and leadership by using social networking applications.
It was an inspiring story, except that it came from one of the financial institutions blamed for questionable practices leading to the recent near-meltdown of the financial services industry. Gubman was left to ponder what kind of "leadership" had resulted from the HR effort. Did the HR staff think it was fine to enable the company to become proficient at unethical conduct, or did they not understand what major parts of their company were doing? The answers to these questions relate to the extent of HR professionals' knowledge and influence. The tools are available to provide an unprecedented level of guidance in how the company's HR practices affect business outcomes. If HRM is to promote ethical conduct, its practitioners must understand what their organization does, be committed to using goals and policies that reinforce ethical conduct, and be able to advocate for this effort. In practice-perhaps because of the human focus of human resource management- top executives seem happy to leave decisions about ethics up to this department. The obvious risk is that if the HR director is the only executive thinking about ethics, then ethics is unlikely to be a true strategic priority.