Standards and procedures are crucial to a company$$s ability to create a culture of ethical behavior. They clearly express what constitutes expected and acceptable behavior. Standards and procedures are typically formal statements describing what an organization expects of its employees. They take three different forms: a code of ethics, a code of conduct, or a statement of values.

To make sure that the standards and procedures put in place are enforced, an effective ethics program needs to have a strong leader in an oversight role. This high$-$level employee oversees all aspects of the ethics program. Depending on the size of the company, it might have a single compliance or ethics officer, a compliance committee, or an entire compliance department. Additionally, companies should give no substantial authority to any individuals who have a track record of misconduct$$either in the compliance department or in any other position of authority.

Developing a code of conduct, code of ethics, or statement of values does little good if the employees are not familiar with the code or statement, or do not understand it$.$ For this reason, education and training are crucial to developing an effective ethics program. This goes beyond printing out $$the rules$$ and handing them to employees. Companies need to provide ongoing training on the standards and procedures to ensure employees have a thorough understanding of what constitutes acceptable and expected behavior.

Auditing and monitoring is another important component to an effective ethics program. The ethics$/$compliance officer or department typically performs monitoring. Audits can be either internal or external$$or a mixture of both. In this same vein, the ethics$/$compliance officer or department needs to create established pathways for reporting misconduct within the company. Every employee should feel empowered as a member of the compliance team to voice concerns without fear of retaliation. Some companies use third$-$party vendors so employees can anonymously report allegations of fraud, misconduct, or noncompliance.

In conjunction with the rules and standards, companies need consequences for specific actions. The company needs to levy those consequences consistently, regardless of who the violating employee is or the employee$$s position within the company.

Finally, for a company to have an effective ethics program, it must continually respond and improve the ethics and compliance program. Even when standards and procedures are in place and employees have an avenue to voice concerns, an organization must ensure it responds to each offense. To see progression and improvement, the organization needs to make continuous efforts to educate employees and work toward preventing misconduct in the future.

Does your current employer or organization have an effective ethics program? Why or why not? After reading the Learning Activity $$Cultivating an Ethical Culture to Ensure Sustainability and ROI,$$ what steps would you take to develop or improve an ethics program at your place of business? Please provide suggestions and examples from the reading to support your plan.