Chapter 4

THE CORPORATE
CULTURE—IMPACT
AND IMPLICATIONS

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
ETHICS IS TOUGHER THAN YOU THINK . . .

“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a person does not
know what harbor he [or she] is making for, no wind is the right wind.”
- Seneca

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”
- Warren Buffet

“There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success,
nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.”
- Machiavelli

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CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

o After exploring this chapter, you will be able to:

1. Define corporate culture.
2. Explain how corporate culture impacts ethical decision-making.
3. Discuss the differences between a compliance culture and a values-
based culture.
4. Discuss the role of corporate leadership in establishing the culture.
5. Explain the difference between effective leaders and ethical leaders.
6. Discuss the role of mission statements and codes in creating an
ethical corporate culture.
7. Explain how various reporting mechanisms such as ethics hotlines
and ombudsmen can help integrate ethics within a firm.
8. Discuss the role of assessment, monitoring, and auditing of the
culture and ethics program.
9. Explain how culture can be enforced via governmental regulation.

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OPENING DECISION POINT:
CREATING AN ETHICS PROGRAM
o List the issues that you think should be addressed in a code of ethics.
o Other than a code of ethics, what other elements would you include in an
ethics program?
o How will you define “success?” Are there any facts that you will need to
gather to make this judgment?
o How would you measure success along the way? How will you measure
whether your ethics program is “working before you reach any end
objective?”
o Who will you define as your primary stakeholders?

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OPENING DECISION POINT:
CREATING AN ETHICS PROGRAM
o What are the interests of your stakeholders in your program and what are
the impacts of your program on each stakeholder? How might the
measurement of the program’s success influence the type of people
attracted to the firm or people who are most motivated within your
organization?
o How will you answer the CEO’s questions about her own role in
promoting ethics?

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WHAT IS CORPORATE CULTURE?

o A shared pattern of beliefs, expectations and meanings that influence

and guide the thinking and behaviors of the members of that
organization.
o It shapes the people who are members of the organization.
o It is also shaped by the people who comprise it.
o If you join a firm with a culture that supports other values than those
with which you are comfortable, there will be values conflicts, for
better or worse.
o No culture, in business or elsewhere, is static.

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FIGURE 4.1

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WHAT IS CORPORATE CULTURE?

o A firm’s culture can be its sustaining value – that which offers it

direction and stability during challenging times.
o The culture can, however, also serve to constrain an organization in
the common ways of managing issues
o “That’s how things have always been done here.”
o “That’s our prevailing climate.”
o The stability that can be a benefit at one time can be a barrier to
success in another.

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DEFINING A CULTURE DEFINES THE
CULTURE, WHICH DEFINES THE CULTURE
o The definition of a culture is partially based on:
o Each participant’s perception of the culture, which impacts the culture
in a circular way.
o A culture exists, we perceive it to be a certain type of culture, we respond to
the culture based on our perception and we thereby impact others’
experience of the culture.
o Culture is present in the following elements:
o Tempo of work
o The organization’s approach to humor
o Methods of problem-solving
o The competitive environment
o Incentives
o Individual autonomy
o Hierarchical structure

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WHAT IS CULTURE?

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CULTURE AND ETHICS

o An ethical culture: One in which employees are empowered and

expected to act in ethically responsible ways even when the law
does not require it.
o A corporate culture sets the expectations and norms that will
determine which decisions get made.
o Two organizations with similar missions, rules, and legal regulations
can have significantly different cultures.

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CULTURE AND ETHICS

o Decision-making: It is easy to think in terms of a rational,

deliberative process in which a person consciously deliberates about
and weighs each alternative before acting.
o Virtue ethics: But the virtue ethics tradition reminds us that our
decisions and our actions are very often less deliberate than that.
o Where do we get our habits and character?
o We can choose to develop some habits rather than others.
o Our habits are shaped and formed by culture.

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LINKING CULTURE TO SUSTAINABILITY

o An ethical culture can also have a direct and practical impact on the
bottom line.
o If attended to and supported, a strong ethical culture serves as a
deterrent to stakeholder damage and improve bottom line
sustainability.
o If ignored, the culture could instead reinforce a perception that
“anything goes,” and “any way to a better bottom line is
acceptable,” and destroys long-term sustainability.

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COMPLIANCE VS. VALUES-BASED
CULTURES
o Compliance-based cultures (the traditional approach)
o Values-based or integrity-based cultures
o More flexible and far-sighted corporate environments

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 Table 4.1 - The Evolving Role of Compliance Programs
into Values-Based Programs
Traditional Progressive (best practices)
Audit focus Business focus
Transaction-based Process-based
Financial account focus Customer focus
Compliance objective Risk identification, process
improvement objective
Policies and procedures focus Risk management focus
Multiyear audit coverage Continual-risk-reassessment
coverage
Policy adherence Change facilitator
Budgeted cost center Accountability for performance
improvement results
Career auditors Opportunities for other
management positions
Methodology: Focus on policies, Methodology: Focus on goals,
transactions and compliance strategies and risk management
processes

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COMPLIANCE CULTURES

o Emphasize obedience to the rules as the primary responsibility of

ethics.
o Empower legal and audits offices to mandate and monitor
compliance with the law and with internal codes.

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VALUES-BASED CULTURES

o Reinforce a particular set of values rather than a particular set of

rules.
o Values-based organizations have codes of conduct; codes are rooted
in a statement of values and it is presumed that the code includes
mere examples of the values’ application.

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VALUES-BASED CULTURES

o The argument in favor of a values-based culture:

o A compliance culture is only as strong and as precise as the rules with
which workers are expected to comply.
o A firm can only have a certain number of rules and the rules can never
unambiguously apply to every conceivable situation.
o A values-based culture recognizes that where a rule does not apply,
the firm must rely on the personal integrity of its workforce when
decisions need to be made.

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DIFFERENCES IN GOALS

o The goals of a traditional compliance-oriented program may

include:
o Meeting legal and regulatory requirements.
o Minimizing risks of litigation and indictment.
o Improving accountability mechanisms.

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DIFFERENCES IN GOALS

o The goals of a more evolved and inclusive ethics program may

entail a broader and more expansive application to the firm,
including:
o Maintaining brand and reputation.
o Recruiting and retaining desirable employees.
o Helping to unify a firm’s global operations.
o Creating a better working environment for employees.
o Doing the right thing in addition to doing things right.

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ETHICAL LEADERSHIP AND CORPORATE
CULTURE
o If the goal of corporate culture is to cultivate values, expectations,
beliefs, and patterns of behavior that best and most effectively
support ethical decision-making, it becomes the primary
responsibility of corporate leadership to steward this effort.

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LEADERSHIP: SETTING THE CULTURAL TONE

o Beyond personal behavior, leadership sets the tone through other

mechanisms such as the dedication of resources.
o Ethical business leaders allocate corporate resources to support and
promote ethical behavior.

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LEADERSHIP: SETTING THE CULTURAL TONE
AS AN “ETHICAL LEADER”
o Research shows that:
o It is critical that the leader is perceived as having a people-orientation,
as well as engaged in visible ethical action.
o Important traits - Receptivity, listening, openness, integrity, honesty,
and trustworthiness.
o Being perceived as having a broad ethical awareness and concern for
multiple stakeholders, and using ethical decision processes.
o Ethical leaders do many of the things traditional leaders do, but they do
that within the context of an ethics agenda.
o People perceive that the ethical leader’s goal is not simply job
performance, but performance that is consistent with a set of ethical
values and principles.
o Ethical leaders demonstrate caring for people in the process.

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THE ETHICAL LEADER

o Making courageous decisions in tough situations represents a way in

which ethical leaders get noticed.
o If an executive is “quietly ethical” within the confines of the top
management team, they are not likely to be perceived as an ethical
leader.

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EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP AND ETHICAL,
EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
o How can we distinguish between effective leaders and ethical
leaders?
o Effective leaders achieve their goals through threats, intimidation,
harassment and coercion.
o Ethical leaders lead using more amenable interpersonal means such as
modeling ethical behavior, persuasion, or using the impact of one’s
institutional role.
o The other element of ethical leadership involves the end or objective
towards which the leader leads.
o Ethical leadership embodies: utilitarianism and deontological
frameworks.

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THE ENDS OF ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

o In business context, productivity, efficiency, and profitability are

minimal goals in order to be sustainable.

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BUILDING A VALUES-BASED CORPORATE
CULTURE
o One of the key manifestations of ethical leadership is the articulation
of values for the organization.
o It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that the firm is guided by
some set of organizing principles that can guide employees in their
decision-making processes.

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CODE OF CONDUCT

o It is a statement of values.
o Before affecting the culture through a code of conduct, a firm must
first determine its mission so that decision makers have direction
when dealing with dilemmas and other ethical challenges.
o In the absence of other values, the only value is profit – at any cost.
o A firm sends a clear message that a worker should do whatever it takes
to reap profits.
o A code of conduct delineates this foundation both for internal
stakeholders and external stakeholders.
o The code has the potential to:
o Enhance corporate reputation.
o Provide concrete guidance for internal decision-making.
o Creating a built-in risk management system.

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MISSION STATEMENT

o Serves as an articulation of the fundamental principles at the heart of

the organization.
o Guides all decisions, without abridgment.
o No decision should ever breach the underlying mission as an
ultimate dictate.

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DEVELOPING THE MISSION AND CODE

o Ask yourself: What do you stand for? or What does the

company stand for?
o Articulate a clear vision regarding the firm’s direction.
o Identify clear steps as to how this cultural shift will occur.
o The organization should believe that this culture is possible
and achievable.

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CULTURE INTEGRATION

o Integrating an ethical cultural throughout a firm and providing

means for enforcement is vitally critical both to the success of any
cultural shift and to the impact on all stakeholders.
o Integration can take a number of different forms, depending
on:
o The organizational culture.
o The ultimate goals of the process.
o One of the most determinative elements of integration is
communication, without it, there is no clarity of purpose, priorities
or process.

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CULTURE INTEGRATION

o To explore the effectiveness of a corporation’s integration process,

consider:
o Whether incentives are in the right place to encourage ethical decision
making.
o Whether ethical behavior is evaluated during a worker’s performance
review.

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CULTURE INTEGRATION

o Whistleblowing: Disclosure of unethical or illegal activities to

someone who is in the position to take action to prevent or punish
the wrongdoing.
o It can expose and end unethical activities, but it can also seem disloyal,
it can harm the business, and it can extract significant costs on the
whistleblower.
o Whistleblowing can occur internally or externally.
o Since, external whistleblowing can be so harmful to both the
whistleblower and to the firm itself, internal mechanisms for
reporting wrongdoing are preferable for all concerned.

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ASSESSING AND MONITORING THE
CORPORATE CULTURE
o If we cannot measure, assess, monitor culture, it is difficult to
encourage others throughout the organization to pay attention to it.
o Monitoring and an ongoing ethics audit allow organizations to
uncover silent vulnerabilities that could pose challenges later to the
firm, serving as a vital element in risk assessment and prevention.

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ASSESSING AND MONITORING THE
CORPORATE CULTURE
o Signs of a potentially damaging or ethically-challenged corporate
culture – referred to as a “toxic” culture:
o Lack of any generally accepted base values for the organization, as
discussed above.
o How does the firm treat its customers, suppliers, clients, workers?
o The management of its internal and external relationships.
o How does the firm manage its finances?
o A firm can be in a state of financial disaster without engaging in
even one unethical act (and vice verse), but the manner in which it
manages and communicates it financial environment says it all.

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MANDATING AND ENFORCING CULTURE: THE
FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR
ORGANIZATIONS
o When internal mechanisms for creating ethical corporate cultures
prove inadequate, the business community can expect governmental
regulation to fill the void.
o The United States Sentencing Commission, an independent agency
in the United States Judiciary, was created in 1984 to regulate
sentencing policy in the federal court system.
o In mandating sentencing procedures, Congress through the USSC
has been able to incorporate the original purposes of sentencing in
their procedures, bring some of these challenges under control.

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MANDATING AND ENFORCING CULTURE: THE
FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR
ORGANIZATIONS
o Beginning in 1987, the USSC prescribed mandatory Federal
Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations that apply to individual and
organizational defendants in the federal system.
o The court inputs information into a sentencing grid and determines
the offender’s guideline range, subject to adjustments.
o In its October 2005 decision in U.S. v. Booker, however, the
Supreme Court severed the “mandatory” element of the guidelines
from their advisory role, holding that their mandatory nature
violated the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial.
o Though no longer mandatory, a sentencing court is still required to
consider guidelines ranges, but is also permitted it to tailor a
sentence in light of other statutory concerns.

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MANDATING AND ENFORCING CULTURE: THE
FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR
ORGANIZATIONS
o The relevance of these guidelines to our exploration of ethics is that
the USSC strived in its guidelines to create both a legal and an
ethical corporate environment through these adjustments.
o The guidelines seek to reward corporations who create an effective
ethics and compliance system so that they are not penalized (or the
penalty is reduced) if they have an effective program but they find
themselves in court.
o On the other hand, firms who did not have effective ethics and
compliance systems would be sentenced additionally to a term of
probation and ordered to develop a program during that time.

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MANDATING AND ENFORCING CULTURE: THE
FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES FOR
ORGANIZATIONS
o Acts of an organization, identified by the USSC guidelines, which
can serve as due diligence in preventing crime and the minimal
requirements for an effective compliance and ethics program are:
o Standards and procedures
o Responsibility of board and other executives; adequate resources and
authority
o Preclusion from authority: prior misconduct
o Communication and training
o Monitoring, evaluation, reporting processes
o Incentive and disciplinary structures
o Response and modification mechanisms

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DISCUSSION OF OPENING DECISION POINT:
CREATING AN ETHICS PROGRAM
o This Decision Point asks you to define the “success” of an ethics
program, an extraordinary challenge even for those in this business
for many years.
o One way to look at the inquiry would be to consider the measures by
which you might be willing to be evaluated, since this is your
project.
o You will need to explore whether there are pressures in your
environment that encourage worker misconduct.
o You will need to consider whether there are systematic problems
that encourage bad decisions. Have you identified all of the major
legal, ethical, and reputational risks that your organization faces, and
have you determined the means by which to remediate those risks?

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DISCUSSION OF OPENING DECISION POINT:
CREATING AN ETHICS PROGRAM
o Because you will encourage the performance that you plan to
measure, it is important to determine whether you will be most
concerned with the end results or consequences, or with the
protection of particular values articulated by your program or codes.

o If you measure outcomes, alone, you will have a singular focus on

the achievement of those outcomes by decision-makers.
o If you measure the protection of rights, alone, you may be failing to
consider the long-term implications of decisions in terms of their
costs and benefits to the firm.

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CHAPTER FOUR VOCABULARY TERMS

o After examining this Chapter, you should have a clear understanding

of the following Key Terms and you will find them defined in the
Glossary:
o Code of conduct
o Compliance-based culture
o Culture
o Ethics officers
o Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations
o Mission statement
o United States Sentencing Commission
o Values-based culture
o Whistleblowing

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