CODE OF

ETHICS
AND
BUSINESS
CONDUCT
 CODE OF ETHICS
 A code of ethics is a guide of principles
designed to help professionals conduct business
honestly and with integrity.
 A code of ethics document may outline the
mission and values of the business or
organization, how professionals are supposed to
approach problems, the ethical principles based
on the organization's core values, and the
standards to which the professional is held.
 CODE OF ETHICS
 American ethical codes were first called or
“credos” and those in the 1980s were considered
“legalistic” and “more likely to talk about ethics
or the reputation of the company” (Benson,
1989,p.308) they showed concern over issues
like affirmative action.
 Nijjhof et al. (2003) note codes contain open
guidelines describing desirable behaviours and
closed guidelines prohibiting certain behaviours.
 CORPORATE CULTURE
Corporate culture refers to the beliefs and
behaviors that determine how a company's
employees and management interact and handle
outside business transactions.
A company's culture will be reflected in its dress
code, business hours, office setup, 
employee benefits, turnover, hiring decisions,
treatment of clients, client satisfaction, and every
other aspect of operations.
 CORPORATE CULTURE
 According to (Unsunier and Lee, 2005; Craig and
Douglas, 2006) Cultural influences change and
culture evolves as political, social, economic, and
technological forces reshape the cultural landscape.
 The economic and physical environments are
important issues for business organization, however
the cultural environment has special importance and
relevance.
 CORPORATE CULTURE
 Human person is a being of opportunities of choices
or alternatives a family and social being, a being
who invents, a being capable of unrestricted growth
in time.
 We affirm that man is capable of speech and
communication: he is a social being because he
speaks, he is able to progress, to collaborate, and to
be ethical because he speaks. And it is a sign of
culture to know the meaning of word: human
language is something open.
THE NOTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
 Barnard is the father of the concept of corporate
culture.
 According to (Barnad,1938), the entire second half
of his Functions of the Executive is long excursus
on the importance of creating a shared vision or
purpose, the necessity of generating common
meanings and enhanced commitment and the virtues
of increasing individual’s “capacity to be dominated
by organizational personality”
THE NOTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
 The same culture scholars agree that
organizational culture is a phenomenon that
involves belief and behaviour; exists at a variety
of different levels in organizations; and
manifests itself in a wide range of features of
organizational life such as structures, control
and reward systems, symbols, myths and human
resource practices (Pettigree, 1979; Schein,
1992;Kotter and Heskett, 1922
 THE NOTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
 According to (Allaire and Firsirotu, 1984) the
functionalist view of ogranizations and culture
considers culture as a component of an
integrated social system which also includes a
social structure component to maintain an
orderly social life, adaptation mechanics, and
society’s equilibrium with its physical
environment.
 THE NOTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE

The concept of culture was thus

coined to represent, in a very broad
and holistic sense, the qualities of any
specific human group that are passed
from one generation to the next
(Kotter and Heskett, 1992)
 THE NEED FOR ETHICAL
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
 Shiva (1988) states that “Modern science
is quintessentially reductionist. Its
reductionist nature undergirds an
economic structure based on exploitation,
profit maximization and capital
accumulation.
 Reductionist science is also at the root of
the growing ecological crisis.
 THE NEED FOR ETHICAL
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

Shiva (1988) states that “Modern

science is quintessentially
reductionist. Its reductionist nature
undergirds an economic structure
based on exploitation, profit
maximization and capital
accumulation.
 THE NEED FOR ETHICAL
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

The theory of human action in

Organization whereby Perez Lopez
(1991) explains that the human person
in business organization is capable or
having transcendent motives which are
aspect of reality that determine the
achievement of learning from other
people with whom the decision maker
interacts.
CREATING CORPORATE CODES OF
ETHICS
Sauser and Sims (2013) give the following suggestions for
creating Codes of Ethics in business organizations:
1. Adopt code of ethics

2. Provide ethics training

3. Hire and promote ethical people

4. Correct unethical behaviour

5. Take a proactive strategy

6. Conduct a social audit

7. Protect whistle-blowers

8. Empower the guardians of Integrity

9. Assure commitment from the top