The Ethics Mix

Abstract

There are all kinds of measures available for the development of the ethical content of a corporation. Publications regarding the “implementation of ethics” usually pay attention to the instruments with the name “ethics” in them (such as Weber, 1981, Center for Business Ethics, 1986, Hoffman and Moore, 1990, and Stead et al., 1990). The three most discussed ethics instruments are roughly speaking a code of conduct, an ombudsman, and a training program. These instruments are usually only briefly discussed. The Ethics Resource Center (1987) and the Institute for Business Ethics (1990) discuss codes of conduct extensively. In this chapter, a great many instruments will be reviewed. Some instruments will be discussed in depth. Section 7.7 shows which measures may best be applied to improve each moral quality in order to make a tailor-made mix of measures possible. Section 7.8 presents an example of the recommendations made for the Dutch Furniture Factory (fictitious name) on the basis of the results of the Ethics Thermometer. This chapter closes with a summary of some important decisions for the well-considered ethical development of an organization.

The art of policy making is setting priorities.