CHAPTER 4

Managing Ethical Behavior: Ethical Code

The presence of human activity in a corporation can be conceptualized as the quality and quantity of its behavior in the context of its contribution to the operations and outcomes. This is a complicated and very demanding process for human resources, based on behavioral science knowledge, while Jones (1991) highlighted that there is a negative link between moral intensity and attributions of responsibility. People think that their actions are less accountable, and they cannot understand the level of their responsibility. Therefore, the establishment of a code of ethics implies that members of a group such as an organization must comply with the code in order to remain part of the group. The need of a code of conduct is as necessary as in social life for development both in society and business (Lee 1926). The use of a code of ethics extends beyond professional environments, and it generates a crucial impact on the society in general.

Ethical principles and codes of conduct have never been evolved enough to prevent professionals from developing additional ways of handling ethical conduct of behaviors. Indeed, it is impossible to claim that in modern world business ethics cannot be evolved anymore, as they reached the limit of ethical consideration. In practice, while human capital evolves its mind capacity and ways of thinking, business ethics and morals in general are being developed as well. Various changes in moral values are becoming fundamentals in codes of conduct once they become essential for doing ethical business. Hence, it is critical to retain a development pace on moral principles in order to consider the behaviors and needs of each era and its societal characteristics. For instance, Schwartz (2002) indicates a set of six moral standards including trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship as a guide to construct a code of ethics by which corporations can be ethically audited for compliance.

Burton and Goldsby (2009, 146) claimed that “an action can be morally obligatory, morally forbidden, or morally permissible.” Obligatory actions are those that are morally right to do, and wrong not to do, while morally forbidden actions are those that are wrong to do and right not to do. Morally neutral actions, such as permissible actions, are those where any option in a situation will not violate the moral standard. In order to challenge with the above conditions, organizations have a written code called a code of ethics that governs standards of professional conduct expected during corporate governance and employment relations. This ethical code is meant to provide guidelines and fundamental principles for desired behavior by human resources in a corporation. Though it is impossible to guarantee the implementation of the code of conduct, the existence of this element does not mean that an organization is ethical and morally acceptable by its internal and external parties of interest. Either the ethical code consists of just one paragraph or multiple pages, the fact that it exists cannot retain a moral profile for the corporation.

As a sum of rules and procedures that specifies what each human in a business should and should not do in rather different situations, a code of ethics cannot predict future challenges, such as advanced technology integration. Thus, codes in themselves are inadequate in addressing complex ethical issues generated by interest conflicting and the rather different perceptions and values of individuals. Furthermore, even if most employees perceive the code of conduct, one individual is usually enough to break this chain of moral culture and cause a series of conflicts. Therefore, corporate policies must be well developed and designed in order to be implemented fairly and equally by all members. This implies that members of an ethical organization must respect corporate policies, work relationships, diversity, confidentiality and privacy, internal and external law environment and requirements, and be honest with each other. Demonstration of commitment to a professional level is a constant challenge, and practitioners must not have the authority to exploit other individuals and their needs.

Professional behavior is governed by the moral principles and values of the corporation, which may or may not be embedded in a code of ethics. Moral entity consideration must be a prioritized principle for people in corporations and business practice. This indicates that businesspeople must consider the rights of other individuals; the principles of social and natural justice; and the need to achieve equity, meritocracy, fairness, and consistency in managing behaviors. Employment decisions can be very difficult. However, practitioners must increase their moral capacity at the level at which they can adopt flexible policies and implement the code of conduct on each occasion. As explained in a previous chapter, moral thinking is crucial to influence individuals behave ethically. Professionalism in the corporate world means acting in accordance with ethical standards and principles, which governs how people should behave in formal or even informal situations.

Therefore, organizational ethical codes provide policies, procedures, guidelines, and rules on what is a moral behavior. This set of principles is expressed in a code of business ethics, which is also called code of business conduct. It is both a general and specific reference point in terms of how to be moral and act ethically. Thus, it includes details about organizational ethical values and standards, promotes commitment, describes the critical path as a guidance of how this can be achieved through fair corporate policies, and identifies additional supporting rules that enable the implementation of business ethics, such as a harassment policy, a bullying policy, an employee voice policy, or a behavioral reward policy.

The main purpose of a code of conduct is to embed a set of ethical values into organizational procedures, strategies, and practices by supporting ethical behavior providing guidance on how to make moral decisions that are compatible with the organization’s ethical standards. Hence, ethical codes can be considered within the context of an organization’s culture (McNutt and Batho 2005), as it shapes a corporate climate of integrity and fairness to facilitate a sustainable business. The existence of a strong ethical code can minimize risks in terms of consistency and enhance trust levels among people, as well as their contribution at an organizational, social, economic, and environmental level.

Though it is not possible to have a universal morally neutral definition of a moral problem as it depends on various approaches (Morris 2004), the code of ethics as part of corporate policies must be straightforward, clear, transparent, and must promote integrity. It can be divided into parts, chapters, articles, and paragraphs, such as the scope of code of conduct, professional behavior and competence, corporate ethical standards and principles, a declaration of interests, procedure for conflicts of interest, moral collegiality and discretion, principles regarding individual and corporate integrity, transparency policies, and the application of the code (Table 4.1). For instance, it can mention that you should, as an employee and member of the organization, base resourcing, training, development, evaluation, promotion, and termination decisions on qualifications, performance, and business considerations, or make it clear to not discriminate other people according to sex, gender, race, age, marital status, and ethnic origin. It can provide individuals with warnings about harassment, abuse, or lack of respect and consideration as unacceptable behaviors that are not tolerated in the workplace, promote rules fostering an ethical, loyal, fair, and healthy working environment, with respect on the dignity of the individual, and mention that employees shall dress in business attire.

Table 4.1 Code of ethics statement

Moreover, it can include a statement in order to seek development and employ more efficient and economical methods for getting tasks accomplished. Also, it can distinguish personal from corporate benefit by mentioning that employees must not use corporate property and resources for personal benefit. Similarly, the code of ethics should include rules to maintain confidentiality of records and clearly not use any information coming to employees confidentially as a means for making private profit. Finally, it must be noted as a core rule to behave and perform your duties as an employee with independence, integrity, discretion in compliance with corporate rules, while everyone must perform assigned duties to the best of their capabilities.

In any case, the development of a code of ethics is not limited to certain rules and guidelines, thus policy makers can conduct the code of ethics that is most suitable to the corporate mission and goals. Furthermore, implementing an international ethical code is quite challenging, particularly for multinational corporations dealing with international markets, cultures, and globalized competition. Indeed, the code of ethics should be based on simple, universal values (Smeltzer and Jennings 1998); however, this is not possible due to a plethora of conditions. Schwartz (2005) stated that the identification of universal moral values is a necessary but insufficient step in the process of establishing a code of ethics, leaving many practical issues unanswered. For instance, values such as respect, responsibility, and fairness can be interpreted differently. At the same time, a code of ethics is often insufficient in the context of rather different business conditions and challenges. We must recognize that a universal code could only exist if it includes flexible general principles on fundamental moral guidelines that must be translated and modified into corporate needs.

Over and above, the code of conduct must have a spiritual sense, in the name of developing core values and principles that are specific enough to influence employees and show them how they are supposed to behave as members of the entity. People cannot apply the code of ethics easily, as it is a process that has many dimensions. Particularly, business ethics principles usually illustrate a narrow set of issues, as an attempt to cover main core values, instead of moral obligations on each business segment and operation. It is almost impossible to address each aspect of business ethics. Thus, it is recommended to give guidance and directions based on moral entity consideration. In other terms, the code of conduct supported training of individuals to increase their moral thinking capacity and embedded corporate culture within their daily behavior.

Since there is no universally agreed ethical framework on how to behave morally, different situations require personal evaluation of the individual. The latter’s decision and judgment involve choices that may have a strong impact on other entities. Hence, moral judgment as a process of thinking is concerned with attitudes and personal insights, instead of common rules and practices. In light of this, corporations must develop a more complete ethical policy, while policy makers and businesspeople should be characterized as moral practitioners. Particularly, in order to qualify as a moral person, to be a moral agent, an entity must be capable of genuine rational intentional (or voluntary) actions (French 2015). Hence, it is essential to increase moral awareness at a level of which an entity is no more following internal interest, but is driven by common ethical norms.

Corporate policies are named to cope with this challenge by introducing a set of values that are commonly acceptable and feasible to achieve. These policies are regularly influenced by various theories, such as the deontological theory, the stakeholder theory, or utilitarianism. Starting with the deontological theory, the morality of a behavior should be based on a series of predefined rules with respect to other entities, rather than on the consequences of the action. This theory is commonly contrasted with consequentialism, as a class of normative ethical theories that considers the consequences of an individual’s conduct. This suggests that a morally right behavior will produce a morally acceptable outcome.

Deontological ethics highlights the rightness or wrongness of an individual’s conduct. Particularly, the deontological decision theory develops a set of both necessary and sufficient conditions being permissible given an agent’s imperfect information (Lazar 2017). However, the stakeholder theory states that the corporation should be managed according to its stakeholders’ rules, such as its owners, employees, consumers, suppliers, and the society in which it operates. Though this theory can achieve long-term growth and prosperity, in practice there are many corporations that on behalf of their profits and interests, they modify the corporate policies. Indeed, there are many cases where conflicting interests between different entities make it difficult to decide who to believe, and whose behavior is more moral than others. Consequently, the interests of stakeholders are being prioritized against other entities, as it is very difficult to achieve a balance between ethics and financial returns, in a globalized and competitive business environment. Hence, trust and cooperation are key elements of the stakeholder theory in order to have a competitive advantage (Jones 1995). The pressure to achieve financial results, provide normal prices, support employees with benefits, and make goods and services that are ethically produced, promoted, and consumed, involves contraventions between corporate owners, employees, suppliers, consumers, and society.

Therefore, resolving ethical dilemmas is not an easy task, as individuals are limited to their capability in terms of understanding the conditions of a situation and how to behave morally and rationally. Also, it is worth noting that many business leaders will not sacrifice their moral awareness to secure a financial gain, making them the perfect example of how a moral leader must be. In some occasions, agents must take actions that might be unethical, though they maximize value; while in other circumstances, they must take actions that do not optimize resources but are ethically required and mandated. Thus, sometimes agents and in general businesspeople, whether they are employees, shareholders, or suppliers, have conflicting responsibilities and must decide what to do, and how to do it ethically.

Additionally, in some cases, individuals can get addicted to unethical action, as the exemption from being punished by authorities, or in other words, the freedom from the nonpenalized consequences of action, which is closely related to the notion of autonomy. This is an indication that those individuals feel powerful by serving interests with means that are against or even harmful to other entities. Therefore, impunity is not only unethical, but it consists of a wrong example to other individuals by not responding to these behaviors. Corporate policies based on the harmfulness of other entities are unacceptable even if they exploit legal interpretations or other unregulated practices. The consequence of violation of the code of ethics is a disciplinary process applied by corporate policies and government law, and it must be clear, fair, and strict, depending on each case. Hence, the existence of a solid ethical code means that individuals are required to be guided not only by their self-interests and their personal expectations, or the interests of the organization they work for, but also by the wider good of society in which they operate and live in. We all have ethical responsibilities to other entities and our behavior must be aligned to fundamental ethical obligations by applying the primary principle of moral entity consideration.

At this point, we meet utilitarianism as the belief that a behavior resulting in maximizing the production of goodness, happiness, and the well-being for most of the population is moral. “Utilitarianism may lead to the moral justification of the prevalence of profit-making and economic value maximization” (Renouard 2011, 87), while this theory belongs to the consequentialist ethical theories, which considers the result of behaviors and the equality between different entities, claiming that the best outcome is the one in which utility is maximized. However, it is noticeable that the ethical concepts of equity and justice are just the medium to apply business ethics. Managing ethical behavior means that people must be influenced by these theories, understand them to the best of their mental capabilities, evaluate their values, and then try to apply these fundamentals to their actions with fairness and meritocracy against other entities.

Finally, it is important to cultivate one additional approach regarding the development of an ethical image, in order to avoid regulation. The existence of a code of conduct can enhance corporate reputation and discourage government intervention, as an attempt for organizations to manage themselves with less regulation (Stevens and Buechler 2013). This highlights that corporations can exploit legal methods in terms of achieving a balanced moral reputation and make authorities believe that they have an enhanced and multilevel code of conduct that is well applied, in order to decrease the volume of authoritative control over corporate operations and the level of regulations required to implement. For instance, corporate policies can include a series of values and ethical norms as a comprehensive guide for employees, but at the same time the management can implement unethical practices in the name of their position, and consequently workforce will follow. In some cases, if an individual or a group of individuals reacts to this practice, they may be threatened with layoffs, so exposing such practices is difficult to achieve.

Moral Organizational Design

Organizational design, as the process of structuring corporate operations in a functional and rational system for maximizing means and resource utility, is a critical procedure for each corporation. Moral organizational design requires additional notions of ethical consideration in the context of defining morally acceptable job roles, ethical activity and responsibility distribution, and flexible procedures about achieving organizational and individual goals by morally exploiting people skills, infrastructure, and capital. Policy makers must recognize that the strategic principles of the organization should embrace the needs and rights of employees as well as those of the corporation.

While organizations evolve in conjunction with the progress of its people that operate the business functions, as well as the developments of the environment in which the organization operates, this is a complicated process that requires multidimensional approaches. Overall, the main aim of corporate design is to exploit as rational as possible all the available resources of people, infrastructure, and capital, in order to achieve organizational strategic goals. After clarification of the purposes of the organization, the next step is to define as precisely as possible the activities that are required to achieve efficiency, and then distribute them to individuals based on their skills, needs, and expectations. It is important to mention that there is not one best organizational design, as there are as many alternatives as policy makers. There is always a choice, which can be more effective than the alternatives.

Certainly, developing and managing behaviors is quite a demanding process. There is an ongoing relationship between corporate strategies and the environmental changes in which it operates. Furthermore, ethics reflect the transformations of both internal and external environment of the corporation. Internal factors, such as changes in working arrangements and the availability of skills, the development of new activities or services, the potential performance downturn or growth, and a poor or great work climate, could create a combination of elements that can lead the organizational design to failure or success. Additionally, external factors that are likely to affect the organization design, such as political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental issues, are also very important for the sustainability of an organization and the implementation of business ethics. Thus, redesign of an organization is critical, as it can lead to long-term wealth creation for the benefit of employees, communities, the environment, and investors (Kelly and White 2009). Corporations and individuals are not static entities, and they evolve their behaviors constantly. Hence, corporate structures and policies are strongly influenced by individual and societal perceptions, alongside their strengths and weaknesses.

Most individuals are driven by internal forces for personal growth and development. This signifies that they need to be part of a moral, supportive, challenging, and well-optimized organizational environment. Moreover, moral organizational design must be settled in the sense of human satisfaction, as the dynamics that arise on the level of employment relationships can have a major effect on the behavior of the members of a corporation. The implementation of such strategies must include actions that are human-centered. This implies that the systematic data gathering from people about rather different operational or other kind of issue must not ignore business ethics and its importance.

Data are the number one factor of a successful and moral organizational design. Data management is one of the most essential elements for organizational performance. But data alone cannot provide any solutions. Also, you cannot treat people as data sources. For instance, some individuals may accept working in a position even if it is not under their preferences. This means that when you conduct a survey to gather data from your employees, you may have feedback material that is not in accordance with the real conditions. In many cases, an attitude test cannot identify the well-hidden perceptions, needs, commitment level, and feelings of an individual. That is why agents must be very close to their human workforce because data technical scientists and machine intelligence cannot cover and consider all the aspects of a human entity.

Consequently, moral entity consideration, as the primary principle of this book, suggests that organizational design includes both the exploitation of valid data and information and understanding capabilities of human resources, considering business ethics. The strategic plan must not only be quick, flexible, valid, and effective, but it must integrate ethics in its core elements, in order to motivate people, raise adaptability, and gain commitment to achieve increased performance and levels of well-being.

Individual Well-Being

The well-being of an individual, or in other words the welfare of human resources, can be presented by various approaches. All employees are willing to receive support by the corporation they are working for, in order to contribute with most of their capabilities in the long term. This can have a strong positive impact on the business, as the increase in motivation level reduces work climate concerns and conflicts between individuals. Particularly, perceived employee development practices can lead to lower levels of work effort among employees (Nerstad, et al. 2018). However, there is no ultimate and universal guide on how to manage to create an environment of fairness and growth as people are rather different, so they form each work environment independently, though there are some policies that could be part of an initial approach on how to develop such a practice in the context of rational corporate policies.

It is vital to begin with the basics. Having clean living and healthy work conditions is the fundamental key for human satisfaction in terms of their basic needs. Although this statement could be presented as an unnecessary remark for many practitioners, in fact there are many corporations that do not implement and communicate such policies about the work conditions that individuals must work into. This is crucial, as well as the existence of policies that offer a shelter for personal stuff or even a personal desk, and healthy meals where it is possible to provide. For instance, due to the development of flexible work relationships, many workers are on the go almost the entirety of their daily working hours, while others practice remote working and they are at their home. So, corporations must have policies that enhance daily healthy meals programs, clean working conditions, provide packages in the context of health insurance such as annual health check to prevent illness and reduce absenteeism, and support of personal life in terms of work–life balance or other benefits for the families of the employees, in order to increase the levels of loyalty and commitment, and their well-being in general.

It is essential to reduce the level of stress and anxiety in the corporate environment, and increase overall satisfaction, motivation, and productivity levels. For instance, some individuals cannot be productive in the early hours of the days or others may want to support their family activities and demands such as during childbirth, so a flexible arrival time within a rational period such as within 30 minutes, while lengthening similarly the departure time of those employees, or fair paternity leaving programs, could be beneficial for both individuals and the organization. Additionally, for those working remotely, this does not mean that they are free of duties, thus they must be professional and balance their home conditions in the context of working and personal life. Fast-paced cities and life trends promote a life of mobility and demanding challenges. Therefore, it is very important for a worker to feel that their supervisors, and even their coworkers, will understand from a moral standpoint why they need some indulgence on their behavior.

Over the above example of someone who must support his or her family, a single individual may claim that it is not fair to have flexible ­policies, as it could consist of discrimination. However, this behavior must be protected by corporate policies, as the rationale of such practices relies on individual well-being and not on discrimination between employees. Thus, it would not be fair to offer additional break time to some employees or accept reduction in the quantity of work hours of some individuals only. But it would be morally acceptable to support all employees in the name of well-being, as this process can reduce conflicts and enhance both worker morale and corporate image in the broader community.

Additionally, corporate initiatives such as organizing meetings for employees and their families, or the establishment and support of annual reward events in order to recognize employee contribution in practice are methods that can improve the satisfaction and well-being of employees. All workers need to feel that their contribution is valued and well appreciated by the corporation and their coworkers. This process develops employee collaboration, and individuals are seeking to offer more in terms of accepting interesting challenges, instead of demanding more for less contribution. People must not feel afraid of informal communication. It is not healthy to apply strict policies that lead individuals to feel uncomfortable and exhausted of remembering a set of rules, else they could be fired. On the contrary, bearing in mind a moral entity consideration approach, individuals can enjoy being part of a team and a corporation with values and principles, thus they could increase their efficiency rates and achieve both personal and organizational goals.

For instance, recognition programs and events are critical in the name of the social media age. This indicates that people tend to upload on the Internet their routine, their daily contribution to a variety of concepts, such as achievements at work or at home, new educational certificates and qualifications, the places that they feel happy and have fun such as being at a club or at a sports stadium, and their thoughts about rather different topics and trends. Moreover, they share on their profile pages on various online platforms a series of personal times, such as a birthday party, or taking vacations to a great place that everyone would be jealous of. Sharing information with others is a way of receiving recognition and feeling more valuable in terms of scaling satisfaction through various rating systems. The latter can be expressed by feedback evaluation mechanisms such as trophies and awards of completion or participation in an event and ceremonies, certificates, special bonuses, and other forms of recognition of contribution translated into monetary packages or other benefits, which are directly associated with the well-being of an individual.

The concept of being motivated through recognition consists of a multidimensional approach in terms of evolutionary biology and other critical factors such as economic conditions. Lawrence (2010, 69) argued that “if morality is a skill set devised to coordinate two innate, unconscious, and potentially conflicting drives, it is rooted in emotions rather than cognitive principles,” as there is an emerging behavioral query on how it is possible to acquire, defend, bond, and comprehend as a four-drive moral code without violating one’s own drives. Therefore, corporate policies cannot prevent individuals from serving their own best interests, but they can promote a series of important actions that enhance fairness and ethics as principal moral drives of individual behavior. Ensuring the well-being of human resources is a complicated and timeless process. According to the humanistic management theory and the humanistic model, the ultimate purpose of human existence is the notion of flourishing and well-being (Pirson and Bachani 2018). Humans operate according to routines, yet learn and adapt constantly, while dignity and morality are crucial to achieve a level of well-being (Pirson 2017).

Hence, corporate policies must be updated with most recent employment regulation and labor law, and this should be documented as an employee handbook in order to implement such practices. Policies must focus on occupational health and safety, hygiene and sanitation programs, promote fair rewards and recognition on employee behavior, and distribute job roles, tasks, and benefits equally in terms of meritocracy, and offer opportunities as well as room for self-development. Also, everyone must know what are the activities that they must do in the context of their job with clear objectives, what behaviors are morally acceptable in terms of business ethics and ensure that everyone is well informed on corporate procedures.

At this point, it is important to mention the difference between policies and guidelines. The latter term refers to corporate statements as nonmandatory guides, while corporate policies consists of a series of documented elements that are crucial for the optimization of organizational resources, and that without them the corporation could not achieve its goals. Both policies and guidelines are important, but policies must be implemented, while guidelines are partly compulsory, depending on a variety of factors. For instance, if a worker can find new methods and practices that could be more efficient than corporate guidelines, then this could support the well-being of both the individual and the corporation, so it is acceptable.

On the contrary, though policies must be flexible enough to adapt to new trends, they must be at the same time rigorous in terms of controlling unexpected behavior that could lead to disastrous consequences. So, if an individual violates corporate policies, then the reaction of corporate authorities is way more significant in comparison with a potential violation of guidelines that are not considered as mandatory. The distinction between these two categories is very important, as conflicting interests usually end up with two or more individuals who claim corporate policies or other formal and informal rules of conduct, in terms of supporting their behavior. Hence, corporate policies must be rational enough to avoid such circumstances where individual well-being cannot be protected by regulations and other forms of frameworks for consistency and fairness.

In any case, corporate policies and guidelines are essential as a reference point for most issues emerging in an organization. This demonstrates that individuals can rely on written standards and defined boundaries that enable employees to understand clearly what is recommended to do, what is mandatory to apply as a process, what are the responsibilities, and what are the consequences of not being loyal on corporate policies. Handling conflicts is a demanding challenge, particularly if there is no reference framework that could be communicated between employees in order to be influenced and implement common practices through rational behavior and ensure professionalism.

Corporate Policy Framework

There is a plethora of corporate policy frameworks similar to the number of different characteristics that each company presents. Corporate policies, guidelines, and regulations reflect the core values of an organization’s authorities, as policy makers are responsible for deciding which practices are most suitable for achieving organizational goals, and how resources should be influenced (human resources) or exploited (infrastructure) in the context of creating a work climate of growth and implement business ethics. Therefore, the process of developing a rational framework with moral corporate policies is vital for the sustainability of an organization.

A moral policy framework should start with fair administration regulations regarding attendance and leave alongside with time records management, regular work time, as well as individual work time regulations including a set of policies about overtime, part-time employment, seasonal, and other flexible employment relationships. Also, it must contain regulations and specialized conditions regarding a variety of employment issues such as sick leave, maternity and paternity leave, unpaid leave, and vacation. Payroll regulations are critical in order to implement ethical policies as well as providing fair compensation benefits to all workers depending on their contribution levels. Additionally, it is important to develop regulations about the health of employees, such as the hygiene in workplace, rules for cleaning and promote healthy actions in terms of eating and drinking during the workday; for instance, create a healthy place where you can have a meal, and other policies such as individual appearance and business attire, or strict rules on critical issues regarding smoking, alcohol, and drugs or medicine.

Furthermore, corporate policies must be understandable to everyone, so individuals can behave and develop their skills considering an ethical approach on their communication style, at either an internal or external standpoint. Communication is crucial for developing a moral brand and an ethical work environment, thus there must be regulations on distinguishing personal from business communicational style, and promote guidelines on how to professionally communicate through face-to-face discussions, the phone, text messages such as e-mails, and the use of personal devices in the work environment. Moreover, it is crucial to develop ethical principles in terms of confidentiality, as the management of important information is a very demanding challenge. Engagements outside the corporation should not trigger conflicts and have a negative impact on corporate culture, while individuals should not be allowed to create conflicts with other individuals, in terms of interpersonal differences. This is the reason why corporate policies must be comprehensive and completely fair regarding remuneration regulation, including job positioning, responsibility analysis, compensation packages, insurance coverage, and rules on contract termination. Likewise, the framework must include fair policies on performance evaluation, training needs and opportunities for self-development, internal transfers and promotions, employee assistance, and counseling.

Hence, corporate policies consist of a framework of useful and essential guidelines on a corporate level and shall be adapted by everyone involved in business operations. At the same time, it is necessary to implement practices that are aligned with legislation, cultural fit, and organizational needs and goals. This set of regulation includes the philosophy and values of the corporation and the vision of its owners and policy makers, the mission and organizational goals, the code of ethics as a vital part to success, a corporate social responsibility framework, and finally a set of policies regarding employee engagement, commitment, and involvement in the organization. Practitioners must evaluate the above criteria, so they are capable of investigating whether they encourage ethical behavior and reflect the organization’s ethical values (Bonn and Fisher 2005), while it is very important to increase organizational information flow and communicate corporate policies and procedures to employees with much more effort (Hargie and Dickson 2007).

Though conducting an ethical corporate policy framework is a quite demanding process, by the time it is developed the corporation should immediately increase its values in terms of establishing a work environment with an underlined foundation for strategic organizational development and sustainability. Policy makers must conduct extensive research and ensure that policies are aligned with legal requirements, while they must involve experts of the field in order to create a framework that is timeless, precise, and fair for individuals. It is crucial to update corporate policies regularly and communicate to human resources through internal communicational corporate channels. Furthermore, it is essential to not overregulate, as this process can confuse individuals from understanding corporate policies and make it impossible to adhere.

Finally, it is critical to consider individuals as part of corporate policies and offer them the opportunity to get involved in the process of policy development, as this could be more efficient than attempting to control everyone and anything in the name of strict productivity. Hence, during the process of conducting and implementing an ethical corporate policy framework, individuals should feel that there is an increased level of fairness and meritocracy, with transparent, rational, and utilized policies that enable their capabilities. At the same time, there must not be any exceptions to cases of policy violation, as intolerable practices and unethical actions should be treated fairly for everyone.

Concluding Remarks

The presence of human activity in a corporation can be conceptualized as the amount of quality and quantity of its behavior in the context of its contribution to the operations. The establishment of a comprehensive code of ethics implies that members of a group such as an organization must comply with in order to remain part of the group. Handling ethical conduct of behaviors is a very challenging process, such as a demonstration of commitment to a professional level. The existence of a strong ethical code can minimize risks in terms of consistency and enhance trust levels among people. Accordingly, the main aim of corporate design is to exploit as rational as possible all the available resources of people, infrastructure, and capital, in order to achieve organizational strategic goals, while the importance of individual well-being is significant. All workers need to feel that their contribution is valued and well appreciated by the corporation and their coworkers. Finally, corporate policies and guidelines are essential as a reference point for most issues emerging in an organization.