ethikos editor's weekly picks Archives - The Compliance and Ethics Blog

Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Picks: The Ethical Obligation of Cybersecurity

September 16, 2017 by SCCE Leave a Comment

Examining ethics and compliance issues in business since 1987

The ethical obligation of cybersecurity

By Kevin Szczepanski for Buffalo Business First
As lawyers we hold some of our clients’ most sensitive information. A vibrant black market targets it. So law firms face greater security risks than ever before.

Hackers target lawyers because they see us as the “back door” around our clients’ often more stringent security. The FBI has issued alerts to law firms, warning of spear-phishing emails containing malware and schemes in which criminals pretend to be overseas “clients.” An ABA survey reports that nearly 14 percent of responding attorneys had suffered a security breach. The figure rises to 19 percent for firms with 10 to 49 attorneys, which means that every firm, large and small, is vulnerable to cyber risks. Read more

Expert details many cases of corporate misconduct, says he sees ‘severe shortage of ethical leadership’

By Steve Jordon for Omaha World-Herald
Many international businesses and governments are starting to adopt ethical ideals, but the world of commerce is far from a place of integrity, an authority on ethics in business said Wednesday in Omaha.

Bribery and corruption are still commonplace, and the United States is not immune from the temptation of dirty money, Keith Darcy, senior adviser to the Deloitte & Touche accounting firm, told about 120 people at a meeting of the Omaha Business Ethics Alliance, held at the Holland Center. Read more

An ethicist explains his 4 chief concerns about artificial intelligence

By David Hagenbuch for Business Insider
AI works, in part, because complex algorithms adeptly identify, remember, and relate data. Although such machine processing has existed for decades, the difference now is that very powerful computers process terabytes of data and deliver meaningful results in real-time. Moreover, some machines can do what had been the exclusive domain of humans and other intelligent life: Learn on their own.
It’s this automated learning that introduces a critical question: Can machines learn to be moral?

As a researcher schooled in scientific method and an ethicist immersed in moral decision-making, I know it’s challenging for humans to navigate concurrently the two disparate arenas. It’s even harder to envision how computer algorithms can enable machines to act morally. Read more

Big data: How the University of Michigan navigates ethics, unpredictability of data science research

By Alexa St John for The Michigan Daily
In recent years, big data emerged as a powerful tool, spurring the University of Michigan to dedicate an initiative and institute to its study and implementation.

In a statement in 2015, Jack Hu, vice president for research at the University, wrote that big data — exorbitantly large data sets that can be parsed to show trends and associations — was “revolutionizing research in extraordinary range of disciplines.” Read more

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ethikos is a publication of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Pick’s: Creating a Code of Ethics and Conduct

September 9, 2017 by SCCE Leave a Comment

Examining ethics and compliance issues in business since 1987

Creating a code of ethics and conduct

By Anne R. Harris for National Defense
Companies that sell goods and services to the U.S. government must conduct business with honesty and integrity. To that end, every government contractor should have a written code of business ethics and conduct. Read more

The most important trait in a boss is this

By Marcel Schwantes for Inc.
What’s integrity worth to you? Is it a value you live by in business? Work life? With spouse and kids? Does it define who you are?

Let me up the ante: When you reach the crossroads of choosing between towing the line or taking the higher road and doing the right thing (even when nobody’s looking), what then?

Albert Einstein once said, “Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.”Read more

3 steps to protecting your business from workplace fraud

By Ash Noah for The Business Journals
In terms of culture, it’s important for senior executives to lead by example and set a strong tone from the top. Developing an anti-fraud policy and asking employees to sign a code of ethics also sends a message that fraud will not be tolerated, and encourages employees to identify instances where it’s occurring.

Second, it’s critical to implement an internal control system with policies and procedures designed to restrict opportunities and decrease the temptation to commit fraud. Read more

The importance of building ethics into artificial intelligence

By Kriti Sharma for Mashable
A crucial step toward building a secure and thriving AI industry is collectively defining what ethical AI means for people developing the technology – and people using it.

At Sage, we define ethical AI as the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans, built with the ability to autonomously conduct, support or manage business activity across disciplines in a responsible and accountable way. Read more

ethikos is a publication of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Picks: Integrity is the Best Policy and What We Need Today

August 26, 2017 by SCCE Leave a Comment

Examining ethics and compliance issues in business since 1987

Integrity is the best policy and what we need today

By Jeff Davidson for AccountingWEB
No one, accounting professionals included, lives a life of absolute integrity. Rather, it is an ideal for which to strive, including those who consistently display integrity can be overwhelmed by what is left over — what wasn’t acted upon and what wasn’t met with integrity. Read more

‘You can’t teach integrity, but you can lead by example’

By Melinda Rizzo for Lehigh Valley Business
Similar values, integrity and the ability to embrace a company’s culture are important elements for a contented crew and happy captain.

Being part of the company culture doesn’t happen overnight and can’t be learned exclusively from an employee manual, said Jim Boscov, chairman and CEO of Boscov’s Department Store LLC, based in Exeter Township. Read more

Promoting the good that public institutions do

By James Svara for Governing
In his commentary “Managing the Evil That Institutions Do” in the May issue of Governing, Publisher Mark Funkhouser drew welcome attention to the fundamental ethical responsibility that leaders of public organizations have to prevent harm and correct abuses of power, as expressed so forcefully in the Google mantra “Don’t be evil.” The importance of that principle cannot be overstated. But in addition to preventing and punishing unethical behavior, it is also important to promote ethical behavior to advance the good that public institutions can and should do. Read more

Ethics talk: Lessons from Google’s diversity fracas

By Robert Zafft for The Business Journals
In years past, good manners and common sense meant not discussing politics or religion at work. Three things have changed. Many people now consider virtually any topic “political.” Second, many people believe that unlawful discrimination/harassment should include unconscious behaviors and “micro-aggressions,” with regulations, policies, and expectations adjusting accordingly. Third, internet search and social media have broken down the work/personal divide while feeding gossip and defamation.

Businesses with numerous owners — and their employees — should remember that for them, diversity, tolerance, and inclusion represent means to an end. The goal of a company like Google should be maximizing shareholder value while complying with the law and commercial custom.

In this regard, of course, corporate reputation is also critical to success and involves doing more than the bare minimum. Businesses want to be viewed as upstanding and helpful members of the community. In addition, rational employers want to attract and keep valuable workers by recognizing, nurturing, and rewarding talent. Discrimination and harassment do the opposite. Read more

ethikos is a publication of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Picks: How to Make Ethics Training Stick

August 19, 2017 by SCCE Leave a Comment

Examining ethics and compliance issues in business since 1987

How to make ethics training stick

By Mark Athitakis for Associations Now
Ethics matters. On this, everybody agrees. The CEO will tell you that. The ethics seminar leader will tell you that. Even the staffer who was catching up on email while half-listening to that last ethics webinar everybody had to watch will tell you that.

Recognizing the importance of ethics is one thing. But getting people to actively engage with the issues that workplace ethics presents is another. Read more

Opinion: Here’s how you know if a company is behaving badly

By Ann Skeet for Market Watch
One multinational company headquartered in Silicon Valley used a culture assessment tool we’ve developed, with useful results. This company had a CEO and a lead independent director interested in signaling the workplace about the importance of ethics and a bias towards learning. The discussion at the board meeting reviewing the results extended well beyond the original time allotted. Read more

A leadership lesson learned on the battlefield

By Jonathan Aberman for The Washington Post
Subordinates are given autonomy to make rapid decisions in the moment, if necessary, to achieve the strategic goals of leadership. But it is not complete autonomy. Servant leaders require accountability against their expressed goals. This ensures that key values such as ethics and compliance with legal and other norms are honored and that the overall strategic objectives articulated by the leader are followed. Read more

ACCA survey finds need for improved ethics in digital age

By Michael Cohn for Accounting Today
The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has released a new survey raising questions about how accountants and businesses around the world are dealing with ethical challenges prompted by various technology trends.

Ethics was considered a “very important” skill in the digital age by 77 percent of the respondents, with more than nine out of 10 giving ethics a top rating. An above-average proportion of respondents in the nonprofit and public sectors indicated they considered ethics as “very important” in the digital age. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents called for strong ethical leadership, while a 54 percent majority called for guidance on a new code of ethics for the digital age. Read more

General Counsel: Guardian and conscience of the company

By Mark A. Cohen for Forbes
I was recently invited by the ABA to address a group of General Counsel on “Lawyers as Guardians of Business Integrity and Conscience of the Company.” The topic was chosen because of a spate of high-profile scandals and regulatory imbroglios that resulted in no small part from the failure of GC’s to discharge the guardian/conscience role.

General counsel—and large corporate departments– are law’s petri dish. They are reconfiguring the boundaries and expanding the expectations of what it means to be an effective corporate lawyer. Read more

ethikos is a publication of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics

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