In dealing with an organisation, Customers and other stake-holders have their own sets of expectations - a spread-out of what to expect. What determines these expectations is the 'image ', the mental perception of the organisation the stake-holders have built-up in their mind. The two tend to be in self-correcting balance. During the recent past however, a series of highly publicized incidents of unethical practices, the reputation and image of some of the known and leading firms is damaged to a point that people's expectations from them have literally nose-dived. What but a few days ago were a place people prided to be associated with had become ghost-houses they now consciously shunned. Unfortunately these incidents have a scorching effect on the over all markets as such - investors tend to defer their investment decisions and customers tend to hold off their purchases till some semblance of credibility gets re-established.
What had gone wrong? They were caught doing something 'unethical' - something considered morally wrong.
As individuals, we all have some inner mechanism, some human endowments - call it conscience, call it self-awareness, call it 'stop-mechanism'- something that makes us extend a helping hand to a someone we do not even know, or makes us stop from doing something we know is not morally right. This gives one a sense of inner satisfaction, adds meaning to our lives and value to our feeling of self-worth.
An organisation comes into being because of its people - as such one would expect it to reflect what we, as individuals, value. Unfortunately, facts do not support this logical extension. For some reasons such as the fear of being out of sync, desire to belong, or some group pressures an individual's 'stop mechanism', when acting as a member of a group seems to loose it's alertness. To cite a few instances which in hindsight leaves one wondering how organisations that size and with their pool of talents could ever bring themselves down to commit such acts. One of the world's giant energy conglomerate is caught in a bid to 'doctor' it's operating results on a scale that makes the nation's highest legislative body sit up with a start to investigate into it's questionable practices with the possibility that the 'giant' could be declared 'bankrupt: an 'oil' company larger than a few nations put together gets caught in the 'worst-ever-oil-spill' : any 'oil-spill' it had solemnly declared a little earlier in it's 1800 pages Contingency Plan was a near-impossibility, adding that in any case it had all the required equipment to handle any emergency. Unfortunately, as it turned out, when the disaster really did strike, the equipment was no where in sight: heads of some of the country's leading investment houses get jailed for illegal acts: and one of the World's highly respected and leading auditing firm, where it's associates had authored a masterly book on Worldwide Best Management Practices finds itself being almost forced out of business because of what later came to be discovered as some wrongful certifications.
Against this back-drop, Governments and a number of national and inter- national associations around the World are already shouting themselves hoarse asking for 'transparency' in all Corporate dealings and are demanding some well defined legislation to protect the innocent victims, and punish the offenders found guilty of following "unethical practices."

What happened?
Whatever the reason, the result was a cruel joke - both for the firms and their victims: turning into smoke the life-time savings of thousands of people and destroying the organisation's 'image', an asset that had years to build.
Whatever the reasons, it is loud and clear that for any firm, ethical behaviour, left to the self-controlled mechanism of its member's conscience is a fragile mechanism. Considering that reputation is one of the most, if not the most, prized asset for an organisation - it is what draws the customer to it's door - it is in the fitness of things that organisations take every precaution to nurture, guard and protect their reputation. This underlines the relevance of a well defined Code of conduct or consciously adhering to 'ethical values '.

What is Ethics?
Ethics is the moral code of human behaviour in a given profession or group function. Corporate ethics in a sense looks at an organisation as a civic citizen and member of the society and is made up of what is morally right. It is humanizing the enterprise by incorporating non-economic moral issues in the economic fabric of the organisation- it is being respectful to the society.
A direct spin-off effect of pragmatic corporate ethics is positive corporate image and reputation - something that creates a feeling of trust that is shared by the various groups of stake-holders. An organisation is made up of people e with different backgrounds. Each person's personality is shaped by his family, by the religious and the cultural influences, by his teachers, friends and social circle much before the individual enters the firm. In years gone by, one's behavioural education began at the grand-mother's, and mother's knees in the form of emotionally charged mythological and religious stories of the Gods fighting the Devils: of the princes single-handedly fighting the evil-doers : of the victory of the right over wrong. With the emergence of two-career families, the TV and the break- fast and dinner working meetings, this channel to-day is virtually closed.
The working life to-day, from school-going children to office-going adults is a beehive of non-stop competitive activity which demands the will to win. Caught in this race with pressures to succeed, immature individuals tend to rationalize moral 'bending' as detours which would more-likely-than-not go unnoticed. What begins as a trickle, over time, crystallizes into a regular routine - an easy way out.
Some enlightened entrepreneurs are known to have made ethics a part of their operational norm. Once, however, the firm expands beyond the leader's direct influence, problems begin to surface with alarming regularity Distances, departmental and divisional walls, decentralization and different cultural impacts and 'politics' create communication problems at every step: in addition size drives performance evaluations to numbers where qualitative intangibles such as conformance to ethical code tends to get short-changed.
Ethics is too critical a subject for an organisation to be left to chance. Left to individual discretion, what is ethical is likely take different shapes and colours, including - some blanks. Even assuming that some broad sense on a code of conduct does emerge, it could still miss out on some fundamental strategic issues. Since the very 'progress' of a progressive organisation hinges on it's 'ethical values' and being seen to be so by it's stake-holders it is in the fitness of things that organisations put in special efforts in dev- eloping a meaningful code of conduct and ensuring it's implementation as a way of Corporate life.
Much as this is important, however, caught in the midst of the pulls, pushes and the changing environment of the business World, it is difficult, if not impossible to provide ready directory of what constitutes being ethical under different conditions, and it is here that one begins to see the value of people's maturity levels, skills, knowledge and attitudes to a point where they can be self- led and function on their own.
It is also very likely that the information available itself could be patchy, coloured and clouded because of multiple points of views or that some situations could demand maturity, courage, sacrifice, and objectivity, qualities which tend to be generally in short supply. Besides, in the rush to succeed, or in the knowledge that one would not be in the same position for long, it may be convenient at times to view ethical issues as something too remote to warrant any serious thought. Studies have established that the only practical approach to get the concept of ethics becoming a part of an organisation's culture hinges on:
A. Developing a written code of Conduct that is routinely reviewed and followed starting with the senior management and
B. The maturity and leadership qualities of it's managers

WRITTEN CODE OF CONDUCT
So as not to leave it to chance, an organisation should develop its Ethical code in writing. The code is not a document which makes out how great the organisation is: neither should it spring out of a sense of convenience. To be meaningful it should be a brief, clearly worded, living document that spells the organisation's values, is routinely articulated and reviewed and religiously followed.
Some issues by their very nature can damage the very foundation of an organisation - any transgression in these areas should be treated as non-negotiable culpable offences. Generally they would fall into the province of moral turpitude, such as corruption, bribery, cheating, knowingly selling defective unsafe products.
People committing breaches of the code of conduct, where the offence is established, should be firmly dealt with and suitably penalised. Regardless of their position or status: by the same token people intelligently and courageously committed to the Code of ethics should be suitably rewarded

MATURITY & LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Business to day is a complex piece of mechanism. With increasing outsourcing, franchising, sub-contracting, human rights and anti-child labour movements, pollution control legislation and mounting competition, it would get yet more complex and complicated in the days to come. Given this scenario chances are that what may appear as a fragmented piece of trivial information can suddenly turn into a threatening business problem.

A firm is exporting shoes; the overseas importing house one fine day threatens to cancel off their orders on grounds that the exporter is using child labour. Some firms do not want their people to speak lowly of their competition, or boast about how big and great the company is. And yet in making a presentation, their marketing people have to often resort to making 'balance-sheet' presentations, where they have to put in juxtaposition where they stand against their competition.
A disposable syringe manufacturer finds that one of his lots doesn't fully pass the sterile test. A customer from a neighbouring country, where the test is not mandatory, offers to buy the lot at regular prices and is prepared to waive aside in writing company's product responsibility. The firm is aware that this is a normally accepted practice with many manufacturers.
Ethics - what is right and what is wrong is not a matter of white and black: there is a considerable range of greys in between.
The General Manager of a leading and reputed organisation, when asked this specific question replied "Our people are sufficiently matured, knowledgeable, dependable and skilful to decide for themselves. It is not possible for management to provide cook-book recipes for each situation. We leave it to out people". This could stand out as the central requirement in the effective and meaningful implementation of the ethical policy in any firm - maturity, knowledge, skills and attitudes of its people. In the ultimate analysis, this becomes the joint and several responsibility of the organisation and it's people - the organisation training and developing it's people on an on-going s basis and the people self-evaluating and 'managing self-development ' on their own.
Ethics gives a warm graceful, humanising quality to an organisations - it also a works as a highly valuable long term asset. In its working life, an organisation is likely to face any number of situations, when on grounds of costs, convenience, competitive pressures, immediate gains or personal growth it would be tempting to jettison ethics as excess cargo. It is however a writing on the wall that the day is near, when legislative provisions and social sanctions will make it mandatory for organisations to follow a standard minimal code on 'transparency' and on 'ethics' of ethics. Common sense would dictate that firms pre-empt this sure-to-come-day by working out their own Code on 'transparency' and on 'Ethics'.
Managers are often heard speaking about their commitment to quality followed by their warranty provisions and customer service as part of their ethical philosophy. Story is told of the CEO of an engineering firm. On one of her business tours, finding that one of her flight was delayed, she chose to visit one of her customer for whom her firm had recently installed a pasteurizing plant. The CEO was not overly pleased at the welding work done on the Stainless Steel frame assembly - it looked 'raw' which could collect dirt and residual milk which from a strict hygienic point of view was not acceptable in a dairy milk pasteurization plant. The CEO apologized to the customer and promised to send the company's engineers to re-do the job. The customer, who had not noticed the 'defect', much less 'complained' about it, was stunned at the Company's commitment to 'high quality standards 'and to customer service. People in the Company still proudly talk about this incident and so do an increasing number of customers. The Company continues to be the leader in the line.
In the recent worldwide Office Environment Index, 85% of office workers have voted that the quality they consider very important in their management was being ethical, upright and honest. Korn/Ferry International and the Colombia University Graduate School of Business conducted a joint study on the external threats and strategies for growth, where over 1500 executives from different parts of the World were interviewed. The study showed a similar pattern. And in the U.S., as against the 1987 figure of 83% favouring the quality of honesty, in 1993 it had jumped to 87%.