Ethical delimmas & ethical conduct

1. Imagine that it's your responsibility to select an ethics officer for your organization. What qualities, background, and experience would you look for? Why? Would you ever be interested in such a position? Why or why not?

2. What are the advantages of having an ethics office or officer report to a company's chief executive officer, the legal department, human resources or audit? What are the disadvantages?

3. Think about an organization where you've worked. What kinds of ethical dilemmas are unique to that organization? To that industry? What might be the best way to prepare employees to deal with those issues?

4. Which of the following exist in the organization? Mission or values statement, policy manual, code of conduct, ethics training (who conducts it), hotline? Are they consistent and credible? Discuss.

5. Is senior management committed to ethics? How do you/they know? What could they do differently or better?

6. Are leaders at all levels of the organization held accountable for their ethical conduct? If so, how? If not, why not? What would you recommend?

7. What recommendations would you make for handling frivolous calls to a hotline?

8. Does the organization evaluate its ethics initiatives? How? If not, why not?

9. How would you raise an ethical concern in this organization? List all of the resources available. Which ones would you/they likely use? Why or why not?

10. Imagine that you're the CEO of a small manufacturing company. An employee has dumped toxic waste in a nearby stream. Who would you call into your office and what would you want to know? Develop a short-term and long-term action plan for dealing with the crisis. Who would you communicate with and why?