Ethics and Values

Enron and other corporate scandals have led to a sea-change in how employees view their own company's ethics, a U.S study has suggested.

The study of more than 200,000 U.S. employees, examined issues of integrity, social responsibility and company values.

• Between 2001 to 2005, it found that employee opinions on company integrity had increased by a significant 11 per cent.
• Nationally, employee perceptions of internal corporate values increased from 78 per cent in 2001 to 82 per cent in 2005.
• Likewise, perception of management's consistency with stated internal values increased from a 60 per cent positive response in 2001 to 65 per cent in 2005.

BOTTOMLINE: "Knowing where to focus your efforts is half the battle, and companies are clearly paying more attention to ethics and values." (See Discipline I-B, Renew Values (pages 68-71, Six Disciplines for Excellence.)