Code of Ethics: A Stratified Vehicle for Compliance

Adelstein, J; Clegg, S

Code of Ethics: A Stratified Vehicle for Compliance

Adelstein, J Clegg, S

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Business Ethics, 2016, 138 (1), pp. 53 - 66
Issue Date:: 2016-09-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	Code of Ethics_A Stratified Vehicle for Compliance.pdf	Published Version	263.7 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Adelstein, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Clegg, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6083-4283	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-09-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Business Ethics, 2016, 138 (1), pp. 53 - 66	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0167-4544	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36608
dc.description.abstract	© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Ethical codes have been hailed as an explicit vehicle for achieving more sustainable and defensible organizational practice. Nonetheless, when legal compliance and corporate governance codes are conflated, codes can be used to define organizational interests ostentatiously by stipulating norms for employee ethics. Such codes have a largely cosmetic and insurance function, acting subtly and strategically to control organizational risk management and protection. In this paper, we conduct a genealogical discourse analysis of a representative code of ethics from an international corporation to understand how management frames expectations of compliance. Our contribution is to articulate the problems inherent in codes of ethics, and we make some recommendations to address these to benefit both an organization and its employees. In this way, we show how a code of ethics can provide a foundation for ethical sustainability, while addressing management intentions and employees’ ethical satisfaction.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Business Ethics	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1007/s10551-015-2581-9	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Applied Ethics	en_US
dc.title	Code of Ethics: A Stratified Vehicle for Compliance	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	138	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1505 Marketing	en_US
utslib.for	2201 Applied Ethics	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	138	en_US

Abstract:

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Ethical codes have been hailed as an explicit vehicle for achieving more sustainable and defensible organizational practice. Nonetheless, when legal compliance and corporate governance codes are conflated, codes can be used to define organizational interests ostentatiously by stipulating norms for employee ethics. Such codes have a largely cosmetic and insurance function, acting subtly and strategically to control organizational risk management and protection. In this paper, we conduct a genealogical discourse analysis of a representative code of ethics from an international corporation to understand how management frames expectations of compliance. Our contribution is to articulate the problems inherent in codes of ethics, and we make some recommendations to address these to benefit both an organization and its employees. In this way, we show how a code of ethics can provide a foundation for ethical sustainability, while addressing management intentions and employees’ ethical satisfaction.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/36608