How to Organize Courses on Social Bioethics - an Artur Victoria Proposal

By way of introduction, for an organization to come to grips with the task of strategically implementing reform in integrity and ethics, its people need to be knowledgeable about a whole range of issues to enable them to clearly understand the motivations, requirements, their various roles in implementation and how to work together for the larger purpose.

So the topics identified as important to date, in roughly the right order I think, are as
follows:

1.
2. Introduction to Organizational Ethics and Integrity
3. Organizational Analysis
4. Awareness Raising, Education & Training
5. Codes of Ethics (Conduct, Practice, Behaviour)
6. Ethical Decision Making
7. Mechanisms for Ethics Advice and Support.
8. Risk Assessment Strategies
9. Information, Data Collection & Records
10. Professional Ethics:

II. Leading with Integrity

12. Corporate Social Responsibility:
13. Future Perspectives

Assumptions:

An organization has had little or no prior exposure to institutionalizing ethics and integrity into its culture or operations. Obviously, in most cases that many would have some limited exposure, while possibly not having any actual systems in place, and might therefore at least be aware of some of the issues.

If so, it might be reasonable to expect that these issues are possibly already being dealt with in some ways by a set of entrenched values ("good" or "bad", written or unwritten) within their
organizations.

Approach:

This particular segment of any course(s) that is developed would be of assistance in any organization. This would be by way of enabling and empowering its people to appreciate the complexities and the wide range of possible sub-strategies involved in implementing an integrity regime (ethics strategy. It includes the main things that I can think ofthat would be part ofthe process and assumes that nothing at all has been done previously. In practice one hopes that there may be a somewhat better basis than that, in some places anyway.

Topics and Content

A proposed logical order of progression, which could be dealt with at different levels of complexity and details, depending upon the need and the audience. For example, if one had only a few hours available on this in a course, a broad-brush look at important issues in strategic implementation would be feasible, although probably not terribly useful to my mind, by covering all of the topics in an overview presentation/workshop. More likely the approach would be to break these topics down, to the extent possible given time constraints with any training course etc. also allows the various "modules" to be flexible, such that users could choose to select all of the topics or could cherry-pick only those which they specifically needed at any point in time.

Users may then come back for more later.

The content under each topic has the better web-based information sources.

That includes: Organizational Ethics, Corporate Governance and Business Ethics, Leadership and Team/Self Development and to a lesser extent Public Sector Management and various courses in Human Resource Management.

Readings & References

At this point I have only given a broad general reference list. This is because many, if not most, of the good books now available cover a number of the topics. Neither list supports to be complete, but they do cover many good general sources. At the later stage of final design and delivery, specific chapters and or journal articles and/or professional articles would be recommended on sub-topics, depending upon the specific needs and/or interests of
the course participants.

This might perhaps be in the form of a prepared book of readings appropriate for the specific audience. In places I have shown sources of some ideas, but most are not from single sources but an amalgam of content from wide ranging sources.

Introduction to Organizational Bioethics and Integrity

This would present a broad introduction to the challenges and the need to build a proper implementation strategy. It would present the meaning and focus of Organisational Ethics and Integrity in respect of the organisations themselves, the individuals who work in them and the societies in which they operate.

Some mention of theories would be included, such as the philosophical and moral foundations of ethics and integrity, values, organisational corporate responsibility, personal morality etc., to provide a foundation of knowledge. However, this would be kept to the minimum possible, consistent with providing an effective enough grounding upon which to build. The emphasis on Strategic Implementation would always be based upon a "best practice approach" - what actually works in practice.

Likely content would include:

Broad terminology and concepts:

How people focus on morally challenging dilemmas and make ethical decisions about their Actions Ethical theories: Consequentialist (teleology, egoism, utilitarianism etc.), ethical relativism, virtue ethics, moral development (Kohlberg et al).

Values and ethics

Ethical decision-making: EDM models, normative judgements, distributive justice, excusing conditions, mitigating circumstances etc.

Essential Issues in Organizational Bioethics

• Establishing the fundamental values of the organisation
• Defining broad principles which emanate from these values
• Developing standards which will guide employees in upholding these values and principles
• Establishing specific guidelines for employee behaviour
• Ensuring compliance: through rewards and sanctions
Reasons for the increasing global interest in Organisational Ethics
• Increased concern over corporate violations and scepticism about corporate rhetoric
• Growing public demand for corporate accountability
• Strengthened roles of various watchdog organisations
• Numerous Public Enquiries, Royal Commissions, Senate Enquiries etc......
• Leadership under fire in most sectors
• Global competition "win at all costs" mentality
• Diminishing organizational loyalty
• Increasingly complex decisions
• Competing demands from multiple stakeholders
• More sophisticated workforce
• Movement to "empower" employees
• Emphasis on: excellence, quality, continuous improvement
• Less teaching of values: in schools, families, churches etc......
• Growing diversity in the workplace, differing value systems
• Emphasis in society or "rights"
• Legislation: equity, environmental protection, OH&S etc.
• Demand for information on how control is being managed

What "best practice" organizations can do and are doing

• Going back to basics, revisiting mission statements, vision, values, principles (the "Why
are we here ?!" questions)
• Developing or enhancing Codes of Ethics I Practice I Conduct
• Public and private sectors are addressing awareness raising, education and training
strategies for employees (eg: orientation, management programs, special purpose training)
• Revisiting control mechanisms such as auditing, checks and balances
• Reinforcing fraud and corruption prevention controls
• Governments are passing laws and more closely addressing public sector management
• Educationalists and academics are exploring and revisiting theories, concepts, actions,
outcomes etc., in ethics
• Universities and Business Schools are including Business Ethics in their study programs

Some current and emerging issues in Organizational Bioethics & Integrity

(Some of these are arguably outside our loop. but they are contextual to understanding the
complexities and inter-relatedness of global issues)

• International Corruption: strategies for dealing with this, in particular at the organizational
level.
• Conflicts of Interest in all its form as a major challenge in almost every quarter
• Integrity in international business and dealing with cross-cultural issues.
• National and international litigation; individual and class actions.
• Care Ethics: Caring for employees in difficult times - responsibilities towards employees,
customers, society at large and between employees.
• Global markets and globalization and the need for greater international and inter-cultural
awareness and sensitivity.
• Ethics and the Media: Reactions to the major transgressions: invasions of privacy, libel,
excessive investigatory actions, political influence.
• Bioethics: Issues such as euthanasia, birth control, fertility drugs, steroids in sport, genetic
engineering, and the demise of public health systems.
• Integrity in International Business: reactions to damaging corporate and political scandals,
to world political changes generally and combating global corruption.
• Environmental Ethics: Greater realization of the enormous damage being done in the nameof "progress".
• Ecommerce, EGoverment: The dramatic changes, currently underway and accelerating,
brought about by the "Information Highway". These changes are rendering our familiar
notions of national and international commerce, trade, the marketplace etc. completely outmoded and many traditional governance arrangements totally ineffective.
• Whistle blowing: how to facilitate it where necessary and how to protect the whistleblowers
• The protection of the environmental and the many organizational challenges emanating from this requirement.

Sources of the future broad societal challenges likely to affect organizations

• Changing economic conditions
• People or Profit
• Rapid technological change
• The end of privacy
• Changing social values
• Multicultural Societies
• Endemic unemployment I underemployment
• Development of an underclass
• The end of organizational loyalty
• Increasing ecological I environmental pressures
• Bioethics (genetics, pandemics, survival etc.)
• Population growth and massive shifts
• Workforce diversity
• Dominant corporate power and wealth
• Demise of the public sector
• Politics: national and international - demands for better leaders, with integrity
• "Global Ethics" (a better world)
The message her is how the individual organisation can take action to stay ahead of the game
as these impacts emerge.

What organizations and their leaders need to do

• Regularly revisit your "Credo"
• Instill Credo and values in every employee - reject employees who cannot comply
• Provide strong ethical leadership, especially CEO
• Stay ahead of community standards
• Strive for diversity in the makeup of your organization
• Clearly state your "Vision" and gain employee ownership of it
• Develop a Code of Ethics based on your Credo, Vision and Shared Values
• Establish an Ethics Committee which pre- considers new ventures, examines cases and
activities, to guide future actions
• Establish an Ethics "Hotline" to take suggestions and enquiries from stakeholders
• Balance concern for people and profit - based on wider social issues
• Educate before the need arises, not as a response to dilemmas