Publicaties

An Integrity Injection for Business

M. Kaptein

Inleiding

Author Muel Kaptein says companies must tackle the roots of scandals, frauds, and scams rather than just treating the symptoms

In recent years, policy-makers and governments have pursued many efforts to achieve better corporate governance in the areas of regulation, law, supervision, procedures, systems, controls, and reports. The problems that existed in the past now seem to be under control. But appearances are deceptive. Although the symptoms—fraud and accounting scams—have mainly disappeared, the causes have not. Indeed, the measures put in place to deter corporate scandals can be counterproductive in the long term: An 'overdose' of rules can damage an organization's 'immune system.' Companies are busy at present implementing regulations and processes to suppress the symptoms. But only a few are tackling the root causes by educating and training their managers and employees on ethics and integrity. What's more, these programs are often based only on laws and rules—not on values and principles. And instead of intimate, face-to-face workshops, too many organizations instruct their employees by means of impersonal Internet, intranet, or CD-ROM coursework.