An integrity-based approach to ethics management combines a concern for the law with an emphasis on managerial responsibility for ethical behaviour.

While integrity strategies often vary in design and scope, all strive to define a companies’ guiding values, aspirations, and patterns of thought and conduct.

When such strategies are integrated into the day-to-day operations of an organisation, they can help prevent damaging ethical lapses while tapping into powerful human impulses for moral thought and action.

As an ethical framework becomes a governing ethos of an organisation it is no longer a burdensome constraint within which companies must operate, rather a modus operandi that promotes business success and resilience.

This webinar will aim to:

• Discuss the relationship between a company’s culture and its integrity outcomes
• Explore challenges and opportunities in embedding ethical practices across all departments and functions of companies
• Examine different ways of sustaining ethical codes, particularly during uncertain times
• Offer advice for Gulf Region businesses on how they can leverage business culture to embed and entrench novel and sustainable business integrity processes

What we learnt:

• Saudi Vision 2030 has caused a shift in the local mindset, as well as on the wider ecosystem through raising awareness on the different facets of anti-corruption. This has helped accelerate the move from procedural compliance to a more comprehensive integration of ethical policies.
• Organisations may employ a range of strategies to integrate best practices across all departments.
  • SABIC, for instance, identifies capable employees, who they train and appoint as ‘Integrity Ambassadors’ across their global offices. These ambassadors embody and role model a culture of integrity at the organisation and are responsible for raising awareness on best practices amongst their colleagues.
  • Similarly, stc held trainings for their top executive management on their code of ethics, and then subsequently had them host interactive discussions with their relevant teams to familiarise employees with the policies.
• Buy-in from mid-management is vital in order to drive an effective ethical corporate culture. This would include practicing effective change management as employees can be resistant to change, as well as creating substantial awareness about why that change is necessary.
  • Business leaders and executives must also lead by example to demonstrate best practice to their teams.
• It is critical to provide employees with consistent information and knowledge through trainings and interactive discussions on an organisation’s compliance programmes. This is effective in familiarising employees with codes of conduct, which in turn allows an ethical corporate culture to build.
• Whilst there are universally accepted international standards for compliance, the manner in which it is embedded and integrated within an organisation needs to be customised depending on the locality of the organisation. Employees needs to have codes contextualised for them in order to effectively integrate it into the culture.
• From a business perspective, the global pandemic has evolved the paradigm quite rapidly. Compliance programmes need to proactively shift along with business operations and external disruptors. This process is eased when ethical procedures are embedded within the daily corporate culture of the organisation.
• Tools that can be used to measure the successful implementation of compliance programmes include clear reporting mechanisms, strong no-retaliation policies, internal control, and robust governance systems.