The Benefits of Corporate Self-Regulation Ethics Programs

Corporate self-regulation programs have become the hallmark of moral behavior control in modern organizations. These programs place emphasis on creating good corporate citizens through voluntary compliance with laws, regulations, and internal policies (Parker, 2002). In most modern organizations, self-regulation ethics programs entail codification and communication of institutional norms to employees and reinforcing these norms through rewards and incentives. As an integral part of ethics management, self-regulation ethics programs see employees as valuable assets to organizations. Based on this notion, the programs seek to support the employees’ capacity for self-governance. Employees are not only empowered to manage their behaviors in accordance to the prevailing policies and regulations and social norms, but are also able to make meaningful contribution to the maintenance of these norms (Parker, 2002). The overall goals of corporate self-regulation programs are to make employees moral agents and to enhance the organization’s moral resilience by leveraging the ethical human capital embedded among the employees. The organization, for example, can achieve its compliance and self-regulation ethics goals by encouraging employees to voice their views and concerns about compliance challenges they face and to suggest possible remedies or mitigation measures to these challenges. Thus, corporate self-regulation ethics programs are founded on the institutional theory, which place emphasis on self-regulatory structures that reinforce value systems while making moral decision-making an integral part of an organization’s culture (Short & Toffel, 2010). One of the major issues that organizations face when enforcing these programs is that they tend to be perceived as normative justifications for compliance to laws and regulations (Short & Toffel, 2010). In an attempt to avoid corporate legal liabilities related to compliance, organizations rush to invest in low-cost, potentially ineffective self-regulation programs that do not improve the employees’ capacity for self-governance. 

References 

Parker, C. (2002). The Open Corporation: Effective Self-regulation and Democracy . Cambridge University Press. 

Short, J. & Toffel, M. W. (2010). Making Self-Regulation More Than Merely Symbolic: The Critical Role of the Legal Environment . Georgetown Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper No. 11-14