Working Values by David Gebler

WORKING VALUES LTD. is a business ethics and training company. Through a variety of products and services, including Web-based compliance and ethics programs, on-site training, video and award-winning ethics games for employees, Working Values aims to align employee behavior with company values.

Societe Generale: The Case for Culture Risk Management
The recent arrest of Jerome Kerviel and the revelations of the Societe Generale scandal reveal the limitations of internal controls when risks posed by the culture are not managed with diligence and attention to detail.

Disappointing Results
The latest results of the Ethics Resource Center's National Business Ethics Survey are no doubt disappointing to anyone concerned about business ethics. But they should come as no surprise.

Beyond the Code: Inspiring Ethical Conduct
Although Sarbanes-Oxley has required public companies to adopt a Code of Conduct and take other measures to deter unethical behavior, the adoption of such Codes has had no demonstrable positive impact on corporate conduct.

When Is Stealing Ethical?
Earlier this month, sport-crazed New England was shocked by the news that the assistant of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was caught videotaping defensive signals of the opposing team, against the rules of the National Football League. Has the team taken an ethical hit? And what's the lesson here for ethics and compliance professionals?

The End of Ethics? Going Beyond Compliance Requirements
Today, with the focus on building ethical cultures, ethics officers are seeing the need to influence key business practices that go far beyond awareness of code standards and corporate values.

Are Executives Still in the Dark?
While the importance of financial performance is clear to most executives as a measure of the company's success, financial measurement is not the only indicator of a company's current success or predictor for its success in the future.

The Link Between Ethics and Innovation
Is there a link between ethical companies and innovative companies? Innovative companies tend to be companies that people admire and want to work for. Are companies that people admire and want to work for unethical? Of course not.

To effect organizational change, company leaders must develop a specific training program for managers.

Ethical Cultures Need Straight Talk
By Leslie O'Flaherty, Working Values Senior Manager, Learning Solutions

In order to build an ethical culture, companies need to focus on very specific skills that create a positive and open work environment. How can we clearly demonstrate the consequences that lay behind the rules for employees?

Steps to Creating an Ethical Culture
While many companies are still coming to grips with the role of culture in defining an effective program, many more companies are now ready for definitive guidance in how to create such a culture.

To Thine Own Self Be True
Today's boards cannot effectively carry out heightened oversight and governance responsibilities if the individual directors do not embody the values necessary to oversee the corporate culture.

Down the Road to Integration
The role of ethics within organizations is moving away from a function resident in one leader to a distributed set of competencies owned collectively by the leadership team.

Is a BlackBerry an Ethical Risk?
We all have our stories about BlackBerries. They unleash obsessive behavior. They are annoying to others in public. They cut into family time. But do you know that they also pose ethical risks? And I'm not talking about leaks of confidential information or privacy issues.

The SEC Wants Your Company to Be 'Cultured'
For many corporate counsels, "culture" and "compliance" seem to be mutually exclusive concepts. Where's the best place to start in assessing the impact of the company's culture on the ability of the company to stay out of trouble?

Reputation Is the Last Defense
While organizations strive to prevent scandals or regulatory investigations, they still happen. The key to maintaining the integrity of the company is in how the issue is handled, and to some extent, what level of response is generated by stakeholders.

Survey Says: Culture Matters
The Ethics Resource Center's recently released 2005 National Business Ethics Survey is welcome confirmation of the trends we have been seeing: if an organization wants to reduce the risk of unethical conduct, it must focus more effort on building the culture than on building a compliance infrastructure.

Is Your Culture a Risk Factor?
Enron had all of the elements usually found in comprehensive ethics and compliance programs, but the mindset and culture of the company brought out the worst in some, passivity in others.

How Do We Measure Integrity in Our Workforce?
A reader asks Dear Workforce, an HR newsletter by Workforce Management, how to measure integrity. David Gebler, president of Working Values, a SmartPros subsidiary, responds with a three-step solution.

Why Is It So Hard to Create an Ethical Culture?
Two years after passage of Sarbanes, companies are still struggling to define the characteristics of an ethical culture that will truly reduce the risk of fraud and scandal. Why is it so hard?

Is Your Hotline a Joke?
While installing a hotline may seem like a very tangible and easy to deploy solution that will meet regulatory requirements, companies are well advised to be sure that the solution maps well with their culture.

Who's Packing the CEO's Parachute?
Where is it written that being ethical means that a company can't be aggressive in pursuing its business goals? Does corporate responsibility require leaders to lose their focus and take their eye off winning?

Recruiting the Best With Ethics in Mind
A leader looking to hire honest and talented employees will only be successful if he or she successfully projects a model of how talent and honesty can work together in the company.

How to Get Employees to Take Ethics Training Seriously
Developers of ethics training programs, as with developers of all employee training programs, are always being asked by clients to develop programs that employees will take seriously. However, the challenge is often misdirected.