Formal ethics policies and procedures
The five fronts that enable leaders to establish and maintain an ethical climate are: formal ethics policies and procedures, a core ideology, integrity, structural reinforcement, and process
focus.
With formal ethics policies and procedures, an organization establishes its ethical standards and policies’ internal statements. Under these policies, an organization establishes its reporting instructions, disciplinary procedures and penalties one can expect for ethical violations. The policy purpose is ensuring an organization establishes a solid base for an ethical culture.
With the second front of core ideology, an organization designates its “purpose, guiding principles, the basic idea, and most important values. Without a purpose, an organization merely treads water with no apparent path to follow. An ideology essentially states why an organization exists. Concerning integrity, this concept is the same as it applies to individual integrity. An organization cannot hope to enable individuals’ integrity when it does not embody an environment of integrity itself. The structural reinforcement states that an organization can instill a structure supporting ethical performance while mitigating unethical performance(Hughes, 2019).
This can apply to an organization’s operations when the highest leadership levels do not condone cutting corners. To meet deadlines, this could be unethical behavior. Under the final “front” of process focus, an organization examines its tactical level to ensure it executes its strategic goals using ethical processes at the team and individual member level. This level can be the most susceptible tocutting corners if its senior leadership demands high standards at any cost.