Standards and Audits for Ethics Management Systems : The European Perspective

The articles collected in this volume deal with the contents and processes of good corporate practice. Their common question is how moral values and ethical demands can become an integral part of economic and corporate deci­ sions- in a way that is credible and comprehensible for the society. Generally accepted best practice or minimum requirements for codes of conduct matter in this context. They codify values like integrity, fairness, openness, honesty, truthfulness, solidarity and justice, which have to be im­ plemented in a company's day-to-day business. In one sentence: There is a need to develop criteria for seriosity and credibility, for evaluating and con­ trolling standards of conduct and the managerial systems created for this purpose. In the international arena terms like Ethics management system, Ethics program, Values program, Ethics audit and Social audit are in use to denote these management systems. In this context it seems to me that the European perspective results from the values driven integration of corporate govern­ ance (e.g. risk management, compliance), quality management (e.g. human capital, supply chain) and corporate citizenship (human rights, ecology, so­ cial responsibility, communitiy) into a comprehensive and consistent man­ agement decision system. The core value and common denominator of these areas is sustainability. This, for instance, as opposed to narrow compliance programs that are largely law driven, to use a distinction which Lynn S. Paine introduced.

Today’s management is faced with the new task of implementing and dealing with standardised ethics management systems and values programs. It is a widely accepted fact that these have to be designed individually and firm specific, if they are to be a success. On the one hand, these systems are a business card for the companies. On the other hand the companies have to meet the growing public demand for evaluating the seriosity of these systems.

The articles collected in this volume investigate the contents and processes of good corporate practice. Their main focus is on the question of integrating the moral values and ethical demands into economic and corporate decisions by ethics standards in a way that is credible and understandable for society.

The volume presented here is the first of its kind, due to the fact that it contains a collection of all relevant European ethics standards which are a part of a modern Good Corporate Governance. The reader is provided with an overview of the state of the European discussion.