Measuring the Value of Ethical Frameworks
A central focus of our work at Canmore Ethics is thinking about how organizational processes influence outcomes. We regularly find that when ethical issues occur, it’s not because of bad people acting negligently, but because the organization had no process for identifying and addressing ethical risk. Different tools exist for correcting this gap. One is a code of conduct; another is an ethics framework. Both of these are useful, but their value can be exaggerated. We have already explored the limits of codes of conduct in a previous article. Here, we discuss ethical frameworks.
How An Ethics Board Can Help Your Company
Data concerning aspects of our lives, including our health, is regularly collected by companies and healthcare systems. Since lax data protection policies can severely impact people, protecting that data is important for both ethical and business reasons: it will promote the safety and well-being of customers, and it will ensure that the company maintains trust with its users. However, identifying and addressing all of the relevant ethical issues can be daunting. One strategy is to adopt a research ethics board (REB) model.
Improve Decision-Making by Thinking Explicitly About Values
Ethical decision-making involves explicit recognition and consideration of ethical values: things like liberty, equality, well-being, and privacy. For many organizations, one of the most effective ways to make more ethical decisions is simply to be more explicit about the role values play.
How Leaders Shape Ethics
No matter your field of work or place of business, the ethical behaviour and conduct of your peers and employees is important to ensure the success of your company. Research demonstrates that the effects of both ethical and unethical behaviour are often larger than we might realize.
Going Beyond the Code of Conduct
Compliance programs are an essential part of healthcare organizations. There are many predictable situations that employees might find themselves in where clear rules will clarify good conduct. And, of course, there are laws that must be complied with. However, while following the law can be an important ethical matter, using compliance as a proxy for ethics can impede developing a more ethical organizational culture.
Ethical Skills for Your Organization
This article describes some of the ethical skills Canmore Ethics focuses on when we work with organizations. Some of them are more appropriate for some roles than others, since building ethical capacity requires deliberation and tailoring to suit each situation. The vast majority of ethics education approaches are too blunt a tool to make meaningful progress. Instead, Canmore Ethics builds organization-specific strategies and resources that lead to more lasting improvements.