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STRUCTURE OF ETHICS MANAGEMENT

Ethics management is the set of activities and measures that follow the institutional organization
of ethics and the creation of integrated organizations. Do not confuse “ethical management” with
"management ethics", so it is the study and control of the ethical issues raised by the different
forms of management - financial management, personnel management, strategic management,
quality management, social management and so on. "Ethics management" is often considered to
be equivalent to "business ethics". Management of ethics is different: it is a branch of an
organization's management. It must also be distinguished from "organizational ethics" in a broad
sense, that is, from the traditional analysis of ethical issues in organizations to provide normative
clarifications and moral guidance, using various ethical theories and analysis tools provided by
moral philosophy. This category includes business ethics, advertising ethics, and company
restructuring ethics.
In Ronald Jeurissen's opinion, ethics management ultimately seeks to improve decision-making,
procedures and organizational structures so that the organization's activities are as much as
possible linked to ethical principles. The tools used are ethical codes, ethical audit, and other
"leadership" strategies to guide morality.
According to Donald Menzel, ethics management does not consist of controlling and penalizing
the behavior of staff or reflecting on working ethics. It is rather all the actions taken by managers
to stimulate the formation of a moral conscience and an ethical sensitivity capable of
impregnating all aspects of the work of organizations. He is, in short, promoting and maintaining
a strong ethical culture at work.

The setting up of control and sanction mechanisms is therefore an important concern in this
approach. The integrity model appeals not only to rules but values as a guide in action, values
that are embodied in proper ethical education. The focus is on individual responsibility and
accountability through collective and social learning strategies, in which the creation of an
institutional culture favorable to ethics is essential.
If we look at the table below "in section", we observe the evolution of the moral situation of the
organizations and the ethical management forms invented to solve the specific problems raised
by this situation. In fact, we have a variety of EM (ethics management) models that combine
elements of "compliance" or "integrity" in different doses. We can assume that some variants
have disappeared along the way. This is the Darwinian evolutionary concept that explains the
variety of adaptive solutions found today on the planet.
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In a language closer to the expectations of managers, C. MacNamara characterizes a "moral

organization" as one that respects at least the following four principles: 1) Interacts naturally
with varied beneficiaries and its basic rules make the beneficiaries good part of the good of their
own organizations; 2) Members of the organization are extremely sensitive to the issue of
impartiality: their basic rules stipulate that the interests of others matter as much as their own
interests; deception and exploitation of customers is their nightmare; 3) Responsibility is
regarded as more individual than collective; you cannot hide behind the organization; its
members must be individuals who assume their personal responsibility for the actions of the
organization; its rules state that individuals are responsible for themselves; 4) They regard their
activities in terms of objectives; the goal is an operating mode that is highly valued by the
members of the organization and links them to the external environment. Obviously, all of these
things are at an advanced stage in the evolution of ethical management in organizations. C.
MacNamara, in his ethics management guide, believes that a mature distribution of roles and
responsibilities in an organization that takes ethical management seriously would require such
institutional change.

a) The Executive Director of the organization to effectively support ethical programs; if he does
not believe in them, there is little chance of success;
b) It should establish an Ethics Committee at the level of the central governing bodies, with the
role of overseeing the implementation of the ethical management program;
c) An Ethics Management Committee also has to be set up to implement and administer "ethical
programs", including policies and procedures of a moral nature, and to solve moral dilemmas
and conflicts that may affect the atmosphere in an organization;
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d) A director of ethical issues should be established, a person who combines managerial

knowledge and experience with that in the field of practical ethics; it is important to note that one
person must ultimately be responsible for the ethical management of the organization - which is
the subject of a new profession;
e) It is good to establish the "ombudsman" function - a person responsible for the
institutionalization of moral values in the workplace, but also with the resolution of moral
litigations through the wise interpretation of policies and procedures and through close contact
with staff and beneficiaries.
Unfortunately, there are few organizations that take ethical programs seriously today; these
programs would be rather complicated, involving such awkward tasks and usually perceived as
redundant:
i) the creation and development of ethical codes - which articulate the organization's firm
expectations of morality;
ii) organizing and conducting ethics committees to deal with the development of ethical
policies, assessing the organization's and employees' actions and decisions, investigating
and sanctioning deviations from the rules;
iii) setting up ethical communication systems (such as telephone lines) as a means to
empower employees to report abuses or solicit counseling;
iv) the existence of a director with ethical issues or an "ombudsman" to coordinate ethical
education policies, investigate rumors and settle conflicts;
v) organizing ethical training, such as training the profession's virtues;
vi) conducting disciplinary activities for unethical behaviors;
vii) creating an institutional culture of respect for the specific values of the organization

In OECD documents, we come across a concept namely an organization's "ethical

infrastructure", to explain how the "tools" for good ethical management interact. It is time to
state here that the error of those who have instituted by law in Romania, in various institutions,
the Ethical Committees and the Ethical Codes is that they have ignored the fact that they can
only function if they are integrated into an ethical management system or in an "Ethical
infrastructure". The elements of an "ethical infrastructure" are the following:
- an integrated leadership, interested in the ethical issues of the firm and showing this;
- an effective legal framework (laws and regulations that define behavioral standards and impose
them);
- effective verification mechanisms (ethical audit, administrative procedures, evaluations, etc.);
- applicable moral codes of conduct;
- organizational socialization mechanisms (ethical education and training);
- fair and respectful treatment of staff and stakeholders;
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- an ethics office (coordinating ethical programs) or even an office structure dedicated to ethical
management of the organization;
- ethical hotline;
- a stimulating social environment

The elements of this ethical infrastructure are recommended to be applied selectively and
creatively, depending on the circumstances. In countries with strong corruption, sanctioning
rather than preventive strategies will apply. I also believe that this component of the ethical
infrastructure could be enriched.
In short, I would say that the main "tools" of the Director of an Ethics Bureau, and hence of the
person directly involved in the creation and management of an integrated organization, are:
- Ethical Committees
- Ethical Codes
- Ethics Ombudsman
- Ethics Education (Ethical Training)
- Ethical Audit - Ethical Decision Making Methods
- Moral Counseling
- CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
- Calculating Moral Risks.
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REFERRENCES
Books chapters:
Jeurissen, R. (2005), “Moral complexity in organizations”, în M. Korthals, R. Bogers (eds.),
Ethics for Life Scientists, Springer
Kaiser, M. (2005), “Practical Ethics in Search of a Toolbox”, The National Committee for
Research Ethics in Science and Technology, Oslo.
Kaptein, S. P. (1998), “Ethics Management”. Auditing and Developping the Ethical Content of
Organizations, Kluwer.
Menzel, D. (2007), “Ethics Management for Public Administrators”, Sharpe, London, 2007.
Rossouw, G. J. van Vuuren, L. J. (2003) "Modes of Managing Morality: A Descriptive Model of
Strategies for Managing Ethics", Journal of Business Ethics, 46: 389-402.
Web Resources:
Valentin Mureșan, “Managementul eticii in afaceri”, available at:
file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/186559377-Managementul-eticii.pdf (accesat la data 19
noiembrie, 2018).