One recent study by M. S. Schwartz sought to establish the ‘core universal moral values by which corporate codes of ethics can be ethically constructed and evaluated.’

It examined companies’ codes of ethics; global codes of ethics; and business ethics literature. From these, six ‘universal moral values’ were extracted: trustworthiness; respect; responsibility; fairness; caring and citizenship.⁴²

Professor Hans Kung’s analysis of cross-cultural ethical values covered the Koran, the Hebrew Bible, the Buddhist Canon, the New Testament, Indian and Chinese religions and humanist philosophies. He concluded that common core values and standards are “do not lie” and “do not steal”, and that the principle of reciprocity - or the golden rule - “Treat others as you would like to be treated” - lies at the heart of all traditions.⁴³

According to the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, as of June 2007 at least 112 companies have human rights policy statements, of which 85 refer directly to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.⁴⁴

Several years ago retention rates at KPMG in the UK were rapidly declining with half of each intake leaving in the year after completing their training. People cited shortcomings in work variety, career development and rewards. This compromised client service and inhibited growth. A new post was created within the five person executive with responsibility for people development. This was in addition to the existing HR function. Within three years there had been a turnaround in attitudes and retention rates. KPMG was also benefiting from a long-term exercise to establish its values and these values have since proved vital in helping KPMG through its most difficult issues. Global Chairman Mike Rake said: “We have put our values at the heart of our business strategy. It's taken seven years to embed them. They guide how we conduct day to day business and how we treat each other and our clients. They help our recruitment enormously and also our retention. It's no accident that we were voted by our staff as the Sunday Times top big business employer in 2006 and top three employer for the past three years.”
 

 

 

Standard Chartered’s values of seeking to be courageous, responsive, international, creative and trustworthy have been embedded in the annual performance management system as part of the key criteria against which an individual’s overall performance is assessed. Surveys are undertaken to indicate whether staff across the bank are increasingly living the values and stories are published that exemplify its values in action.

Gary Steel, Head of Human Resources at ABB points to the company’s ‘Leadership Challenge Programme’ which more than 15,000 employees have followed, using 10 languages in 40 countries. He said: “To me the programme is evidence that different cultures have many more things in common than divide them. I used to believe that the key challenge was to manage cultural difference. Now I have realised that the issue is managing commonalities. What you have is different filters that you have to go through to arrive at the same place. For example, one of the myths is that you can’t give people feedback in China. By finding the right filters, we have successfully taken 2000 Chinese people through the programme.”

At its inception in 1997, SUEZ has issued a strong policy regarding its values with a high level of standards, all codified in various documents including a ‘Group Charter of Ethics’, later followed by ‘The Rules of Organisation and Management of Companies’. These documents have been translated in 16 languages and are made available to 75,000 collaborators of SUEZ. The commitments are followed at all levels within the Group through a Committee For Ethics, Environment and Sustainable Development reporting to the CEO and the General Secretary. The General Secretary supervises an Ethics and Compliance Department and a network of 82 Ethics officers in the Group. In addition, a Compliance Committee has been created to monitor on a permanent basis and deal with all events, internal and external, that could jeopardize the integrity and values of the Group. This committee regroups members from the top management, the Internal Audit Department, the Legal Department and the Ethics and Compliance Department.