Driving a desired corporate culture

MANY significant failures in company performance can be traced back to corporate culture. The collapse of Lehman Brothers and the banks involved in the London Inter-bank Offered Rate (Libor) scandal were notable failures of ethics and culture in the banking industry. More recently, Volkswagen's emissions testing scandal, Uber's toxic work environment and WeWork's freewheeling culture have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Boards are challenged to ensure that the culture within their companies is fit for purpose. The 2018 Code of Corporate Governance states, in Provision 1.1:

"The board puts in place a code of conduct and ethics, sets appropriate tone-from-the-top and desired organisational culture, and ensures proper accountability within the company."