New goal for 2020? Adding an integrity function within organisations
Add BT as a preferred sourceA GROWING number of companies worldwide are beginning to recognise the importance of practising good governance, starting with requiring ethical conduct of management and employees.
The aim, of course, is to build trust with stakeholders. This makes good business sense, since companies that are viewed as being untrustworthy or lacking in integrity will eventually be penalised by the market and probably even regulators.
What is interesting is that more companies are not only recognising the importance of integrity but are formalising it by appointing Chief Integrity Officers (CIOs) within senior management. One online job advertisement described the CIO's role as being "responsible for spearheading integrity programmes" and ensuring an ethical culture is institutionalised in the company. The CIO must, it added, have "profound understanding of the role of integrity management in promoting the (organisation's) social and financial health".
