According to Lunday (2018), the Code of Conduct is a set of rules that define corporate culture and how it treats its employees and customers. In other words, it describes what is simply acceptable and what is radically rejected. Finally, it is a legally binding agreement on the actions of the company and its employees, and whoever violates this will be put under the law according to these codes of conduct.
Power of Code of Conduct:
Codes of conduct derive their power from the way ethical standards are crafted as regulations that cannot be broken in the future; it is considered a comprehensive guide for every human resource in the company; this is before any decision or action is taken, whether this human resource is in the senior management or otherwise. Therefore, it protects companies from the influence of their employees' dishonorable behavior and any unfair behavior from the top management (Adam & Rachman-Moore, 2004).
Ethics CodesCompanies'es' Desire:
Some companies write long, vague codes of conduct that are written boringly so that no one will read them. They just want to catch mistakes from their employees and be able to punish them if they so desire one day. Therefore, these companies sacrifice a large part of their reputation and the extent to which the customer accepts their services; on the other hand, companies that draft transparent and fair codes of conduct are proud of these codes of conduct and publish them publicly, not only with open arms but also with pride (Erwin, 2011). Therefore, companies must formulate codes of conduct that include the following elements:
- The code of conduct should be clear, understandable, and concise.
- It should be comprehensive and cover any employee or manager's questions.
- It must be available to everyone and attached to the employee's contract when starting work.
Encouragement or Intimidation:
According to the results of a study (Gino, Kouchaki & Feldman, 2020), the code of conduct must be formulated in a direct, solid manner, not in a carrot-and-stick approach style, as the employee who does not obey his/her orders puts him/herself under accountability and penalties, yes, the writing style should be inspiring and make employees think about the benefit of following these instructions. Still, they must also put the punishment before their eyes since whoever believes in punishment will misbehave.
Conclusion
Although many companies have very accurate, professional, and inspiring codes of conduct because the leaders of these companies are not interested in implementing or paying attention to these codes of conduct, it makes it very difficult for individuals within these companies to adhere to these rules as well, so these behavioral codes are like ink on paper without the slightest benefit, leaders must implement these standards on themselves and affirm them with employees all the time.
References
Adam, A. M., & Rachman-Moore, D. (2004). The methods used to implement an ethical code of conduct and employee
Attitudes. Journal of Business Ethics, 54(3), 225-244.
Erwin, P. M. (2011). Corporate codes of conduct: The effects of code content and quality on ethical performance. Journal of
Business Ethics, 99(4), 535-548.
Gino, F., Kouchaki, M., & Feldman, Y. (2020). Your Code of Conduct May Be Sending the Wrong Message. Harvard
Business Review Digital Articles, 2–4. Retrieved from EBSCO multi-search in the TUW Library ( Note: this resource can also be found at: https://hbr.org/2020/03/your-code-of-conduct-may-be-sending-the-wrong-message)
Lunday, J. (July 1, 2018). Creating an effective code of conduct. HR compliance, leadership, career. Corporate Compliance
Insights. Retrieved from: https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/creating-an-effective-code-of-conduct-and-code-program/