University Of Wollongong

Sydney Business School

Corporate Governance TBS-909

Creating a Culture of Ethical Conduct and Social Responsibility in a Public Sector Agency

Abdel razzaq AbuShahout 3954808 July 19th. 2012

Words Count: 2836

Executive Summary

In the next couple of pages of this report we will be discovering an important sub-factor that contributes in the prosperity of the public agency, as is the ethical aspect and social responsibility, as the drivers not only for survival but actually they have been showing high results in term of profitability and competitive advantage. Though, precisely the report focuses on how to create the code of ethical conduct and social responsibility, that could be adhered by all the agency pillars, accordingly, by explaining and exemplifying the fundamentals on how to create successful code of conduct, proceeding to components of successful ethical code of conduct, which spins over leading by example, the role of human recourses department and the positive correlation between the agency social responsibility and the code of ethics. Finally, some recommendations provided for public sector bodies to establish effective code of ethical conduct according to the previous results.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary .................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 5 Fundamentals that support a successful code program ................................... 7 Elements and Motivation of Ethical Culture ..................................................... 7 Components of a successful code program ......................................................... 9
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Leadership and Top Management Commitment towards Ethical Culture 9 Human Resources Development Techniques ................................................. 12 Public Agency Social Responsibility ................................................................. 13 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 17 Recommendations ................................................................................................... 18 References .................................................................................................................. 20 Appendices................................................................................................................. 24 Table (1.0): Ethical Guideline for Medical Practitioners ............................... 26 Figure (1.0): Likelyhood of being satisfied with Organisation Top Management .......................................................................................................... 26 Figure (2.0): Likelyhood of observing some type of misconduct by senior executive ................................................................................................................. 27 Table (2.0): Health Care Practitioners Ethics Self-assessment ................... 31 Table (3.0):Self constructed CSR Indicators for public agency .................. 33 Figure (3.0): G.S.R Model..................................................................................... 33 Figure (4.0): Social Responsibility Sustainable Development .................... 34

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Introduction
Ethics in operations is not a new movement in agency environment, however, what we have seen in the last decade of global agencies collapses affecting the whole world of unforgettable financial recession period, urge us to be more aware and emphasise on ethical conduct in the operational side of the business which reflects on the commercial side (Bowen et al. 2003). In spite of, the emergence of different corporate governance mechanisms to govern these operations, taken into consideration different theories spanning from normative stakeholders theory as a framework for corporate ethics and management, which addresses morals and ethical values in the management of corporate and other agencies (Qfinance.com 2012). Expanded to stockholders theory to be applied between agencies to maximise stockholders profitability while complying with the laws (Villines 2010), and ultimately social contract theory that focuses on improving the wellbeing of corporation and the overall welfare of society by setting rules to govern behaviors, where rational people would accept, on the condition that others accept them as well (Jones 2011; CSUS.edu n.d). Nevertheless, agencies that strive at least to maintain its position in the market during tough times they relies on their reputation, as according to executives survey 60% of agencies market value resulting from its reputation (McCafferty 2012). Therefore, when it comes to building an immune agency environment its believed that its culture the main driver for the agency
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reputation according to the survey conducted by MWW Group for over than 100 institutions (Rather 2012), though, when the agency initially starts or develop its culture they are optimistic of the results will be attained in practice, of higher reputation, trustable agency to gain higher the profitability, in sense its stimulates and satisfies public interest as employees are fairly treated, management leads by example and different stakeholders want to be a part of its operations to gain mutual monetary benefit (Allegiance 2008). Shortly after, the benefits gained from establishing a culture of ethical conduct are real. Hence, agency should understand the absence of not having such kind of culture it would be costly in way or another to the agency, formed of moral hazard, fraud, corruption and toxic work environment impacting the overall prosper of the agency (Ethicsa.org 2012). Since then, public agencies put efforts to determine and set up the pits and parts needed to develop an ethical culture comprises ethical leadership, senior

management reinforcement, individuals commitment to ethics derived from their own or agency official values (Mintz, S & Sage, A 2012) increase feasibility and transparency (DNB 2009). Therefore, particularly as a public sector agency they have to develop their own ethical culture of conduct, that support its main values as main stream to serve public interest. Though, it has to be break into three levels therein, as suggested by Johnson & Scholes cited in (ACG.com 2012), firstly, macro level concern of society, secondly, agency level concern of social responsibility and

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ethical issues related to implementation of strategies and thirdly, individual level concern of workforce ethical behaviour, consequently, incorporating both terminologies ethics and corporate governance in the agency structure to be able to meet different needs of individuals and stakeholders.

Fundamentals that support a successful code program Elements and Motivation of Ethical Culture

Indeed, to be able to develop a culture of ethical conduct we have to address what the public agency needed to be concerned of, for instance, public agencies over the last decade become more aware of the concept of total quality management, ongoing improvement and social responsibility.

Accordingly, these concerns impacting positively the agency culture, in the way they doing business, to contribute in further improvements regarding efficiency and effectiveness of operations resulting of higher stakeholders satisfaction, higher retention of workforce, above all higher potentiality of sustainability (GSR 2012). Accordingly, towards this direction we need to develop a holistic approach to introduce the required change in corporate culture, to enable cohesive integration between the social, economical and environmental aspects to build upon it to achieve sustainability. Therefore, this transitional approach here will be highly effective if high collaboration between stakeholders, such as (national-local government, higher education

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institutions, social partners, community groups, private enterprises, chamber of commerce and NGOsetc.), engaged to share their expertise and knowhow to develop a baseline of agreed ethics (GSR 2012). As a result, this network will help public agencies to agree on and constantly communicated well-defined objectives, that are aligned with their ethical endeavor mission to embrace a set of accepted morals required in daily interactions (Merchant 2012), hence, forming an ethical guideline, which fundamentally epitomise the overall code of ethical conduct (Merchant 2012).

A good example fits in this area is the public health care sector as it aims to provide a holistic health awareness among health care providers, to offer high quality health care for patients. Hence, an annual conference to be held for medical staff and administrative members, to share the knowledge and experience regarding various situations to ease making ethical decisions, however, they are guided by universal practice principles endorsed by international Society of Holistic Health (ISHH), to fulfill public perception of health care sector quality, table (1.0) in appendices shows basic guideline for health care practitioners to comply with. Certainly, similar modified table that serves the public interest should be used in any public agency. However, according to the Australian health care system even effective governance in place that only could remove the barriers, more delegation, better allocation of resources, but does not mean solving patients care problems rather than creating enabler environment to solve issues effectively and efficiently in

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ethical manner, which is what should be sought in any Australian health care provider (Dwyer & Eager 2008).

Components of a successful code program

Leadership and Top Management Commitment towards Ethical Culture

Top managers commitment is threshold to an ethical culture of conduct, because there is no point to invest in implementing ethics and compliance program, unless there is a foreseeable initiatives by the top level managers as motivations to engage all lower levels personnel, thus, those top managers become as an fulfilling example for fellow workers as shown in figure (1.0), Therefore, as they became leaders they should stand up for their values and balancing public interests inside/outside to prevent conflicts, as well as, they Should be transparent and consistent in their words and deeds, additionally, tailoring HR policies, they should go through development programs focuses on how to encourage employees to behave ethically, protect them from unethical behavior consequences and openly recognise competencies at lower level through monitoring and open discussion for ethical issues (DNB 2009). Otherwise, as an implication the principles of ethical conduct will not be actually followed by the employees in the organisation (Singh 2012).

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Certainly, to ensure higher level of compliance and ethical conduct corporate could establish ethics office, to take care of monitoring what others doing regarding ethical decision-making to help keep the company out of the dog house, and to help maintain/restore the companys reputation when unethical or compliance issues faced (Bednar 2007). More importantly, without buy-in and the supportive role of senior management more likely any code of ethics initiatives will jam at this level, thus, senior managers has significant contribution in communicating a clear understanding of agency strategic direction, as long as they are able to build relationships with their followers based on trust, as agencies with high level of trust have three folds shareholders return in comparison with its peers with lower level of trust (Trevino & Nelson 2010, p.228), which will ease showing their ethical behaviour, by acting ethically all the time and frequently point out clearly ordered core values and widely shared ethics of the agency, as many agencies try to indicate its core values in relation to some extent to reputation-drivers (transparency, credibility, reliability, liability); hypernorms (openness, equality, empathy, integrity, expectedness, accountability); and ethical-decision criteria (cost of an action, observance of duties, rights and/or justice and expected skill) (Ethicscentre.org 2008), to be in the best interest of stakeholders related to decision making process, as well provide practical guidance on how employees adhere to those code of conduct as standard operating procedures (SOP) (Walker 2010; Ehrich et al. 2004), this

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ethical leadership requires modeling, coaching, and careful communication (McGunagle 2011). Therefore, since we have determined which is the core values that suits the corporation strategic direction, then senior management are able to clarify the roles and assign responsibilities at all pillars, by defining each position classification standards and the reporting channels to ensure everyone are able to contact at anytime the ethics office to guarantee transparency and accountability (opm.gov 2009). Though, impedes

environment of misconduct as shown in figure (2.0). Exemplifying the prior theoretical platform of building ethical culture by how the healthcare executive plays fundamental role, to cope with todays public interest from health care, hence, those executives has to review, reflect and foster change in culture required to their corporations operations, basically as first they starts by taking the self-assessment provided by ACHEs ethics as shown briefly in table (2.0), based on that they start reviewing the agency statement of values and clearly crossing the message during interviews, orientations and usually need to be aligned/tailored with employees position description, as well as determine rewards and punishments on some types of behaviors. Most importantly, health care managers must ensure existence of ethics-oriented system to proactively promote ethical practices and address uncertain situations with engagement of all staff members in daily operations (Nelson & Donnellan 2009). For example, as procurement in health care reflect the performance of the system for resources allocation and reduce the system

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rigidities, therefore, decentralising the decision-making is the best option but that could lead to unethical practices within procurement department personnel, such as inaccurate billing, bias contracts, briberyetc. with the existence of understood sound ethical (SOP), which will act as deterrent for those vulnerabilities done by any person who pretend adhering to ethical code of conduct (Nelson & Donnellan 2009). Accordingly, achieving corporatisation as refers to restructuring health sector in term of management decision-making and mimics the structure and efficiency of private sector while assuring that social needs precisely met (Dwyer & Eager 2008).

Human Resources Development Techniques

Another enabler for ethical and social responsible culture is acquiring best practices in human resources department, to define a definite ethics baseline in the agency, which will help in recruitment and selection processes. Therefore, we are able to examine candidates personal believes in ethics and social awareness during interviews, by providing previous ethical dilemmas they went through, and ask for solutions for ethical situations they could face, e.g. what is their response to receiving a free gift from a vendor? Or, their reaction on misconduct by colleague? and so on, Consequently, if they were successful applicants they will be asked to read and agree by signing-off well written code of conduct provide basic awareness of how the operations is

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conducted and agency expectation of them (Walker 2010). Later on, HR department has bigger contribution role by providing intensive training sessions, that differ from top managers/seniors or junior employees according to different assessment criterias that takes differences into account (Levanon & Choi 2006). As well it does not have the same effect on all level of employees (Ethics.org 2006). Thereby, it should be broken down to provide more focused training experience based on particular job, culture and level (Giacolone & Knouse n.d). In that sense, HR leaders has to make employees accountable for their behaviors, through strategies of punishments for ethical infractions, such as rehabilitation to get them back on track and teach them how to do the right things, and setting them as an example for their colleagues as deterrence of ethics offending. Ultimately, the most powerful way to make them adhere to ethics is by considering ethical standards in promotion, as criterion for advancement in the organization (Giacolone & Knouse n.d).

Public Agency Social Responsibility

Accordingly, within this context the existence on effective code of ethical conduct will lead the agencys individual leaders and subordinates to be self responsive to societal issues, as in general public agencies want to build trustful relationship with stakeholders, which could not be succeed unless the public perceives these actions is honest (Regency.org 2008), hence, over the

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last years many governmental funded agencies starts performing some activities related to their social responsibility, knowing that those imperatives are whether inner-driven (e.g. trustworthiness, integrity, transparency)/ outerdriven (e.g. social norms: equality, compassion, responsibility). However, within the Australian public agencies environment those drivers are made known respectively as recruitment (staff retention), public (perception) and cost management are the leading drivers for government social responsibility (GSR) initiatives (Thornton 2011). Therefore, initially we need construct a supportive factor for social responsible culture, according to the Australian centre of CSR (ACCSR) we should define number of indicators to measure the corporate performance towards its social responsibilities, that it has been already incorporated within the operations strategies at all pillars vertically and horizontally from different perspectives, as shown in table (3.0). Afterwards, as we implemented the basics of the SR culture, here the ethics and compliance officials contribute to transform our workforce mindsets, to increase their awareness for areas are vulnerable to public scepticism, such as productivity and quality of services offered (Hills et al. 2009), through, HR practices discussed previously. Hence, if we particularly focus on the new GSR model developed by South East Europe (SEE) programme regions in figure (3.0), we would be able to address specific issues surrounding innovation, environment, accessibility and the prosperous sustainable growth areas in countries that have low-level of corruption to consider as bigger issue than

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environment, thus, as clarified by global CEO survey findings to focus on by 2014, for agencies who relies on governments as source of revenues, those areas are environmental and SR practices, as such eco-friendly products and services, retaining the right people for eco-innovative strategy and more importantly, more attention on risk management to protect themselves of depletion of natural resources (PwC.com 2011). Accordingly, NSW state transit provide closer example as a leader in buses industry in environment management, after the implementation of

environmental management system, allowing state transit develops its policies relying on environmental principles, basically, to deliver safe, reliable and environmentally sustainable services at affordable prices (Statetransit.info 2012). Therefore, senior managers public duty towards their commitment in fostering employees environmental responsibility, by proactive identification and manage environmental risks, setting targets and on-going measuring results against the indicators of success (Statetransit.info 2011), towards best practices of environmental standards, adhering to AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 26000:2010 as a guidance on social responsibility, as well as promoting awareness of the benefits of creating sustainable environment, between all employees, contractors, suppliers and governmental bodies to deliver better air quality, less obstruction, enhance energy and reduce wastes to achieve resource efficiency. Therefore, by providing lead by example activities and measures such as, improve energy efficiency in government facilities to

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reduce GHG emissions (Epa.gov 2012), more precisely in procuring energy efficient products, simply by inclosing a single clause in contracts to ensure vendors aware of supplying products that meets the ENERGY STAR specifications (Energystar.gov 2012). As if we look at figure (4.0) all sectors should contribute and collaborate to communicate, share the knowledge and resources needed to meet these obligations toward sustainable development of social responsible culture. As a result, public encouraged to use accessible public transport services as they would be expected from state transit compliance with laws, policies and procedures, maintains higher level of probity of operations, while being honest and transparent in dealing with stakeholders in accordance to code of conduct.

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Conclusion
Consequently, as we have acquired the basics for ethical and social responsible culture, based on implied values and public interest in strategies, any public agency will observe the results while monitoring both financial or performance indicators, and touch the benefits of less misconduct practices, increase reporting, higher satisfaction, higher risks preparations and reduction of pressure to compromise ethical principles. Henceforth, the agency will able to manage ethical values in different managerial positions, as all pillars adhered to consistent ethical value-oriented standards. In term of social responsibility, the agency will touch increase in profits as long as its stays within the rules of the game (Glynn 2012).

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Recommendations

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The agency key personnel with supervision of government bodies are responsible for its prosperity while encountering issues related to corporate governance, social responsibility and ethics. Therefore, we recommend for them: Firstly, to develop as much as possible communication networks with key stakeholders to identify/ resolve potential unethical issues for ethical conduct. Secondly, ideally for a public agency to periodically revisit its values and standards to keep communicating fresh message that cope with

environmental changes. Thirdly, empowering agencys seniors as a backbone of ethical culture. Fourthly, consistently reassessing training programs to ensure crossing the messages of values. Fifthly, having ethics officers from a diverse background anticipates good compliance and culture of ethical conduct. Sixthly, conducting 360o feedback to check ethical perception between management levels. Finally, establishing an effective reward and punishment criteria that everybody aware of in conducting daily operations.

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References

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18. Glynn, J 2012, Milton Friedman Remembered, accessed 17/7/2012, http://uowblogs.com/profjohnglynn/ 19. GSR 2012, Government Social Responsibility Model: An Innovative Approach of Quality in Government operation and Outcomes, accessed 19/6/2012, http://www.gsrmodel.eu/?page_id=217 20. Hill, G & Fiske, L & Mahmud, A 2009, Anti-corruption as Strategic CSR: A call to action for corporations, accessed 4/7/2012, https://www.ethics.org/files/u5/AnticorruptionFINAL.pdf 21. Jones, Th 2011, Differences Between Stakeholder and Shareholder Theory of the Firm, accessed 19/6/2012, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQIKaOFB0b8 22. Levanon, A & Choi, L 2006, Critical Elements of Organisational Culture, accessed 3/7/2012, http://www.ethics.org/files/u5/lements_of_an_Organizational_Ethical_Culture.pdf 23. McCafferty, D 2012, Your Company Reputation Depends on CEO, accessed 19/6/2012, http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Intelligence/Your-CompanysReputation-Depends-on-Your-CEO-789769/ 24. McGunagle, D 2011, Leaders have impact on creating ethical culture, accessed 20/6/2012, http://managingtheglobalworkplace.com/leaders-have-impact-oncreating-ethical-culture 25. Merchant, P 2012, A definition of Business Ethics, accessed 20/6/2012, http://business.lovetoknow.com/wiki/A_Definition_for_Business_Ethics 26. Mintz, S & Sage, A 2012, Building an Ethical Corporate Culture Ethics Compliance Program and Whistle-blowing Provisions, accessed 19/6/2012, http://www.ethicssage.com/2012/01/building-an-ethical-corporate-culture.html 27. Nelson, A & Donnellan, J 2009, An Executive Driven ethical culture: Health care Executives Plays a role in setting the tone of ethics, accessed 28/6/2012, http://wagner.nyu.edu/faculty/files/ND09_EthicsReprint.pdf 28. Opm.gov 2009, Introduction to position classification standards, accessed 28/6/2012, http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/gsintro.pdf 29. PwC.com 2011,CEOs on sustainable growth: Five areas of focus through 2014, accessed 4/7/2012, http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/corporate-sustainabilityclimate-change/assets/CEOs_on_Sustainable_Growth__US.pdf

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30. Qfinance.com 2012, the definition of Stakeholders theory, accessed 11/7/2012, http://www.qfinance.com/dictionary/stakeholder-theory 31. Rather, D 2012, looking to improve your companys reputation? Start with improving your culture, accessed 19/6/2012, http://www.returnonreputation.com/2012/06/04/looking-to-improve-yourcompanys-reputation-start-with-improving-your-culture/ 32. Regency.org 2008, Can you have social responsibility without ethics?, accessed 4/7/2012, http://www.regency.org/news_aug3.html 33. Singh, H 2012, 22ND World Congress On Total Quality: Boards Role In Managing Ethical Business, accessed 3/7/2012, http://www.iodonline.com/Articles/Boards%20role%20in%20Managing%20Ethical% 20Business.pdf 34. Statetransit.info 2012, Environmental Policy, accessed 5/7/2012, http://www.statetransit.info/buses-and-the-environment/environmental-policy 35. Statetransit.info 2011, State Transit Proactive Release of Performance Information, accessed 5/7/2012,http://www.statetransit.info/performanceinformation/annual/Performance %20Information%20Annual%202011.pdf 36. SpringersImages.com n.d, Sustainable development (SD) within and across the three societal domains, accessed 11/7/2012, http://www.springerimages.com/Images/SocialSciences/1-10.1007_s11077-0099084-4-0 37. Thornton, G 2011, CSR drives Australian Business Agenda, accessed 4/7/2012, http://blog.grantthornton.com.au/index.php?q=csr-drives-australian-businessagenda 38. Trevino, L & Nelson, K 2010, Managing Business Ethics: Straight Talk about How to do it right, Wiley & Sons Publishing, USA, accessed 21/6/2012, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=nMUExSMUCcC&pg=PA294&dq=senior+managers+role+in+building+ethical+culture&hl=en# v=onepage&q=senior%20&f=false

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39. Vibe, M & Bell, E & Marrick, J & Omar, H 2008, Ethics and Holistic Healthcare Practice, accessed 20/6/2012, http://www.livskvalitet.org/pdf/IJCHD-2008-1_1_-BellISSH_Ethics.pdf 40. Villines, Z 2010, Philosophy: Summary and Explanation of Milton Friedman's Stockholder Theory: Philosophy Meets Managerial Capitalism, accessed 11/7/2012, http://voices.yahoo.com/philosophy-summary-explanation-milton-friedmans5536557.html 41. Walker, L 2010, Integrating Ethics and Compliance into the organisation, accessed, 20/6/2012, http://tfoxlaw.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/integrating-ethics-andcompliance-into-the-entire-organization/

Appendices
ETHICAL GUIDELINES FOR MEDICAL PRACTIONERS

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Compassion Mutual trust Respect for the patients integrity Human rights Truth and justice to the patient and society National laws Informed approval Confidentiality Give information regarding the purpose, content, duration, cost of treatment and complaint rules. Build the practice on evidence. Use methods that are validated. Use methods one can master. Use methods that do not harm. Place concern for the patient as paramount when trying out methods. Keep records (10 years) that patients can read. Conduct research, develop and test new methods of diagnosis and treatment to high standards of quality research practice.

Values and Laws

Delivering healthcare

Monitor and evaluate results. Develop and improve ones practice. Use ones resources fairly. Be respectful. Involve raising misconduct by other practitioners directly with them in a caring way; secondly with authorities.

Relationship to colleagues

Not express criticism of colleagues in front of patients. Be transparent, sharing, and open, assuming informed consent in patient matters. Not involve inappropriate interference in, or prevention of, treatment given by others. Disrespect the patients right to choose (treatment, life or death). Assist actively in ending life. Exploit or manipulate the patient economically, philosophically, religiously, sexually or in any other way (the consent of the patient does not free the practitioner from this duty).

Relations with patients

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Engage in a sexual relationship with the patient. Promise to cure the patient, or hinder the patient receiving help from others.

Table (1.0): Ethical Guideline for Medical Practitioners Source: (Vibe et al. 2008).

Figure (1.0): Likelihood of being satisfied with Organisation Top Management Source: (Ethics.org 2006).

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Figure (2.0): Likelihood of observing some type of misconduct by senior executives Source: (Ethics.org 2006)

Always

never

Leadership
I take courageous, consistent and appropriate management actions to overcome barriers to achieving my organizations mission. I place community/patient benefit over my personal gain. I strive to be a role model for ethical behavior to conflict resolution. I work to ensure that decisions about access to care are based primarily on medical necessity, not only on the ability to pay. My statements and actions are honest, consistent with professional ethical standards, including the ACHE Code of Ethics. I advocate ethical decision-making by the board, management team and medical staff. I initiate and encourage discussion of the ethical aspects of management/financial issues. I demonstrate respect for my colleagues, superiors and staff. I demonstrate my organizations vision, mission and value

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Not

ASPECT OF ETHICS

applicable

Occasiona

Usually

Almost

lly

statements in my actions. I seek the advice of the ethics committee when making ethically challenging decisions.

Relationships
Community
I promote community health status improvement as a guiding goal of my organization and as a cornerstone of my efforts on behalf of my organization. I personally devote time to developing solutions to community health problems. I participate in and encourage my management team to devote personal time to community service. Patients and Their Families I use a patient- and family-centered approach to patient care. I am a patient advocate on both clinical and financial I ensure equitable treatment of patients regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity or payer category. I demonstrate through organizational policies and personal actions that overtreatment and under treatment of patients are unacceptable. I protect patients rights to autonomy through access to full, accurate information about their illnesses, treatment options and related costs and benefits. I promote a patients right to privacy, including medical record confidentiality, and do not tolerate breaches of this confidentiality.

Board
I have a routine system in place for board members to make full disclosure and reveal potential conflicts of interest, financial manipulation, clinical malpracticesetc.

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I ensure that reports to the board, my own or others appropriately convey risks of decisions or proposed projects. I work to keep the board focused on ethical issues of importance to the organization, community and other stakeholders. I keep the board appropriately informed of patient safety and quality indicators.

Colleagues and Staff

I foster discussions about ethical concerns when they arise. I demonstrate through personal actions and organizational policies zero tolerance for any form of staff harassment. I encourage discussions about and advocate for the implementation of the organizations code of ethics and value statements. I expect and hold staff accountable for adherence to our organizations ethical standards. I demonstrate that incompetent supervision is not tolerated and make timely decisions regarding marginally performing managers. I ensure adherence to ethics-related policies and practices affecting patients and staff. I am sensitive to employees who have ethical concerns and facilitate resolution of these concerns. I encourage the use of organizational mechanisms (e.g., an ethics committee or program) and other ethics resources to address ethical issues. I act quickly and decisively when employees are not treated fairly in their relationships with other employees. I hold all staff and clinical/business partners accountable for compliance with professional standards, including ethical behavior.

Clinicians

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When problems arise with clinical care, I ensure that the problems receive prompt attention and resolution by the responsible parties. I insist that my organizations clinical practice guidelines are consistent with our vision, mission, value statements and ethical standards of practice. When practice variations in care suggest quality of care is at stake, I encourage timely actions that serve patients interests. I encourage clinicians to access ethics resources when ethical conflicts occur. I encourage resource allocation that is equitable, is based on clinical needs and appropriately balances patient needs and organizational/clinical resources. I expeditiously and forthrightly deal with impaired clinicians and take necessary action when I believe a clinician is not competent to perform his/her clinical duties. I expect and hold clinicians accountable for adhering to their professional and the organizations ethical practices.

Buyers, Payers and Suppliers

I negotiate and expect my management team to negotiate in good faith. I am mindful of the importance of avoiding even the appearance of wrongdoing, conflict of interest, or interference with free competition. I personally disclose and expect board members, staff members and clinicians to disclose any possible conflicts of interest before pursuing or entering into relationships with potential business partners. I promote familiarity and compliance with organizational policies governing relationships with buyers, payers and suppliers. I set an example for others in my organization by not accepting

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personal gifts from suppliers.

Table (2.0): Health Care Practitioners Ethics Self-assessment Source: (ache.org 2012).

Standard Disclosures Indicator: Profile

Indicator Descriptor

Statement from the most senior decision-maker of the organisation (e.g., CEO, chair, or equivalent senior position) about the relevance of sustainability to the organisation and its strategy. Basis for identification and selection of stakeholders with whom to engage Governance structure of the organisation, including committees

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under the highest governance body responsible for specific tasks, such as setting strategy or organisational oversight. Mechanisms for shareholders and employees to provide recommendations or direction to the highest governance body.
Indicators: Economic

Direct economic value generated and distributed, including revenues, operating costs, employee compensation, donations and other community investments, retained earnings, and payments to capital providers and to governments. Development and impact of infrastructure investments and services provided primarily for public benefit through commercial, in-kind or pro bono engagement. Policy, practices and proportion of spending on locally based suppliers at significant locations of operation.

Indicators: Environment Indicators: Human Rights Indicators: Labour Rights

Initiatives to mitigate environmental impacts of products and services and extent of impact reduction. Total number of incidents of (discrimination/workforce treatment/workplace environmentetc.) and actions taken. Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development review. Rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days and absenteeism and total number of work-related fatalities by region. Average hours of training per year per employee broken down by employee category. Programs for skills management and wellbeing learning that support the continued employability of employees and assist them in managing career endings.

Indicators:

Practices related to customer satisfaction, including results of Procedures for adherence to laws, standards and voluntary codes related to marketing communications including advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Total number of substantiated complaints regarding breaches of customer privacy and losses of customer data.

Product/Service surveys measuring customer satisfaction. Responsibility

Indicators:

Public policy positions and participation in public policy

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Social

development and lobbying. Total value of financial and in-kind contributions to political parties, politicians, and related institutions by country.

Table (3.0): Self constructed CSR Indicators for public agency Source: (ACCSR.com.au 2012).

Innovation

Accessibility

Environment

Sustainable Growth Areas

Figure (3.0): G.S.R Model: An Innovative approach of quality in governamental operations and outcomes Source : (GSR 2012).

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Figure (4.0): Social Responsibility Sustainable Development Source : (SpringersImages.com n.d).

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