Please feel free to contact me anytime to share your thoughts. +1 612.357.1544 (Cell), +1 952.567.6215 (Direct), Gerry.zack@corporatecompliance.org.
Lately, HCCA co-founder and long-time CEO Roy Snell has been posting a lot about integrity and ethics. And I think he’s on to something.
Ethics has been a commonly used term for many years. It has even made its way into the language used in compliance, in connection with compliance and ethics programs. It’s even used in connection with the silly questions regarding which is more important, or which is better—compliance or ethics?
But it’s also now used in connection with social and political causes, as though if someone does not subscribe to the beliefs of the author or speaker, the reader or listener is somehow unethical. “Agree with my cause, or you are unethical.” The term “ethics,” as Roy has pointed out, has been hijacked by social and political causes. This is unfortunate, since I truly believe most ethicists, as well as compliance and ethics professionals, don’t intend to misuse the word.
If you look at the definitions of ethics and integrity found in Merriam-Webster, each has multiple uses. Ethics can refer to the field itself—“the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.” But as the word is most commonly used, it is defined as “a set of moral principles; a theory or system of values.” Inherently, this definition makes it very personal—what does a particular individual view as moral or immoral?
Integrity, as most commonly used, is defined as “firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values (incorruptibility).”
Maybe it’s splitting hairs, but I like the definition of integrity. The definition of ethics does seem to open it up to behaviors that one person views as ethical that the vast majority of people would deem unethical. The definition of ethics also suggests an element of fluidity, consistent with the belief that a person’s individual code of ethics can change over time. I like the “firm adherence” element of integrity.
I’m with Roy. I’m not going to abandon using the word ethics. It is and shall remain relevant. However, I will begin using the word integrity a bit more often, when I think it is more fitting with what I want to say. This may be something to consider in developing or updating training programs.