Introduction

Accounts of ethical wrongdoing continue to make regular appearances in the daily news. No sector has been left out--business, government, education, sports; recent reports indicated that even in church, people are stealing from the offering plate. Ethics today is newsworthy more by its absence than its presence. Misconduct no longer surprises. In fact, research indicates that 52 percent of American workers observe at least one type of misconduct each year, and over a third witness more than one inappropriate act.
 
For organizational leaders, this phenomenon is particularly troubling. Success in the marketplace (or in the public square) depends on public trust. Fortunately, evidence shows that the vast majority of organizational leaders across the United States are responding to this public need for improved standards of conduct. Just over 85 percent of organizations across the United States have implemented codes of conduct, and 81 percent of organizations have created a mechanism to hold people accountable to those standards. Equal numbers have established systems as a result of a regulatory suggestion that internal controls will address the problem. But do these efforts actually work? . . .

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