Responsibility · Ethics · Component
Code of conduct
The conduct standards the organisation expects above the legal minimum, written as recognisable situations and traced to the values behind them.
The deliverable
What it is
A code of conduct translates stated values into expected behaviour. Where the core values under Purpose say what the organisation will not trade, the code says what that means on an ordinary working day.
It differs from the compliance policies in Compliance, which restate legal requirements and the controls around them. The code covers what is lawful but still expected or ruled out, and it may refer to legal duties without taking ownership of them.
One level in
What it is made of
Each element is a constituent part of the component. Follow one to see the attributes it carries.
Conduct standards
Each standard as a concrete situation and the expected behaviour in it, linked to the stated value it comes from.
3 attributes: Situation · Expected conduct · Source value
LearnCoverage
Whom the code applies to — employees, leaders, contractors, suppliers — and in what form each group receives it.
3 attributes: Applies to · Form · Acknowledged
LearnReview
When the code was last reviewed, what prompted changes, and which new dilemmas were folded into it.
3 attributes: Version · Last reviewed · Change rationale
Learn
Test each standard by asking whether someone would recognise the situation it describes while standing in it. If not, rewrite it as a situation.
The other components in ethics
Dilemma casebook
Ethical dilemmas the organisation has faced, the options weighed, the reasoning and the outcome — kept so the next decision starts from precedent.
LearnSpeak-up response procedure
What happens after someone raises a conduct concern — acknowledgement, handling, protection from retaliation and feedback to the person who raised it.
Learn