-
Seventeen: Components of a Business Ethics Program
- Indiana University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Formal ethics programs in healthcare settings can and do make a difference. As someone who has had the opportunity over the years to work with many different Ethics Committees, I have observed a signi¤cant impact in clinical ethics. The committees and the programs that they have sponsored have contributed to an increased sensitivity to ethical concerns and to an improving level of education regarding these concerns. Perhaps the most important impact, as I re®ect upon it, is that the existence of an active Ethics Committee is a recognition in the organization that explicit attention to ethics is an important part of providing good patient care. It is a recognition that staff is expected to use some of its time to become better acquainted with contemporary thinking about ethical responsibility. It is a recognition that ethics education is an important topic for in-service programs . It is a recognition that service on the Ethics Committee is a contribution to the work of the organization. The existence and support of Ethics Committees gives credibility and status to efforts to understand the practical implications of ethical standards and principles.1 In developing a business ethics program, healthcare leaders are recognizing a need to have a mechanism in the organization for focusing attention on ethical issues in healthcare management similar to the attention focused on ethical issues in clinical care in recent years. As is the case in clinical ethics, the program needs to have visibility and needs to be understood as an educational and quality-promoting program, not as a policing function. A good business ethics program is designed to implement the best values of the organization in the conduct of its business. It is mission-driven, not compliance-driven. It is designed to promote the achievement of the highest Seventeen Components of a Business Ethics Program ethical standards in all areas of management, not to set minimal standards of behavior. Important topics of ethics education and skill development include stewardship of resources, fairness to employees, and responsibility to the community , in addition to high-quality patient care. The preceding chapters have demonstrated some of the perspectives that are brought to the consideration of various policies or practices when they are considered explicitly in terms of ethical values and concerns. If there is value in considering ethical perspectives in the management of the healthcare organization in a systematic manner , then there needs to be a means of ensuring that this happens. It will not happen on its own. Despite the best of intentions, an explicit focus on the ethical implications of business or management decisions is not easy to maintain in the busy workplace. This chapter describes and discusses some possible components of a systematic focus on ethics in the business of healthcare. The next chapter focuses on an Organizational Ethics Committee as one mechanism for implementing such a program. Ethics at the Table Ethics is everyone’s business. There is a very real way in which ethics perspectives are represented at any table at which decisions are being made by persons sensitive to their professional responsibilities and to the mission and values of the organization. The ethical organization is one in which a commitment to ethics and an ability to recognize ethical issues are routinely expected of everyone, particularly those in key management positions. There is a long-running discussion in schools of business administration about the appropriate place of ethics in the business curriculum. Some want separate courses in ethics and/or social responsibility, taught by individuals with particular expertise in the area. Others prefer the model of integrating ethics into functional courses, discussing ethical issues related to marketing in courses on marketing, ethical issues related to ¤nance in courses on ¤nance , and so on.2 Opposition to a separate course in business ethics is often expressed as a concern that such a course implies that ethics is separate from or outside of the regular business functions. Support for separate courses in business ethics is often expressed as a concern that, without a separate course, ethics will be treated super¤cially and/or will be subordinated to functional considerations (which are the faculty member’s true expertise). There is a concern, as well, that there will not be opportunity to re®ect upon larger questions about the role of business in society without a separate course. The best answer to the question of the place of ethics in the business curriculum seems to be that, if possible, ethics should...