Corporate Ethics
Corporate Ethics, therefore, institutionalizes reflection on these rules and issues in the conduct of the business of the corporation. Corporate Ethics, (or Corporate Responsibility Management) is the creation and control of the processes which ensure that corporations perform to established standards of ethical practice.
MVO 8000 defines "Ethics" as the science concerned with systematic reflection on rules and issues – the way in which people act and the rules that form the basis of these actions. MVO 8000 can help your organization to discover, formulate, institutionalize, and manage its corporate responsibility.
Applicability to Your Organization
MVO 8000 creates the framework for an effective Corporate Responsibility Management System. It enables organizations to formulate policies and objectives governing company corporate responsibility – incorporating statutory and regulatory requirements with the requirements of company personnel, stakeholders, suppliers, and the community.
Compatibility with other Management Standards
You may already be certified to one of the more well-known management standards (e.g., ISO 9000). If so, you’re well on your way to certification to MVO 8000.
Compatibility with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and its related Securities and Exchange Commission rules require companies to maintain internal controls, evaluate conditions, and make accurate, forthright disclosures. MVO 8000 can help you to do that, even if you are not required to comply with SOX. Like SOX, MVO 8000 helps to identify and eliminate procedural gaps and voids that threaten sound company operation. Strong, cost-effective, internal controls are optimal pursuits for companies and stakeholders, and essential to protect and preserve the livelihoods of all company personnel. MVO 8000 supports and compliments SOX requirements targeted at:
- Enhanced management oversight and disclosure
- Collection and communication of information
- Risk identification and mitigation
- Gap analyses and corrective action.
Risk Management
Risk management can involve many different disciplines and areas of expertise — economics, finance, the environment, contracting, and a host of others — most having to do with major projects or industries. Not always considered is the potential benefit that risk management (or risk assessment, risk analysis, etc.,) has on design and planning processes for organizational ethics and corporate respopnsibility. It can also help with managing ethical risks and those affecting an organization’s responsibility to the community.
MVO 8000 can help your organization’s risk management program by creating/enhancing:
- A flexible and general set of verbal, graphical, and mathematical tools supported (as necessary) by appropriate models or software.
- A family of related methods designed to suit the models, which link the models and the circumstances in which they are used.
- A wide range of relevant expertise and skills.
- The experience and leadership to design and integrate the models, organize the planning teams, and define and collect the desired objectives and findings of the analyses.
Gap Analysis – What’s wrong and why?
Implementing MVO 8000 starts with reviewing all corporate responsibility programs, and identifying all the gaps between what needs to happen and what actually is happening. This can be an eye-opener for many CEOs. Preliminary assessment (gap analysis) includes, but is not limited to:
- Management responsibility and oversight
- Human Resource Management
- Ethics awareness trainingo Sanctionso Integrity and disclosureo Personnel recruitment, selection, contracts of employment, and performance review
- Pollution prevention (as applicable)
- Risk assessment, minimization, and management
- Emergency preparedness and response
- Metrics establishment and internal review.
Reduce Vulnerability through Hands-on Compliance and Strategic Planning
MVO 8000 allows you to address your organization’s specific vulnerabilities while still staying focused on the big picture. Identifying areas in which protection is low prioritizes the need for corrective action.
Tying it all together for a Multifocused Organization
Working your way through the MVO 8000 Standard will help you to "benchmark" your organization across your entire spectrum of activities, and see immediately how you can improve through a prioritized strategy and approach.