Ethics Trouble Ahead

According to Sox First, a survey by the Ethics Resource Center found ethical misconduct has risen to the point of pre-Enron levels.

During the past 12 months, more than half the employees surveyed said they had seen ethical misconduct of some kind. And more than two in five didn't report what they had observed as one in eight experienced some sort of retaliation.

The findings are in the Ethics Resource Center's 2007 National Business Ethics Survey. Polling a total of 3452 employees in the business, government and non-profit sectors, the survey found that 23 per cent of employees observed conflicts of interest, 21 per cent witnessed abusive or intimidating behavior and 20 per cent witnessed lying.

Those aren't insignificant findings, and they make it more likely you'll bump up against some kind of ethical dilemma in the course of your work. Since being forewarned is being forearmed, you might want to take a look at this item by Dona DeZube about handling ethical questions when you're confronted with them.

Ethics danger signals [SOX First]
What to do With Ethical Questions [JITM]